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Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue (known in Japan as Pocket Monsters: Red and Pocket Monsters: Green) are the first two installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games, released for the Game Boy in Japan in 1996. They are two of the best-selling video games of all time, having sold in excess of 31.3 million copies worldwide."Everything and Nothing Video Game Charts", Everything and Nothing. URL last accessed on 2006-04-29. Set in the fantasy world of Kanto, the game's stories follow the progress of the central character in his quest to become a Pokémon Master. Both games are independent of each other but feature largely the same plot and, while both can be played separately, it is ideal for the player to refer to each in order to complete the game.
In Japan, the release of Blue came after the release of the original Red and Green versions. It was originally made available exclusively through the children's magazine CoroCoro Comic, though it was released to the general public on October 10 1999. Pocket Monsters: Blue and Pokémon Blue are different games entirely.
Pokémon Red and Blue have subsequently been remade for the Game Boy Advance into Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen. These, being advanced generation games, serve to allow the player to obtain all of 386 currently-available Pokémon species created by the franchise.
Gameplay
Like many computer role-playing games, Pokémon Red and Blue are in third person perspective, with players directly navigating the protagonist around their fictional universe, interacting with objects and people. As the player explores this world, they encounter different terrains, in which different Pokémon species reside. As the player randomly encounters one of these creatures, the play switches to a turn-based "battle scene", where characters must await their turns to attack.
A major aspect to the game is that of players developing and raising their Pokémon, by battling other Pokémon, both wild and owned by other Trainers. This experience point system, characteristic of all Pokémon video games and integral to these games, controls the physical properties of the Pokémon, including their battle statistics and hit points.
There are two main goals within the games, that of defeating the Elite Four (a series of highly-skilled Trainers residing at the end of the game) and that of completing the Pokédex (capturing all of the different monsters). These are to be completed in that order, since many species cannot be captured until after the Elite Four is defeated.
Storyline
At the beginning of the games, the player can choose Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle as their starter Pokémon from Professor Oak. After that choice, they cannot catch the other two starters or their evolutions in the wild or by trading with in-game NPCs, so, to complete the Pokédex, the player must trade with other players in the real world. The basic story is to become the best trainer in all of Kanto; this is done by raising Pokémon, defeating Gym Leaders for Badges, and eventually challenging the Elite Four, the greatest Trainers in the land.The player has a childhood rival, the grandson of Professor Oak. This character's default name is the color of the version owned (i.e. in Red version, the character's default name is Red). If one plays Red, the rival is Blue. He will repeatedly battle the player at certain points in the game to test the player's Pokémon; being defeated is an indication for the player to level up his or her team. He will always choose for his starter a Pokémon that has a type advantage over the player's chosen one; if the player chooses Squirtle, he will choose Bulbasaur (Squirtle is weak against Bulbasaur).
Version-specific Pokémon
Each version has fourteen specific Pokémon that cannot be found in the other version. This excludes Mew, which cannot be obtained in either version except from a promotional offer by Nintendo, the Mew Glitch, or using a GameShark.| Blue Version: Red Version: |
Bugs and glitches
The Pokémon Red and Blue versions have become notorious for having many bugs and glitches. The most well-known of these are the Missingno. and Glitch City glitches. There is a form of Pokémon Cloning in Pokémon Red and Blue, though it is error-prone and can result in the Pokémon involved being erased. There are also several less notable glitches, such as standing on a bush, seeing a man on top of the Cinnabar gym, opening up an invisible PC in Celadon City, and fishing on statues. Also, more recently, a new glitch has been discovered, being called the "Fight-Cancelled Battle Manipulation" or "Mew Glitch" which enables you to get any of the 151 Pokemon (Including Mew). Most notably, Psychic-Type Pokémon are immune to Ghost-Type Attacks, despite both the instruction manual and the Game itself referring to Psychics as weak against Ghosts. However there are only three total Ghost Pokemon and no ghost type attacks preventing actual evidence that Psychics are weak against Ghosts (at least in the first games)
Link-up capabilities
These two games introduced the concept of trading Pokémon between cartridges via the Game Boy Link Cable. This had to be done in order to complete the game without cheating, since each of the two games held version-specific Pokémon which were unavailiable for catching in the other version.
The Link Cable also made it possible to battle another player's Pokémon team - this meant that experienced players could pit their Pokémon against equals, something they were unable to do in the game world without cheating.
As well as trading with each other, Pokémon Red and Blue can trade Pokémon between the second generation of Pokémon games (Pokémon Gold and Silver and Pokémon Crystal). However, there were some limitations; Pokémon introduced in the new games could not be traded to Red, Blue, or Yellow, including those of the new types Steel and Dark, nor could Pokémon with "illegal moves" (moves introduced in the second generation games) be traded. Also, the English versions of the games were not compatible with the their Japanese counterparts, and trades resulted in corruption of the Pokémon that were traded.
Using the Transfer Pak for the Nintendo 64, data (such as Pokémon and items) from Pokemon Red and Blue can be used in the Nintendo 64 games Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Stadium 2.
Much to the dismay of many fans, none of these games are compatible with the Pokémon games of the later "Advanced Generation" for the Game Boy Advance and GameCube.
Legacy
The games clearly set the precedent for what has become a blockbuster, multi-billion dollar franchise and sold the Game Boy in vast numbers. Succeeding games have expanded on the concepts set in these two games, eventually turning what was a simple catching game to a vastly complex game of mechanics.
These two games have been remade into Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen and have become one of the best-selling remakes ever, showing the popularity and nostalgic bond that Pokémon players have to these two games.
References
See also
1996 computer and video games | 1998 computer and video games | Game Boy games | Pokémon video games | Pokémon video games
Pokémon Rojo y Azul | Pokémon Rouge et Bleu | Pokémon Rosso e Blu | Pokémon Red en Blue | ポケットモンスター 赤・緑 | Pokémon Red og Blue | Pokémon Red ja Blue
"Pokémon Red and Blue"