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Tas Plays Pokemon Red

So! I mentioned in a previous post that I have a mini-goal of playing through all the Pokemon games again, in order, back to back. A couple years ago I got a custom GameBoy Color for myself and some cartridges of the first Pokemon games, because I really wanted to play them on the hardware they were originally built for! And I thought it would be fun to document my thoughts as I play along. Here are my minor guidelines as I play:

  • No nuzlockes, or perma-death situations. Just a simple playthrough. I’ve done nuzlockes in the past, they can be fun, but I want this to be no stress.
  • No over-leveling. I do this a lot in Pokemon games, but I want to try not to fall into that, to give a bit more of a challenge, and also not spend most of the playthrough grinding.
  • I’m only playing one of the games of the original release. None of the “third editions”, aka Crystal or Emerald. I know those can be considered the more “definitive” version of that generation, but I wanted to focus on the original releases.
  • No remakes. I may mention them, though, since I’ve played most of them.

(Also PS: I’m really slow at video games. So uhh… I don’t know how frequent these posts are gonna be. I’m especially trying to take my time with these games, and I’m mostly playing them in small bursts in my free time. Don’t expect a schedule for this, it’ll happen as I finish them.)

With all that in mind… let’s talk about Generation 1, Pokemon Red!

My history

Pokemon Red (and Blue) came out in North America in 1998, and not to age myself… (either making myself really young or really old, depends on what you think) …but I was only four years old then. Therefore I didn’t play the first Pokemon games when they came out. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t exposed to Pokemon–because Pokemania was still in full swing then, and I got hit bad. I think it was the anime that originally roped me in, but I was hooked on the toys and movies pretty fast. I knew there were games, and I always wanted to play them, but I wouldn’t get that chance for another few years.

That’s not to say I’ve never played games that take place in the Kanto region–my first real experience with it was with the remake LeafGreen on the GBA. I also have dabbled with one proper Gen 1 game, having played a bit of Yellow version when it was available on the 3DS e-shop (RIP). But I never played the original GameBoy games, which was why I really wanted to dig my hands into them, after decades of hearing all about them and never getting the chance to play it myself.

So… how does it hold up?

Gameplay

You know, nowadays it feels almost redundant talking about Pokemon gameplay, considering so little of it really changes game to game. But like–this was where it all started. This laid the groundwork for the games still coming out now. Personally I always liked the way Pokemon structured itself–a simple enough storyline and goal, but with enough wiggle room for you to still make every playthrough unique.

Red and Blue breaks that down to its very simplest form, of course– it was the first game, after all, and came out on the GameBoy of all things. To many, this makes Red and Blue not worth revisiting, but I personally enjoyed my time with it… for the most part. The simplicity brought out a lot of charm, and the whole time I was playing it, it just got my mind whirling on how this game was made. Deep down, Pokemon can be pretty complex, but they had to present it in a very simple way because this was a game aimed for kids. I find that limitation intriguing, which just made me appreciate it more. Yes, every NPC just gives you tips and tricks–but I thought it was cute, and they often spiced up the dialogue in a way that makes it funny. Yes, there’s not much fluff to this game–but I could only imagine how much had to be cut to fit it into the GameBoy’s limitations… including a BUNCH of Pokemon which I’ll briefly cover later!

Of course on top of its simplicity, the other thing people usually bring up with Red and Blue is that it’s chalk full of glitches and programming errors. And there’s no denying that, but personally I didn’t have an issue with it while playing–but to be fair, I was also aware of all the broken moves and avoided them. The glitches also always added a certain mystique to me, I grew up obsessed reading about things like MissingNo., Glitch City and other glitchy ‘mons. It added a folklore to these games that was so compelling for kids in the 90s/early 2000s. Because of that, Red and Blue will always be painted with this eldritch touch to me–like deep beneath the screen lies a pixellated hellscape just bubbling to the surface. None of the other Pokemon games has this feel to it!

