Proto:Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

This page details one or more prototype versions of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.

To do: These pages describe the Italian Verde Foglia and Japanese LeafGreen versions - text and features may vary across various languages, all of which have debug versions. There's three late prototypes of the Japanese games from 13, 7, and 6 days before final in the Gen III leaks.

This page is about the debug builds of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.

Every combination of version and language of the mass-produced games has its own debug equivalent; strictly speaking they are not prototypes, but rather the same source code as the commercial version with different compile-time settings.

General Info

See also: Proto:Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Proto:Pokémon Emerald

The in-game help, ordinarily accessed by pressing L or R at almost any time, can only be accessed via the L button to avoid unnecessarily conflicting with the R+Start button combo that opens the Debug Menu.

Additionally, if the game was loaded by pressing R+A on the Continue option (or by selecting one of the preset saves from the first option in the Test Menu), the player can run through walls and ignoring event triggers by holding R as they move; they can also press R+Select to warp to preset locations (the Viridian Pokémon Center and select Kanto cities, some of which at illogical coordinates).

In the Japanese versions, most [font] characters are overlined, presumably to readily identify their width.

In Battles

• In the Japanese version, what is allegedly a version number is displayed on the Fight/Bag/Pokémon/Run screen.
• Pressing Start allows viewing the opponent's HP.
• Pressing R+Select automatically wins the battle.

• Pressing Start while selecting a move allows for selecting any move for animation playback. Moves can be selected using the Left/Right directional buttons, and incremented by 10 using R (L opens the Help menu.) Pressing Start will play the animation of your Pokémon using the move on the enemy Pokémon. Pressing Select will play the animation of the enemy Pokémon using the move on your Pokémon. There is no way to exit this feature except pressing R+Select to end the battle.

Pressing Select in battle opens a menu that can be closed with Start. The options in this menu are boolean and not translated in localized builds. They supposedly toggle the effects of holding the specified item, but do not seem to work.

Translations: オフ = OFF; オン = ON

• ひかりのこな　オフ = Bright Powder Off
• せんせいのツメ　オフ = Quick Claw Off
• おうじゃのしるし　オフ = King's Rock Off
• きあいのはちまき　オフ = Focus Band Off
• ピントレンズ　オフ = Scope Lens Off
• のんきのおこう　オフ = Lax Incense Off

Link error

The "Communication error - please check all connections then turn the power OFF and ON" screen has some form of error code added in the bottom left corner, which is not present in retail versions. For example, attempting to start a trade without having a cable or wireless adapter results in 00000000 00 00 being displayed.

Versions

Multiple debug builds of both FireRed and LeafGreen exist:

FireRed Version Builds

Version	Test Menu	Create & Modify Dates
1.0 Japanese		Created: Dec. 29, 2003, 11:17 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
1.1 Japanese		Created: March. 1, 2004, 4:45 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
1.0 English		Created: Apr. 26, 2004, 11:20 AM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
1.1 English		Created: Jul. 20, 2004, 9:30 AM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
German		Created: Jul. 26, 2004, 5:40 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
Spanish		Created: Jul. 20, 2004, 3:50 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
French		Created: Jul. 21, 2004, 1:50 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
Italian		Created: Jul. 26, 2004, 5:40 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM

LeafGreen Version Builds

Version	Test Menu	Create & Modify Dates
1.0 Japanese		Created: Dec. 29, 2003, 11:17 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
1.1 Japanese		Created: March. 1, 2004, 4:45 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
1.0 English		Created: Apr. 26, 2004, 11:20 AM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
1.1 English		Created: Jul. 20, 2004, 9:30 AM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
German		Created: Jul. 26, 2004, 5:40 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
Spanish		Created: Jul. 20, 2004, 3:50 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
French		Created: Jul. 21, 2004, 1:50 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM
Italian		Created: Jul. 26, 2004, 5:40 PM Modified: Dec. 8, 2003, 6:55 PM

The Test Menu background is differently colored in Japanese FireRed and LeafGreen versions, but shares the same green background in localized versions of both FireRed and LeafGreen versions. The Test Menu in a localized FireRed version looks identical to its LeafGreen counterpart of the same language and revision, and the test menus in German and Italian FRLG are also identical. The "Created" dates match the build dates found in ROMs of the commercial releases.

Sub-Pages

Test Menu Title screen Test Menu

Debug Menu In-game Debug Menu