Pokémon: Red Version (1996 Video Game) User Reviews

A game you wont be able to stop playing, ever.

[jerekra · 10/10 · 31 August 2008]

Pokemon (both the blue and red version) is one of the most addicting games that was ever made. It is a game that you wont be able to stop playing, ever.

Basically you start off being able to choose one of three Pokemon (Charmander, Bulbasaur, or Squirtle). Then you start off on your quest to get 8 gym badges and defeat the elite four and become the greatest trainer ever. You also try to capture all 150 pokemon, well actually you could catch 151 but Ill get to that later.

What makes this game so fun is that you battle your pokemon and they increase in levels and ability. THe more you battle them against other trainers and other pokemon the better they get at fighting. It is just addicting getting them stronger so that you can get a better team of pokemon.

Sometimes the game can be tricky, like when you have to make long travels on foot. And you can be slowed down by the constant appearance of wild pokemon as you are going through caves.

Overall this game is one of the greatest games ever made. If you start to play you will not be able to stop.

The game that started it all

[nutz4n64 · 10/10 · 29 April 2000]

The cards, the show, the countless numbers of toys. Who could've expected so much to come from one simple Game Boy game? It drew me with its strange theme and my own curiosity, and I must say that never before have I been so taken in by a video game in my life. The premise is very simple: become the greatest pokemon trainer by catching as many as you can. The level of gameplay, on the other hand, is unmatched. There are 15 different elements that the Pokemon base their powers on. Each has a strength and weakness. The key is to teach the Pokemon a good variety of attacks and make good use of various advantages that one ability can have. For a guy that has memorized the first 151 creatures by number, I must warn that this game is dangerously addictive. If you haven't gotten involved by now, there's little chance that you will. Yet, it is definitely worth checking out. The best game for the Game Boy at this time so far. 10/10

No matter how bad the television show and trading cards were, this game was still amazingly fun!

[TOMNEL · 10/10 · 20 June 2008]

Pokemon Blue Version is probably my favorite game for the original Gameboy. It is challenging, but certainly not impossible, and it's extremely addictive. It's a sandbox style game where you can walk around to different towns and talk to various people, and as your Pokemon grow in level and learn new moves, you can find new areas and new Pokemon and items.

Your character you play as has just woken up to the first day when they can get a Pokemon. You go to Professor Oak and he gives you the choice of 1 of 3 different starter Pokemon. Your main goal is to collect all 8 badges from the different Gym Leaders and catch new Pokemon to fight them. In the end, you are granted access to a cave containing the genetically engineered Mewtwo, which is a very climactic battle, more so than in any other game up to this point.

This game is just pure fun. The battles are cool to get into and necessary to get money to buy more items for your Pokemon. Some of the sub-plots are really interesting, including trying to get through a ghost tower full of unknown ghosts, and you must first get a scope to see what they are, and the constant attacks from Team Rocket who for some reason just want to bully you. The music in the game actually really impresses me too. It's like a full musical score, with some well thought out tunes, my favorite being the creepy tune from Lavender town, which is a creepy and sad song. After you've beaten the game and collected all the Pokemon there's not much to do, but good look trying to collect them all without cheating. It will take you days. It's just a great game.

Pokemon has been killed with the television program and the trading cards, and even the more complicated newer games. The oldest is the best, and is one of the funnest games I've ever played! My rating: **** out of ****.

Very Clever.

