Pokemon Blue Rival Edition ROM

A straightforward hack of the original Pokémon Blue as I wished for it to be. A direct parallel to Pokémon Red, this edition puts the players in the actual shoes of Blue instead (using his Yellow sprites to match his official artwork). Gameplay is preserved as the original, with some minor adjustments to the graphics and texts.

All of Red’s sprites have been swapped with Blue, including within the title screen, overworld, biking, fishing, back sprite (custom), and player card. Daisy and Red’s mom have also been swapped, with their dialogues modified accordingly. Red’s texts as the rival are modified to be ‘nicer’–replacing Blue’s iconic “Smell ya later!” and all other arrogant remarks. Red’s team is comprised of his iconic Pikachu, Snorlax, Lapras, and the three starter evolutions.

His battle sprites also gradually change as the game progresses, signifying his growth like Blue in the original. Starting with the regular Red, to his Yellow version, and then to the original title sprite as the champion. Except for Squirtle’s front-facing evolution line as well (which has been replaced with the Space World ’97 sprites since I like them better), everything else is the same: the story, Pokémon version exclusives, even the bugs and glitches.

This is a near-purist edition of how I believe the games should have been released as counterpart versions of each other. Being able to play as either of the version-exclusive protagonists, rather than just Red with ‘different names’. It may be a pointless hack, but I’ve always preferred Blue’s design over Red, and it personally brings me joy to finally play as him in his ‘intended’ version without being a jerk the way he’s canonically forced to be.