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## Pokémon Discussion

### Unused letters in Generation II - Page 1

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#### Unused letters in Generation II

Posted by: SM
Date: 2014-09-06 10:26:46
In pokemon gold (I haven't checked crystal version yet) text 1(01) ~ 41(29) contain uncompleted alphabet and symbols.
01 B
02 C
03 D
04 E
05 F
06 G
07 H
08 I
09 J
0A K
0B L
0C M
0D N
0E O
0F P
10 Q
11 R
12 S
13 T
14 U
15 V
16 W
17 X
18 Y
19 Z
1A (
1B )
1C :
1D ;
1E [
1F blank
20 q
21 r
22 s
23 t
24 u
25 v
26 w
27 x
28 y
29 z
But game uses other alphabet/symbols located in 128(80)~255(FF) like generation I games.
I think early in development, programmers tried to insert alphabet on this location. But to use time machine system, letters need to be located on same position with generation I games. So they left early letters and made new letters in 128~255.
I'm sorry if you already know this.

#### Re: Unused letters in Generation II

Posted by: Torchickens
Date: 2014-09-06 12:22:31

> I think early in development, programmers tried to insert alphabet on this location. But to use time machine system, letters need to be located on same position with generation I games. So they left early letters and made new letters in 128~255.
> I'm sorry if you already know this.

I found this too when messing around with custom Trainer House Trainers. I don't think this is intentional, though.
It would seem strange for Nintendo of America and Game Freak to leave out lowercase a-p or 'A', and those aren't the only unused hex IDs where there are characters from this set.
According to Sawakita, in the Japanese versions characters with dakutens or handakutens are printed using the following routine:

> if x < 20 print value (x + $80) in the current location and print char $E5 in the row above it.
> if 1F < x < 40 print value (x + $90) in the current location and print char E5 in the row above it.
> if 3F < x < 44 print value (x + $59) in the current location and print char E4 in the row above it.
> if 43 < x < 60 (excluding of course all the text-commands like $55, $4E, etc.) print value (x + $86) in the current location and print char E4 in the row above it.

This may very well be relevant to what's happening here. The equivalents for $E5 (dakuten) and $E4 (handakuten) are blank spaces and/or the 'combining characters' mechanic may have been removed.
If you take character $40 you get a 'Z'; a character that is normally $99. Also, characters $41-43 are '(', ')' and ':'
This follows the process:

> if 3F < x < 44 print value (x + $59) in the current location and print char E4 in the row above it.

Character $3F isn't 'Y', and character $3E isn't 'X'. Character $44 isn't ';'.
However, if you take character $5F you don't get $E5 ($5F+$86). Instead you get a period (.), so I don't know what's going on.
Note:
In Gold/Silver/Crystal, if you print 22 on the Name Rater screen it doesn't appear as 's', 23 appears as ' tzx' (mojibake for 'き'; BA B3 29 B7), 24 appears as 'PoKé', 25 as nothing.
In Crystal the same characters don't work, but additionally 15-16 don't work.

> In pokemon gold (I haven't checked crystal version yet)

The table seems as accurate as it is for Crystal as it is for Gold. How did you get 's', 't' and 'u' and 'v' though?
It's also a good idea to change the first Pokémon nickname's first letter (Gold: DB8C Crystal: DE41). On the Pokémon screen, 01-04, 14-18, 1D-25 are '?' and the rest are normal. I tested this on English Gold/Silver and English Crystal. I didn't test the Japanese versions though.
That seems strange, but if you look at this Japanese table file for Gold and Silver, these are either illegal characters or control characters: 01=, 02=, 03=, 04=, 14=,15=, 16=, 17=, 18= (you can't have a dakuten for those kana, except for , which is actually apparently a relatively recent addition to kana usage and is pronounced 'vu'. I've seen my Japanese teacher use it for a classmate's name, but you still can't get it on a Pokémon name), 1D prints 'に' and a space, 1E prints 'って', 1F prints '' and a space, 20=, 21= (both illegal), 22 prints 'だ！', 23 prints 'き', 24 prints 'は' and a space, 25 prints 'の' and a space.
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