Pokémon Red, Blue, Green and Yellow

Pokémon Red, Blue, Green and Yellow
Gotta catch 'em all!
Genre(s): Role-playing Platform(s): Game Boy Release Date: JP: February 27, 1996 NA: September 28, 1998 AU: October 23, 1998 EU: October 5, 1999 Developer(s): Game Freak Publisher(s): Nintendo Series: Pokémon Successor: Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (remakes)

Pokémon Red and Blue are a pair of role playing games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. They are the first installments of the Pokémon mainline series and overall the first games in the franchise. They were originally released in Japan as Pocket Monsters Red and Green. An enhanced version was released a few months after Red and Green called Pocket Monsters Blue which fixes some bugs and glitches while also upgrading the graphics. Another enhanced version, Pokémon Yellow (Pocket Monsters Pikachu in Japan), was later released, with additional features when played on a Game Boy Color.

Remakes of Red and Green, FireRed and LeafGreen, were released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004.

Twenty years after the original release of Pokémon Yellow in Japan, remakes of the game, Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! were released for the Nintendo Switch.

Why It's Gotta Catch 'Em All!

1. The concept is very creative and fits very well with the Game Boy's portable nature.
2. Amazing graphics for its time.
3. Catching Pokémon and raising them as virtual pets is very fun.
4. The games are designed to be played with others; there are some version-exclusive Pokémon that can only be obtained by trading with other players who own the opposite version from yours.
   • The games don't punish you for only having one version either nor encourage you to buy both versions.
5. There are 15 different elemental typings that Pokémon can have, these types have a rock-paper-scissors nature where types have advantages and weaknesses against specific other types.
   • For example, Water is strong against Fire, Fire is strong against Grass, and Grass is strong against Water.
   • Some Pokémon have two types at once, which change the strengths and weaknesses further.
6. The game's world map is based on the real world Kanto region in Japan.
7. There are 151 different Pokémon to choose from for your team and you can use whichever ones you want. Different team compositions open lots of possibilities for strategies and combinations.
8. Using a Link Cable, you can play Pokémon battles with others.
9. The game's story mode takes you around eight Gyms where you fight "boss battles" followed by the Elite Four challenge and then the champion.
10. You have a rival that frequently challenges you throughout the game and it's enjoyable difficult.
11. Yellow is one of the few Game Boy games with voice acting, in this case Pikachu's voice.
12. Pokémon Yellow allows you to have all 3 Kanto starter Pokémon without glitches unlike its sequel.
13. Yellow updates a few species' movesets, such as Charizard learning Fly by HM, and Pikachu learning Thunderbolt.
14. Yellow introduces a few minigames starring Surfing Pikachu and Flying Pikachu.
15. The game has a fully unique and fleshed out battle system when compared to other RPGs at the time, as the attack moves are given different types that would be super effective or not effective if the Opponents Pokémon is weak or fully resisted by that attack move's typing, and it also uses different types of movesets that a Pokémon might utilize, or have stats that are different from each of them that range from the 300s or the 400s with 5 different base stats. Despite it not being as polished as later installments, it is very well executed and makes the game very fun & enjoyable.
16. All of the characters are very memorable and have a lot of likability to them, most notably Misty and Brock who have great personalities and have become some of the most iconic Gym Leaders in the series to date.
17. Many great designs for the Pokémon such as Charizard, Raichu, Nidoking, Dragonite, Sandslash, Marowak, etc.

