Retronomicon 11.11.09: Pokémon Red/Blue

Posted by Lee Price on 11.11.2009

The Retronomicon hops from one gaming phenomenon to another as the cars are swapped for unholy little creatures with enough power to enslave humanity a 1000 times over if they felt like it. Instead see what it's like when these little beasties are subservient to your every whim as this week the Retronomicon looks at Pokémon.

Salutations peeps and peepettes alike, this here is the Retronomicon and I'm your affable and just slightly sexy host Lee Price. After all the criminality of last week's entry I thought I'd soften the tone a little by offering a game that was condemned by some sections of the church for being ungodly instead. As for me, I've been cracking away with the fourth chapter in the Tales of Monkey Island, the review of which should probably be going up a little before this column I think. I've also knocked out a review for the new Smackdown vs Raw game on the 360 so check that out if you're even mildly interested in the game. Being English I also got to celebrate Bonfire Night this week so much burning of things and letting off fireworks ensued and a good time was had by all. Especially when my buddy let off a Norwegian military issue flare. I'm pretty sure that took up the entire arms budget of Norway but its okay cos we enjoyed it. Anyway, enough of my banter, because I know you're all here for the …





Comments

Now as much to wade through as last week but there was plenty of love shown for the old school GTA games.

First up we have shaydee;

Much love for this column. I loved the original GTA. In fact, I bought it on PS1 because I didn't want to have to use the PC version even though I knew the graphics were poo.

Plus how awesome is the opening theme song?

I must admit to being quite partial to the main theme song of GTA myself, hence the video last week. Its not usually the sort of stuff I listen to but you hear it so much playing GTA that it just kind of invades your head. It would be a neat little touch if the current GTA games included it on the playlist somewhere.

Next up we have AG Awesome;

I LOVED the PC GTA. I only ever had the demo but I did the hack to get rid of the time limit. I'd play for hours on end. One of the reasons I like the new DS one so much

Chinatown Wars certainly does feel like a bit of a flashback to GTA games of old. Its a hell of a lot of fun too and does actually feel like an expansion of what the original GTA games were all about.

Third man to the party is Danny

Loved this game, especially the radio station that had the Jesus music playing on it. That stuff cracked me up and it had a pretty goof beat

The radio stations have certainly always been a stand-out for the series. On a side note I've been reading The Shining recently and my first instinct on seeing your name was that the kid out of the book had somehow become a fan of mass murder.

And finally bringing up the rear we have MissyNEVERWearssocksWithShoes

This is not going to be a popular opinion, but I far prefer GTA 1 & 2 (and GTA: London) to the later games. I was a fan from the beginning, but I feel the older games are more fun to play. My favorite is GTA 2. Electrocuting people is fun ;)

Electrocution is always funny. Just look at Marv in Home Alone 2. As for the games though, the old school GTAs certainly have a much more light hearted tone than the 3D installments. I also liked how GTA 2 brought in the gang respect system that made certain areas of the city dangerous if you were on the wrong side of the resident bad guys.

Well that's all the comments out of the way, keep em coming people I have a thing for answering back! But I think its about time we got to some gameage so strap on those rose-tinted specs again because this week the Retronomicon takes a look at Pokémon Red & Blue.



The Background

I don't think anybody needs to be told anything about the history of Nintendo. They are one of, if not the biggest game's developers around. So instead the Retronomicon will take a look at the main man behind the game instead.

First and foremost is Satoshi Tajiri. Now apart from sharing his name with a certain mist spewer, Tajiri was also the brains behind Pokémon, coming up with the entire concept due to his childhood love of bug catching in the forests surrounding his home. He was unhappy with how the destruction of said rural areas meant that children in future generations would not be able to enjoy his old pastime and thus the concept of Pokémon was born.

In the 80's he started up a gaming fanzine called Game Freak and eventually got into games development and design through a contest held by SEGA. After a few games he discovered the Nintendo Gameboy and specifically the Link Cable, which was the inspiration behind the whole trading aspect of the Pokémon games.

Working with funds from Nintendo he set up his own development studio, also called Game Freak, and started work on a gaming series that would engulf the world.



The Game

Pokémon was released in Japan in early 1996 and took over two years to reach American shores, which pales in comparison with the three years it took to reach Europe and Australia. Nintendo's indecision as to whether the game would be popular amongst Westerners is borne out by that stat but luckily for both gamers and Nintendo, Pokémon eventually took over the world in the late 90's.

