"Feeling blue? Catch some Pokemon!"

In the mid-nineties, a young, determined and courageous lad by the name of Ash Ketchum, and his first Pokemon, a small, yellow mouse with an electrical touch that answered to the name of Pikachu, hit the TV-screens in a show called Pokemon, that was soon to become a worldwide phenomenon from that show as well as the many spin-offs that came after it, such as movies, books, toys, accessories, you name it. But the best thing by far that came from it was a simple, but addictive, and very unique RPG-title that went by the same name, coming out on Nintendo's portable gaming console handheld, the Game Boy. It was the original Pokemon Red and Blue titles that brought Pokemon fever to every young boy and girl across several countries and led to the rise in sales of trading cards, cyber-pet Pokemon, and ratings on the TV show. But let's go back to the game. At first glance, it would seem to be just any regular Game Boy title. Fairly moderate looking cartridge and design of the graphics, simple gameplay, a few theme tunes, and that all-round RPG feel to it, right? So what happened to make this run-of-the-mill game become of Nintendo's highest-rated and valued titles to ever grace presence in their timeline?

I guess that one's a little tricky to put into words for an answer. When you actually slip the cartridge into your Game Boy and start up, it doesn't take a Pikachu to realise you won't be very impressed with the game's start-up for the first 30 minutes or so. It's that usual, boring part of the RPG – enter your character's name, read a large amount of story text, wander about and follow the linear path, talking to people, and that frustration will build up as that question pops into your head: “When am I gonna get to the meat of the game? Where's the action?”

Let's start from square one. The world of Pokemon, albeit a small one with fewer features than reality, is very different from our world. It is a mellow place inhabited by the titular animal creatures. There are 150 known Pokemon in existence (in the original Red and Blue titles at least), and the job of a ‘Pokemon Trainer' (i.e. you), is to traverse through the many cities and areas, fighting and collecting Pokemon, as well as training them. The whole motto is “Gotta catch ‘em all!”, so can you? Do you have the time, patience and expertise to search everywhere to capture, evolve them into stronger beings and find those ultra-rare ones, just to earn yourself the title of a Pokemon great? Sounds like a challenge, but if you're willing to fulfil, then you most definitely are ready for Pokemon.

The storyline in Pokemon is that, many boys at the age of 10 must leave home and begin to travel, raising their Pokemon. It must be tough, becoming a man at the age of 10, homeless, with no companions but these animals and travelling outdoors through this vast world in hopes of that some day, you could be one of the greatest. From the safety and comfort of your home in the tranquil, small Pallet Town, it's off into the big world. So you talk to a few of your townspeople and learn a bit of basic advice, and the professor gives you your first Pokemon to get you started. Time to get going. At first, you still can't capture any Pokemon, because you haven't got any Poke Balls to capture them, so all you can do is fight. But we can come to that later – fighting and levelling your Pokemon up is a different issue to capturing these creatures and upping your count towards that 150 mark.

So, you're still at that stage of the RPG – the beginning, the boring stuff, the prepping for what's to come. After your journey to the next town and you carry out a few more tasks, you can begin to shop about for a few items from the Pokemon Supermarket for such necessary items for healing, treating, and – of course – capturing Pokemon. Looks like we can get on with our task now! So you find a grassy knoll to search around for a wild Pokemon. You come across one. So, we throw this Poke ball, the creature is captured, and you have another companion to aid you in your travels and battling other Pokemon, right? Wrong! Wild Pokemon don't go down without a fight. One of the factors of capturing Pokemon is how much you can weaken them down, without actually KO'ing them. So, even in battles you have to be judgmental. At the same time, you have to make sure you level your Pokemon up in moderation so they don't become too strong and KO any wild Pokemon you come across, making it impossible to capture them.

So, what do we do once we've captured a few beasts, toughened them up a bit, and want to carry on fulfilling that hope of being a Pokemon Master? You have to travel to 8 gyms across the world, battling gym leader trainers, and defeating them to attain badges as proof of your expertise. Only then can you travel to meet the Elite Four in hopes of defeating them and being the best there ever was. Especially since your rival, Gary, shares that same dream, and will do whatever it takes to get one-up over Ash. As you fight other trainers, you must again be strategic with the selection of Pokemon. Different Pokemon have different elements (such as the basic Grass, Water and Fire types, up to secondary elements like Psychic, Rock and Flying), and you won't do much good if you select a fire-based Pokemon to challenge a water-based Pokemon, for most obvious reasons. Different elements have strengths and weaknesses over others, so you also must raise a balanced team.

