Red

Red as seen in Pokémon: FireRed and LeafGreen Versions
Red
Species	Human
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Brown
Relatives	Mother
Voiced by	Michele Knotz (2008) Billy Bob Thompson (2018) Brandon Winckler (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Red/Green Versions

Red is the playable protagonist of the first generation Pokémon games (Pokémon: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, FireRed and LeafGreen Versions) and the most well-known of the game's main trainers. In addition to his original playable appearance, he has also made guest appearances in several other generations as an optional opponent. In FireRed/LeafGreen, it was optional to choose a female trainer instead, who is officially known as Leaf.

Background

Kanto League

Red was raised by his mother in Pallet Town. In the game, it is said that he and Blue were rivals since infancy, while one instruction manual instead says that they were best friends until Blue started acting like a bully. The adventure began when Professor Oak called the two to his lab. In Pokemon: Red, Green and Blue Versions, Red was allowed to choose the first starter Pokémon (out of Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle), and Blue proceeded to choose one with a type advantage against Red's choice. In Pokémon: Yellow Version, the only available Pokémon was an Eevee that Blue claimed, and so Professor Oak instead helped Red to catch a Pikachu. In all versions, both Red and Blue received a Pokédex that Oak wished for them to complete.

Red traveled throughout Kanto, captured various Pokémon, battled other trainers, and earned Gym badges. He was always a step behind Blue, who battled him most of the times that their paths crossed. Aside from the regular business of a Pokémon trainer, Red found himself battling Team Rocket several times. At Mt. Moon, he foiled their plot to steal fossils and defeated them again at Cerulean City. He saved the Pokémon Tower from them, and he also shut down their operations at the Game Corner and at Silph Co. In those latter encounters, Red met Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni. He later discovered that Giovanni was the eighth and final gym leader he had to battle for the Pokémon League challenge. Red managed to defeat him once more, at which point Giovanni decided to disband Team Rocket.

When Red reached the Elite Four, he found that Blue has already beaten him and became the league Champion. Red challenged and defeated Blue to win the championship, with Professor Oak entering him in the Hall of Fame. In FireRed and LeafGreen, Red and Blue's Pokédexes were updated by Professor Oak afterwards to include a number of recently-discovered Pokémon. Red and Blue journeyed out to the Sevii Islands to find them. There, he also battled the remains of Team Rocket. Red later challenged the Elite Four and Blue again, this time with all of them having new Pokémon. In all versions of the first generation, Red also had the option of challenging and defeating or capturing Mewtwo at the Cerulean Cave.

Later Appearances

At some point after becoming the Pokémon League Champion, Red gave the title up and traveled to Mt. Silver to train. When Ethan/Lyra came to battle Red in Pokémon: Gold, Silver, Crystal Versions, HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions, he had the most powerful team of Pokémon in the game. He was found within deep within the mountain's cave in Gold, Silver and Crystal, and at the very peak of the mountain in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

He reappeared in Black 2 and White 2 as a potential opponent in the Champions Tournament of the Pokémon World Tournament at Unova. Red also made an appearance in Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, where he and Blue were called over to the Alola Islands to run the Battle Tree. When Alola's champion, Sun/Moon, first approached the battle tree, Red and Blue met them, and they could challenge one of the two to a battle. Within the Battle Tree itself, Red could be faced as a boss in Single Battles or teaming up with Blue in Multi Battles.

Let's Go!

The Let's Go! remakes featured an alternate storyline in which Red and Blue had gone on their Pokémon journeys prior to events featured in the first generation games. Some of the key differences from this were that Red's confrontations with Team Rocket did not take place, and the trainers had to record information about the Pokémon they caught with a pencil and paper, as the Pokédex had not yet been invented. His journey still had the same ending, as he still defeated the Elite Four and Blue to become a champion and was known as a past champion. In these games, it was Chase/Elaine who acted in the role of the protagonist and took down Team Rocket while taking on the Pokémon League.

