Pokémon Red and Blue

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Pokémon Red and Blue

Developer(s)	Game Freak
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Ken Sugimori
Release date(s)	^JPN February 27, 1996^[1] ^JPN October 15, 1996 ^NA September 30, 1998 ^EU October 1, 1999
Genre(s)	Console role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone USK: Free for all OFLC: G ELSPA: Unrated
Platform(s)	Game Boy
Media	8 megabit cartridge

Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue are the first two installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games, released for the Game Boy in Japan in 1996. They are two of the best-selling video games of all time. Set in the fantasy world of Kanto, the game's stories follow the progress of the central character in his quest to master Pokémon battling. Both games are independent of each other but feature largely the same plot and, while both can be played separately, it is necessary for the player to trade among the two in order to fully complete the game.

Pokémon Red and Blue have subsequently been remade for the Game Boy Advance into Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen. These, being advanced generation games, serve to allow the player to obtain all of 386 then-available Pokémon species created by the franchise.

1 Gameplay
- 1.1 Storyline
2 Bugs and glitches
3 Link-up capabilities
4 Development
- 4.1 Pocket Monsters
5 Reception
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Like many console role-playing games, Pokémon Red and Blue are in third-person perspective, with players directly navigating the protagonist around their fictional universe, interacting with objects and people. As the player explores this world, they encounter different terrains, in which different Pokémon species reside. As the player randomly encounters one of these creatures, the play switches to a turn-based "battle scene", where characters must await their turns to attack.

A major aspect to the game is that of players developing and raising their Pokémon, by battling other Pokémon, both wild and owned by other Trainers. This experience point system, characteristic of all Pokémon video games and integral to these games, controls the physical properties of the Pokémon, including their battle statistics and hit points.

There are two main goals within the games, that of defeating the Elite Four (a series of highly skilled Trainers residing at the end of the game) and that of completing the Pokédex (capturing all of the different monsters). These are to be completed in that order, since many species cannot be captured until after the Elite Four are defeated.

[edit] Storyline

The player’s Raichu battles a Golbat.

At the beginning of the games, the player can choose Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle as their starter Pokémon from Professor Oak. After that choice, they cannot catch the other two starters or their evolutions in the wild or by trading with in-game NPCs, so, to complete the Pokédex, the player must link games and trade with other players in the real world. The basic story is to become the best trainer in all of Kanto; this is done by raising Pokémon, defeating Gym Leaders for Badges, and eventually challenging the Elite Four, the greatest Trainers in the land.

The player has a childhood rival, the grandson of Professor Oak. This character's default name is the color of the version owned (i.e. in Red version, the character's default name is Red). If one plays Red, the rival is Blue. He will repeatedly battle the player at certain points in the game to test the player's Pokémon; being defeated is an indication for the player to level up his or her team. He will always choose for his starter a Pokémon that has a type advantage over the player's chosen one; for example, if the player chooses Charmander (a Fire-type Pokémon), he will choose Squirtle, a Water-type Pokémon, giving it an advantage over Fire-type Charmander.

[edit] Bugs and glitches

Main article: Glitches found in the Pokémon video games

The Pokémon Red and Blue versions have become notorious for having many bugs and glitches. The most well-known of these are the Missingno. and Glitch City glitches. There is a form of Pokémon Cloning in Pokémon Red and Blue, though it is error-prone and can result in the Pokémon involved being erased. There are also several less notable glitches, such as standing on a bush, seeing a man on top of the Cinnabar gym, opening up an invisible PC in Celadon City, and fishing on statues. In the start of the game, you can also change the game color, right when you turn the game on by pressing up, down, left, or right.

Also, a glitch was discovered, called by some the "Fight-Cancelled Battle Manipulation"^{[citation needed]} or "Mew Glitch" which enabled the player to get any of the 151 Pokémon (Including Mew).

Contrary to the instruction manual and the Game itself referring to Psychics as weak against Ghosts, Psychic-Type Pokémon were immune to Ghost-Type Attacks. The games contained only three total Ghost Pokémon and only one actual Ghost-type attack that relied on type (Lick) in the games, which actually had no effect on Psychic Pokémon at all (a problem remedied in later expansions).