With all that being said… and with all the praise I’m doting on this game… in the end, it took me almost a year to finish it. Obviously that’s not because it’s difficult. It is very bare bones, and I’ve been spoiled by more modern Pokemon games–their mechanics, graphics… everything has improved from Gen 1. The spritework has a charm, certainly, but a lot of the Pokemon just don’t look very good, which put me off when I had to look at them for 90% of the game. It took a lot for me to play this game between work, because it did feel a little too simple, sometimes. Though, I will also admit: it wasn’t helped by the fact that before I decided to start this project, I had recently done a replay of LeafGreen. So I had already had my fill of the Kanto region, in a more updated format. Playing it again right after quickly made me lose steam.

There is very little to do in this game besides catching and battling Pokemon–no real side quests, barely any minigames. All the optional content in this game is just more dungeons with more Pokemon to catch. I didn’t end up doing all the side content in this game because of it–I didn’t catch all the Legendary Birds, or Mewtwo, because by the end I was honestly quite tired of just battling and catching. That’s all this game set out to do, which makes sense for a start in the series, but makes it all the more interesting how in later generations they spiced the gameplay up with more options.

My Final Team!

Here’s the goobers that got me through this game!

The hall of fame team was:

  • LEMONPEPPR | Jolteon | Level 49
  • SUSHI | Gyarados | Level 48
  • PNUTBRITTL | Aerodactyl | Level 46
  • YOGURT | Alakazam | Level 47
  • PUMPERNIKL | Nidoking | Level 45
  • ROTISSERIE | Moltres | Level 50

Admittedly, this was a 5-mon team for me. The last slot I interchanged between my starter (a Charizard named DORITO), a Haunter (named ICECREAM), and finally ROTISSERIE after I caught it in Victory Road. But really, it’s the main 5 that did all the work. Even ROTISSERIE didn’t do much in the final Elite Four battles, it was just there as something to fill my party. (Admittedly, I screwed up in giving the Fire Blast TM to my Charizard right before catching Moltres, not realizing Moltres doesn’t learn any other Fire move except Fire Spin, making it a bit of a waste…)

I think LEMONPEPPR was the breakout star, I found myself relying on them a lot, especially in the E4. SUSHI was also a very reliable fighter, and I was so happy to finally have the chance to use an Aerodactyl in my team with PNUTBRITTL. (Maybe I’ll try to make one, tiny rule in my runs to always have a fossil Pokemon on my team, if they’re available in that gen…)

The Pokemon Designs

Oh my god! Generation one! Everyone on planet earth knows at least one Gen 1 Pokemon. They are THE Pokemon for a lot of people. Which is why it’s so interesting playing Red and Blue, because they hadn’t even cemented the iconic Pokemon designs yet. The sprites were made before the official art (rendered in the fantastically nostalgic watercolours by Ken Sugimori), so you get so many weird looking sprites in this game. A lot of jokes about Gen 1 games are that the sprites are funky, and they aren’t lying!

This is really interesting for me, thinking about it. I really makes me wonder for a lot of these Pokemon–especially the ones where the sprite really deviates from the official art–if that was really the intent of the design at all. Sugimori unified all the designs and made them into what we know and love, but I can’t help but look at sprites like Ekans or Golbat and wonder if the original designer had meant for it to look the way we all know it now.

In general terms, Gen 1 Pokemon rock. They’ve faced their share of over-hype and the subsequent bashing over the years, but the first 151 Pokemon are some top notch designs. Yeah, I’m easily biased by nostalgia here and I’ll admit that–but there’s something for everyone in this dex. Dinosaurs? Cute bugs? Cool bugs? Cute pink blobs? Fluffy foxes? Inanimate objects? …Eggs? Gen 1 has you covered.

