Old School Game Reviews: Pokemon Red/Yellow

The games which I will be reviewing today are two of the most classic games that I'm sure most of everyone reading this is familiar with, they're Pokemon Red and Yellow. Red/Yellow are quite similar for the most part, besides Yellow having a different starter Pokemon and a few other changes to features of the game. I picked both of these up on the digital Nintendo E-shop, and figured I'd review them as a pair since they're very close to being the same game. I didn't bother to pick up Pokemon Blue, since it's essentially the same exact game as Red with no changes besides 11 exclusive Pokemon. 

Both of these games were developed by Game Freak and then published by Nintendo. There was a bit of a difference in release dates, however, as Pokemon Red was released in February of 1996 while Pokemon Yellow was released in September of 1998. Both games were originally released on the Game Boy handheld console, with Yellow seeing a release for the Game Boy color along with it's own special edition console. Each game has an overhead perspective which allows you to control your character. As I mentioned before though, the versions that I am reviewing are the re-released ones on the 3DS's digital eshop. Since Yellow is an enhanced version of Blue/Red, I'll spend most of this review speaking of Pokemon Red. But, don't you worry, I'll bring up Yellow and it's differences in just a little bit! 

If you grew up in the 90's, then I'd be shocked if you weren't familiar with at least one of these games. You'd also probably wonder why Pokemon is still one of the biggest gaming franchises around , even to this day. I remember back in the 90's that basically every kid who owned a game boy had a copy of either Red/Blue/Yellow, and probably has fond memories of playing and trading Pokemon with other kids during these years. Pretty much everyone into gaming at that point in time was influenced by these games in some way, which is why we get a huge sense of nostalgia with these games even now. 

This is something I'm sure Nintendo had to be aware of, as they put out these digital recreations of the games on their eshop marketplace within the last couple of years. This was a smart choice on Nintendo's part, in my opinion. As it not only lets adults relive a piece of their childhood in an easier way than using an emulator or trying to dig out our old Gameboys if we still have them, but it also lets the newer generation try out some classic games which will let them experience what we did growing up. 

And, Nintendo was definitely aiming to recreate the experience these games gave to us in the 90's. They've even went so far as to include all of the weird, awesome glitches that were in the original games. While I'm sure they were definitely planning on capitalizing on the nostalgic feelings of people in their 20's, I really feel like the effort that went into these ports/recreations also was done to try and show why we were all so driven, sometimes addicted, to catching all of those pocket monsters. 

The story that we get with each of these games as well as Pokemon Blue is quite the simple one. The games all take place within the Kanto region, where you're taking on the role of a young teen who is just starting his career of being a Pokemon trainer. The main goal of the game is to go catch as many Pokemon as you can, train them up, battle gym leaders, and make your way into becoming the Pokemon Champion. You'll help out random people, as well as your neighbor Professor Oak, and occasionally get into scuffles with a nefarious group known as Team Rocket. That's about all there really is to the narrative itself. 

As I'm sure anyone who's played a Pokemon game knows, they never really focus too hard on making an intricate, emotional story to the games. There are no real twists and turns, just a basic setting, plot and set of characters. While you do have enemies in the game, they're more of just an annoying group than a dastardly evil you have to destroy. In Pokemon Red and Yellow, we have Team Rocket. Team Rocket may be a nuisance, but they're certainly not much of an antagonist for the games. 

And, while they may not be very threatening, you do have a fierce Rival which you compete with throughout the games. You get to choose their name, and most of the time they end up picking the starter that is strong against your Pokemon's type. The Pokemon series might very well be the only type of Japanese RPG game to design their game this way, where there isn't a real heavy focus on the story. But, that's because the majority of the fun and entertainment from the game is from catching Pokemon and battling them with other trainers/Pokemon. 

While it might seem pretty odd to some people how the game uses it's gameplay to show progression, especially since it's supposed to be an RPG, I can only say that it just comes together and works well. Even after almost 22 years have gone by, this engaging system still holds together so well, that hundreds of thousands of people still get quality entertainment from it. It gets to be such an immersive experience, you'll end up finding yourself spending hours grinding away trying to find those last few Pokemon you need, or if you're really determined you may find yourself shining hunting which is quite the process. I think in a way that's how it hooks you, it has the grinding aspect from most RPG's, just with a twist added onto it where it becomes fun instead of tedious. 

I also think originally when these came out, that we got a sense of wonder from seeing all the strange and cool Pokemon designs that were seemingly based off fantastical things. It left you wondering what these Pokemon were exactly based off of at times. They certainly seemed to have taken inspiration from a plethora of creatures for designing these pocket monsters. It was exciting to discover more and more creatures which looked to be designed from dinosaurs, animals from the modern age, and even fantasy style creatures like dragons. Some of them were so strange you had no idea exactly what it was supposed to be, such as Ditto or Voltorb. My point is that there was just this compelling feeling of wonder while you played. I've had a hard time finding a game other than the Pokemon series that had this same effect. 

