Title: Pokémon Red / Blue

Platform: Game Boy

Year: 1998

Final Vote Percentage: 61.11%

Who would have known that Satoshi Tajiri, creator of the Pokémon series, would develop one of the biggest video game franchises of all time based on his love for bug collecting as a child? Pokémon is one of the most recognized franchises in Nintendo’s history, rivaling that of other franchises like Mario and Zelda. To date it has sold around 208 million units worldwide and it all started with two, and later three sets of games. Pokémon Red, Pokémon Green, and later Pokémon Blue.

The original Pokémon game has several goals. The main goal you are tasked with completing the Pokémon League challenge where players compete for eight gym badges then battle five trainers in a row to become Pokémon League Champion. Along the way, players also deal with the nefarious Team Rocket, who are hell-bent on taking over the world using Pokémon to further their goals.

But the biggest aspect of Pokémon is the series long lasting catchphrase: Gotta Catch ‘Em All. In the original game, a side goal is to collect 150 Pokémon. You can capture most but not all Pokémon in each version. This might sound like a clever marketing ploy to get kids to buy more versions of the game, but there’s a less greedy explanation. The games promote the idea of teaming up with people who have the opposite color Pokémon game and trading what they have over to your version and vice versa. That way you both can work towards collecting them all together.

Pokémon isn’t a revolutionary RPG in the traditional fashion. The story itself is very generic, there are no real plot twists, and most trainers you battle don’t even have individual names aside from the Gym Leaders. But while its generic in tone and presentation, it’s also generic in its battle mechanics. These are, however, actually one of the game's greatest attributes. The game plays very much in a rock/paper/scissors scenario. Fire is weak to water, water is weak to grass, grass is weak to ice, and so forth. Once the player figures out the chart, it’s very easy to assemble a team of Pokémon that is able to thwart any Pokémon that comes their way. Simplicity is the biggest key to some of the biggest games of all time. Pokémon is so simple to get into and play it’s no wonder that it’s popularity continues to be as constant as it was twenty years ago.

At it’s peak, Pokémon was one of the hottest fads of the late 1990s. Although it cooled down a few years later, Pokémon remains one of the most popular video game series of all time. Pokémon Sun/Moon, the next titles in the series, have already become some of the most pre-ordered titles in Nintendo’s history. At 20 years old, the franchise continues to be strong, with no signs of relenting anytime soon. Red, Blue, and Green were the games that started them all, and it should be no surprise that they have earned a spot in our hall of fame.