red_(pokemon) is a catch-all tag for the Red in the games and the Red in the manga, two very similar characters in appearance and history (the game version inspired the manga version)
red_(pokemon)_(classic) is, basically, the Red of the game wearing the clothes he wears in the classic (1st generation) games
We're making new character tags for different outfits now instead of just using alternate_costume or basic clothing tags? Seriously, Kouki and Hikari's remake tag is literally just a coat search.
Red only had a classic tag since the differences between his appearances was largely untaggable, but I can't imagine why he'd need a remake tag on top of that when it's just a -Red_(pokemon)_(classic) search.
Either way is fine with me - having or not having character tags that can be replaced by other tags. (but, as long as we have them, I have kept them cleaned up and with good wikis - I like them, after all)
You can decide for yourselves.
But, since I went through the trouble of creating and populating them, (also, I gave some time, so I have seen these tags being used in a few posts naturally), I'd appreciate if people devised good replacements for them, which should be an easy task; for example, adding the tags coat and alternate_costume to all instances of hikari_(pokemon)_(remake). I could help with that.
So, this is an incomplete (but completable) search of character designs of HGSS, which was the purpose of pokemon_heartgold_and_soulsilver in the past:
However, there are some exceptions. We can't search for red_(pokemon) pokemon_gsc if we want to see him as the GSC/HGSS boss, because that search mostly returns merely images of Red alongside random GSC characters.
The correct place to fulfill that purpose is pool #4149 ("Pokemon - Red at Mt. Silver ").
Not sure how I'm feeling *_(classic) and *_(remake) when Green's got *_(frlg) and *_(hgss). I'd think it more standardized to base these tags on the initializations, but then there'd be so many, wouldn't there...? Oy.
EDIT: And Hikari's Platinum outfit can be even as much as the hair clips (yellow in D/P, pink in Pt).
Why do we have all these tags anyway? They're the same characters. I understand the *_classic tags for Green and Red since they went through a redesign, but the rest is going overboard.
You can barely call Green a redesign. He got a tucked in shirt and a fanny pack for FRLG. Unless you were referring to the female protagonist of FRLG, but even then it's just a black_dress search.
Anyway, a while back (in forum #71099) I proposed to get rid of the HGSS and FRLG tags because at the time I couldn't see the point. They involve the same people and places and that's about all Danbooru really cares about. However, I also suggested that the slight costume differences can be covered with alternate_costume if needed.
But apparently, instead of having a few extra copyrights for Pokemon we now have three times as many character tags. It completely defeats the point of simplifying the Pokemon tags in the first place.
However, now I realize that I completely overlooked the images that specifically refer to the games themselves, which is pretty common with Pokemon. That's something that can only really be covered by game tags. Merging the HGSS / FRLG with Pokemon_GSC / Pokemon_RGBY was a mistake, especially if it means this many character tags.
The same would happen with the Sinnoh Gym leaders, the Elite Four, etc.
Alternatively, we can decide that pokemon_platinum is for Platinum-specific things only. (i.e., for what we don't see in the original Pokémon D&P, such as Hikari's pink winter clothes and the new forms of Giratina and Shaymin) With that, it would make sense implicating it to pokemon_dppt.
What makes you think I was referring to games like Pokemon Platinum or Pokemon Emerald? I specifically mentioned the ones I was referring to. There's nothing significant about either Platinum, Emerald, or Crystal that requires their own tags. FRLG and HGSS not only had major overhauls, but they were also very anticipated and are often contrasted with the originals in art. They are the only ones that should need their own tags, and it has nothing to do with things that can be covered with alternate_costume or coat.
Here is the code for separating FRLG from RGBY and HGSS from GSC, as conversed above. Once this is done, I'll take care of splitting the posts between the copyright tags and updating the wikis.
The final result is simply having these 4 tags, each with a number of aliases:
remove alias pokemon_fr -> pokemon_rgby remove alias pokemon_lg -> pokemon_rgby remove alias pokemon_frlg -> pokemon_rgby remove alias pokemon_fr&lg -> pokemon_rgby remove alias pokemon_firered -> pokemon_rgby remove alias pokemon_leafgreen -> pokemon_rgby remove alias pokemon_firered_and_leafgreen -> pokemon_rgby
create alias pokemon_fr -> pokemon_frlg create alias pokemon_lg -> pokemon_frlg create alias pokemon_fr&lg -> pokemon_frlg create alias pokemon_firered -> pokemon_frlg create alias pokemon_leafgreen -> pokemon_frlg create alias pokemon_firered_and_leafgreen -> pokemon_frlg
remove alias pokemon_hg -> pokemon_gsc remove alias pokemon_ss -> pokemon_gsc remove alias pokemon_hgss -> pokemon_gsc remove alias pokemon_hg&ss -> pokemon_gsc remove alias pokemon_heartgold -> pokemon_gsc remove alias pokemon_soulsilver -> pokemon_gsc remove alias pokemon_heartgold_and_soulsilver -> pokemon_gsc
create alias pokemon_hg -> pokemon_hgss create alias pokemon_ss -> pokemon_hgss create alias pokemon_hg&ss -> pokemon_hgss create alias pokemon_heartgold -> pokemon_hgss create alias pokemon_soulsilver -> pokemon_hgss create alias pokemon_heartgold_and_soulsilver -> pokemon_hgss
As others have said, I honestly don't see the point of *_(remake). It just adds to the clutter, especially since it's only a costume change and not a character redesign like G/S protagonists and HGSS protagonists.