Cheap Pokemon - Red (Video Games) (Game Boy) Price

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Customer Reviews of Pokemon - Red

This is Where It All Began
The year was 1998. I was twelve years old, in middle school, and the Pokemon games debuted in the United States for the very first time. A game so simple and yet at the very same time: So complex. Nothing was more addictive, nothing was more fun than playing Pokemon. If you remember the craze (the REAL craze, presently it isn't nearly as strong as it was back then), then you remember what it was like to go to school back in those days. Suddenly EVERYONE had a Gameboy. Suddenly even those who didn't normally play games or even know what the hell a Gameboy was, had it. And you'd go up to your friends and you'd trade Pokemon, you'd taunt each other about who was the better champion when you battled. You got in arguments over who the best starter was. Then you learned of those glitches to get all your Pokemon to level 100 by duplicating the Rare Candies. You caught Missingno and M-Block and caught Safari Zone Pokemon by exploiting what may very well be one of the most widely known glitches in video game history. And of course, you went to catch them all, and you probably had that ONE friend who you deemed your rival and you had to catch 'em all before he did. If you remember all this, you're a true Pokemon fan. This isn't a myth, this game debuted, sold gazillions of copies and started a craze that--while it isn't as strong--still exists today. This was one of the heights of gaming period. <
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>The Red and Blue versions may have seen stateside release in 1998, but the game was actually made in 1995. Before the television show came around. When the TV series took off in America, the games came next and as I said, they sold more copies than the latest installment of Harry Potter. I'm not kidding. <
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>Red and Blue began almost everything you currently see in the series today. The game begins with you naming your character (you couldn't choose between a boy or a girl in this one) and then your rival. Again, if you had Pokemon fever you probably named your main character Ash and your rival was named Gary (even the strategy guides referred to them as such). It began with Professor Oak letting you have a Pokemon of your choice (between 3 starters) and then ultimately he'd send you on a journey with a Pokedex and have you document the Pokemon you'd find. Along the way, you'd have to deal with Team Rocket, the bad guys who are always causing trouble and stealing everyone's Pokemon, as well as gather eight badges so you could challenge the Elite Four and become a Pokemon League Champion. The entire formula began here, and just about everything mentioned above has been done in each and every main series Pokemon game hereafter. <
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>What was perhaps the strangest thing about Pokemon is that the game was surprisingly deep in terms of combat. It was your traditional turn-based combat. Simple, yet it was so complex. For one, the game has a Rock/Paper/Scissors method to it. Every Pokemon has a type, and every type has its own strengths and weaknesses. For example, Water is strong up against fire but it is weak vs. Grass. Grass is weak vs. fire etc. etc. No Pokemon is invincible. They all have a weakness to some type. Though in these versions the psychics definitely have an unfair advantage as the type they're weak against (bug) is almost non-existent and there are hardly any bug type attacks. <
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>In the battle menu you're given a list of commands. Fight, Item, PKMN, or Run. You can switch Pokemon you've caught in and out of battle on the fly, but it'll usually cost you a turn. It's the strategic portion of Pokemon that makes battling fun and addictive. As you go through the game you'll be challenged by trainers and you never know what they'll throw at you! It's completely unpredictable and some of them are tough. It's also interesting because with 150 different Pokemon, the amount of teams you can make are endless, and it really makes you think about what types you want in your roster. Because most of the Pokemon types are weak vs. more than just one type. It's also important that you give them a variety of moves, as the moves are also typed. On paper it doesn't seem like much, but when you actually play the game, you'll find a clog in your drain you didn't even know you had because you thought your team was perfect... but then that one Pokemon comes along and exposes your fatal flaw. <
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>Pokemon was no short game. It was full of all sorts of side quests. From the Safari Zone, to catching the Legendary Birds, to the Unknown Dungeon. There was plenty to do, and even after the game was over there was STILL more to accomplish. Of course, your main accomplishment was getting them all. Pokemon could easily keep you busy for well over 60 hours. In 1998 this is an amazing feat seeing as how most RPGs of TODAY don't keep you busy that long. The main quest itself only took a measly 15 hours or so, but all the extra content kept you on your toes. <
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>Even more, Pokemon was one of the few Gameboy Games that made excellent use of the link cable. Since Red and Blue versions had different Pokemon, some only appeared in certain versions. You couldn't for example, catch a Magmar in the Red version, but you could in Blue. How then, were Red players supposed to catch all 150? By trading. Until Pokemon came around, my link cable was collecting dust. Trading was usually a slow grueling process, though. Traded Pokemon also got an experience boost so they were easier to train. <
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>Even more exciting than trading, however, was what really made Pokemon a blast to play: Battling. You and your friends could get together and battle one another! Test out your Pokemon teams against your friends. They were, more often not, far better to battle against than the games trainers. It's always interesting to see who your opponents heavy hitter is. With your friends it was always interesting. Imagine how embarrassed you were to say a certain Pokemon sucked only to discover that the trainer actually did a good job training? <
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>As far as the game looks and sounds, it didn't really look all that great when it was released in 1998 (it was after all, a game made in 1995). On the original gameboy it was pretty grainy (but very clear on the Gameboy Pocket) and of course it was black or white (unless you played it on a Super Gameboy or Gameboy Color). For a Gameboy game, though, it actually wasn't too bad. It was annoying to watch a Pokemon simply flinch to attack, and some of the animations weren't all that great, but it was to be expected due to the Gameboy's limitations. The music, however, was fantastic. The tunes were catchy--particularly the trainer battles and gym leader battles. The only really annoying thing was the sound effects. They weren't all that great, and its a shame that Nintendo actually continues to use those exact same sound effects in Pokemon games today. Still, for what it's worth, this was the game you wanted on the Gameboy. <
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>Pokemon is a classic. It'll always be a classic. No matter who you are, if you played Pokemon ten years ago, the craze was completely undeniable. If you got addicted like I did, chances are you're still playing today. Because in its core, the game was far deeper than you thought it was, and the series continues to use that same basic formula even today.

