In Pokémon Gold and Silver, it was originally planned that the player’s mother could be named. This can be seen in several ways.
First, leftover code exists that allows the player to enter a name for the mother.
The game makes space in memory to store the mother’s name, so it can referenced elsewhere in the game, although it never is. Upon starting a new game, this area in memory is initialized to “Mom” at the same time the rival’s name is initialized to “???.”
The memory storing the mother’s name is never accessed for its intended purpose. However, it is used for a different one. When being taught how to catch a Pokémon, the player’s name is temporarily replaced with “Dude.” To keep the player’s name from being forgotten completely, it is copied into the space normally reserved for Mom’s name so it can be copied back later. (Something similar is done in Red and Blue—when the old man in Viridian City demonstrates monster catching, the player’s name is temporarily replaced with “Old Man,” and the original name is backed up to an area of memory normally reserved for determining the wild Pokémon available in a route. This is one of the factors that leads to a well‐known glitch culminating in the encounter of various real and non‐existent Pokémon on the coast of Cinnabar Island.)
In addition to the above, Gold and Silver also allocate space in memory for two more names, which are initialized to “Red” and “Green.” These are possibly signs that the characters Blue the gym leader (known as Green in the original Japanese versions) and Red in Mount Silver were to be named by the player. However, unlike the mother, no code exists that allows these to be named by the player.
Written 2009‒08‒14
©2009–2010 IIMarckus. Released under a Creative Commons Zero license.