Xander Morningstar recalls playing Pokémon Red for the first time recently.
My first Pokémon games were the second generation, Gold/Silver/Crystal. But I played these during the time when the third generation was underway, so I didn’t actually play Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow until they came to the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.
I was definitely got into the idea of playing R/B/Y because of my enjoyment of Pokémon Go. And despite that, I never finished. I got maybe four gyms in, I can’t remember. I remember being lost most of the time, not because I didn’t know where to go, but because there wasn’t a quick map feature, and all of the menu options took a long time for me to remember how to use. It’s not a bad thing, I totally get it’s an old game and that every generation is an iteration built on the last. But I recall not enjoying Pokémon Red.
I imagine this is because I had played so many of the other versions in the series, and all of the additions that had been built up were gone. It was fun for a moment for me to play, but like many 80’s-90’s games that I play now, I only try for a small, reasonable amount of time and then move.
Kudos to Pokémon for sticking to it so long, I know that the Gold/Silver/Crystal era was assumed to be the last because of the fad Pokémon appeared to be, yet it stuck around. Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charizard, Pikachu, and many others in that original roster of Pokémon still hold an iconic spot with me.
I wasn’t out there trading with my friends until I got into the series, so a lot of the element in the original Pokémon was not something I took part in – not my fault though. Having it preserved in a version that can sync to modern Pokémon titles is exciting, especially for those who grew up with it. For me, it’s like a commodity in a museum that I admire.