[DragonMasterHiro · 31 July 2003]

I had no idea this game would be so addictive. Despite being on a small black & white Gameboy screen, the game's content and appeal overcomes all that. There's so much to do in the game that it drives you nuts because you want to do it all. There are 150 kinds of POKeMON (in this Red/Blue version) to be found. They are all unique which makes it easy for anyone to pick a favorite (my personal favorites were Kadabra, Omastar and Raticate). Your goal is to earn all 8 gym badges from the different elemental leaders and beat your rival to becoming a POKeMON Master. Little side quests put you in situations to collect more POKeMON. The more you have, the more flexible you can be in battle. The catchy music is great for Gameboy standards. It changes depending on the town, different places you walk through, your current action and when you're in battle. I thought it was cool they incorporated all the game themes into the cartoon. Sometimes the battles could get tedious as there are always many competing trainers on the way from place to place. It was a great way to build experience but in certain spots they were just overwhelmingly annoying. I haven't played any of the sequels but I've seen some of the new character designs on the more recent versions of the cartoons. I don't like them as much as the old POKeMON. It just seems like they're trying too hard.

Overall, POKeMON is a great game and I dare you not to get addicted.

Even "Super Mario Bros." couldn't top Pokemon

[chrisc1218 · 10/10 · 5 July 2001]

From the B&W screen of Pokemon Red Version & Blue Version to the TV screen of the N64 for Pokemon Stadium 2, Pokemon has been the best game from Nintendo sinse Super Mario Bros. It has had more sequels in three years than most of the other popular video games have ever had! Two thumbs up!

The most epic, nostalgic and memorable game of all time.

[Jozephh · 10/10 · 5 June 2012]

Pokemon Red/Blue is an RPG game consisting some of the most beastly and cute creatures called Pokemon (Pocket Monsters) You play as Red, a Pokemon trainer about to set off on his journey. Fight other Pokemon trainers Pokemon and capture many Pokemon that inhabit the region of Kanto. Fight the evil crime organization "Team Rocket" and collect the Gym badges of Kanto to participate in the grand, epic, legendary Indigo League, where the best of the best trainers await you, and of course the champion.

I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in video games, because once you've played it once, you'll come back and play it again in years time for the sheer nostalgia of your most epic childhood moments. Plus, lets not forget the most epic soundtrack composed by Junichi Masuda. the 8 Bit tunes will be stuck in your head forever. 10/10

One of the Best Gameboy Games Ever

[Alexander Doenau · 10/10 · 21 October 2000]

PokZmon's draw is not just because of the cute characters, but because it is actually one of the most lovingly made games ever. Taking a full six years to program, Satoshi Tajiri and his team at Game Freak really made this game a labour of love. It is a very customisable game, with literally thousands of possibilities for you and your PokZmon. The Simple, everyman story is great- you can actually make the character you, and your rival either someone you have a friendly rivalry with, or someone you have a bitter hatred of. PokZmon encourages creativity, and the many forms of PokZmon will be out for years

IT WAS COOL

[GENERAL NOCTORA · 10/10 · 17 October 2000]

It was the first of all of the POKeMON shows that i have seen. It was cool to see some of the first POKeMON this way. on a scale from 1 {bad}10 {best} i give it a 10. I would tell everyone to see it again and again.

A flawed masterpiece

[sebastianali123 · 9/10 · 28 April 2022]

Despite what people said, this games are still pretty damn fun, revolutionary and are very underrated these days. People tend to compare negatively to newer games in the series unfairly, despite a lot of these comparisons are or because of the "look" of the game or the aspects it lacks from newer entries. I couldnt disagree more, but lets start step by step.

This game looks incredible for a black and white portable console in 1996. All of the Pokemon, NPCs and enviroment are varied and incredible detail (and yes, a black and white game can be detailed). 151 playable creatures on an RPG was just too much, when in previous RPGs this wasnt as close. Pokemon was always the Gran Turismo of RPGs, and with this first entry isnt an exception. And how the Pokemon style being different than the anime is a negative point? First of all, the anime was released AFTER the game, and even if this wasnt true, the Pokemon have a very good artstyle compared to newer games in the series, being much more creepy and realistic (probably because first gen was meant to be closer to vanilla RPGs, and this is also reflected on the gameplay side, i would talk about that later). The Pokemon designs in Gen 1 are underrated as hell.

