Humble Beginnings: A Pokémon Gen 1 Retrospective

Please join me as I look back on the first generation of Pokémon games: Red, Blue, and Yellow. It's easy to forget that the Pokémon series wasn't always the behemoth it is today, these first games actually started out very small. Despite their many flaws, there must be something special that enabled their meteoric launch. With this retrospective I hope to uncover what exactly set these Gen 1 games apart and birthed the most successful media franchise in history.

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
3:07 Opening Hours
10:33 Gym Challenge (And Lack Thereof)
14:22 Rock Paper Scissor (Gun)
18:20 Dungeons and Rockets
21:12 Progression Overview
25:54 Back to the Gyms
29:24 QoL? Never Heard of it.
33:16 The Pokemans
37:56 Innovative Multiplayer
41:10 Conclusions and Thank Yous

#pokemon #generation1

[marks]

This game changed my life. Been playing since Gen 1

[jaypooter]

Pokemon Yellow was my first Pokemon game, got it Christmas 1998 and my life changed for the better. Thank you, Pokemon.

[jeffreyf]

I will never forget these days. I was 8 in 1998. The switch from the original gameboy to gameboy color was awesome. Hanging out with neighborhood friends and figuring something new out, excited to go to school the next day to share it with everyone else. SNES into N64 into dreamcast/genesis into playstation. Im 34 now and have been playing the main line games on an emulator when I can. Brings back some good memories.

[NimhLabs]

It should be noted that when Gen 1 Pokemon came out in NA, a common "issue" with various JRPGs and cRPGs is the end game loadouts generally were exactly the same for every save file. Which, is technically considered a problem in a JRPG or cRPG when part of those games are about having different options and choices for how you set up your characters in them

Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow were in a small set of JRPGs (at the time) that by the time a player got to the Elite 4, they generally had wildly varying teams at that point

This was one of the things that helped push it forward. A whole "what team did you use" type approach. Which, wasn't as present in JRPGs and cRPGs at the time as people would have liked it to be

Oh, and my favourite? Zubat

[apolloniusbeitsman]

Gen 1 and 2 are king! Forever grateful to my parents for giving me and my little brother a game boy color and Pokemon Red and Blue as a gift ... Cant believe that's like 25+ years ago

[hzafary]

What a fun, nostalgic and well articulated look back at the most impactful game of all time in my video gaming life. Thank You

[JW-dpwe]

Charmander isn’t as bad for Brock as it says here. Ember does a decent amount of damage to all of Brock’s team despite the type resistance, on account of the extremely low Special stats of Onix and Geodude.

[raphaelmichael]

As soon as he said ‘these games are before my time’ I felt the age gap hit me like a truck

[josetorres]

I was 10 when I bought Pokemon yellow. I couldn't wait to get home from school to play Pokemon stadium. Those were the days.

[geostokes]

Of all the Pokemon nostalgia videos I've watched so far, this one captures the vibe I've been looking for the most.

Please keep it up

[omgbaxtergames]

Thanks for the great video and memories. I was 10 years old when Pokémon came out. I remember getting Red and Blue and being on the playground and having the best memories of playing Pokémon in car rides on my old Game Boy and only being able to see the screen as my dad drive past street lights. This was way before Reddit, and the general internet being the way it is today. We all were kids exploring this amazing world and latching onto rumors of Pikablu, how to get Mew, and having battles during recess and excited to talk about what we discovered the next day.

Pokémon was such an amazing phenomenon back then. I still play through the original Blue/Red/Yellow series every once in a while.

I also remember being young and having dreams of Pokémon actually being real, and waking up so disappointed and literally sad, wanting to go back to sleep and go back to this dream fantasy world where Pokémon existed with us.

I'm now 35, and still hold Pokémon close to my heart. I never got attached to any of the other gens, and stopped after Gold and Silver... but I still love the originals.

[spudeeelad]

Good review. Just a few things to mention.

-The splitting of versions was not originally a money grab. I can’t remember the full reasoning but Nintendo never actually saw the appeal of the games and it was their suggestion to make two versions to encourage interaction, which was a goal of the creator. It was a happy accident for them that this ended up being a huge money spinner - and of course the overall success of Pokemon another happy accident.

-Don’t forget that gameboy was released in 88-90 (can’t remember exactly) and original Red and Green were 96’ I think. This severely limited space and processing power which meant that…

-Trading was the most difficult part to implement of the originals. The amount of data being transferred in a Pokemon trade was simply not something Gameboy was designed to do.

-The original team was like 13 people who designed and made the entire game and tested it. I’d say even the flaws in it are acceptable given at least half of the people were simply not programmers.

-Whilst AI etc is valid criticisms, I feel like that’s just adult brain talking. I used to load my Pokemon with all same type moves like Ember, Flamethrower, Fire Spin etc. I’d suggest trying out Pokemon Crystal Legacy or Pokemon Yellow Legacy and seeing how the game plays when the AI has counters to most common strategies and typings and has its own strategies too - then put your 10 year old self against that. You’d cry and quit the franchise along with all your friends before you finished the game or got any decent Pokemon

[christianboeckh]

Arcanine is my favorite pokemon. A dog that blasts fire? Gimme dat!!!

Great video, thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgia trip. I was 9 years old when I got Pokemon Red back in the day. Remember trading for a complete Pokédex via link cable. Some of the best childhood memories.

[khalilsstories]

Cant wait for the Gold and Silver video! Subbed

[campbellsoup]

"Battling trainers is annoying"

"Encountering wild pokemon is a waste of my oh so precious time"

Jesus dude, do you even LIKE these games? Because that's like 90% of the gameplay. The other 10% is walking around reading dialogue. Which you probably also hate.

[MeruXYZ]

Keep making content please! Your channel is super promising <3

Loved the vid

[axeldeeker]

This came out of left field for me, a new pokemon series huh. I have my grievances with the pre platinum titles, but you put gen 1 in a brilliant light which makes me reconsider. I can't wait to hear what you have to say about the other titles. My favorite gen 1 mon has gotta be Venonat.

[pchurch]

Great video! Thanks for the content. My fav of the OG 151 is Jolteon.

[geoffkannenberg]

As someone who originally played red/blue in America, I agree that FireRed is a very good adaptation for modern gamers to start with

[joshua]

I really applaud this essay. It is insightful, nostalgic, but also very well balanced in both praises and criticism. I really enjoyed this - thank you for making it.