The Pokemon community has made another interesting discovery after browsing through the files of older titles. This time around, fans have unearthed what might have been the original titles for Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire.
In a post on X, user KmiE_821 shared screenshots of the game’s files that make references to “Indigo Version” and “Crimson Version” when translated. The dataminer goes on to say that these are only unofficial translations and nothing has been confirmed by Game Freak in a separate post.
However, it’s very likely that Indigo and Crimson were, at the very least, placeholders for Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire. Some of the more seasoned Pokemon trainers out there may recall that the official titles for these games were revealed midway through 2002, mere months away from their official release.
It’s also possible that “Indigo Version” and “Crimson Version” could have been titles for Pokemon games that have since been scrapped, just like another Pokemon-related revelation that was made not too long ago. In 2020, dataminers rummaged through source code for Pokemon Red and Blue and found references to a Pink version of the game. Many believe this to be a planned companion title for Pokemon Yellow, a re-release of Red and Blue with some alterations to better fit the Pokemon anime.
Similar discoveries have been made in the past since Pokemon games normally include data for proceeding titles to accommodate the franchise’s import feature and trading system. Whatever the case may have been, we’re glad Indigo and Crimson didn’t stick. It just doesn’t have the same ring to it as Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire.
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