There's obvious flaws to the first go at this series. Regardless, what it gets right is much more worthy of the Pokémon phenomenon we've grown up hearing about than just about any title to come after.
Adding color to the sprites was a worthy investment down the road, but in my eyes, the greater detail emphasized with gen 3 and beyond proved detrimental. Many designs lack any thoughtful qualities, with the removal of exaggerative, cartoony perspectives and unique poses reducing each monster to something that's no longer alive, but robots. The gen 1 and 2 sprites feel directly connected to the active minds of youth. They express states of imagination.
The abstraction of this game's design sense also contributes to the experience. Over time the franchise has pushed the limits on realism and as we've seen with Sword and Shield, the results aren't pretty. It connects to why people enjoyed the trading card game so much, as well as Dungeons and Dragons. Using your imagination to visualize a Pokemon battle can produce far more fun results than seeing two barely moving sprites knock against each other instead.
Debuting with reasoning such as this, one might assume I'm defending hardware limitations rather than the game itself, but let's talk about content. Though later Pokémon games may take us to more unique situations and locales, how many of them are as iconic and exciting from moment to moment as was provided in gen 1? Let's just list off a few.
- Getting a bike for the first time after a long walk and heading to Vermillion only to check your map and realize that you just skipped an entire huge city
- Seeing a Pokémon zoo AND safari zone which feels like its own pocket region with creatures unique to it
- Heading through the uncomfortable and treacherous rock tunnel for the first time, only to later return after knowing to use flash and being able to see so much better
- Discovering the secret power plant behind an otherwise unsuspicious waterway, which honestly opens you up to consider how you can affect your environment a lot more going forward. What secrets can be found?
Also, think about how the theme of scientific discovery connects the game from start to finish. The Pokédex and the Pokéball feel revolutionary in a time where the internet wasn't prevalent in everyone's lives, as was the PokéNav in gen 2 before every preteen suddenly had their own cellphone. We can only now imagine how it felt to experience it at the time.
We see the museum which foreshadows how we can later revive extinct Pokémon. We later meet Bill who has accidentally transformed into one, foreshadowing our later experience with Mewtwo, a Pokémon created by mankind through DNA splicing.
All these ideas are in the first generation of a franchise that may have more features to add, but unfortunately very few congruent ideas that really simulate an experience of going on an adventure afterschool, getting into trouble, and learning about one's surroundings. The Pokédex isn't just a tool to encourage a collect-a-thon. You use it to expand your knowledge, since all the descriptions inform you about the world through these monsters.
The game's nonlinearity is enforced through your personal take on each one. If you like cute ones, you might go for a Pikachu or Ponyta. If you like tough looking ones, you might go for a Rhyhorn or Scyther. There's ones like Porygon that are so weird you'll just wanna test them out.
Nowadays it feels like we know too much about Pokémon that it's become a game of tactics, of finding a Pokémon of each elemental type, or with the right moves to defeat the next gym leader, one that doesn't look quite as repulsive as the other ones. It's no longer special. Perhaps these are the ramblings of someone wearing rose-tinted glasses, but I still think games should be powerful experiences that have lasting impact, not merely temporary. Otherwise they're just pastimes, perhaps like Ebert would claim.
Adding color to the sprites was a worthy investment down the road, but in my eyes, the greater detail emphasized with gen 3 and beyond proved detrimental. Many designs lack any thoughtful qualities, with the removal of exaggerative, cartoony perspectives and unique poses reducing each monster to something that's no longer alive, but robots. The gen 1 and 2 sprites feel directly connected to the active minds of youth. They express states of imagination.
The abstraction of this game's design sense also contributes to the experience. Over time the franchise has pushed the limits on realism and as we've seen with Sword and Shield, the results aren't pretty. It connects to why people enjoyed the trading card game so much, as well as Dungeons and Dragons. Using your imagination to visualize a Pokemon battle can produce far more fun results than seeing two barely moving sprites knock against each other instead.
Debuting with reasoning such as this, one might assume I'm defending hardware limitations rather than the game itself, but let's talk about content. Though later Pokémon games may take us to more unique situations and locales, how many of them are as iconic and exciting from moment to moment as was provided in gen 1? Let's just list off a few.
- Getting a bike for the first time after a long walk and heading to Vermillion only to check your map and realize that you just skipped an entire huge city
- Seeing a Pokémon zoo AND safari zone which feels like its own pocket region with creatures unique to it
- Heading through the uncomfortable and treacherous rock tunnel for the first time, only to later return after knowing to use flash and being able to see so much better
- Discovering the secret power plant behind an otherwise unsuspicious waterway, which honestly opens you up to consider how you can affect your environment a lot more going forward. What secrets can be found?
Also, think about how the theme of scientific discovery connects the game from start to finish. The Pokédex and the Pokéball feel revolutionary in a time where the internet wasn't prevalent in everyone's lives, as was the PokéNav in gen 2 before every preteen suddenly had their own cellphone. We can only now imagine how it felt to experience it at the time.
We see the museum which foreshadows how we can later revive extinct Pokémon. We later meet Bill who has accidentally transformed into one, foreshadowing our later experience with Mewtwo, a Pokémon created by mankind through DNA splicing.
All these ideas are in the first generation of a franchise that may have more features to add, but unfortunately very few congruent ideas that really simulate an experience of going on an adventure afterschool, getting into trouble, and learning about one's surroundings. The Pokédex isn't just a tool to encourage a collect-a-thon. You use it to expand your knowledge, since all the descriptions inform you about the world through these monsters.
The game's nonlinearity is enforced through your personal take on each one. If you like cute ones, you might go for a Pikachu or Ponyta. If you like tough looking ones, you might go for a Rhyhorn or Scyther. There's ones like Porygon that are so weird you'll just wanna test them out.
Nowadays it feels like we know too much about Pokémon that it's become a game of tactics, of finding a Pokémon of each elemental type, or with the right moves to defeat the next gym leader, one that doesn't look quite as repulsive as the other ones. It's no longer special. Perhaps these are the ramblings of someone wearing rose-tinted glasses, but I still think games should be powerful experiences that have lasting impact, not merely temporary. Otherwise they're just pastimes, perhaps like Ebert would claim.