Red himself would appear outside the Pokémon League Headquarters at Indigo Plateau if the player had defeated at least six Master Trainers and had a full party of six Pokémon in their party. Red would then challenge them to a battle, and the player would earn the time of Battle Master if they managed to defeat Red. Red would then reappear for rematches each time the Elite Four was defeated.

Pokémon Roster

Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow/FireRed/LeafGreen

The player controls Red in and has complete control over what Pokémon Red catches and which ones he uses to battle. Thus, Red's roster is a variable for the most part. The one absolute is that Red starts off with one starter Pokémon: in Red/Green/Blue/FireRed/LeafGreen, he has the choice between Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle. In the Yellow Version, he instead receives a Pikachu that walks around outside of its Pokéball. At Silph Co., Red is also given a Lapras.

Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal

His roster contains the evolved forms of all three of the original starter Pokémon, as well as an unevolved Pikachu in reference to Pokémon Yellow and the anime. His other Pokémon are ones that Red must battle or receives as gifts in all games (Snorlax, the Eevee that becomes an Espeon, Lapras) as well as possible references to his anime roster at the time (the Espeon in particular possibly contrasting his rival's Umbreon from the anime).

• Pikachu
• Espeon (Gold/Silver/Crystal)/Lapras (HeartGold/SoulSilver)
• Snorlax
• Venusaur
• Charizard
• Blastoise

In Black 2/White 2 and Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, he has the same roster as he does in HeartGold/SoulSilver.

Let's Go!

In the Let's Go games, Red has the following roster:

• Pikachu
• Machamp
• Arcanine
• Lapras
• Snorlax
• Venusaur (with Mega Evolution)

Pokémon Stadium 2

In Pokémon Stadium 2, Red has two teams, one for each round he battles.

Round 1

• Meganium
• Feraligatr
• Typhlosion
• Jolteon
• Scizor
• Tauros

Round 2

• Raikou
• Entei
• Suicune
• Dragonite
• Snorlax
• Espeon

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Stadium 2, Red appeared as the last trainer whom players battle in the combined Gym Leader Castle. In Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, Red or Leaf appeared as the player's avatar when playing Battle Mode with a FireRed or LeafGreen game connected, depending on the gender chosen by the player. Additionally, one trailer for Pokémon Battle Revolution featured a battle between Red (using Deoxys in Attack Forme and Wailord) and Leaf (using Groudon and Pikachu), although the two were absent from the final game.

Ash Ketchum, the anime counterpart of Red, appeared as the main character of Pokémon Puzzle League. Professor Oak invited him to the Puzzle Village, and he competed in the tournament there to become a "Puzzle Master". In Pokémon Go, parts of Red's FireRed/LeafGreen outfit were made available as free Style options to commemorate Pokémon Day 2018.

Pokémon Masters EX

Red was featured as a playable trainer who formed sync pairs with other Pokémon in Pokémon Masters EX. The first version of Red to be made available was a Sygna Suit variant paired with Charizard (which could Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X) that could be recruited at random through the Sync Pair Scout feature during limited time periods starting in August 2020. Three other variations of Red were later made available during limited time periods: one in his normal outfit (from FireRed/LeafGreen) paired with a Snorlax (which could Gigantamax) that was first made available in September 2021, a Thunderbolt Sygna Suit paired with a Pikachu (also capable of Gigantamaxing) that was first available in September 2022 and a Neo Champion variant paired with Articuno that was first made available in August 2023. In keeping with Red's depiction in the main games, Red was depicted as being silent at most times in this game, aside from laughing and making reaction noises. There were some rare instances of him having some dialogue such as during his Sync Pair Story, when he briefly spoke to Flint just to tell him that words were unnecessary, and Flint was left stunned by hearing Red speak. This game also depicted Leaf as part of a trio with Red and Blue who set out from Pallet Town at the same time with Professor Oak's other starter Pokémon.

