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Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire/Version Differences

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This page contains changes which are not marked for translation.


This is a sub-page of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.

Regional Differences

Title Screen

Japan English
Pokémon Sapphire-title.png Pokémon Ruby-title.png

In addition to the game's logo being changed for the international versions, the title screen received some changes in the English version. The Japanese version has the words "Push Start Button" flashing, and there is no space between "Game" and "Freak", which makes it read "© 2002 GameFreak Inc.". In the English version, "Press Start" flashes instead, and the copyright notice has been updated to read "© 2003 Game Freak Inc." with a space between the two words.

Acro Bike Lockup

Hmmm...
To do:
How long do you have to keep bunny hopping for?

In the Japanese version, continuously doing bunny hops on the Acro Bike (by holding B) in a patch of grass may cause the game to freeze when it tries to initiate a wild battle. The game will not freeze if you weren't bunny hopping for too long, but the exact time you are required to bunny hop for is unknown. If the freeze is caused at the peak of Mt. Pyre, the clouds still move. This has been fixed in international versions.

Sand Ornament Glitch

Another Japan-exclusive glitch. In a Secret Base, it's possible to create a hole where a poster originally was, with a Sand Ornament and either a one-tile or three-tile poster.

Place a Sand Ornament against the wall, then collapse it by pressing A. After collapsing it, put either a one-tile or three-tile poster behind the crumbled Sand Ornament, then exit and return to the Secret Base. This will cause the Sand Ornament to reappear in its original form, but with the poster behind it (placing a poster behind an un-collapsed Sand Ornament is normally impossible). When you collapse the Sand Ornament again, a hole will appear on the tile where the top of the Sand Ornament was.

In the localizations, it's not possible to place a poster behind a collapsed Sand Ornament.

Surf On Land Glitch

Yet another Japan-exclusive glitch. This is done by using the Acro Bike to surf on land by jumping right next to the coast at a specific spot of Route 118 and using Surf at the right moment while in mid-air. This was fixed in the international versions.

Trick Glitch

In the Japanese version, Trick can be used to switch mail with another item that the enemy Pokémon was holding. This results in an item that has the mail icon, but acts like the item received with Trick. If this glitch is repeated six times, mail can be given to the Pokémon without having to attach a message, and you can just infinitely withdraw the item from your Pokémon by giving it mail then withdrawing it again. This can also glitch up tiles (allowing you to walk on water and similar things) if you try to give the glitch mail to another Pokémon in your party and change a phrase field. The type of a corrupted tile depends on the phrase. The location of a corrupted tile depends on the phrase field that the new phrase was written to.

In all other versions of Ruby and Sapphire, Trick will fail if either Pokémon is holding mail, making the glitch impossible to perform.

Yellow Scarf Glitch

In the Japanese version, it is possible to receive both the Green Scarf (for 200 points in the Smart condition) and the Yellow Scarf (for 200 points in the Tough condition) from the chairman in Slateport City's Pokémon Fan Club by presenting a Pokémon with a high enough Smartness and talking to the chairman twice, even if the Pokémon does not have 200 points in the Tough condition.

Trainer Ledge/Fence/Wall Glitch

In the English version, there are trainers in Route 118, Route 121, and the Abandoned Ship (Aroma Lady Rose, Gentleman Walter, and Tuber Charlie, respectively) which can walk through ledges/walls if they spot the player. This glitch only occurs in the English version as well as its two revisions and was fixed in all versions of Emerald.

Victory Road

In B1F of Victory Road, there is a ledge near a certain staircase in the Japanese and English versions. Here, if the player jumps the ledge to the left, they must go through a long path through B1F and B2F to be able to go back to the right of the ledge. In non-English European versions, the ledge was shortened by one tile, making this path accessible in both directions. The ledge was removed entirely in Emerald and the remakes.

Japanese / English Spanish / Italian / French / German
Pokemon RS JU Victory Road.png Pokemon RS Eur Victory Road.png

Trainer Sprites

Certain trainer sprites in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald were changed for the international versions. For example, Hex Maniacs were changed to have smaller eyes with pupils in their battle pose, and female Psychics have their arms stretched outwards (possibly because players might confuse the hands around their chest due to the handheld screen's resolution). The Male CoolTrainer has minor changes to his hairstyle.

The most notable is the Sailor, whose pose resembles a gesture called the "Bras d'honneur" involving raising a fist and slapping the biceps on the same arm as the fist used, also known as the Iberian slap or Iberian finger, which is equivalent to giving the middle finger in countries that speak Spanish, Portuguese, French or Russian.

The Japanese version of Emerald uses the international sprites.

