Hidden player and rival name Easter eggs

The hidden player and rival name Easter eggs are Easter eggs in Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow that can only be seen using a memory viewer or a cheating device.

In English Pokémon Red and Blue, they are loaded into the memory address D158 (name of the player) and D34A (name of the rival) on the title screen where the name of the version is displayed, and when a new game is loaded. In English Yellow, the equivalent memory addresses are D157 and D349, respectively.

The names normally cannot be seen, as the player is forced to use their own names for the player character and rival, or one of the pre-set names; where the hidden player names are not included.

The names in English Red/Blue and Yellow are 'Ninten' for the player character and 'Sony' for the rival.

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  Ninten seen in Pokémon Yellow thanks to an unused function to skip most of the game's New Game intro.

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  The rival in Professor Oak's lab, named 'Sony'.

Names list

Version	Player name	Rival name
Red/Blue (English)	NINTEN	SONY
Yellow (English)	NINTEN	SONY
Red/Green (Japanese)	いしはら ("Ishihara")	やまぐち ("Yamaguchi")
Blue (Japanese)	ゲーフリ ("Game Freak")	クリチャ ("Creatures")
Pikachu (Japanese)	ゲーフリ1 ("Game Freak1")	クリチャ ("Creatures")

Name references

1. Ninten is a reference to Nintendo; an international video game company that published Pokémon Red and Green, helped in debugging it and translated the games from Japanese to other languages.
2. Sony is a reference to Sony; a video game company considered as a rival to Nintendo.
3. いしはら, Ishihara, is a reference to Tzunekazu Ishihara, the president of The Pokémon Company, a debugger of Pokémon Red and Green, a producer of the English versions of Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow and former president of Creatures.
4. やまぐち, Yamaguchi is believed to be a reference to Wataru Yamaguchi, who is listed in the Special Thanks of the English version of Pokémon Red and Blue, but it may not be.
5. ゲーフリ, Gēfuri is an abbreviation of Game Freak; the developers of the main series Pokémon games.
6. クリチャ, Kuricha is an abbreviation of Creatures; who helps in producing (working on but not doing the main programming) some Pokémon games. They own a portion of the copyright to the Pokémon series.
7. ゲーフリ1, Gēfuri1 is an abbreviation of Game Freak followed by the number one.

Methods of seeing Ninten and Sony in the English versions

1. Use the GameShark code 010232D7 (the sixth digit is -1 in Yellow), and then start a new game. The intro will be skipped up to "NINTEN! Your very own POKéMON legend is about to unfold! A world of dreams and adventures with POKéMON awaits. Let's go!"
2. With no save file, use the GameShark code 01FF26CC, then press 'A' on the New Game/Option screen to force continue. Here, 'Ninten' can be seen.
3. Use memory viewer on the title screen or new name screen, and look at memory address D158 or D34A (or D157/D349 in Yellow). Use the Big List to decode the character names.