Well, Game Boy Month has been a blast! This past month on #ThrowbackThursday I dedicated each week to talking about some of my favorite titles to ever grace Nintendos original handheld. And now, to close out Game Boy Month... This weeks Throwback game is... Pokémon Red and Blue! I know I previously talked about the Yellow version, but that doesnt mean Red and Blue arent worth talking about! These two games started a revolution that some would only dismiss as a fad. Fads imply that something declines in popularity, so by that logic that would mean the most recent entries in the Pokémon series, X and Y, would be far from the best selling titles on the 3DS. Originally released in Japan (as Red and Green) in 1996, followed by a North American release in 1998, Pokémon Red and Blue take place in the fictional region now known as Kanto. The game begins with Proessor Oak asking for your name, along with your rivals, which is also his grandson... kinda weird he doesnt know his own grandsons name right? Anyway, after naming the characters youre placed in your characters home in Pallet Town. After trying to leave, Professor Oak stops you and informs you that its dangerous to leave unless you have your own Pokémon to assist you. Upon arriving at Oaks lab, hell give you and your rival a Pokémon, out of three--Bulbasaur, the grass type; Charmander, the fire-type; and Squirtle, the water type. Your rival will always pick whichever Pokémon has a type advantage to what you pick. He will then challenge you to a battle inside the lab. After the battle, your quest begins. Once you arrive in the next town up north, the clerk in the Pokémon mart will ask you to bring a parcel to Porfessor Oak. Bringing this to him gives you and your rival a Pokédex, which catalogs each and every Pokémon in existence (151 at the time, anyway). During the course of the game, youll be catching all sorts of Pokémon and raising them up for battle. Battles are mandatory to progress throughout the game, as youll be battling gym leaders in every town in order to earn badges. These badges not only hold the key to facing off against the Pokémon League at the end of the game, but are also necessary to use HM skills such as Fly and Surf, along with raising Pokémon up to certain levels. It is impossible, however, to catch every single Pokémon with just one version of the game. In order to catch every single Pokémon in Red, youll have to trade with friends that have Blue, and vice versa. Link cable trading is mandatory to complete your Pokédex, but thats not all you can do with a link cable. You can also battle your friends through this system, which leads to all kinds of old-school fun. More infamously, Pokémon Red and Blue are known for their glitches that give players and advantage. In addition to a glitch that lets players catch Mew, the rarest of all Pokémon, the infamous MissingNo. glitch allows players to duplicate items, including Rare Candy (which increases levels), Master Ball (catches any Pokémon without fail), Max Elixir (restores Power Points or PP) and the games many TMs. This glitch was eventually removed from Yellow and has not been seen since, though clever gamers have found a way to make it happen through cheat devices and emulators. At the time of its release, Pokémon Red and Blue were very welcome and popular, both critically and commercially. The game was praised for its easy-to-play mentality and mechanics, but was criticized lightly for its character designs and glitches. It didnt matter to gamers though, who bought 10 million copies of it by the end of 1998. These terrific sales numbers led to the Yellow version being released a year later, which had elements based on the TV show, including starting with Pikachu. In 2004, graphical remakes were released for Game Boy Advance titled FireRed and LeafGreen, which featured more Pokémon from later generations and a whole new mandatory quest required in order to access the Unknown Dungeon. Nowadays, if you still have yet to check out Pokémons origins, youll have to pay between $22-$30 on average for a used copy, depending on what color suits your fancy more. The graphical remakes hover around the $30 mark used. As far as the 3DS Virtual Consoleis concerned, no release has been put out there yet, though with the recent release of Pokémon Trading Card Game in Eurpoes eShop theres still some hope that it could happen someday. Long story short, youll have to get a cart copy if you wanna catch em all again. And theres no harm in that either. Still to this day I like replaying the game using different teams and different strategies. Pokémon Red brings back a lot of fond memories of my younger years, and each time I replay it they all come back to me. So check out some Pokémon Red and Blue if youre able to! Once again, Game Boy Month has been a blast. Im gonna take a one week break from #ThrowbackThursday to recoup and scope out potential candidate for future ones. Ill be back on August 14th! Thanks for checking out the months Throwbacks!
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 11:55:09 +0000