I think what stands out to me with Gen 1 Pokemon, versus future designs (especially the modern ones) is how ambiguous they could be; more monster, than creature. Modern Pokemon are often based on specific animals, and their designs reflect that. I do like this about them–I don’t want to bash it, because I think through this, Pokemon has become a really cool medium for kids to get into biology. But Gen 1 didn’t really have a frog, it had a monster that was kinda like a frog (Poliwhirl/wrath). The creature inspiration was more vague. Obviously that wasn’t always the case–you still had That’s a Bull: Taurus, and Horse On Fire: Ponyta/Rapidash. It wasn’t a set-in-stone design trend, but it is something I’ve noticed when comparing this generation to later ones–you don’t see very many vague monsters in the roster anymore, which is a shame.

Also, I gotta say–I’ve fallen in love with the Gen 1 kaiju mons. They didn’t strike my fancy as a kid, but the charm of the chunky dino mons, like the Nidos, Rhydon and Kangaskan, have won me over now. I think Rhydon has risen to one of my favourite Pokemon designs, really out of nowhere.

The Cut Pokemon!!!

For years and years we knew that there were more than 151 Pokemon originally set for Red and Blue–200, even!–but they had to be cut to save room on the cartridge. These are, in fact, the Missingno. that haunt the glitchy games! Well, recently, early Pokemon dev has been heavily leaked, and we got a glimpse of these cut Pokemon–only the backsprites, which unfortunately are hard to really parse in Gen 1, but hey! That’s bonkers to me! Helix Chamber, who did wonderful breakdowns on early Gen 1 dev even before these leaks, documented them here. The Pokemon that could have been! Could you imagine?

The Story

Finally, we end on the best part! Story isn’t really something you necessarily associate with Pokemon games, especially the early ones. I certainly didn’t pay much attention to it when I played my first Pokemon games. I think that’s a good point, though–Pokemon is about your journey. It’s what you make of it, while giving you a loose guideline to follow and motivate you. It’s why I gravitate a bit more to the older Pokemon games, as the newer ones have more concrete storylines. Which, hey, isn’t bad–Pokemon would have to change as it goes, but I feel like the newer games railroad you way more than I was used to. Maybe it’s not as bad as I think, though–I’m looking forward to replaying them to see.

But anyway–what about this game? Of all the things people discuss about Red and Blue, it’s rarely its story. Red and Blue is pretty bare bones, and there aren’t so much characters as there are NPCs to relay basic information to you. There’s no thoughtful dialogue, or grand climax in the end with a legendary. But stories aren’t just that, you know? Sometimes a story is subtle, it’s a theme that weaves through the background, ever present. I think Red and Blue has a really simple, but effective, and thoughtful, story in that regard.

Like a lot of RPGs, Pokemon Red and Blue follows the protagonist from a small rural town, traversing wilderness and caves until they reach the larger, important cities. It’s nothing new, but the important thing with Pokemon is: well, the Pokemon. They play a part in the story, too. And Red and Blue, I think, has a lot of interesting discussion about the interaction between humans and nature.

As you move through the game, you encounter less wilderness and more cities–right until one of the focal points of the game, which is a siege in a large skyscraper. You discover Pokemon that have been altered, or outright created by humans, like Porygon and Mewtwo, and these are framed from neutral to negative. But you have Pokemon that are outright born from human activity, too–in the case of Grimer and Koffing, which are creations directly from human pollution. Humans have an effect on Pokemon, and the Pokemon reflect that interaction. The forests and caves you traverse through in the early routes give way to towns, to the point where the biggest wilderness in the later game is a gamified safari reserve.

The creator of Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri, said that Pokemon was inspired by his love of collecting bugs as a child, but that was lost as cities came in and drove out the insects. He wanted Pokemon as a way for kids to experience something like that. I can really feel it in the heart of these games. The small sadness, ever present, as you move through Kanto. Technology is evolving in the Pokemon world, and we can already feel its consequences–is this dangerous? What should be done about it? How will this affect more of the world? But in the end, you’re just a kid, going on a journey. You see it in passing. You confront it some of it directly, with an evil syndicate using much of this technology for evil. But the world is gonna continue to evolve, and so will the Pokemon, too. It feels very apt for a game made in the 90s, where technology was advancing at huge rate, in new and terrifying ways–with no foresight into what we were really getting into.