Ash Ketchum was also included in the game as a promtional tie-in with the Masters 8 tournament arc of the Pokémon Journeys anime series that was airing in Japan at the time. Ash was paired with his Pikachu and was first made available at the end of August 2022. Ash was in the midst of preparing for the tournament when he arrived at Pasio and was depicted using the same team that he had at the time in the anime (Pikachu, Gengar, Dragonite, Lucario, Sirfetch'd and Dracovish). His Gengar could Gigantamax, and his Lucario could Mega Evolve. This marked Ash's second appearance in a video game and the first time he was shown co-existing alongside characters from the game canon, including Red.

Storyline

Within the PML Arc of game's Main Story, Red and Leaf were both shown to have made it to the finals of Pokémon Masters League tournament, and Red was mentioned as having been a past opponent of Lear's. Being defeated by Red in the past (after Red showed up at Lear's homeland during his travels) was what part of the reason why Lear started the PML, as an avenue in which he could get back at Red. It was ultimately shown that Red, Leaf and Blue made up a team together, and they were the last opponents faced in Chapter 30 of the Main Story, in the final match of the PML tournament. It was shown that prior to the battle, Red spoke up in order to acknowledge Blue's desire to have a battle. Ultimately, Red's team lost the championship battle to Scottie/Bettie's team, and Red spoke again to congratulate them.

In the game's Villain Arc, Red was featured in the initial chapter "Kanto: Team Rocket Returns". He had initially gone missing for several days after investigating Team Rocket's activities on Pasio, but he resurfaced and turned out to have taken out half of Team Rocket's forces before going into hiding to recover. Red proceeded to work together with Blue and the other trainers in several battles against Giovanni and Team Rocket. At one point, he Gigantamaxed his Snorlax in order to destroy Team Rocket's base. Ultimately, they were forced to let Giovanni and Mega Mewtwo Y get away, as every time they got an upper hand against him in battle, Giovanni would force Mewtwo to push against its limits even more, and they did not want Mewtwo to get seriously hurt.

Ash Ketchum was originally featured in the "Classic Thunderbolt" event, in which Ash suddenly found himself in Pasio after getting lost while training for the tournament. After meeting with Scottie/Bettie and Tina, he trained with the latter to learn about sync battles. He helped her to deal with problems she was having with her Flareon, which reminded him of issues he had with his Charmander when it evolved into Charmeleon and then Charizard in the anime. He also helped to take on members of Team Break and challenged Lear to a battle. Lear made a minor reference to Ash's similarity to Red, as he became irritated with Ash to the point where commented on his dislike for "trainers who wear hats" (which started with Red). Ash was later featured in the "Blazing Battle with Ash" Story Event, in which he took part in a Single Battle Tournament that was being held for newly-arrived trainers, in which trainers could battle using three of their Pokémon as opposed to the sync pair battles that were the norm on Pasio. The winner would get to go up against Scottie/Bettie, the winner of the Pokémon Masters League Tournament, even though they had not been informed of this beforehand. Ash used all of his Pokémon over the course of the tournament and ultimately won over Scottie/Bettie. Lear then reminded Ash that they were supposed to battle as well, and so he teamed up with Scottie/Bettie and Tina against him as the chapter closed. Red and Leaf also appeared during that event, as they spectated the tournament due to Red's curiosity about the new trainer. Red seemed to be impressed by Ash's performance, and Leaf assured him that they would have the chance to battle someday, which caused Red to give one of his rare spoken lines: "...I'll be waiting".

