>>6842144Literally from the moment the anime released? Just because you were a kid doesn't mean they weren't distinct characters. Take for instance that Red and Ash/Satoshi dress completely differently, and that the games released in 1996 while the anime came out in 1998. If they wanted Ash/Satoshi to be Red and vice versa, they would have just named him Red and have them dress the same.
>Pokemon Adventures manga, which sold like shitIt didn't and it was more popular than EToP, to the point that Adventures was being released in three chapter comic book style releases. EToP finished its run and Adventures didn't but that was more because Viz released them so slowly that they had only finished the Yellow arc by the time Ruby and Sapphire released. Also, relative to the sales of other manga, they didn't sell well which was the overall cause for cancelling them as Pokemania ended.
Official media prior to Gen 2 used vague names or, mistakenly (and only in the West) Ash because it was meant to be a player choice. But the reason they were named Red and Green is because they were the names you ended up with if you left the field blank. The player's names list for Gen I games was always
>New name>Your version name>Opposite version name>Satoshiwhile the rival was always
>New name>Opposite version name>Your version name>ShigeruSatoshi/Shigeru were just swapped for Ash/Gary in the West.