So, once you've shown these guys what you're made of, what else comes into play? Well, this game is an RPG after all – and what is a very common theme in an RPG with a twisting storyline? Discovery, side-quests and sub-plots! Yes, once you've gotten into the swing of playing the game, there are many other things to do and see as you play. For one, there's your rival to contend with, Gary. You'll bump into him a lot, sometimes it being mandatory to fight him, sometimes not. Rare Pokemon to search for in areas that aren't necessary to explore, but there's that complete Pokedex to think of. Stopping the Pokemon thief gang, Team Rocket. You know all that stuff if you've seen the show and/or movies.

But what is the one thing that makes it worth collecting both versions and doing whatever necessary to have detailed files on every Pokemon in the game?

Trading. Yes, if you have a friend who also owns a Game Boy, a Pokemon Red/Blue game, and a link cable to connect your Game Boys up, you can trade your Pokemon to each other. However, why would this be necessary? There are some Pokemon that appear ONLY in the Red version that can't be found in the Blue version, and vice versa. Trading is compulsory to fill your Pokedex. Very clever Nintendo, nice trick to make those dedicated gamers buy link cables and expand your profits. ;) You don't have to keep your friend's Pokemon to have it filed in your Pokedex; you can swap them back straight away and carry on your separate Pokemon adventures. As well as that, you can also battle your friends. There's something in there for the competitive type.

Well, I've said enough about the gameplay, so let's move onto game design. This game is one of those simpler RPGs, with the tile-step concept from many other 8-bit and 16-bit RPGs, such as Final Fantasy I – VI, Breath of Fire, games like that. Many of the graphics are simple, quite blocky, but very nice for their time. When you see some movement, you'd be surprised by the amount of animation frames, whether it is on the field, or in battle. It's just part of that game's dig, as most Nintendo titles are, to make it seem that simplicity wins in most situations. Pokemon designs look nice and detailed. They don't look entirely like their TV or Pokemon Yellow counterparts, but you can tell which one it is from its look. Many attacks in battle are well constructed and animated for such a low capacity of animation, too. Your character and Pokemon, as well as your opponent look well-detailed, from the front and back view in the battle screen. Again, some blocky graphics, but recognisable.

The game's soundtrack is another feature that will get to you. The Game Boy is a very simple handheld system, and for its time, the music for just about every game that was ever played on it had that high-pitched instrumental music, and the simplest of sound effects. None of the real-life sounding instruments and soundtracks like that of a DS and PSP, no. But again, would you expect it to? I don't know how Nintendo do it, but they got some themes in there that you'll hear over and over again, but will fail to get tired of for a long time. Many Pokemon fans can recognise the battle theme, overworld theme, and a few other jigs in the game, as they were also in the TV show. There are 150 different “battle cries” for each of the 150 individual Pokemon, so even for a simple platformer, they did squeeze a good range of sound in there.

To wrap this up, however, what can be said from the experience of playing this simple, but big-hearted role-playing game with a theme like no other? It is said by many that Pokemon is a game/show/thing for kids. But that's not entirely true. While the shows and games might be AIMED at kids, there's something in it for everybody. I am 19 years of age, and have been playing Pokemon games since about the age of 12. Whether it was the appeal, the fun, the gameplay, this game had a certain magic aura about it that made it so addictive. Mind you, it's no cakewalk either. There are some challenging parts, and the real difficulty is raising the perfect party, as well as finding every single Pokemon there is in the game. Even older gamers have a task in front of them if they're ‘the' RPG player. Proof that complexity can come out of simplicity,

Overall, Pokemon's a must-have for any fan of Nintendo, RPG games, or even Pokemon itself. So what will it take for you to catch ‘em all, train them to be the best, and declare yourself the greatest trainer of all?

Knowledge, the gaming touch of an RPG, a link cable, and lots of time and patience.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/04, Updated 10/03/06