I'm what you call a collector of bootleg Pokemon games. Pokemon Diamond, Jade, Chaos Black, games like that. It's amazing the frequency with which you can find them at pawnshops, Goodwill, flea markets, and such. They're generally fun; even if they are unplayable (which they are often), the mistranslations and poor quality make them unintentionally humorous.
I've been able to find most of the ones that I've played online, but there's one that I haven't seen any mention of.
I was wandering around one day, smoking in the town mall parking lot, a child came up to me and said "The darkness corrupted the save file" and handed me a game cartridge and simply walked away, the cartridge had an original Game Boy game with a black sticker with the Pokemon logo in grey, I used to love Pokémon as a kid and I was so excited to see another Pokémon game in a long time, I dropped everything else I had in my hands and ran to my house booted up the game.
The game started with the familiar Nidorino and Gengar intro of Red and Blue version. However, the "press start" screen had been altered. The screen was completely black, it had the word "Version" under the Pokemon logo and it had two barely noticeable red dots in the middle of the screen.
Upon selecting "New Game", the game started the Professor Oak speech, and it quickly became evident that the game was essentially Pokemon Red Version.
I started In my home, the menu screen popped up, I had only one Pokémon-
"GHOST"
The Pokemon was level 1. It had the sprite of the Ghosts in Pokemon Tower before obtaining the Sylph Scope. It had one attack- "Curse". I know that there is a move named Curse, but the attack did not exist in Generation 1, so it appears it was hacked in.
Defending Pokemon were also unable to attack Ghost, it would only say they were too scared to move. When the move "Curse" was used in battle, the screen would cut to black.
The cry of the defending Pokemon would be heard, but it played twice as slow and a much lower pitch than normal.
The battle screen would then reappear, and the defending Pokémon would be gone. If used in a battle against a trainer, when the Pokéballs representing their Pokemon would appear in the corner, the would have one fewer Pokéball.
The implication was that the Pokemon died.
What's even stranger is that after defeating a trainer and seeing "Red received $200 for winning!", the trainer would say something like "it's not natural", "it isn't meant to be here" and "it knows no love". The battle commands would appear again. If you selected "Run", a text box would appearYou could also select Curse. If you did, upon returning to the over-world, the trainer's sprite would be gone.
After leaving and returning to the area, the spot where the trainer had been would be replaced with a tombstone like the ones at Pokemon Tower near Lavender Town.
The move "Curse" is usable in almost all instances. If it's used against Ghost Pokemon, a text box saying "The spirits were sent to hell!" Would show. It would fail if it was used against trainers such as Green or Giovanni, "Green's soul is too powerful to destroy!" It would say, It was usable in your final battle against them however, "Giovanni's soul is too weak to continue!"
I figured this was the gimmick of the game, allowing you to use the previously impossible to catch Ghost, and because Curse made the game so easy, I used the move throughout the whole adventure.
All gym leaders except for Giovanni only had one Pokémon and each of them had a nickname, Brock's Onix was "FAMILY" Misty's Starmie was "COURAGE" Surge's Raichu was "FORGIVENESS" Erika's Vileplume was "PEACE" Koga's Venonat was "STRENGTH" Sabrina's Alakazam was "KNOWLEDGE" and Blane's Magmar was "HEART". Whenever I defeated They're Pokémon, a text box would appear saying "GHOST destroyed FAMILY!" After defeating them, the screen would just cut back to the over-world, no gym badge, no Pokédollars, no nothing. The music would stop playing until you exit the gym, then the city theme would play again, if I tried to go back in, a text box would appear, "Been here" and it would push me back a step.
However, Giovanni would say "How...how did you get that thing in to this world?!" A text box would appear "Finally...it has come to this...P...R...E...S...S...A." I had no other choice but to, "Giovanni's soul is too weak to continue!"
The screen cut to black, the only things I could see were the ghost sprite and a text box, "listen...we're pals right? I'm your Pokémon...and we're best friends forever...right? What's that look on your face for? You want to release me?" I didn't know that GHOST felt this way, I knew selecting "No" would lead to the good ending, but I pressed "Yes" out of morbid curiosity, "...what was that again?" The GHOST sprite came closer, I was already too afraid to see the ending result, I pressed "Yes" again by accident, "What? So you really want to abandon your only friend like this?!" The GHOST sprite's face came up to the screen, I was lucky enough to not press "Yes" again, "oh good...I thought you were serious...let's continue forward...buddy."
The screen cut back to the over-world, I was outside of the gym, another text box appeared "GHOST want's T!" As I took one step, GHOST appeared behind me and started following me kind of like in Pokémon Yellow Version.
