A long, long time ago, back in the year known as 1996, two games were released in Japan. These two games were called Pokemon Red, and Pokemon Green. 2 years later, the Pokemon franchise began in North America, with Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue. It has been 20 years since the franchise has began. Here is a review of Pokemon Red to celebrate.
Graphics - 6 Here is an area where I feel Generation 1, mainly Red and Blue, struggles on. The graphics. The overworld graphics are alright, but whenever you get to the Pokemon sprites.....ugh. A prime example is Golbat. Just why. Why must Pokemon give me nightmares. And look at Pidgey and Squirtle. They look...odd. There are multiple other examples, but I was just pointing out the big ones. Also, the Mew sprite. What is that? E.T.? I would rather not have E.T. in another video game ever again, if that's alright.
Sound - 8 Now that we have gotten past the graphics, let's look at the positives this game offers. The music in this game is awesome, except for Lavender Town. I mean, the music in Lavender Town is cool too, but why did they feel the need to include very, very high pitched noises in the background. This game is going to give me brain damage. A cool feature I like about this game is that each Pokemon has its own unique cry to it whenever it appears in battle. Fun fact, some Pokemon cries are actually reused but slightly edited.
Addictiveness - 9 You will find yourself coming back to this game even after you beat the champion. So many things to do, and so many things to see. This will be covered more in the depth section. Battles are very entertaining, and you can even battle and trade with your friends with the Game Boy Link Cable. It works very well for what it is, and I enjoy it.
Story - 8 The story in Pokemon Red is fairly simple once you start. You have a Pokemon. Go on an adventure and do something with it. Once you get further into the game, you eventually find out about an organization similar to a mafia of some sorts. Team Rocket. Team Rocket are basically Pokemon thieves, which is kind of disappointing compared to the organizations in the games today, but these were the first games so I can let that slide. It is also later revealed that they have been trying to create a new Pokemon from the DNA of a mythical Pokemon named Mew. It is a very interesting topic, and you can actually find the Pokemon they created in Cerulean Cave after you beat the champion.
Depth - 10 Every single Pokemon game in the series has TONS of things to do. From making your own team, finding all the items, exploring, and even catching them all and filling your Pokedex. There's just one thing that kind of angers me. Whenever you fill your Pokedex, you know what your prize is? A diploma that you can put in your room. Yep. Great, right? All of that hard work. Oh well. You will need to trade with friends if you want to fill your Pokedex, and it's awesome.
Difficulty - 8 Difficulty depends on if you train your team well enough or not. If you skip a lot of trainers and run from a lot of wild battles, and you decide to challenge the next gym, you're going to have a bad time. However, if you fight every trainer and fight every wild encounter, you should be good. If you still think you aren't ready for the next gym, then you can always go back and level grind, and although it may take a bit, it should always be worth it once you finally defeat the opponent you have been trying to defeat for a while.
Overall - 9.1 Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue started the Pokemon series in North America, and the Pokemon series as a whole is now 20 years old. That's crazy once you think about it. And since it's the 20th anniversary, you can be sure that I will be making more reviews of the core Pokemon games, and I may even type up some reviews of some spin-offs in the series. I hope you enjoyed this review. A long, long time ago, back in the year known as 1996, two games were released in Japan. These two games were called Pokemon Red, and Pokemon Green. 2 years later, the Pokemon franchise began in North America, with Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue. It has been 20 years since the franchise has began. Here is a review of Pokemon Red to celebrate.
Graphics - 6 Here is an area where I feel Generation 1, mainly Red and Blue, struggles on. The graphics. The overworld graphics are alright, but whenever you get to the Pokemon sprites.....ugh. A prime example is Golbat. Just why. Why must Pokemon give me nightmares. And look at Pidgey and Squirtle. They look...odd. There are multiple other examples, but I was just pointing out the big ones. Also, the Mew sprite. What is that? E.T.? I would rather not have E.T. in another video game ever again, if that's alright.
Sound - 8 Now that we have gotten past the graphics, let's look at the positives this game offers. The music in this game is awesome, except for Lavender Town. I mean, the music in Lavender Town is cool too, but why did they feel the need to include very, very high pitched noises in the background. This game is going to give me brain damage. A cool feature I like about this game is that each Pokemon has its own unique cry to it whenever it appears in battle. Fun fact, some Pokemon cries are actually reused but slightly edited.
Addictiveness - 9 You will find yourself coming back to this game even after you beat the champion. So many things to do, and so many things to see. This will be covered more in the depth section. Battles are very entertaining, and you can even battle and trade with your friends with the Game Boy Link Cable. It works very well for what it is, and I enjoy it.
Story - 8 The story in Pokemon Red is fairly simple once you start. You have a Pokemon. Go on an adventure and do something with it. Once you get further into the game, you eventually find out about an organization similar to a mafia of some sorts. Team Rocket. Team Rocket are basically Pokemon thieves, which is kind of disappointing compared to the organizations in the games today, but these were the first games so I can let that slide. It is also later revealed that they have been trying to create a new Pokemon from the DNA of a mythical Pokemon named Mew. It is a very interesting topic, and you can actually find the Pokemon they created in Cerulean Cave after you beat the champion.
Depth - 10 Every single Pokemon game in the series has TONS of things to do. From making your own team, finding all the items, exploring, and even catching them all and filling your Pokedex. There's just one thing that kind of angers me. Whenever you fill your Pokedex, you know what your prize is? A diploma that you can put in your room. Yep. Great, right? All of that hard work. Oh well. You will need to trade with friends if you want to fill your Pokedex, and it's awesome.
Difficulty - 8 Difficulty depends on if you train your team well enough or not. If you skip a lot of trainers and run from a lot of wild battles, and you decide to challenge the next gym, you're going to have a bad time. However, if you fight every trainer and fight every wild encounter, you should be good. If you still think you aren't ready for the next gym, then you can always go back and level grind, and although it may take a bit, it should always be worth it once you finally defeat the opponent you have been trying to defeat for a while.
Overall - 9.1 Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue started the Pokemon series in North America, and the Pokemon series as a whole is now 20 years old. That's crazy once you think about it. And since it's the 20th anniversary, you can be sure that I will be making more reviews of the core Pokemon games, and I may even type up some reviews of some spin-offs in the series. I hope you enjoyed this review. |