Pokemon Red Version

"I choose you, Pokemon Red!"

The very first Pokemon game that started the entire craze. Many people ask, “Why is throwing balls around catching little monsters so fun and addictive?” Well maybe cause it is so fun and addictive! The basic story is that your a young kid who sets out to discover the world and become the worlds greatest Pokemon trainer, while meeting up with many characters your find out why you must care and bond with your Pokemon.

During gameplay the world is simply amazingly huge and will take quite some time to learn and memorize where everything is. From the start you start battling Pokemon and raise your team by capturing new and leveling up your current Pokemon to make a strong team. Since there are 150 pokemon you better get started because it's a long journey. The cities on the other hand are nice, but I have to complain about the size of the cities, they could've made it bigger which would've made this part earn a perfect 10. Other than the small size of the cities, it is mostly made up with the amount of cities/tunnels there are in the game, the world is simply humongous!!!!

This was really a huge improvement for GB games for it's time, the game controls perfectly and it sounds amazing. So let me explain why; all buttons pressed respond instantanious and it becomes very easy to control exactly how your guy will move. Just about every city/character/battle/event has its own unique music that separates the good games from the great. Their is simply to much greatness to be explained here.

This is the main part of the game and it's done extraordinary. You know the drill, little kid decides that its his time to go out and make a difference to the world of Pokemon. But hey this is probably the first game that started that so it can't be old, and even if your tired of that, don't hesitate to try this game out. You'll be quite surprised on how fun and addictive this story line can get. That also brings me to another point, the story line is almost non-linear so you can go on different side quests that aren't something stupid like, “Rescue my cat from the monster” or “Help us learn this song” they are more of a “Get your butt in that tower and save our town from these terrorist; “The Rockets” now once the game is completed, their are still many many things to do, so expect much time to fully experience this game.

This game is great for all ages, and all levels of gamers. You never come to a part where it's like.... that was WAY to easy or have the game get you to toss your GB down in frustration. These are just one of those games that you can just sit through and play through flawlessly. I won't lie to you though, there are some tough parts where they are crazy trainers and they will beat you if you aren't good enough. But with proper leveling, you won't have too much trouble.

Like I said before this game will keep you coming back and back to replay and experience this awesome game with it's unique story line. You can have this game for more than a few years, and I guarantee; unless you play it non-stop that you won't have every little thing done. Catching 150 Pokemon takes time and another friend that has Pokemon Blue will need to link with your Gameboy to get a few other Pokemon.

What's the difference between Red and Blue?
The producer must be a genius for thinking this up, you make two games that are basically the same but only allow a select few Pokemon in each one as exclusive. Thus making you buy another Gameboy and the other version just to get 13 extra Pokemon. Of course, you can find one of you buddies who can trade with you and you can battle as well. As far gameplay and graphics, it's all the same except for a blue tinting to the screen for Blue version. Also released shortly after was Yellow version, this one followed the cartoon and has you missing a chance to choose a Pokemon and getting a Pikachu as your first. Your Pikachu follows you and starts off hating you, but then growing to like you.

This game is perfect for just about everyone. Now the hard part: finding it. Good luck finding a new copy on some online store. Your best bet would be a used video game store, they usually have a few copies of the game. The reason being that there's so many now is that everyone is now completing this game after owning it for the past seven years.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/05/04, Updated 08/04/05