LogFAQs > #951244236

11. Pokmon Red/Blue (GB, 1998)
A world of dreams and adventures with Pokmon awaits! Let's go!

I have to credit Pokmon for getting me into video games as a hobby. Unlike most of the rest of the users in this topic, I was not super into video games as a kid; I liked some sports titles, sim games, and Mario Kart, but wasn't really into platformers and RPGs like my brother was. But Pokmon basically turned that around single-handedly - the allure of collecting a bunch of things got me addicted to the video game, which got me into the card game, at which point it had devolved into an obsession that has lasted in some capacity for the rest of my life.
Red/Blue are probably the simplest of all the games in the series, but they still have a nice structural arc: up through the first few gyms, you're basically traveling along a linear path, but around arriving in Celadon City and getting the Flute, things start to branch out. By the time you get the Surf HM, you have a few different routes to go and some optional side-areas, before it starts to converge at the end. Despite all the graphical enhancements of later games, and it's relative visual blandness, Kanto is still one of my favorite Pokmon regions simply due to its simplicity, solid design, and noteworthy landmarks.
There's always the question of how well they stand up compared to modern games; the originals lack a lot of quality of life features that make later titles (especially the most recent Let's Go remakes) a lot easier to jump into. But I think the originals still hold up pretty solidly - HMs still kind of suck, for sure, and having a hard item cap on your inventory that includes key items and TMs makes you take extra trips to the PC, which is a hassle. Still, the games themselves are simple enough and all of the core mechanics shine through and are still engaging - you can replay trying to use a challenging set of monsters, or rotate with a team of creatures you've never used before, or try to get through with one type of Pokmon, and all of that is still a great time. And it's also got one of the better randomizers out there - going through a remixed game with a wild assortment of monsters and moves is just a blast.
There's not a lot I can add about Pokmon Blue (that's the version I owned) that hasn't been said by everyone else and is not part of the collective experience we all kind of had as kids when these games came out. (I know some of you are younger, but most of us Board 8ers are 30ish now, heh.) Red/Blue might not be the best games, and the nostalgia goggles sure do carry things a long way, but they're also games I've played and replayed over and over; I've done randomizers, speedruns, bingo battles, and challenge playthroughs, from the early 2000s until today, and the game still totally holds up for me. There's something about the classic formula of the Game Boy Pokmon games, with their minimalist sprite artwork, their bare-bones combat menus, and their actually-reasonable-to-do Pokdex size, that still stands head and shoulders above the rest. (And I've played and enjoyed every mainline game in the series to this day!) Of course, Red and Blue aren't the only Game Boy-era games, and there's one that just manages to eke it out...
Top 5 Favorite Kanto (Original 151) Pokmon: Farfetch'd - Venusaur - Ninetales - Haunter - Fearow

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