Pokemon Red And Blue Review – A Simplistic Core Means Less Is More

I think Pokemon Red and Blue are sorely misrepresented by the fanbase at large. Many Pokemon fans started their adventures here and have an opinion based on their experience when it was released. Then there are those who started later, deciding not to go back to play the old games due to the low power of the Gameboy and perceived archaic aspects that appear to be superannuated by games on newer hardware. While there are definitely aspects that can be improved upon or completely redone, I believe that as long as the core gameplay and identity of a series is still present and isn’t obscured by it’s drawbacks, it’s still a good game.

If you’re looking at that scrollbar and thinking “hell no I’m not reading all that”. Here’s the TL;DR of my Pokemon Red Review

What Is The Core Of Mainline Pokemon Games?

The core mechanics that make me enjoy mainline Pokemon games is:

• Choosing your favorite Pokemon to have on your team (Having personal choice over what you play with)
• Going on an adventure in a vast world and exploring invigorating atmospheres (Having more options or paths to play and an enjoyable presentation)
• Becoming the very best like someone else was (Having a goal to work towards)

While I could make that list a lot longer on things I want out of a Pokemon game, I feel like as long as those 3 things aren’t hindered in the experience, then I’m going to have a good time. If those things become obfuscated, the cracks become more obvious. With those basic parameters out of the way, let’s see how Pokemon Red measures up to my expectations and tastes.

I played Pokemon Red Version on real hardware using Pokemon Stadium’s GB Tower on the N64 with the Transfer Pak. The addition of Pokemon Stadium made things like trade evolutions a breeze and I personally prefer playing games on the biggest screen I can.

How Does Pokemon Red And Blue Feel?

This is a Gameboy game from 1996. At a quick glance, that’s all it seems to be, however with some imagination and a second to take in the game itself, you’ll realize that this game accomplished a world beyond most of it’s contemporaries and in a couple ways, beyond it’s successors.

The Music Invigorates Your Imagination And Gets You In Character

In Pokemon Red, you play as a young boy probably around 10 years old. You leave your home to explore the whole region beyond your small town. Even without supernatural animals, that would seem like a pretty epic adventure to a young kid. The music in this game while simple, captures that childlike wonder perfectly. The route tunes remind me of some of the songs I’d hum to myself while going somewhere alone or doing something cool. Mt. Moon gives feelings of being lost, frustrated, then fear. Cities are given music that exaggerates their appeal. If you visit a coastal city as a child and see a cool sailor for the first time, you may pretend to yourself that you’re a sailor, Vermillion and Cinnabar themes embody that perfectly. Celadon City has the largest mall around as well as the Game Corner and probably has the happiest and most excited song in the game if not the bicycle theme. Imagine how excited you were getting your first bike, how much further you could go, how the wind felt from how much faster you could go. Each of these songs are simple, but they are all meant to emotionally stir your imagination and connect your inner child to the content at hand.

The way NPCs talk to you– Kid characters treat you like an equal and often tell you silly things while adults are usually dismissive or talk down to you even if polite. This along with the primitive item and inventory system relates to Earthbound in making you feel more like your in game character.

The World Of Pokemon

The Kanto Region is vast, featuring 10 towns of varying sizes and starts out in Pallet Town. Now, while you are required to go through the first 2 Pokemon gyms linearly there are optional things to do at multiple parts throughout such as the optional rival fight on Route 22 or the bonus floors in Mt. Moon. After that, the game opens up by an extreme amount and you can do the next 5 gyms in almost any order! This as well as all the optional content such as the bicycle and the move Fly creates a free moving world and the choice of which steps and paths to take makes exploration much more enjoyable. There’s also the subject of optional back tracking, often times you’ll find an item or move that allows you to access more in an area you were previously in. These features keep the world feeling alive and make Pokemon Red and Blue one of if not the most open ended Pokemon games to date.

How Does Pokemon Red And Blue Play?

When you start the game you can choose between 3 different Pokemon to start your journey Charmander(My Fav), Squirtle, and Bulbasaur. After this you are free to catch any Pokemon you come across in the world. Each Pokemon can have 4 out of the 165 different moves at a time. These choices provide players with a sense of individuality and a rewarding replay experience. Unfortunately, there are some hiccups in hindsight that make these experiences feel less open than they actually are.