Japan International
PKMNRSE Trainer1JAP.png PKMNRSE Trainer1INT.png
PKMNRSE Trainer2JAP.png PKMNRSE Trainer2INT.png
Pokemonrs-coolmalejap.png Well, at least his head doesn't look like an anvil anymore...
Pokemonrs-sailorjap.png Pokemonrs-sailorint.png

VU Meter Sprite

The VU meter used for Pokémon cries in the Pokédex has been altered to match the localization.

Japanese / English / Italian French / Spanish German
PKMN-RSE-VU-Meter.png
PKMN-RSE-dB-Meter.png
PKMN-RSE-L.-Meter.png

Font Differences

The large font used for most text in the game was redesigned for the European localizations, so that accented and unaccented capital letters are the same height. In the English version, unaccented caps are taller and accented caps are shorter. The letter ç was also significantly redesigned, and the ligatures Œ œ, letter Q, and digit 0 were made wider. A stray pixel on the bottom-right of the lowercase s was removed. Shown here is the font from the German games; the French, Italian, and Spanish fonts differ from the German only in the quotation marks and the translations of the "Lv" and "POKéBLOCK" characters.

English (Revision 1) German
Pokemon Ruby Large Font E.png Pokemon Ruby Large Font D.png

The quotation mark characters 0xB10xB4 differ between languages, and are available for use in nicknames. Trading a Pokémon between different language versions will cause its name to be displayed differently if it contains quotation marks, with the exception that Japanese names are always displayed using the Japanese font in other versions. If the Pokémon is transferred to Generation IV, the characters will be converted based on the language in which the Pokémon was originally generated.

0xB1 0xB2 0xB3 0xB4
Japanese
English
Italian
Spanish
French « »
German

Battle-e Cards

The image displayed by the Japanese Pokémon Battle-e Trainer cards when they are scanned into the e-Reader+ seems to show some sort of bizarre circuitry above the elevator doors. On the English cards, this is replaced by a placard with the words "BATTLE TRAINER". The red palette used for this placard is present, but unused, on the Japanese cards.

Japanese English
Hey, kid! I just had a double shot of espresso, and I am wired! I need to talk to someone, so you'll have to do!

Revisional Differences

English Revision 1

This revision was issued only for the English versions, primarily to correct localization errors in the original.

Font Differences

Original Revision 1
Pokemon Ruby Large Font Rev 0.png
Pokemon Ruby Small Font Rev 0.png
Pokemon Ruby Large Font Rev 1.png
Pokemon Ruby Small Font Rev 1.png

The six glyphs highlighted in red were replaced with glyphs created for the French localization. The superscript er is simply a more legible version of the glyph which was already in that slot; the others replace leftover Japanese small kana. None of these characters are used in the English game, and they are not available to be entered as nicknames or Trainer names, so these changes have no apparent effect. (The small kana can be used in names in the Japanese version, but non-Japanese versions use a separate font to display Japanese names.)

Name Change During Evolution

Hmmm...
To do:
Specific cause of the glitch.

In the original English release, any Pokémon will have its name changed when it evolves as long as its current name is the same as the species name (which presumably means it's not a nickname; the game doesn't actually keep track of whether a Pokémon has been nicknamed until Generation IV). In Revision 1, this was changed so that it only applies to Pokémon which originated in an English-language game. For example, a Bulbasaur named BULBASAUR received in a Spanish-language game, if traded to the original English Ruby or Sapphire, would be named IVYSAUR when it evolves, but if traded to a later revision, its name would remain BULBASAUR. The Revision 1 behavior was carried over to the European localizations of Ruby and Sapphire and to all releases of FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald.

This change prevents an issue which can occur if a Pokémon whose English name is 5 letters or fewer is given that name as a nickname in a Japanese game, traded to the original English Ruby or Sapphire, and then evolved into a Pokémon with a name longer than 5 letters (e.g., Pichu into Pikachu). Because the Pokémon is still treated as having a Japanese name but the name is longer than 5 characters, the English game may freeze when trying to display the new name.

Text Differences

Original Revision 1
Welcome to the POKéMON CABLE CLUB
RECORD CENTER.
You may mix your records as a TRAINER
with the records of your friends.
Would you like to mix records?
Welcome to the POKéMON CABLE CLUB
RECORD CORNER.
You may mix your records as a TRAINER
with the records of your friends.
Would you like to mix records?

The name "Record Corner" was used everywhere else in the game, so this was changed for consistency.

