This is the first game I ever finished, and I've actually never fully replayed it vanilla until now. My objective was to complete the dex and assemble a decent team to use in Pokémon Stadium.
Looking at this game without nostalgia glasses or what the franchise has become through the years, it is truly something else, in all ways possible.
Anyone that ignores the numerous faults of Gen 1 are fooling themselves. The game is constructed on mud and sticks and it shows: glitches are numerous, too many things don't work as they should (e.g. Focus Energy, crits), and not everything is well thought out (e.g. enemy movesets, crits again). Unlike in the current Pokémon series, many of these faults come from Game Freak not being very experienced at the time, but still it's a technical marvel that a game with so much meat on its bones even exists for the Game Boy. Some other things that are often criticised are the lackluster movesets for almost all Pokémon, and especially an overabundance of normal moves and too little dragon and ghost moves (and Pokémon while we're at it). It's clear the latter are designed as "boss" Pokémon first and usable Pokémon second. Also, normal moves could be thought as "basic attacks" and anything else would be "magic" in a traditional RPG.
Collecting Pokémon is extremely fun, there's no "repeats" in this one, completing the dex is actually achievable with some effort and the little secrets like legendary locations, evolution methods and so are pretty fun and always make me think of children sharing info and making up stuff about it. Despite some of the designs being "bland" compared to modern standards, I like most of them and I think they are very iconic.
Surprisingly I didn't had that much trouble going back to the old mechanics, but I did have problems with Kanto itself, as I expected. It's cool that the game opens up when you get to Celadon, but that's the exact point my enjoyment takes a nosedive. There's too many trainers, with too many Pokémon, which are too weak to even be worth battling. Still, Sabrina and Koga are way stronger than them so you have to farm anyways, that middle segment will always be why I dread games set in Kanto, and this was no different.
About Yellow Version in particular, even though I never beat the original Red and Blue, I was kinda left with the feeling that I wish I had played those instead. True, there's some things Yellow does better, and having Pikachu and all 3 starters is cool and all, but I think the level curve is even more fucked in this one. Also, sprites are hit or miss, even though they are more in model than RB's, some look more like drawings instead of pixel sprites, if that makes any sense, which takes out a bit of their appeal.
Even though it lets to be desired as an RPG, it excels in what it sets out to do: even though battling is just ok, collecting and trading is VERY fun and feels rewarding. Those strengths are what have made Pokémon the monster that it is today, and the success its sequels have had come not only from perfecting the formula, but from carefully reinforcing said strengths. One of the best games in the Game Boy and one of the most important games ever made period.
Looking at this game without nostalgia glasses or what the franchise has become through the years, it is truly something else, in all ways possible.
Anyone that ignores the numerous faults of Gen 1 are fooling themselves. The game is constructed on mud and sticks and it shows: glitches are numerous, too many things don't work as they should (e.g. Focus Energy, crits), and not everything is well thought out (e.g. enemy movesets, crits again). Unlike in the current Pokémon series, many of these faults come from Game Freak not being very experienced at the time, but still it's a technical marvel that a game with so much meat on its bones even exists for the Game Boy. Some other things that are often criticised are the lackluster movesets for almost all Pokémon, and especially an overabundance of normal moves and too little dragon and ghost moves (and Pokémon while we're at it). It's clear the latter are designed as "boss" Pokémon first and usable Pokémon second. Also, normal moves could be thought as "basic attacks" and anything else would be "magic" in a traditional RPG.
Collecting Pokémon is extremely fun, there's no "repeats" in this one, completing the dex is actually achievable with some effort and the little secrets like legendary locations, evolution methods and so are pretty fun and always make me think of children sharing info and making up stuff about it. Despite some of the designs being "bland" compared to modern standards, I like most of them and I think they are very iconic.
Surprisingly I didn't had that much trouble going back to the old mechanics, but I did have problems with Kanto itself, as I expected. It's cool that the game opens up when you get to Celadon, but that's the exact point my enjoyment takes a nosedive. There's too many trainers, with too many Pokémon, which are too weak to even be worth battling. Still, Sabrina and Koga are way stronger than them so you have to farm anyways, that middle segment will always be why I dread games set in Kanto, and this was no different.
About Yellow Version in particular, even though I never beat the original Red and Blue, I was kinda left with the feeling that I wish I had played those instead. True, there's some things Yellow does better, and having Pikachu and all 3 starters is cool and all, but I think the level curve is even more fucked in this one. Also, sprites are hit or miss, even though they are more in model than RB's, some look more like drawings instead of pixel sprites, if that makes any sense, which takes out a bit of their appeal.
Even though it lets to be desired as an RPG, it excels in what it sets out to do: even though battling is just ok, collecting and trading is VERY fun and feels rewarding. Those strengths are what have made Pokémon the monster that it is today, and the success its sequels have had come not only from perfecting the formula, but from carefully reinforcing said strengths. One of the best games in the Game Boy and one of the most important games ever made period.