Pokemon Red And Blue suffer from a total cartridge size of 512KB as well as the Gameboy’s limited RAM. This creates limitations. Some are excusable and in my opinion add to the experience such as items and Pokemon moves not having descriptions, causing experimentation which leans further into your character and casual enjoyment. Other limitations are plain not good.

The Inventory System Sucks…

The single biggest offender in my opinion is your inventory size. Your bag, the items you can carry with you at all times is limited to 20 slots while you can access storage in towns that has an additional 50 slots to make 70 unique items total that you can hold. By my count there are 65 TMs and HMs and 69 (nice?) other items. This means there’s 64 items you just can’t have by the end of the game. What’s worse is a lot of these items can’t even be gotten rid of because they’re key items, and to rub more salt in the wound, a lot of them are keys that are only used once and then are useless for the rest of the game.

Glitches!?

Beyond limitations is glitches which also have their share of awesome and awful, however I think they air on the more fun side due to most players being ignorant to most of the awful ones and the game being so easy they won’t hinder you much if at all. I recommend trying some of the more active in depth glitches, they’re really fun to mess around with, however just be careful about saving when using them as a couple can potentially corrupt your save.

At the end of the day though you still have the core experience of taking your choice Pokemon, leveling them up, and choosing which moves they gain and lose along the way either through level up or through TMs and HMs which are one time use items that teach your Pokemon a certain move. The game feels quite snappy to play, one of the bonuses of having small file sizes to work with, and the challenge is generally low especially if you just use your starter Pokemon throughout the journey and pick up the EXP All item.

How Did They Balance This Thing?

Let’s talk a bit about the balance in Pokemon Red and Blue. The game does suffer in the type chart in relation to the available Pokemon and moves, as well as the way the special stat is calculated. Psychic type has a strong selection of moves as well as it not really being checked by it’s weaknesses properly. Most moves especially ones learned early on in the game are Normal type, thus giving Ghost type Pokemon an early edge, though I think this is fine because they lack a good move pool and don’t affect Psychic type Pokemon. The Special stat calculates for attack and defense for Water, Grass, Fire, Ice, Electric, Psychic, and technically Dragon type moves, this does give special Pokemon an edge over physical Pokemon that use the Attack and Defense stats instead. One semi issue is the game suffers from late game underleveling, your Pokemon are all probably going to be 10 to 25 levels below your opponent’s Pokemon. Luckily this isn’t that big of an issue because the game’s difficulty is so low, but battles change from a back and forth battle to who can one shot each other first. It also causes a few issues such as using Repels and catching Pokemon. Repels only keep wild battles from happening if the wild Pokemon is lower level than the leading Pokemon in your party. A large part of catching Pokemon relies on your Pokemon being around the opposing Pokemon’s level or higher to reliably catch it without missing the ball. All of this can be mitigated by only using 1 or 2 Pokemon instead of a full party or just grinding a lot.

Is This Game Hard?

Now when I say the game is easy, I don’t mean you can fight the Champion with a level 2 Caterpie and sweep. I mean you have all the tools available to you to make the game as easy as you want without intense grinding sessions. You still have to use your brain in some scenarios, but you aren’t going to be pulling your hair out or wanting to boost your Pokemon up 20 levels just to beat a trainer. Let’s take an infamous sore spot for most players, the first gym you come to, Brock. If you choose Bulbasaur or Squirtle, he should be no issue since your Pokemon are strong against Rock type Pokemon, however Charmander trainers tend to struggle since all of it’s moves aren’t very effective against Rock types. The common complaint is there’s no other Pokemon that are strong against Rock types in the areas that you can explore, so you should just grind your Charmander up to level 16 and evolve it to beat Brock with raw power. This just isn’t thinking about all the possibilities available to you. You can catch other Pokemon such as Rattata and Nidoran who know Tail Whip and Leer which lower defenses of the defending Pokemon along with Charmander who knows Growl which lowers it’s attack. Stack these up along with a potion to heal Charmander and Brock’s Onix is going to be useless. I beat him when my Charmander was 2 levels below Onix.