Later the soundtrack, probably the most well made 8 bit soundtrack i ever heard, just listen to some themes like gym leader and you would know what im saying. There are some complex tracks, some simple ones, but overall the music is so catchy and memorable.

And last of all, the gameplay... probably the most controversial aspect of Gen 1 along with the graphics, but like any of my reviews, i have the most unpopular opinions, so feel free to hate me. Gameplay in Gen 1 is very solid, one of the best RPG gameplays of the time. Apart that you have an incredible variety of Pokemon, every one is different and have unique moveset, stats and the stats arent fixed. A different Pokemon from the same species and same level can have different stats, so this feels so fresh and natural even today. The map design, pacing and difficult curve is also great, the game never feels like a chore compared to newer entries and the trade system is a welcome aspect, even if it has some flaws that i would talk about that later.

Pokemon Red And Blue, despite what people said, are so well made games that even today i can have a lot of fun at it (and things like the special stat being basically the intelligence stat on older RPG didnt make any difference to me)... But.... A lot of ambition on a weak console can make you in trouble. And this game has flaws... Not a few serious ones that ruins the game, but is the type of game with lots of minor ones. Like trade being obligatory to complete the Pokedex, a few unbalances here and there, LOTS of hidden glitches, Pokemon box and a big etc.... But that ruins the game? No. The game started it all and still plays well imo, so i cannot blame it for this flaws that mostly are for technical limitations. Pokemon Red And Blue, if you can ignore some annoyances here and there and some lack of quality of life improvements you will encounter with one of the best RPG ever made that still feels good to play, even with all of the new entries in the series thanks to being the most unique of all and the most simple, aka, it doesnt put iff or buts like Gen 2, but that would be for another review.

Fun game even if you don't like the Pokemon TV series

[gangstahippie · 8/10 · 20 July 2006]

Rated E

Pokemon Blue and Red Version are two Pokémon video games(actually both are pretty much the same game with some things changed in certain parts of the game).You might not find it but Pokemon Blue Version or Red Version is worth the buy if you find it.Pokemon was most popular when I was in Grade 2.Myself and plenty of other people I knew were big fans of Pokemon.I first got Pokemon Silver Version before a friend gave me Red Version.Pokemon Gold/Silver is way better than this one but so are most video game sequels.This review is for Pokemon Red Version but Blue version as I said earlier is pretty much the same game.The game is about a young boy(you can choose his name) default name is Red(or Blue depending on what version you have).Starting with one Pokémon he gets from a lab he must go on a journey throughout Kanto to become the ultimate Pokémon master getting badges,catching and training Pokémon.Pokemon Red/Blue Version is a very fun game even if you don't like the TV series or anything else Pokémon.I cant stand the show but the game is fairly fun and sometimes I still play it when I have nothing better to do.

9/10

I liked them.

[general-melchett · 9/10 · 19 February 2007]

I really used to enjoy the Pokemon games. I still can't believe they're making them now - I think Pokemon should best be left as a thing of the past rather than be constantly remade and remade until everyone gets fed up of it and it isn't hailed in 40 years time. There is so much gameplay in these games - it is quite easy to see how Pokemon changed the world. Superb originality and lots of collections of many things ensured that Pokemon was to become a worldwide craze. Not to mention the many different landscapes you could go through - you always had to keep playing for something great. And you felt a real sense of accomplishment upon completing the game - I remember the days when Pokemon was the in-thing at my school. Now, it would just be called "sad". Perhaps because these games symbolise how little we've moved on since the 1980s in the world of gaming. The graphics are something that was possible for about 10-15 years before the release of this, and everything was done from a birds-eye-view, like Pac-Man, which shows the real simplicity of this game. But the simple charm always helps things, be they movies, games, or artwork. And it helped this. Nowadays, I would find it hard to play on this for hours on end, but six years ago, I could spend a day on this with ease. But now there are better things to do. Saying that, I'll probably be playing on this again in 40 years time when there'll be even more cr*p in the media industry than now, and thinking of the good old days when this was new. 9/10

My first pokemon game

[ThunderKing6 · 10/10 · 8 October 2020]

Played it when I was a snot nosed kid at like 10 and had no clue what i was doing. I don't recall finishing the game or much but I do know I played it on my game boy.