Red was also featured in the "Threads of Strength" Story Event, in which he had donned his Thunderbolt Sygna Suit while preparing to battle Cynthia for the Pasio Festival. A younger Camper also pretended to be Ash's friend and had a Ditto pose as Red until Cynthia saw through his lie and made him repent. The Camper was later threatened by members of Team Rocket, who believed his lie and wanted to use him to get Red out of their business. Red and Cynthia teamed up to defeat the grunts, at which point they were overcome by the desire to battle and started their battle early. In the Neo Champion Event "Three Trainers, Three Minds", Professor Oak tasked Red, Leaf and Blue with competing in working with young trainers in a Neo Champion Stadium competition, and the three of them decided to use Kanto's Legendary Birds while undertaking this task. Red appeared to be pushing his charges hard by constantly battling them, to the concern of Leaf and Blue, but it ultimately turned out that it was his way of teaching them to go at any opponent without losing. Red, Leaf and Blue all succeeded at earning the Neo Champion titles from Professor Oak.

Other Appearances

Video Games

Super Smash Bros.

In the Super Smash Bros. series, Red has appeared as a playable fighter and has been referred to solely as "Pokémon Trainer". Rather than being directly playable, the Pokémon Trainer stands in the background of stages and switches between three Pokémon who are actually the playable fighters: Ivysaur, Squirtle and Charizard. He was initially featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and was left out of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U (in favor of making Charizard into a solo fighter) before returning as an unlockable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Ultimate also added a female counterpart who was available through his alternate costumes, whose design was based on Leaf. Additionally, Red's hat has been worn by Pikachu as one of its alternate costumes in every game of the series from Super Smash Bros. Melee onwards.

Trophies/Stickers/Spirits

In Brawl, the Pokémon Trainer was represented by a trophy and a sticker, as well as trophies for each of his Pokémon and their Final Smash. In Ultimate, the male and female versions of the Pokémon Trainer each had their own Fighter Spirit that had to be purchased through the Vault's shop. Completing Classic Mode with the Pokémon Trainer would earn the player Fighter Spirits for all three of their Pokémon, rather than of the trainers themselves.

Oddly enough, the Pokémon Trainer's sticker and Fighter Spirits are represented only by the in-game models for them, instead of artwork from their original games.

Brawl: The Subspace Emissary

In Brawl's "The Subspace Emissary", the Pokémon Trainer was first seen in the Ruined Zoo, where he helped to protect Lucas in a battle against the Subspace Army. His Ivysaur and Charizard had gone missing, as the only Pokémon he still had was his Squirtle. The two hunted down the remaining Pokémon, eventually finding Ivysaur in the ruins and recapturing Charizard after defeating it in battle. They also battled Wario and the Galleom. Galleom attempted to self-destruct to finish them off, but Lucas saved them both by destroying the Galleom's arm, and Meta Knight caught them to save them from the fall. They then joined up with the main party for the remainder of the game.

Ultimate: Adventure and Classic Modes

In the Adventure Mode of Ultimate, the male version of the Pokémon Trainer was seen in the opening cutscene among the force assembled to try to confront Galeem and his Master Hand army. Once Galeem unleashed his beams of light, the Pokémon Trainer was seen commanding his Pokémon as they tried to unleash a Triple Finish. However, they were still all caught by the light. The Pokémon Trainer could later be found along the southeastern shore of the Light Realm and was awakened by defeating him in battle.

The Pokémon Trainer's Classic Mode route was called "The Future Champion" and consisted of fighting against the other playable Pokémon fighters. The second-on-to last battle of the route was against a Pokémon Trainer of the opposite gender. The route's boss battle started as a fight against Mewtwo, who was replaced by Master Hand (and Crazy Hand on higher difficulties) after being defeated.