All in all, the game is fun, it provides diverse ways of tackling combat as well as the path forward. The puzzles are fun except for maybe Victory Road’s strength puzzle due to the constant wild battles breaking it up and making it disorienting (the underleveling repel issue is the main problem here). The side content is also worth trying out.

What Else Can You Do In Pokemon Red And Blue?

Despite the limitations included in Pokemon’s introductory game, it still manages to include some alright optional and post game content.

Pokedex completion is technically optional and is more a completion task rather than a requirement to beat the game. To do this you’ll need to do a multitude of things besides just wandering the grass. You’ll need to do Fishing, which requires using a rod key item you obtained from an NPC, in front of water and waiting for RNG to bless you with a Pokemon on the end of the hook. It’s simple, but at least it’s just a boring aspect you can do while doing another task. You’ll also need to catch the 5 boss Pokemon. These are Pokemon that you can find as sprites in the overworld, usually only being able to find one of each, so if you end the battle with it without catching it, it’s gone forever. Snorlax is the only Pokemon required to be encountered as it’s blocking your path in the mid game. The legendary bird Moltres is probably the second easiest to come across as you’ll find it in Victory Road, which you have to go through to beat the game, the other 3 are kept in side dungeons that are completely optional to come across and enter. The Seafoam Islands contain Articuno and a fun little strength puzzle, pushing rocks down holes to block an aggressive water current. Zapdos is found at the old Kanto Power Plant. A creepy abandoned building filled with Wild encounters and Mimic Pokemon, an RPG staple. Lastly you’ll find Mewtwo in Cerulean Cave, a dungeon you can’t access until after beating the game. It’s a maze and includes the strongest wild Pokemon in the game.

The Game Corner

Believe it or not, the Game Corner has a hand in helping you complete your Pokedex. The Game Corner is a blatant slots casino where you trade cash for “coins” to play the slot machines and trade for prizes, those being TMs or Pokemon. One of these Pokemon is actually exclusive to the Game Corner, that being Porygon, The rest can be found in the wild or Safari Zone.

The Safari Zone

The Safari Zone is a neat….. Zone you can run around in and catch Pokemon except…. There’s a catch. Instead of battling the wild Pokemon with your trusty partners, you just throw rocks at them. This increases your chance to catch the Pokemon, but the Pokemon can also run away and it turns out that Pokemon don’t like being hit by rocks, so you can throw bait at them too which will keep them around, but also make them harder to catch. It turns out the best strategy statistically is to use neither and just throw safari balls at them until you make the capture or they run away. Some Pokemon can only be found in the Safari Zone and it’s a nice change of pace from regular gameplay.

Trading And Multiplayer

The last thing I want to touch on would be Trading. In the overworld there are some NPC trainers that ask you to trade a specific Pokemon for another. This is the only way you can acquire a Mr. Mime for example. Trading can also cause some Pokemon to evolve, such as my Gengar in my Pokemon Red playthrough, I traded a Haunter to my Pokemon Blue cartridge and it evolved, I traded it back after. Yes, you can trade Pokemon with other games as well, in fact that’s the only way you’re able to complete your Pokedex because some Pokemon are only available in Pokemon Blue just as some are only available in Red. Along with trading you can also battle other players and due to the competitiveness, that is where the balance, limitations, and glitches tend to show for the worse, but that has it’s own meta and is no longer commonplace, so I don’t really consider it when looking over this game. If anything, the version exclusives and trading are more of a hindrance to the game now than a plus because you won’t find many others playing this game anymore, so hopefully you have a way to trade with yourself or generate/cheat the Pokemon into your game if you want them.

TL;DR

Pokemon Red/Blue is old, it’s flawed, but more importantly it’s simple and it’s fun. The amount of choice you have in this 512 kilobyte Gameboy game is vast and even outdoes many newer Pokemon games in some ways. The core values of what makes a Pokemon game good still shine through all these years later and it’s simplicity gives a flavor of childlike imagination. It’s age does show in many areas and going for a complete Pokedex does seem like a pain these days and I wouldn’t recommend you tackle it, but I still enjoyed this game quite a bit and I think a short playthrough is worth your time especially if you like newer entries in the series.