The game follows main protagonist Ash as he journeys through Kanto, collecting and training special creatures called Pokémon. The Pokémon belong to various elemental classes and have a number of attacks with which to battle other Pokémon, which is quite convenient when you think about it, Unsurprisingly they are pretty much the main focus of Kanto, with most children wanting to grow up to be star Pokémon trainers.

This is the position Ash finds himself in at the start of the game as he is summoned to Professor Oak's office upon trying to exit the village. Oak is the top Pokémon researcher in Kanto and he has developed a special little gizmo called the Pokédex with which he would like you to catalog all 150 of the Pokémon species in Kanto. Not only that but he provides you a choice of one of the three starter Pokémon, Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle.

Ash isn't the only kid who gets a Pokémon here though as Oak's grandson is also present and is presented with the same task as you. So he becomes you rival and you have your first of many battles with him. Upon winning you are off on your journey to explore Kanto and capture as many Pokémon as your PC will allow in your attempts to topple the Elite Four trainers.

Along the way you will also encounter Team Rocket, a villainous group who want to use Pokémon for evil. Son not only do you need to train to become the best trainer in Kanto, you must also foil these villains at every turn.

So its nothing ground breaking plot wise, and the series has followed the same mold ever since the release of these first two installments, but it gets the job done. It gives you a reason to capture and train more of the little critters, as well as providing an adversary or two to keep you on your toes and at the end of the day that is all you really need to get going with a game like this.

The game itself plays out like an RPG, in the same vein as the early Final Fantasy games but with a slightly more friendly difficulty curve. You explore Kanto at your leisure, interacting with people and other trainers but your main objective is to collect the eight badges that will open your way into Victory Road and a crack at the Elite Four.

Of course to do this you must partake in a little grinding, much to the chagrin of RPG haters everywhere. Luckily not all the battles are random, as trainer fights are only triggered if you cross the into the eye sight of a rival trainer. Once it gets going the battle system is relatively simple, relying on an elemental system which makes your Pokémon strong against some types and weak against others. Battles are over fairly quickly and involve you choosing a starting Pokémon that starts every fight and then switching your Pokémon in and out depending on what your opponent brings to the fray. Its a neat little system that ensures that you don't just try and blast through the game with a single Pokémon, as well as adding a bit of spice and variety to the battles.

The act of catching Pokémon is a similar affair, though this does bring in the dreaded random battles. As you search through the undergrowth (or swim through water, or explore caves), you will be set upon by wild Pokémon who are presumably looking to snatch away your sweeties or something. Catching a Pokémon relies on the player's ability to weaken the creature without knocking it out. Why you can't capture a Pokémon when it is out cold is never really explained but you just can't. Once the wild beastie is in a weak enough state you fling your magical pokéball at it at then cross your fingers that it doesn't get out. You can get progressively more powerful balls for the more powerful Pokémon but catching the big boys, especially the legendary Pokémon, is usually a fine balancing act between causing enough damage to weaken without actually taking out the Pokémon. It provides a depth to the game beyond the "hit them until they fall down" mentality of the trainer battles.



To be fair to Pokémon, the grinding doesn't take over the entire game and you can manage to beat the Elite Four with your beasties at about level 50 is you have a plentiful supply of healing items. Luckily the game provides you with a good reason to level up your Pokémon though with the concept of evolution.

Evolution. Darwin's bread and butter and one of fundamentalist Christians most hated theories. This game has it in spades. As you level your Pokémon up they get stronger, learn new moves and eventually evolve into newer forms. This provides an extra layer of strategy to the game outside of the battle system as, despite each Pokémon having a set evolution level, there are some moves that can only be learned if you delay the evolution until a later level. You can progress through the game just evolving Pokémon as soon as you can, but where's the fun in that?

This is especially true of the Pokémon that are evolved using the special elemental stone. Got a level 30 Pikachu that you want to turn into a Raichu? You can go for it if you want but doing that will cause you to miss out on some of Pikachu's best moves and consequently Raichu's best moves as a Pokémon evolved using a stone doesn't learn anything new.

The other main aspect of the game outside of the main thing is the trading aspect. This is what inspired Tajiri to create the game in the first place and Pokémon was hands down the best use of the Gameboy's link cable. The cable allowed you to link up with other player's to switch Pokémon, fundamental if you intended to catch 'em all as there were Pokémon in both the Red and Blue versions of the game that weren't available in the opposite copies. Not only that but there was a battle arena that allowed you to pit your monster death squad against a friend's, which provided endless entertainment once the Elite Four and Team rocket had been successfully conquered.