I think Pokemon Red and Blue are a nice snapshot into the era it’s from, and perhaps still relevant now. It’s a subtle story, but that doesn’t make it all the less powerful. One of the first NPCs you encounter in Pallet Town is literally raving about how “technology is amazing!” (and they would bring back this NPC in every consequent starting town). Technology, human advancement–it is amazing, but also terrifying, especially if we don’t understand what we’re doing before moving forward.

For a first game in the franchise, and for something so “bare”, I think this is a really strong story theme they stuck to.

Conclusion

Pokemon always has a special place in my heart. Although that heart didn’t start in the games, the franchise itself did. I think Red/Blue are fascinating to look back on and delve into–the humble beginnings of a now billion-dollar company. In my opinion, it’s a very strong start, which lends to its success. A simple but effective game, story, and a diverse collection of monster designs for any kid to cling to. It’s good stuff!

Although it struggled to keep me fully invested, I had fun. Admittedly, I’m not sure I’d ever play through Red/Blue again, not unless I was doing some kind of challenge to keep me more attentive, like a nuzlocke. I have a lot of nostalgia for Pokemon, but that nostalgia isn’t entirely rooted in these games, so I can’t really use that to justify replaying it often. When I need my Kanto fix, my nostalgia lies in LeafGreen, and that’s probably where I’ll continue to go to when I want to replay a Kanto game.

I’m really looking forward to the next games, where I’ll be playing Silver. I also didn’t play any Gen 2 games growing up; though I did eventually get a Gold copy, I don’t think I played it as much as the Gen 3 games. But Gold/Silver mark a really interesting point with Pokemon games that I can’t wait to properly experience, and more importantly, write my thoughts about!

More Stuff

I’m gonna end this off with some scattered thoughts I have about Gen 1 and Red and Blue, that would have clogged up the stuff above:

  • I absolutely adore all the starters of Gen 1, I honestly can’t pick a fave. (I say that as I ditched mine… sorry, I’m a serial starter-ditcher).
  • It’s interesting how in the early games, the TMs contained very powerful moves. This was vital, too, because a lot of Pokemon movesets were very tiny.
  • Jumping off of that, a lot of Pokemon in Gen 1’s movesets don’t really reflect their typing. (Maybe this is due to the fact Pokemon didn’t originally have types at all). You don’t really use Nidoking/queen as a Poison Pokemon, and Gyarados hardly as a Flying type. Nowadays, the types and moves seem streamlined in that, say, every Water type will definitely learn powerful Water moves, but it wasn’t always the case in the early gens.
  • Aside from the fact the Ghost type was glitched and doesn’t do 2x damage on Psychic, and that there are no powerful Ghost moves anyway–I can’t believe they also made the only Ghost types part Poison, making them weak to Psychic. No wonder Psychic was so overpowered in Gen 1!
  • (Also: Bogleech has made an interesting point that Poison might have been the original “evil” type, before Dark came around, explaining why Team Rocket uses so many Poison types, and why the Ghosts were part Poison, too. Poison is an interesting type they included in this game, and plays a lot with the themes of humans involvement in nature, with many of them being born out of human pollution.)
  • Pokemon needs to bring back when Surfing/Flying just turned you into a Little Guy.
  • All the insight into the dev stuff of these games, that’s been revealed in recent years, is so cool. Blastoise wasn’t originally the final evolution of Squirtle–it was a part of its own line! The substitute doll was likely based on a cut Pokemon! The weird connection between Cubone and Kangaskan was sort of confirmed! Kotora, the beloved cut Pokemon from Gold and Silver, was also originally cut from Gen 1, too.
  • My favourite Pokemon as a kid was Raichu and Charmander, though it changed frequently. I was also later obsessed with Vaporeon, Flareon and Articuno too.
  • My faves now from this gen I’d say are: Rhydon, Nidoking/queen, and Arcanine.

Finally, here’s some recommendations I have if you want to dive more into some Gen 1 discussions, that I have absolutely eaten up and loved every bite:

Thanks for reading!

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