A video game review by: Lee Sonogan

(1996) Action, adventure, family

The first RPG and game I got into as a child. Both titles are independent of each other but feature the same plot, and while they can be played separately, it is necessary for players to trade among both games in order to obtain all of the first 151 Pokémon. You use these Pokemon to battle other Pokemon trainers and make your Pokemon stronger while collecting badges. Also to battle against the evil criminal organisation Team Rocket. Originally it was released in 1996 in Japan as Red and Green. When it was translated into English it was called Red and blue in North America and the world. These game set the limit over the years of what the next games of the series would be and is referenced the most for its characters and Kanto region.

The concept of the game originated from Satoshi Tajiri’s childhood love of bug collecting. The game was rejected seven times before Nintendo agreed to back the project. It was with the help of an acclaimed game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, that the project was finally greenlit. The game began development in 1990, making it the longest development time on any Pokemon series title. Satoshi Tajiri wanted to have the Pokémon faint instead of dying for two reasons, one was to not make the game excessively violent and to not have children equate death with losing. The game was developed by GameFreak and the games were released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console service on February 27, 2016, as a commemoration of the franchise’s 20th anniversary.

The original “Green Version” was only released in Japan and never saw a release in the United States. There aren’t a lot of differences between the first edition Green release and the later Red and Blue editions aside from some graphical variations of the Pokemon which were slightly redesigned for the later Red and Blue updates. It was also made for the GBA with the games being called Pokemon fire-red and leaf-green. Consider learning how to emulate GBA and GBC games on a computer to play all these variations and at a faster speed. Download the Visualboyadvance program now and download ROMs for it that are very small data.

There are 151 Pokemon in Pokemon fire and blue. Rydon was the first Pokemon designed and programmed into the game and Victreebel was the last, thus giving Victreebel the highest index number of any non-glitch Pokemon. Koffing and Wheezing’s original prototype names were NY and LA referring to the polluted cities of New York and Los Angeles. Mew was the first Pokemon name to be trademarked, even before the name “Pocket Monsters”. Mew was trademarked in 1990, while Pocket Monsters was trademarked in 1995. Mew was secretly added at the very end of development and was initially not intended to appear in the game. However, due to a glitch, Mew started to appear seemingly naturally (without GameShark and extra) in some people’s games.

Original Pokemon fact:

• Early concept art indicated a female was going to be included as a player character.
• Originally the Boulderbadge would allow the player to throw a rock at Pokemon like in the Safari Zone and the Cascadebadge would allow you to throw bait.
• There’s a battle against Professor Oak programmed into the game but was never included in the final game. It is only accessible by using a Gameshark or glitching the game.
• MissingNo. and the multiple items glitches
• S.S. Anne secret truck trick

Overall, Pokemon changed video games. People from all over the world bought this game at that time and loved its monsters, RPG features, story and concepts. From choosing what Pokemon you start to be able to have many choices in what Pocket Monsters to catch. The game has many things for others. In the end, you fight against the Elite Four in some very epic battles and then in the post-game a cave opens up. Mewtwo is available to catch in this cave located near Cererllian city. I recommend this game to anyone who has not played a Pokemon game before and any who likes RPG games. If you are already a Pokemon fan, you would know already that this game is very good.

7.8/10