Bad Qualities

1. The game is notorious for having lots of bugs and glitches, some of which can be game breaking, most notably the infamous MissingNo., the literal glitch Pokémon.
2. The game is very poorly balanced, with Psychic-type Pokémon being severely overpowered, both due to no types being able to counter them well (Bug-type Pokémon at the time were very weak and only one weak Pokémon knows about the Bug Type moves; furthermore, a glitch made it so that Psychic-types are immune to Ghost-type moves, dark type didn't exist at the time and the only ghost Pokémon are the Ghastly line which is also weak to Psychic due being poison type), as well as the Special stat, being used for calculating both the defense and attack values for special moves.
3. Some battle types didn't have many attacks with the worst offenders being the Bug Type attacks as they only have three attack moves (Pin Missile, Twineedle, and String Shot) and Dragon type has only one attack (Dragon Rage).
4. Like many older RPGs, the game relies on level grinding to pad out it's length. Stronger Pokémon also gain EXP slower which means they require significantly more grinding.
5. The game has the infamous HM moves which are not only required for story progression but also unable to be deleted. Since they are also bad in combat except Surf, Fly, and (to a lesser extent) Strength, you are essentially forced to use subpar moves for the sake of progress. Players were often forced waste a team slot with an "HM Slave", which is a Pokémon whose sole purpose is to have as many HM Moves as possible and never be used in battle.
6. Your bag has limited space and you can also only store a limited amount of items in your PC.
7. TMs are consumed after use and many of them can only be obtained once per game.
8. The infamous Lavender Town theme sounds very unsettling.
   • It was so creepy that a rumor was spread on Internet about kids in Japan committing suicide just by hearing its music.
9. Some of the Pokémon's sprites are creepy (particularly in the original Red and Green), especially the infamous Golbat sprite in Red/Blue. Fortunately many sprites got fixed in the Yellow Version.
10. Brock and Misty can be very hard if you choose Charmander.
11. Some Pokémon's cries are extremely similar (for example Charizard and Rhyhorn, Paras and Mewtwo).
12. The learnsets of some Pokémon are terrible, like Arbok, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Sandslash and Dragonite.
    • Some Pokémon learnsets don't make sense at all, like Growlith not learning Growl, Lickitung not learning Lick and the the most infamous of all, Charizard not learning Fly.
13. For some reason, Ghost type Pokémon are fully Physical type despite the species being spirits of dead people and are known to use special powers & have the ability to go through walls, which makes no sense in the slightest considering the fact that the Ghost type Pokémon introduced in these games, the Gastly family, are primarily Special Attackers and have a pretty bad physical attack statuses. This wasn't addressed until Gen 4 with the Physical/Special split.
14. In Pokémon Red, Blue, or Green, Team Rocket only had a Rocket Grunt at every turn, which goes on repetitively and can only get on everybody's nerves at the last minute.
15. In the special Pikachu version when battling Misty, it gets harder and harder to complete when going against Starmie, which does not make sense since Pikachu can use the Electric type movies to attack Starmie critically.

Tips

• Bulbasaur is the best starter to choose as it can beat Brock and Misty without any trouble. It resists Lt Surge and Erika's Pokémon, It cannot be poisoned by Koga's Pokémon, It can also beat Giovanni with ease and Beats all Lorelei's Pokémon (except for Jynx) and Bruno's Onix.
• Normal, Fighting, Flying, Rock, Ground, Bug, Ghost and Poison type moves are physical moves while Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Dragon and Ice type moves are special moves.
• The easiest way to Beat Sabrina's Pokémon is by using physical moves since Psychic Pokémon have low defense.
• The Silph Co. quest is optional as you can get past the ghost on Lavender Tower by using a Poké Doll.
• Always use different types of Pokémon in your team.
• Do not use only your Starter Pokémon.
• Do not waste your Master ball on random Pokémon and instead use it to Mewtwo as It cannot be caught with other Poké Ball.
• An easy way to win against Brock if you choose Charmander is by catching a Butterfree (Mankey is also viable in Yellow and Red and Nidoran M also learns Double Kick in Yellow), while Pikachu is pretty much necessary against Misty since Pikachu can be caught anywhere at the Viridian Forest (Though it has 5% chance to appear).

Reception

Pokémon Red, Green, Blue and Yellow were a massive hit when first released, became the Game Boy's system seller, and would go on to spawn the entire Pokémon franchise, which to this day remains one of Nintendo's biggest intellectual properties as well as their signature franchise for their handheld systems.

Trivia

• Originally Pokemon Pink was going to release along with Pokemon Yellow as a pair and as the name suggests Clefairy would be the starter pokemon and It would feature the first female protagonist but unfortunately It was canceled.
• Despite the Popular belief, Lavender Town theme was never changed between the American and Japanese releases.
• Originally Professor Oak was going to be the final battle in the game but for Unknown reasons His battle was scrapped. This battle is accessible by performing a glitch.

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