Original Revision 1
Hello!
It’s time for TODAY’S SMART SHOPPER.
INTERVIEWER: How are you, viewers?
Today we’re visiting the POKéMON MART
in \v3.
Let’s check on what the hot sellers
have been recently.
Hello!
It’s time for TODAY’S SMART SHOPPER.
INTERVIEWER: How are you, viewers?
Today we’re visiting a shop
in \v3.
Let’s check on what the hot sellers
have been recently.

This TV program can be shown after mixing records with another game, and will mention an item purchased by the player of that game. Since items can be purchased from shops that are not Poké Marts, the original English text would sometimes be inaccurate.

Original Revision 1
PARAS has parasitic mushrooms growing
on its back called tochukaso. They grow
large by drawing nutrients from this BUG
POKéMON host. They are highly valued as
a medicine for extending life.
PARAS has parasitic mushrooms growing
on its back called tochukaso. They grow
large by drawing nutrients from this
BUG/GRASS POKéMON host. They are
highly valued as a medicine for
extending life.

Paras is a dual-typed Pokémon, and it's apparently vital that the Pokédex description tells you this. But the remakes Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire use the original description with "Bug Pokémon", minus the caps lock, so maybe it's not so vital after all. On a smaller note, v1.0 Sapphire correctly said "this [Pokémon] host", however V1.0 Ruby instead said "the [Pokémon] host". This was ultimately unified in revision 1, and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire ultimately went with this.

Original Revision 1
MAWHILE’s huge jaws are actually steel
horns that have been transformed.
Its docile-looking face serves to lull
its foe into letting down its guard.
When the foe least expects it, MAWHILE
chomps it with its gaping jaws.
MAWILE’s huge jaws are actually steel
horns that have been transformed.
Its docile-looking face serves to lull
its foe into letting down its guard.
When the foe least expects it, MAWILE
chomps it with its gaping jaws.

Mawile's Pokédex entry in Ruby mistakenly spelled its name with an H. Sapphire has a different Pokédex entry which spells the name correctly.

Original Revision 1
A TOPGEPI doll.
Place it on a mat
or a desk.
A TOGEPI doll.
Place it on a mat
or a desk.

Togepi's name was also misspelled, in the description for the Togepi Doll. It would take quite some effort to actually encounter this typo, since the Togepi Doll is only obtainable in Ruby and Sapphire by sending it from Emerald using the Trader in Mauville City.

Original Revision 1
This item can’t be used on
that POKéMON.
This can’t be used on
that POKéMON.

This message has nothing to do with items; it's actually seen when attempting to use the field move Softboiled or Milk Drink to heal a Pokémon which is either fainted or already at full health. As with the Togepi Doll, this may have slipped through the cracks because Softboiled and Milk Drink cannot be learned by any Pokémon available in Ruby and Sapphire; they can only be obtained by trading with a later game.

"Save Failed" Text Overflow

Original Revision 1
There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture.
We will control the horizontal. We will…um…
…okay, NOW we'll control the vertical.
Changing the battery isn't going to help.

This screen is shown when the game is unable to save the game correctly because of a hardware error in the cartridge's flash memory (which, by the way, has nothing to do with the internal battery). The original English version tries to fit four-line messages into a three-line text box; the results aren't pretty, with text cut off at the edge of the screen and overwriting the text box graphics. Revision 1 fixed this by making the text box taller. However, both versions fail to fully clear the first line during the checks, which can result in the text reading as "Save failed.eted." during the process.

(Source: Háčky, ChickasaurusGL)

Berry Glitch

In the original release, Berry growth and other events based on the game's day counter will become frozen for 366 days, starting 366 days after the cartridge's real-time clock is initialized. This is caused by an off-by-one error in the function which translates the calendar date supplied by the real-time clock into a day counter for in-game use. It was fixed in English Revision 2, and in Revision 1 for all other languages.

For players with older cartridges, a "Berry Program Update" was included in various forms in Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, Emerald, Colosseum, XD, the Colosseum Bonus Disc, non-Japanese versions of Pokémon Box Ruby & Sapphire, European and Australian versions of Pokémon Channel, GameCube Interactive Multi-Game Demo Disc Versions 14 and 16, a pair of Japanese e-Reader+ cards, and a standalone GBA cartridge for service center use. These programs will set the real-time clock forward if needed to immediately solve or prevent the effects of the glitch - and some of them will also add a shiny Zigzagoon with Liechi Berry if there's a free space in the party.

(Source: Háčky, Bulbapedia)

It should be emphasized that, despite having comparable consequences, the lack of battery power or the converted hardware clock time being behind the last save's time for other reasons [such as replacing the battery without further corrective action] are not the Berry Glitch and cannot be fixed by any of the mentioned software.