I’ve been a lifelong Pokémon fan. I was introduced to it by watching the TV show. after my dad bought my brother and me a Gameboy Advanced in 2007, I got my first Pokémon game, Pokémon FireRed. I remember looking at the Gamestop website for all the options, and I had to pick from LeafGreen, FireRed, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald. In hindsight, Emerald would have been the best choice, but young Raveen saw Charizard on the cover and knew that was the one. Then I got Pokémon Pearl in 2008 and SoulSilver in 2010. I’ve also played through the Pokémon Ranger games. However, I haven’t played any of the games after that. unless you count Pokémon Go, which I still open regularly.

I thought it would be cool to play through a Pokémon Game from each generation until the 3DS. Thankfully a homebrewed 3DS has wonderful emulation options so I can play these games on the go.

Starting with Pokémon Red. First released in 1998 for the Gameboy, this was the first ever Pokémon game. Paired with Pokémon Blue, players had the option of purchasing either game, each containing slight differences like version exclusive Pokémon. Pokémon Red and Blue were the first of their kind at the time and paired with the show took the world by storm, and I can see why.

Here’s what I loved:

  • The music is amazing. I loved the 8-bit music and though I never played it as a kid, still feels nostalgic
  • The openness of the world. Even though I would get lost, I wouldn’t be frustrated, because it was fun to explore
  • The battles were still fun cause the gameplay loop is the same

It’s amazing how much detail the developers were able to fit into their colour and resolution limits.

Here’s what I didn’t like:

  • This is not a fault of the game but rather the technology. Because of the graphics limits, there were doors or entrances that I missed because I couldn’t see them
  • At times, the game just feels slow, the inability to run, slow text and animations would get cumbersome, but I think that’s just cause I’m used to faster games

Overall, I enjoyed the game!

By the end of the game, I was able to sweep through most battles with the same few Pokémon and items, so the difficulty was lost. For that reason, during my Pokémon Crystal playthrough, I am going to include some different rules.

  1. No duplicate Pokémon - I can’t use Pokémon from a previous play through
  2. No using items in battle - held items are okay
  3. I must interact with everyone in town and understand the lore - while playing Red, I didn’t take the time to enjoy the cities and towns. I want to change that for Crystal
  4. I must catch every Pokémon in each route - hopefully, this allows me to introduce some variety to my team
  5. Limit the use of overpowered Pokémon - this rule is subjective, but each game has very strong Pokémon and I want to make sure I have a balanced experience