It's the game that started a revolution, but it's not just the fad that convinced gamers to "catch 'em all." This deceptively simple and child-friendly roleplaying game design is a far deeper game design than it looks. Pokemon features way more strategy and gameplay than it leads on, offering gamers almost infinite gaming possibilities even after the main adventure ends. Initially released in Japan as Pocket Monster Red and Green in 1996 (and later Red), the franchise arrived in the west in 1998 as Pokemon Blue and Red. The games could be linked up with each other and with the N64's Pokemon Stadium titles for creature trading.
Welcome to the world of Pokémon, one filled with wild Pokémon and the people who attempt to tame them. You are Ash Ketchum, a boy on a quest to become the best Pokémon trainer in the world. Professor Oak, the leading authority on Pokémon, has given you your choice of three tame Pokémon in exchange for your helping him catalog and document every Pokémon in the world.
But to catalog a Pokémon, you have to capture it by first beating it up with one of your trained Pokémon, and then hitting it with an empty Poké Ball. As your tame Pokémon gain experience in battle, their abilities improve and they earn access to new attacks. Sometimes they even evolve into more advanced Pokémon.
Aside from capturing wild Pokémon and evolving your own, you can catalog new Pokémon by trading with another Pokémon player using either a link cable or the Game Boy Color's infrared system. Pokémon gained through trades learn and evolve faster, and trading is the only way to capture all 151 Pokémon, since each Pokémon game (Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue, andPokémon Yellow) has certain Pokémon missing. Of course, as a Pokémon trainer, you've "gotta catch 'em all!"--150 to be exact. So if you own Blue and want to have a complete set of Pokémon, you must find a friendly Red or Yellow owner and arrange a trade.
Pokémon Blue is packed with interesting characters, an ingenious story hook, intriguing strategy, and of course plenty of cute Pokemon and it's easy to see how it started the Pokémania that is sweeping the world. --Michael Fehlauer
Pros:
Gameplay and strategy that's fun for all ages
Fantastic replay value
Brilliant game design encourages players to meet and trade
Cons:
Hours of looking at the Game Boy's little screen may hurt neck
Only 1 saved game per cartridge--2 people can't share a single game
No difference between Red and Blue except for distribution of Pokémon
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Legends never die, they just fade with the passage of time...:
This is one of the first two US releases of the series of games all known as Pokemon. Before release, the name was "Pocket Monsters", but the name was shortened for reasons I do not know. Two of the rarest Pokemon in existence can only be found on the original Blue and Red versions, one being Mew, whom rumors have circulated about for ages with definitive proof only surfacing in recent years. The other one, Missingno, is avoided at all costs, as it only exists because of insufficient debugging and... more info
The Definitive Handheld Experience:
This game came out some time ago, but this is my review. I have played many handheld games since this treasure. I have realized none have been as much fun as this game. It is truly the best portable game ever. The story, now mediocre at best, was incredible for a little kid. Not to say an adult would not enjoy it. A boy or girl sets off on an adventure to capture and train 151 creatures called Pokemon. The Pokemon are all great and varied up enough to keep them interesting. There are all different... more info
Started the craze. 4 stars.:
The graphics are piss-poor but the game play and music rarely get better. Bulbasaur is better than any other starter ever and always will be. Charmander was cute but not as cool. And Squirtle as adorable as he was was way too slow. The madness never stopped in my house once me and my bro (22 and 16 now) got these into our grubby paws. We did next to no trading, but tons of gaming. 20 Pokemon that are in this title are: Bulbasaur, Starmie, Vulpix, Vileplume, Articuno, Electabuzz, Ponyta,... more info
GET YELLOW:
This game is fun but not very much of an objective, all you have to do is beat the champion in the indigo plataue and "catch em all" but thats it, get yellow because you always have to make your pikachu happy theres a lot more to it but if you want to get this get it, its not a bad game it just doesnt have much replay value.
