My opinion about pokémon games 1- Kanto (Red and Blue)
In these reviews I will write about what I think is good and bad about different Pokémon videogames. I will talk (at least by the moment) about the principal games and I will go generation through generation. So yes, Kanto will be the first. Oh, and even I say bad things about some generation, I still LOVE all the games :)
Red and Blue were the first Pokémon games, created by Game Freak, and that’s why I think this was the scheme for all the games that came later. It was simple and well planned, and it introduced the first generation of pokefans to the game. There wasn’t much to do apart of completing your pokedex and fighting the gym leaders, team rocket and the league, and that’s why I think it gets kind of boring when you have played all the games. But I think it was a good plan to begin with. All the ideas of what the game consists on are there, easily explained and without much details.
About the world: I think the villages are quite boring in general, as they get kind of repetitive. I know they couldn’t do much more with it as the first game boy wasn’t prepared for details but anyways there’s something I like, and it’s that they, intentionally or not, added some background that made them more interesting. Apart from the dark touch we all know they added in Lavender Town, there are some things… how could I explain it? Really, really dark about these games. I mean, for example, have you thought about all the stuff about safari zone in Fuchsia City? It’s not just the fact that you go in a wild zone with rare and very dangerous Pokémon on it, meaning that there is people using it to attract people and make money from them, which is kind of cruel but also happens in other games; it’s also the way they are exposed in this city, just in front of the Safari, there are Pokémon exposed to the public kept in small spaces like: see this!! We’ve got weird Pokémon here!! Come on catch them all!! This gives me some cringe honestly.
About the villains: Team rocket is an interesting team, as they are inspired in a mafia, which makes a lot of sense to me. A mafia would be really interested in such powerful and dangerous creatures if they were real, and of course using them for their own benefit is something they would totally do. I really think they already have control over Kanto. It makes sense if we link it to the dark vibes I was talking about before. For example with the casino, I think it is clear that it is no coincidence their secret base is located in there; they own the casino. Why? Because in real life there’s a lot of casinos ruled by the mafia. They already own Silph S.A. (I mean that they invaded it, not that Giovanni is the director of it, I remember the man who gives us the master ball) and the Pokémon lab in Cinnabar Island. They own everything that gives them enough power or money to rule the region, and don’t forget two of the gym leaders are or have been part of team rocket too (Giovanni and Blaine); in the manga even Sabrina is part of Team Rocket!
That makes me think the real game was really criticizing how the ones who really rule the world are evil; the world is ruled by the mafias and some powerful people after all, using capitalism (casinos, companies, etc) and all tools they can to oppress the others and make them do everything they want in their own favor. So the real plot of the games would be about a guy fighting against the system to make Kanto a better place for both humans and Pokémon, being the main character more or less aware of it.
Other stuff I personally see dark about these games are all the glitches and the fact that’s it’s an old game per se. I sometimes doubt that those glitches were all errors and not something Game Freak added on purpose to make the games more interesting. For example, I think the Mew glitch is kind of weird. I have no idea on how programming or videogames work, honestly, but I think it wouldn’t be strange that the glitch was only a way to hide mew, making him a really weird pokemon that only could be owned by those who discovered the glitch by error (or of course the official events were they were distributed), but that are only conjectures. All the Missigno stuff also gave the gamers a lot to talk about. I’m not saying it was like that for sure, but I have reasons to believe it could be more planned than it seems. Anyways, being it planned or not, in the end these are facts that give the original games all the mysterious and punk feels they have.
The Pokemon designs: These are the original designs that made the game famous so, how could I hate them? I love 90’s manga and anime style, so old-school and not that much digitalized as nowadays. I have not much to say, they are cute. Maybe they are not as original and extravagant as in the second generation (Gold and Sylver), which are my favorites, but they have that wild touch that matched the game feels so much. There’s a great variety of designs too, so I think everyone can have some favorites there (I love slowpoke, for example); from the classical “cool shonen” Pokémon like Charizard and Dragonite, going through cuties like cleffairy or meowth, beauties like Ninetails and Lapras to freak dangerous monsters like muk or magneton. The legendaries all look stunning and intimidating so I think they are very good too. In fact, they are all very different, and I think the game freak team worked hard on it because they knew they would be the key to Pokémon’s fame; and they were.
The character’s design: They also have this old school touch, which I like, but I think that other generations have more diversity. I mean, a thing I love about Pokémon is that everyone can feel minimally represented by some of their characters; Let’s be clear about it, while in the other games some characters look androgynous or simply not white, this first games still didn’t include these marginalized social groups (well, I suppose that they were all japanase, but that doesn’t look that inclusive thinking that the game comes from japan). But that doesn’t mean the characters were bad, just that the game lacked representation for those who don’t have that much of it, thing that is sadly normal, as it’s an old game… Apart of this, I think they are all worked too. Their designs are original; there’s a character I personally hate, and that’s why I think it’s good. Lt. Surge. Yes, this fucking war soldier; this guy gets on my nerves BUT that is cool, because people like that exists too, and Pokémon don’t represent him neither as good or bad; you just can judge by yourself liking it or not. In the other hand I love Erika and Sabrina, for example. Another thing I love about Pokémon is that the characters are so worked they let you think about what kind of people they are, why are them like that, how do they live… For example, why Erika just allows women in their gym? Is it because she was a victim of sexism? Is she a lesbian forming her harem? Ha, ha! you know, it’s not just like in most of Hollywood films or commercial manga where they only represent very beautiful people without defects and looking all the same. No; all Pokémon characters are individuals with their own personality, not demonized nor glorified, and I love it.
A thing I hate about Kanto is all the remakes and glorification there is about it. I understand it, because it’s the first game and it brings nostalgia to most of the older players, but I don’t share it. For me, Kanto was just the first Game Freak experiment and the introduction for us in the Pokémon game, and there are more complete and interesting games that came after it. Also, in my opinion, making remakes doesn’t make much sense because the funny thing about Blue and Red is how they get older, and as they get older they get darker, don’t ask me why because that is some personal feelings about it. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the remakes, they sure are funny and enjoyable too, as they give a new point of view to the old region, but I think Game Freak could spend their time in making their new games more complete, remaking other games (like Diamond and Pearl; what happened with them? Ha, ha!)
Let’s be honest, to me these games are boring compared to others, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good games and all the dark feels are what I love about them. And... I also think I might have just got bored of them because I played them too many times! ha, ha!
