Three of our editors tried one of the three original Pokémon games on the 3DS Virtual Console and decided to write about the things they noticed playing these again after 20 years of evolution. Back to the source code!
We’ll start our adventures with Pokémon Blue, discuss Pokémon Red next and end with the Yellow (Pikachu) version. Keep in mind that these aren’t standard reviews but true trips down memory lane.
Hi, My name is Jean and I went with Pokémon Blue, the underdog!
I could’ve gone for the definitive version Yellow but fate and nostalgia decided otherwise.
I remember being 10 years old and seeing most of my friends playing Pokémon in dark corners of the playground as not to be caught by teachers. After a week others started to form a crowd around those playing with their GameBoy because everyone wanted to follow their adventures and see all the legendary Pokémon. You were one of the cool kids if you were carrying all three legendary birds and Mewtwo!! And boy did we scream out loud when someone managed to capture the elusive Chansey!
But it was only when I noticed a battle between two players from my class in the middle of the school football field that I was sold! The possibility to take on another player by linking both gameboys with a link cable… That was amazing at that time! And it still is! Although a bit different. That’s when I decided to pick up the underdog cartridge “Pokémon Blue’ from the store and start my own adventure. And now almost two decades later I decided to do the exact same thing but on the Nintendo E-shop on the 3DS. Let’s go!
I’ve played every Pokémon game to date and it was kinda weird to see Professor Oak again welcoming me into the wonderful world of Pokémon. He didn’t even care to ask if I was a boy or a girl. This was boy stuff back in the days! After picking up my Bulbasaur I was shocked at how I never noticed how ugly the sprites were back then; Obese Pikachu, A dried-up Ivysaur backsprite and many hilarious others.
Bulbasaur was so underrated by the community, it can easily beat the first 3 gyms! Definitely not as appealing as a Charizard but a far better choice then most people think! Squirtle is kind of the middle guy of the trio. Skull bash Blastoise is the king, though. In my new playthrough on 3DS I even bought the Magikarp from the weird guy in the Pokémon center and trained it to level 20 so I had myself a versatile Gyarados! It didn’t take the 4X thunderbolts from Lt. Surge that well though. I was surprised at the speed of this game overall. Using HM’s doesn’t take as much time as I thought even though you have to open your START menu in GenI. What I did notice however is how high the wild encounter rate was in this first generation! Especially while surfing! Buying repels and pokéballs is so expensive, though. The newer games feel way more rewarding in terms of in-game currency.
Now some of my colleagues don’t agree with my sense of “speed” in these older games. Sure you couldn’t run yet and it takes a while to get your bicycle but overall I feel like the battles are way faster, fewer animations and no in-game movies. And don’t get me wrong, I love the new games and I am stoked for Sun and Moon. But the pace used to be way higher back in the days.
Overall I had a great time reliving my childhood through Pokémon Blue! And unleashing Mewtwo and Dragonite in an all out battle against your friends is still as exhilarating as I remembered it! The game prompts you to a menu on the bottom screen when you access the in-game ‘Cable Club’. Very streamlined and fast, it throws you straight into trading and battling action! A great addition to this 3DS version we all hoped for when rumors started of older Pokémon games being released on the virtual console. It’s like reliving the 90ies Pokémon Fever!
Hi I’m Yordi. And I took Pokémon Red. Because Red is always the coolest. Ask the Red Power Ranger or Raphael.
Going back to Pokémon Red is interesting. I was there when Pokémon became a thing but only got my first game when Pokémon Crystal came out. As soon as I finished that I went out and got me Pokémon Red. Going back to the game now is fairly rough. Pokémon games throughout the ages got considerable upgrades to make the game flow faster. RPGs back then were significantly slower but even for that time, Pokémon feels slow.
The main character walks very slowly and it takes forever getting from point A to B. The bike is a slight upgrade that picks up the pace but it can’t be used everywhere. Using HMs in the overworld also is a slow and tedious process that got streamlined in later games.
The game’s balance is also notoriously broken. Alakazam and Gengar are unstoppable. That being said it’s still fun to fight your friends even if it isn’t for the same reason.
Lastly, the sprites are awful. Inconsistencies are abroad and a lot of Pokémon look just awful. Now it might sound like I hate the game but that’s not true. I still enjoyed my time with the game but that’s because I played it around the time it came out.
People who never played Pokémon and find charm in the older slower RPGs will enjoy this. People who played the games when they came out will get some enjoyment out of it. But people who never played Pokémon are better off getting either the new 3DS games or if they want to explore the Kanto region look for the Game Boy Advance remakes. Either way, if you want to get one of these games just take either Red or Yellow. Cause Blue is for wimps.
Hello, My name is James and I went with the improved and slightly more colorful Yellow version.
What can be said about Pokémon Yellow that hasn’t been said before? It’s a great game that started the tradition of having a 3rd version of each generation that improves upon the previous versions and Yellow started all that off in a spectacular way.
First off is the Pokémon you receive at the start, a Pikachu, while your rival gets an Eevee. This mirrors the anime in a way, probably because it was (and still is) insanely popular.
This is the only time in Pokémon’s long history that you start off with a Pokémon different from the usual Fire/Grass/Water type in the main game, as well as being the only version where you’re able to get all three of the Starters from Red/Blue later on in the game.
Pokémon Yellow also has a basic version of Pokémon Amie, with you being able to check Pikachu’s feelings towards you, which changes from almost hating you to absolutely adoring you the higher his level gets. Couple that with the actual Pikachu voice (be it a bit garbled and static sounding at times) and you got a pretty “real” Pokémon experience.
Like in previous games, Team Rocket is your main antagonist team, but as said before, Yellow was influenced by the anime and thus, they introduce the “sub-bosses” Jessie and James for you to fight, with them using Ekans/Arbok, Koffing/Weezing and Meowth as their Pokémon, like they did in the first seasons of the anime.
All in all, Pokémon Yellow still plays the way it did way back when and brings back the wonderful memories that I have linked to this franchise.
There you have it. Clearly reliving the original games is a personal journey only you can judge worthy for yourself to undertake. What is clear is that although the franchise has evolved a lot in terms of graphics and mechanics, the core gameplay is as pure as Red, Blue and Yellow were. First of their kinds, flawed yet perfect at the same time.
