30 years ago, 1996, my mom went out to check the mail and came back in with a package addressed to me. Inside was a promotional VHS tape with a sneak peek at something called Pokemon. I popped the tape into my VCR and watched as a boy named Ash Ketchum told me about a "hit TV show, a Game Boy game, and loads of other cool things that are about to take America by storm." That last phrase might have been little more than a marketing ploy at the time, but it nonetheless turned out to be true. I and countless others around the United States were enthralled at what we were seeing, especially when we learned that this amazing world would be coming to our Game Boys in the form of Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue—the two games that started it all.
To this day, I'm convinced that the Pokemon series never got better than Pokemon Red. Sure, Pokemon Blue was identical in terms of story, world, and gameplay, but Pokemon Red had Charizard on the box. Okay, maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration that Pokemon Red was objectively better than Pokemon Blue simply because of box art, as the only thing separating the two experiences were 11 exclusive Pokemon, and those could be acquired by trading with friends. Simply put, I'm convinced that the first two Pokemon Game Boy games were the peak of the series' history. Even playing Pokemon Red today, 30 years later, I'm still having just as much fun as I did when I was a kid, which tells me this is one of those timeless classics that runs on more than nostalgia.
Pokemon Red Trusted Me to Figure Things Out
After playing dozens of hours of Pokemon Legends: Z-A recently, I've discovered how little the series trusts me to figure things out on my own anymore. Its introduction, in particular, is probably one of the longest introductory sequences I've ever experienced in a Pokemon game, to the point I thought it would never end. Extensive handholding, countless invisible walls, and cutscenes that (still) don't feature voice acting for some reason all made it a slog to get through. I enjoyed the experience more once it finally opened up, but that early stretch left me asking a question I simply couldn't shake. Why does Pokemon feel the need to teach me what it is 30 years later, when Pokemon Red let me loose with almost no guidance at all, even when I truly had no idea what I was doing then?
Playing Pokemon Red on my handheld emulator has been making me ask that question even more, as I was simply dropped into its pixelated world with a short introduction to the world of Pokemon from Professor Oak and nothing on my screen that said "Go here. Do this." Playing it again today, I walked around Pallet Town, wondering when a tutorial window was going to come out and tell me what to do before I remembered I had to try to leave town first. Even after I was grabbed by an NPC and taken to a meeting with my rival Gary and Professor Oak, I was simply given a starter Pokemon and pointed toward Viridian City. After that, the game removed the training wheels and largely got out of the way. I also forgot on my way to Viridian City that I needed to visit the Poke Mart there first before unlocking the ability to purchase Poke Balls.
Video games at large were more challenging three decades ago for that very reason—that they let players figure things out on their own rather than babysitting them. But considering how magical the world of Pokemon seemed back then, that sense of mystery in gameplay formed a brilliant pairing that made the world feel like it was waiting for me to discover it, while more modern Pokemon games like Pokemon Legends: Z-A basically spoon-feed me that discovery.
Why does Pokemon feel the need to teach me what it is 30 years later, when Pokemon Red let me loose with almost no guidance at all, even when I truly had no idea what I was doing then?
This was probably the biggest thing Pokemon Red had going for it at the time, since almost no one even knew what Pokemon was. We were all learning more about it as time went on, whether our teachers were the Game Boy games, the trading card game, or the Pokemon anime. Because of that, even though Pokemon Red was coming through this tiny, monochrome LCD screen, it still felt like a world that was larger than life—one in which handholding and laborious tutorials would have deprived it of its magic. Now, 30 years later, that philosophy still holds up, and revisiting it now only reinforces the idea that part of what made Pokemon so special in the first place was its willingness to step back and let players find their own way.
Pokemon Red Is One of the Few Cases Where Nostalgia Actually Favors a Game
The majority of the time, nostalgia can really ruin a return to a classic game. The intent of playing an old game is almost always to relive past experiences and attempt to revive the feelings we once had for them. However, while that can stir some initial excitement, it generally leads to disappointment, as we begin to realize that our context has changed. We are spoiled with modern game design, visuals, and even deeper stories than we had in those days, and whether we like it or not, the classic games that once filled us with joy haven't aged well.
Pokemon Red, on the other hand, is one of the few cases where nostalgia actually favors a game. In some ways, it does show its age, but not significantly enough to make it objectively hard to return to. Even when played today, its design works because its simplicity and sense of discovery still offer a worthwhile gaming experience rather than just a nostalgic one. Players can still enjoy the world, the progression, and the catching and training Pokemon without nostalgia covering up major flaws. In fact, that's one of the reasons the series' gameplay didn't really change until the first Pokemon Legends game arrived. Before then, the gameplay loop pretty much remained the same from Pokemon Red on, even if entries that came after it have made additions like breeding, held items, expanded battle formats, and quality-of-life improvements.
With Pokemon Red, then, nostalgia doesn't mask flaws like it tends to do in other games. Sure, there are flaws in the context of what we have on offer today, but because this is what Pokemon has largely always been, it remains a solid experience. Plus, there's the added bonus of Pokemon Red being one of the few games in the series where players can actually capture the entire roster of the original 151 Pokemon. Since every Pokemon game revolves around a different roster of Pokemon, that also gives Pokemon Red extensive (if not limitless) replay value, and for someone like me who has been here since the beginning, it makes it both a nostalgic trip to the past and a reminder of why I fell in love with the series in the first place.
Sure, there are flaws in the context of what we have on offer today, but because this is what Pokemon has largely always been, it remains a solid experience.
Playing Pokemon Red again doesn't feel like revisiting a relic that only mattered because of when it came out. Rather, it feels like returning to a design philosophy that trusted my curiosity and imagination to do the heavy lifting. 30 years later, that trust is still there, and in a franchise that has grown more guided, more cautious, and more afraid of letting players get lost in its phenomenal world, Pokemon Red is a reminder that sometimes the most lasting magic comes from simply being left alone and allowed to explore.
- Released
- February 27, 1996
- ESRB
- e
- Developer(s)
- Game Freak
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Engine
- unity
- Franchise
- Pokemon
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, JRPG
