Movement took some serious getting used to but once I did I realized just how much cool shit you can do in this game. However, even by the end there were some things that never quite felt consistently good (riding on the yoyo, jumping on the yoyo, stuff like that) and there's a fair bit of unpolished areas here. Still, a great time if you're willing to put in the effort.

Edit: fantastic soundtrack too. Tee Lopes is on it, that's a given I know but even other composers like Sean Bialo were COOKING

My first full experience with a Kanto game. Obviously a bit of a rougher region design-wise compared to future gens but honestly I think it makes Kanto pretty charming. Later gens have a tendency to feel a bit overdesigned so I appreciate how little fucks the game design gives throughout. That's not to say Kanto isn't full of some smart design either, there was clearly some serious thought into how to lay out a map like this. The dex, while DEFINITELY outclassed later can be better appreciated in a space where it's only gen 1 mons as opposed to a cool new region with a bunch of cool new pokemon also still having fucking zubats and geodudes everywhere.