There were also the glitches, such as the MissingNo Pokémon that could be used to give you near infinite amounts of any item in 6th slot in your bag. Or the trading glitch where you could clone a Pokémon rather than trade it by pulling out the link cable at the correct time. There were the definition of game aiding glitches, though overuse of MissingNo could damage your game.

Graphically the game was amongst the best the humble Gameboy had to offer. The visuals are very reminiscent of Link's Awakening, which is certainly no bad thing. Each of the monsters had a distinct character, with cutesy creatures like Jigglypuff being balanced out by fearsome ones like Gyrados and most trainer's had a set of Pokémon that leaned towards a certain preference.

The cities all look good and there are plentiful caves and the like to explore. It all stretches the humble Gameboy to its limits, but then so did Link's Awakening when it was released. Battles are an especial highlight as you get to see your Pokémon up close and personal (or at least the back of it) and that's where the real graphical muscle lies.

The sound is as good as any game on the Gameboy, which is to say not really all that good. That's more a personal dislike for the very tinny little speaker on the Gameboy though, but there's really nothing that makes Pokémon stand out from the rest of the Gameboy pack in this department.

But hell the sound isn't important on any GB game ever, it is easier to just turn to the sound down completely to save battery power anyway. Pokémon is hands down one of the greatest games ever released on the Gameboy. It is certainly the most culturally influential. How many other games can get banned in Saudi Arabia because its use of 6 sided stars promote Zionism? How many games can get condemned by some Christians just because of a gameplay mechanic they don't believe in... okay maybe hardline Christians object to pretty much everything but still the point is clear. Pokémon is a cultural phenomenon to this day and Red & Blue were both top quality games that launched the whole thing.



The Aftermath

Pokémon was a cultural phenomenon on a par with any that has been unleashed on the gaming world. The initial games in the series sold about 20 million copies worldwide and won stacks of awards, including getting a world record for best selling RPG on the Gameboy.

For any other game that would probably be enough. But Pokémon Red & Blue started an explosion that carries on to this day. An immensely successful animé series was made out of the games, casting Pikachu as the main star. This resulted in the Pikachu focused Pokémon Yellow for the Gameboy, but outside of that is sparked the release of pretty much every Pokémon related item you can think of. Hell Pokémon is pretty much the KISS of the gaming world, that's how much merchandise is floating around featuring the little pocket freaks.

There were also movies. Lots more movies than there needed to be if truth be told. The first one was quite the success. The second one not so much and now I'm pretty sure that they no longer get cinematic releases.

As for sequels... I'd need an entire column to list the amount of games that have carried the Pokémon banner since the release of Red & Blue. Needless to say there are a lot. Outside of the main sequels, most notable are Pokémon Snap on the N64, and inventive little game that was a hell of a lot more fun then it had any right to be, and the Colosseum games, which focus on the battle aspect of the game rather than collecting.

The original games also got the remake treatment for the GBA with the release of Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green (basically Blue but Blue was Green in Japan and.... yeah). They introduced some of the newer Pokémon into the Kanto region and were just as much fun as the originals.

The Final Word

Pokémon Red & Blue are quite simply two of the most influential games to have ever been released, bar none. I'm pretty sure I said something similar of GTA last week and it would actually be interesting to compare the two. While Pokémon is dwindling a little outside of the core fanbase, and the kids who were hooked on it when it was a fad have grown up and moved on, GTA is still going from strength to strength. It begs the question, is a mercurial rise to fame better than a slow burn? It doesn't really matter because as games Pokémon Red & Blue are amongst the best the Gameboy has to offer.

The Price is Right

Luckily for me and my laziness, Pokémon Red & Blue were only released on the Gameboy so I have very little research to do for this section. Both versions sell for about the same amount as as usual higher prices for better quality.

UK

Gameboy - £3 – 6.

US

Gameboy - $10 – 18

The Guy Who Can do it Better Than You

Our video this week is a little guide on how to capture the infamous Mew without having to have gone to the special Nintendo event.



Enjoy.

Ask 411 Games

I very nearly have enough material to launch the new column. If I can just get a couple more questions from you guys I will be a very happy. The address to swing your questions to is [e-mail]

Get asking and I'll catch you all next week.