Pretty sure it was hard because back then you didn't have as much guides and tips as you do now.

My team would have been Venasaur Celfable, Snorlax, Sychter, DRAGONITE AND magmar

not a classic

[lolzgod · 5/10 · 29 March 2017]

this game is one of the worst Pokemon game out there its basic you're a ten year old kid achieving to beat the Pokemon league and catch all Pokémon

that's not the problem I have with Pokemon the game is a classic but its broken moves and Pokemon types were broken a move called focus energy supposed to land critical hits more easy but it halves your chance to land a critical hit Pokemon like Persian were deadly because more the faster Pokemon more chance a critical hit will land which means that Pokemon that are fast and know slash will mean a guaranteed critical hit.

One of the greatest RPGs ever made.

[geeked-out-4-movies · 6 March 2021]

I remember when Pokemon first came out in America, there were two versions, Red and Blue and was originally from Japan but was called Pocket Monsters over there. (Japan got a Green version but released a special version of Blue and Nintendo combined the monsters from Green and Blue into our version of Blue). I had gotten the Red version and was glued and addicted to the Game Boy screen for hours and hours. Being a kid and playing this for the first time was pure magic, the graphics on the Game Boy were really well done and the music is catchy and cute to listen to. The Pokemon Red Blue and Green games were extremely successful and helped pave way for RPGs in the USA and Japan. This is a true classic you have to play for yourself. It's amazing for its time and is fantastic.

9/10 stars.

DEFINITELY NOT as good as Super Mario Bros.

[cheezdontgowitm3 · 5/10 · 1 September 2007]

The first Pokemon games were classic, but not as good as Super Mario Bros. Pokemon's Sequels got quite old, Ruby Version? Sapphire Version? Ever since those 2 games came out I just lost my taste with Pokemon because they're just too boring now. Red, Blue, Yellow, Green (yes it does exist), Silver, Gold, Crystal, those are the good ones, the ones after that are just boring. Mario didn't make 5 sequels to the Super Mario Bros. games, they actually invented different plots, well I mean, Bowser kidnapping Princess Peach is always the plot, but I mean it isn't always doing the same exact thing, I mean, in every game, it's not always jumping over obstacles and enemies to get to Bowser, they invented different kinds of ways. Pokemon it's just catching every Pokemon, beat 8 gyms (or 16 or whatever). The battles aren't all that amazing, I've seen way better from Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. Pokemon's just getting too old, the TV series now is just crap because they changed the voices and it's really not that great anymore. The games are getting old. If you want a good Pokemon game, stick to the old ones, and I know this comment is getting out of the subject of just Red and Blue, but I was also talking to the guy who was saying Pokemon was better than Mario. I doubt it, because if Pokemon knew better, they would just stop the TV series and stuff because it's really getting old, The Mario Series' TV show knew when to stop. Well overall, the Pokemon series is kinda bad because now they just keep on going with the new stuff, but about Red and Blue version, THOSE were the good ones, stick to those, not the new ones.

One of the most creative and original games ever

[Darth_Homer · 20 May 2004]

Wow, even though I hate Pokemon, the game is actually kind of good, because not only is it the addictiveness of the game, but in a clever case of game designing, the game is put into two seperate games, each containg 75 of the monsters each.

Storyline wise, the game is ok, it's the same, I must become the greatest trainer in history storyline, but still, it works, Soundwise, it's ok as well, the sound isn't GTA:VC great (which is an extremely high standard). Gameplay wise, it's like an RPG, without the insanely hard battles.

So enjoy or hate, it's your choice