Other Media

• In the Pokémon anime, the protagonist named Ash Ketchum was based on the character of Red. His rival Gary was similarly based on Blue, although the battles between Ash and Gary usually resulted in stalemates or Gary's victory, until Ash finally defeated him in the Silver Conference at the end of the series based on the second generation games. Ash also battled Team Rocket constantly, but he never had a final battle with Giovanni or got the organization to disband. Unlike Red, Ash also had traveling companions such as Misty and Brock, and he was also known for his Pikachu that did not stay in a Poké Ball, which has been his only companion to remain with him throughout each series. Instead of the Elite Four, Ash competed in a tournament at Indigo Plateau which he lost. In later series, he continued to journey through Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos and the Alola Islands, and he usually gained new traveling companions for each region. He won the championship of the Orange Islands, a region created for the anime, and eventually became the champion of Alola. For the Pokémon Journeys series that started in 2020, Ash traveled between several regions, including Galar, while competing in a worldwide tournament called the World Coronation Series and became the world champion by defeating Leon. This set up the conclusion to Ash's character after he had acted as the main protagonist of the anime for 25 years.
• Ash appeared in the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga, which was based on the anime series. This featured a different version of Ash's adventures in Kanto and the Orange Islands, and it ended with him traveling with Gary.
• Red was featured in the Pokémon Adventures manga, being the main character of the original Red/Blue/Green arc and playing important roles in later arcs. In this story, he had both a Bulbasaur as his starter Pokémon and a rebellious Pikachu that he tamed. With the help of Blue and Green, as well as the good gym leaders such as Brock, Misty, Erika and Blaine, he defeated Team Rocket over the course of the arc. Afterwards, he won the Pokémon League championship by defeating Blue and aided Blaine in capturing the rebellious Mewtwo. During the Yellow arc, he was challenged by Bruno of the Elite Four, but it was a trap that resulted in him being frozen by Agatha, until he was freed by Giovanni. He showed up to help the other trainers with the final battles against the Elite Four and defeated Bruno. In the Gold/Silver/Crystal arc, he recovered from the partial paralysis caused by his freezing at Mt. Silver, and it was shown that he initially won the Viridian City gym leader position, only to turn it down. He went to Johto to battle the Mask of Ice and then was dragged off by Gold to train with him. Misty and Yellow were also established as two potential love interests for him. Red was next featured on an adventure with Blue, Green and company in the FireRed/LeafGreen arc. Though the trainers were all turned into statues at the end of the arc, they were restored by Jirachi's wish near the end of the Emerald arc, leading to all of the ten Pokédex-bearing trainers uniting against Archie and his artificial Kyogre. Red's specialty among the Pokédex trainers was shown to be Pokémon battling.
• The Pokémon Origins anime miniseries starred a version of Red that was more directly based on the game storyline. This miniseries followed the basic plot of the first generation games.
• In the Pokémon Generations anime, another series that was based more directly on the games, Red was featured in one episode which showed his adventures with a Pikachu across multiple regions. Another episode was about Blue's defeat of the Elite Four and ended by showing Red arriving to challenge him.
• Red made a cameo appearance at the end of the Pokémon Evolutions anime series, in an episode based on the Let's Go! games. In a montage near the end of the episode, he was seen from a distance standing with his Pokémon by the Indigo Plateau, which reflected his appearance in those games.

Trivia

• Like all of the protagonists of the Pokémon games, his name is selected by the player in the games where he is the protagonist. His official name was confirmed as Red in Gold, Silver and Crystal. Since then, he has been the only protagonist to officially have a canon name, appearance and gender.
• He is named after the Red Version, which was one of the original first generation Pokémon games that he starred in.
• FireRed/LeafGreen gives the player the option of choosing between two gendered characters. Red's female counterpart in this game is known as Leaf. There were also art of a female trainer for the original games (completing a trio with Red and Blue) who was later made into the character of Green in the Let's Go! games.
• He is the only playable protagonist of the main Pokémon series to make appearances in games outside of his playable appearances.
• Red is known for never speaking in any of his appearances in the main games, something which Blue jokingly points out on occasion. His dialogue is only ever shown as sets of ellipses with punctuation marks to show his mood. The closest thing to dialogue he has in any game are the words that Copycat echoes to him in the first generation games. When counting spin-off games, Red did speak on occasion in Pokémon Masters EX, although he was otherwise mostly silent.
• For his appearance in the seventh generation games, he wears a t-shirt with the number '96' on it, in reference to the release year of the first generation games that he starred in and the beginning of the series.