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Wonderful!
For the person who said, "Whoever still likes Pokemon is living in the past", get a life. Seriously, just because Pokemon has died down does not mean that you should stop liking it just because it's unpopular. It's perfectly ok to like Pokemon and if you think anyone who likes it is stupid then you ARE stupid. Don't judge people based on what they like; that's what they like and it's none of your business. <
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>Uhh . . . yeah. Well, anyway, this game is a classic. I still like it even after palying Ruby and Sapphire. Sometimes it's good to get back to the originals. Red and Blue are both pretty much the same but I personally like Red just because it has better Pokemon IMO (Growlithe yeeaaaahhhhh!) But I like Blue too. They're both fun and have their share of glitches (yay Missingno.! If for some reason you don't know what Missingno. is then check out "Pokemon glitches" and you'll get a website that talks about pretty much any Pokemon glitch you can imagine), and even though the graphics are bad the heart of the game is there. There is one major fault, though: there isn't much to do after you catch Mewtwo. The later games hav improved this greatly, so if you're one of those people who likes to keep a game forever I would suggest Pokemon Emeral. <
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>This game's replay value is great as well; you can play three different games and get three diferent starters and three different Eevee evolutions. Well there is another major flaw and that is that you can only have one game going at the same time. This is not improved even in the later games and I do not know why. <
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>It's okay to like or dislike this game. It's just not ok to bash on people who feel differently than you do. We're all different and some people just have to learn to accept that.

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The Game That Started it All For Me
It's kind of strange how I manged to get into Pokemon, but here's how it all began: One day, during a Science class, a friend of mine and I were going around our elementary school yard and picking up trash and Tootsie Roll wrappers. The actual goal was as many Tootsie Roll wrappers we each got, that was how many Tootsie Rolls we would get. Anyway, I found a stray Ponyta Pokemon Card in one part of the yard, and my friend found a Dark Charmeleon. My friend said, "I'll trade you my Dark Charmeleon for your Ponyta if you want". Well, personally, I didn't want to, I wanted to add this card and start a collection, but my friend's Dark Charmeleon did look sort of cool at the time. I finally gave in and said, "well, why not?" So we traded. A few days later, we started acting out some of the episodes at recess (I'd never seen the episodes at the time). My friend was basically making up his own little stories... never mind the episodes that were on TV. Later on, my liking for Pokemon grew when my friend decided to bring his Game Boy Color to school, AND his Pokemon Red Version. I thought to myself, hmmm... this could be interesting. I asked him what he was playing and if I could watch him play it. he said, "sure you can watch." I didn't get to see much of the game because we weren't outside for recess that long. Then, I decided I wanted to get my own version of Pokemon Red. I asked my mom and she said I could. So I did. I got the game (almost 7 years later and I still haven't beaten it) and I ended up loving it. So, in conclusion, I'm eighteen and a half years old, a junior at Grafton High School, and I still love Pokemon (the games more than the episodes), but one thing has changed... my friend and I don't do "reenactments" of our favorite episodes anymore like we used to. I really recommend this game.