[edit] Link-up capabilities

These two games introduced the concept of trading Pokémon between cartridges via the Game Boy Link Cable. This had to be done in order to complete the game without cheating, since each of the two games held version-specific Pokémon which were unavailable for catching in the other version.

The Link Cable also made it possible to battle another player's Pokémon team - this meant that experienced players could pit their Pokémon against equals, something they were unable to do in the game world without cheating. However, no experience points were earned for link battles.

As well as trading with each other, Pokémon Red and Blue can trade Pokémon between the second generation of Pokémon games (Pokémon Gold and Silver and Pokémon Crystal). However, there were some limitations; Pokémon introduced in the new games could not be traded to Red, Blue, or Yellow, including those of the newly introduced types Steel and Dark, nor could Pokémon with moves introduced in the second generation games be traded. MissingNo., 'M, and other Glitched Pokémon were unsupported as well; though they would appear as a second generation Pokémon in G/S/C, the second-generation games would register them as abnormal and cancel any trade involving the glitches. Also, the English versions of the games were not compatible with their Japanese counterparts, and such trades resulted in corruption of the Pokémon that were traded.

Using the Transfer Pak for the Nintendo 64, data (such as Pokémon and items) from Pokémon Red and Blue can be used in the Nintendo 64 games Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2.

The games, however, were not compatible with the Pokémon games of the later "Advanced Generation" for the Game Boy Advance and GameCube.

[edit] Development

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The concept of the Pokémon saga stems from the hobby of insect collecting, a popular pastime which game producer Satoshi Tajiri had enjoyed as a child. Tajiri thought the Game Boy was perfect for his concept specially because of the link cable that allows fights between players.^[2] Tajiri never expected that the game would be so popular, especially because of the declining popularity of the handheld.

The main characters were named after Tajiri himself (Satoshi) and his friend and fellow Nintendo developer, Shigeru Miyamoto (Shigeru).

All the drawings were made by artist Ken Sugimori, and the music was made by Junichi Masuda (most tunes were later used in the anime in rearranged orchestral versions).

The Pokémon never bleed or die in battle, only faint – this was a very touchy subject to Tajiri, as he didn't want to further fill the gaming world with "pointless violence."^[3]

[edit] Pocket Monsters

Pocket Monsters Midori boxart.

In Japan, Pocket Monsters was first released as Pocket Monsters Aka (ポケットモンスター赤, Poketto Monsutā Aka^?, "Pocket Monsters Red") and Pocket Monsters Midori (ポケットモンスター緑, Poketto Monsutā Midori^?, "Pocket Monsters Green") while Red and Blue were released in North America and elsewhere. In Japan, Pocket Monsters Ao (ポケットモンスター青, Poketto Monsutā Ao^?, "Pocket Monsters Blue"), with improved graphics as opposed to the older first-generation games, was released after the original Aka and Midori. It contained Pokémon that could be found in places not originally in the Aka and Midori versions. An example is that Ditto was added to the Rock Tunnel and Lickitung could be caught in the wild. Also, Unknown Dungeon was totally redesigned, and its layout was used by the Red and Blue versions.

Although Pokémon Green was never released outside of Japan, Pokémon Blue is based on Pocket Monsters Ao's engine and graphics, with Pocket Monsters Midori's wild and trade Pokémon. Similarly for Pokémon Red, it too was based on Pocket Monsters Ao's engine and graphics, with Pocket Monsters Aka's wild and trade Pokémon.

[edit] Reception

**Reviews**
Publication	Score
IGN	10 of 10^[4]
GameSpot	8.8 of 10^[5]
EGM	8.5 of 10
Nintendo Power	7.2 of 10
Compilations of multiple reviews
Game Rankings	88 of 100 (based on 14 reviews)^[6]

The games set the precedent for what has become a blockbuster, multi-billion dollar franchise and sold the Game Boy in vast numbers. They also started an entire new culture and consumer basis with just two products. Succeeding games have expanded on the concepts set in these two games, eventually turning what was a simple catching game to a vastly complex game.

The two games have been remade into Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen and have become two of the best-selling remakes ever^{[citation needed]}.