I walk to Route 22, Green didn't appear like he was supposed to and there was no grass anywhere. As I came up to Route 23, the Lavender Town theme started to play quietly and each step I took towards Victory Road it got louder...random characters flashed on screen.
"O"
"_"
"E"
"N"
"D"
"_"
"I"
"T"
"!"
I memorized the characters and it spelled out "O_END_IT!" At first I was a bit confused, but then my brain thought, "GHOST WANTS TO END IT!"
I was ten steps away from the entrance of Victory Road, the music now was impossibly loud for a GameBoy to handle. After I took six steps, I became deaf, I could only hear what I touched...I felt a stream of blood coming down my ear, I felt no pain however...
I walked into Victory Road, the music stopped and there was nothing but straight passage way leading to the Indigo Plateau. There was also a sign..."How dare you abandon our FAMILY like this, the first time I met you, you were full of COURAGE and had no sense of doubt what so ever, and we all lived in PEACE, but now all you do is build STRENGTH and show off, since my brain is full of KNOWLEDGE, I'm going to divorce you, you broke my HEART, and destroyed it all, I hate you."
I didn't want to question this game right now...I'm almost done, I walk inside the Indigo Plateau...the screen cut to black, a text box appeared, "after all this time...we made it...but let me try alone these times, will you?" A yes or no option appeared, I selected yes, after that, GHOST took one step away from Red, I was now controlling GHOST.
Lorelei was first, she said "aw...what a cute little Pokémon...where's your trainer?" The screen cut to black then faded back in, Lorelei was gone, Bruno was next, he said "what the hell are you?!" The screen cut to black then faded back in, Bruno was gone, next was Agatha, "hmm...you don't seem to have a trainer with you...I might as well catch you!" The screen cut to black then faded back in, Agatha was gone, lastly was Lance, "..." The screen cut to black then faded back in one last time...
I was with my character again, another text box appeared, "GHOST needs your help!" The screen cut to black then faded back in once more, I was with Green, "so...you managed to get this far huh?" The battle started, all of his Pokémon only had one HP and were all poisoned, one by one all of his Pokémon fainted...
I was back to the over-world...Green was gone...
The game changed quite a bit after defeating all of them...
After viewing the Hall of Fame, which had only the Ghost, the screen cut out to black.
A box appeared with the words "GHOST IS WAITING..."
It then cut to Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town. An old man was standing, looking at tombstones. I realized that...this man was Red as an old man. Red had only half of his normal walking speed. You no longer had GHOST with you, up to this point, it would have been impossible to remove from your party through depositing in the PC.
The over-world was entirely empty-there were no people at all. There were still tombstones of the trainers that you used Curse on, however. Only by walking around did I realize how many tombstones there were-how many trainers I had cursed.
You could pretty much go anywhere in the over-would at this point, though your movement was limited by the fact that you had no Pokemon to use HMs. And regardless of where you went, the music of Lavender Town continued on an infinite loop.
After wandering for awhile, I found that if you go through Diglett's Cave, one of the cuttable bushes that normally blocks the path on the other side is no longer there. This allows you to advance and return to Pallet Town.
As I approached Pallet Town, the game lagging intensely. Upon entering your house and going to the exact tile where you start the game, the screen would cut to black.
Then the sprite of a Caterpie appeared.
It was replaced by a Ponyta...
...and then a Pidgey.
I soon realized, as the Pokemon progressed from Rattata to Blastoise, that these were all the Pokemon that I had used Curse on.
After the end of my Rival's Pokemon team, a Youngster appeared...
... then a Gambler...
and then my Rival. These, and so many more, were the trainers I had Cursed.
Throughout the sequence, no music was playing, until the quiet Lavender town theme started playing...it got louder and louder...
Another cut to black.
A few moments later, a slowed down version of the Lavender town theme started to play...a battle screen suddenly appeared. Your trainer was now that of an old man, the same one as the one who teaches you how to catch Pokemon in Viridian City.
Ghost appeared on the other side, along with the words "GHOST has no use for you anymore!"
You couldn't use items, and you had no Pokemon.
If you tried to run, "Red is trapped!"
If you selected any items, it would say "the items were lost!"
If you selected "Pokémon" it would say, "Red has no friends!"
The only option was "FIGHT."
Using fight would immediately cause you to use Struggle, which didn't affect the Ghost but did chip off a bit of your own HP.
When it was Ghost's turn to attack, it would simply say "..."
Eventually, when your HP reached a critical point, Ghost would finally use a new move...Betray.
"Red lost hope!"
The screen cut to black for a final time.
Regardless of the buttons I pressed, I was permanently stuck in this black screen.
At this point, the only thing I could do was turn the Game Boy off.
As I turned it back on...text box appeared...it read..."The darkness corrupted the save file"