Besides having interesting and distinct designs, the Pokemon games also introduced a strength/weakness system that you had to carefully keep an eye on while you were battling. When I was a kid I hadn't seen anything like this, and as time has went on it's only expanded into an even bigger and more complicated system. I know there were plenty of times when I was first playing these games where I just kept trying to have one Pokemon of each type in my party so I could always come out in these rock/paper/scissor type settings. 

You couldn't always rely on doing this, however, as the game would throw a hitch in your plans a few times throughout. As you continue to play, you'll find out quickly that there's a fair bit of grinding which must be done to pass each boss and certain areas. I mean, it doesn't really matter if you have an electric type when facing a water type if you're 13-15 levels under that Pokemon. All that you'll end up doing is mopping up the floor and leaving some residual static shock. But, as I mentioned briefly before, the grinding gameplay is so fast paced that you don't get really tired or upset with it. This was an essential thing for a handheld console, and is part of the reason why these games are so successful. 

Between the narrative of the game, fast paced gameplay, and grinding elements, there's also the stout amount of Pokemon that you'll have to try and hunt down. The newer games obviously have a fairly larger amount available for you to catch and collect, but don't scoff at these Gen I titles either. 150 different Pokemon is still a pretty large amount, and will require a reasonable amount of your time to get. Especially when there are certain Pokemon only available in specific areas where you can't even battle them and must lure them and hope you've got good luck, like the Safari Zone. You'll easily find yourself getting 40-50 hours of gameplay in between all of these elements, and even then your Pokedex probably won't be finished. As far as getting your bang for your buck with Red and Yellow, I can definitely say you won't be disappointed

So, lets get into talking about the differences between the games. For those who never got to play these games back when they came out, you might be wondering if you should buy all 3 of them. The answer to this, is no. Unless you're dead set on collecting the games, or just like to watch your money fade away that is. The reason I say this, is because between Pokemon Red and Blue, there is basically no difference besides 11 Pokemon being exclusive to each version. Now, if you're concerned with filling out your Pokedex you might be thinking that you need both versions. 

However, with these ported recreations, wireless trading is still prevalent where you can just trade with someone to get those missing Pokemon. It'd be a waste of $10 to get both versions, and I believe here you should just choose one or the other. This is still seen to this very day with each new generation of games released. Pokemon Gold/Silver, Pokemon X/Y, Pokemon Ruby/Saphire, etc. At the end of the day there are only miniscule changes to these games and you should just pick whatever version is your favorite of the two. 

Pokemon Yellow is a bit of a different beast though. This was a special edition game that changed a few mechanics from Red/Blue. It was based around from what I gather off the success of the Pokemon anime, and this is why you get a Pikachu who follows you around outside of a pokeball as your starter Pokemon instead of Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur. (Though you can get all 3 starters in this game later on.) It was an endearing little feature to the game back when it came out in 1998, and made me feel even closer to the series since at the time Pikachu was basically the mascot for Pokemon. 

After starting the game, a change is noticed pretty quickly via your Rival. In the previous games, they would choose the starter strongest against yours. In this game, your Rival pulls out a curveball and trains an Eevee which can evolve into three different Pokemon depending on your gameplay. You may be facing off against a Jolteon, Flareon, or Vaporeon after making your way through the game. I thought this was a neat mechanic, and showed how useful Eevee really could be. Besides that change, there is also a slightly different roster of Pokemon with Pokemon Yellow compared to Red/Blue, but again, you can trade with others to fix that issue. The game also showed us a newer and updated sprite set for the Pokemon which made them a bit more attractive and clear looking which I thought was an improvement as well. 

Something else that was different than Pokemon Yellow introduced was the prototype like happiness system which they later on adapted and started using in their other games. In this one, it allowed you to check in on Pikachu and see how he felt about you depending on your treatment of him. You'll either get an image of a happy Pikachu, or an angry Pikachu when you check in on him after awhile. The game is a bit vague with how you can increase/decrease happiness, and overall in this game it doesn't really matter in the end. It doesn't effect the gameplay much, besides giving you an entertaining option to talk to your Pikachu every once and awhile.  

Now, a fair amount of this review has been talking about my experiences with the games from when I was a kid. Let me just say that I'm quite impressed with how good of a job Nintendo did with bringing these games over to the 3DS console. Not only did the make sure to include infamous glitches with the original games such as encountering the Missing No. which would allow you to duplicate any item in your bag, or even crash and ruin your game if you dared to try and catch it, but also allowed you to glitch the game where you could catch the widely loved 151st Pokemon, Mew. They also did a wonderful job at adapting the wireless feature so you can still trade and battle with people on these games. 

Anyone who loved the original games who's been wishing they could play them again, you'll be more than happy with these. If I were you, I'd stick with Red over blue since I like the exclusive Pokemon for that game better, but you can't go wrong with either of them. Yellow offers you the option of all the starters, plus a few new fun mechanics so I don't think it would be a waste to grab it alongside one of the other two. No matter what your choice, I'm sure you'll enjoy whichever game you play and get to relive your childhood a bit, or see why this series got to be the massive giant it is. 

Anyways, thanks for checking out my review! Hope you've enjoyed it! (If the structure of it was a bit of a mess, I apologize, I haven't been feeling too good this afternoon and have been dealing with family issues and other things.)