After the end of my rivalвЂ™s team, a youngster appeared. I soon realized, as the Pokemon progressed from Rattata to Blastoise, that these were all of the Pokemon that I had used Curse on. It was replaced by a Weedle and then a Pidgey. Upon entering your house and going to the exact tile where you start the game, the screen would cut to black.ДЄ sprite of Caterpie appeared. One of the bushes you can cut that normally blocks the path is no longer there. After wandering for a while, I found that you can get all the way through DiglettвЂ™s Cave, back to Pallet Town.

Regardless of where you went, the music of Lavender Town continued on in an endless loop. You could go pretty much anywhere at this point, except for areas only accessible via HM. However, the tombstones of the trainers you used Curse on were still there. The overworld was entirely empty and devoid of people.

You no longer have any of your Pokemon with you - not even Ghost who, up to this point, had been impossible to remove from your party in any way. The old man moved at only half the normal walking speed. It took me a while to realize this when I played, but this old man is the player character. An old man was standing around, looking at tombstones. A box appeared, showing the words вЂњMany years laterвЂ¦вЂќ It then cut to Lavender Tower. After viewing the Hall of Fame (mine consisted of Ghost and a couple of very under-leveled Pokemon), the screen cut to black. The game changed quite a bit after defeating the Elite Four, however. Because Curse made the game so easy, I essentially used it throughout the entire adventure. I figured this was the gimmick of the game - allowing you to use the previously unusable Ghosts. It was usable in your final battle against them, however. It would also fail if it was used against trainers you would have to face again, such as Giovanni or your rival. The move Curse was not usable in all instances. If you left the area and reentered it, the spot the trainer was would be replaced with a tombstone like the ones at Lavender Tower. If you did, it would seem like nothing happenedвЂ¦but when the game cut back to the overworld, the trainerвЂ™s sprite would be gone. If you selected вЂњRun,вЂќ the battle would end as normal, but you could also select Curse. WhatвЂ™s even stranger is that after defeating a trainer and seeing the normal вЂњRed received $200 for winning!вЂќ message, the battle commands would reappear. The implication was that the Pokemon died. If the move was used in a battle against a trainer, there would be one fewer Pokeball showing when the little indicators representing the other trainerвЂ™s amount of Pokemon appeared. The battle screen would then reappear and the defending Pokemon would be gone. The cry of the defending Pokemon would be heard, but it was distorted and played at a much lower pitch than normal. When the move Curse was used in battle, the screen would cut to black. Just like the Ghosts in Lavender Tower, defending Pokemon were unable to attack Ghost - it would only say they were too scared to move. I know thereвЂ™s a real move with that name, but it didnвЂ™t exist in Generation 1, so it appears to have been hacked in. The Pokemon was level 1 and had the sprite of the Ghosts that are encountered in Lavender Tower prior to obtaining the Silph Scope. If you looked at your Pokemon after selecting your starter, you had another Pokemon in addition to Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle: вЂњGHOSTвЂќ. It quickly became evident that the game was essentially a slightly-altered version of Pokemon Red. Upon selecting вЂњNew GameвЂќ, the game started with the Professor Oak speech. It also said вЂњBlack VersionвЂќ under the logo. Red was there, but there were no Pokemon cycling through next to him. However, the вЂњpress startвЂќ screen had been altered. The game started with the familiar Nidorino and Gengar intro of Red and Blue. Unfortunately, I lost the game when I moved years ago, so I canвЂ™t provide you with a ROM or any screenshots. HereвЂ™s a picture of the cartridge, in case anyone recognizes it.

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