5/5 ★ – FreakSlime's review of Pokémon Red.

As the first game I've played, I undoubtedly have a lot of nostalgia for it. However, I'm still amazed at how much they manage to cramp on this little cartridge. The concept itself is amazing and very robust from the start. Maybe the storyline is its weakest point, but it sets your starting point and goals really well. You're a 10 year old kid who has decided to become a pokemon master. To pursue that objective requires you to catch and train various types of creatures roaming the land called pokemon. With them at your side, your goal is to claim each of the eight badges given by the gym leaders scattered throughout Kanto, the region where this game is based on, and, with them, challenge the Elite Four, the strongest trainers on the land. Even in this first iteration of the franchise, each of your companions have their own sense of identity, both because of their distinctive designs and forms of gameplay. With their own types, stat distributions and moves available, each pokemon can be used effectively while combined with other team members, opening countless options for strategizing and fulfilling specific roles. It's true that the types themselves are still unbalanced (the psychic types are unrivaled due to the lack of powerful ghost type moves, which should've countered them and the stupid choice of making the only ghosts in the game part poison type, which are weak to psychic themselves, rendering them useless) as well as the stats (the special one being the best, counting for both attack and defense with special moves), making some pokemon choices better than others. But I would personally say that, even if it's bothersome at first, this mistakes don't detract from the overall enjoyment of the game, and helps the system to set different difficulty options depending on the pokemons chosen by the player. Is this amount of options that elevate a game like this, specially for this time. You'll find yourself surprised at remembering old companions, or fighting against a trainer with a never seen pokemon and wanting to try it out for yourself. To achieve that in a game boy game is truly magical, and guarantees a lot of replay value. I've been playing this game since childhood and I still have some team comps to try out! Your companions are not the only distinctive aspect of this game. The entre presentation has a lot of charm and variety in both the visual and audio department. There are some banger tracks that the Pokémon Company is still revisiting today, and their differences and smart use of the limited sound chip is really remarkable. My favourite ones will always be the champion battle theme and Pallet Town, and I'll die defending that hill! The graphics could see as really primitive for today's standards, and it's true that the lack of space in the cartridges show the most on this regard (as most of the cities and routes share the same tiles), but their arrangement on the map and the use of different sizes and shapes is clever enough to make each place feel different from the rest. As an rpg, the exploration of this places is higly encouraged. There are a lot of optional routes unlocked after getting some MOs (specially surf) that reward the attentive explorers with a lot of items amd even new exclusive pokemon to find! This is the way the legendary Pokemon are found, by the way. I love how they put Moltres on Victory Road so you could find about them in the first place, encouraging to look at everywhere on the map to fill up your pokedex and get the strongest members. I personally think this is the way to introduce legendary Pokemon in a game, making them feel earned by exploration, puzzles and difficulty battles, better than just entering a code in the mistery gift option of your game. This, along with a special legendary Pokemon whose backstory can be found on Cinnabar Island, are the most impactful moments on the game, and they really work to give you a sense of wonder. The last point I want to touch on is maybe the most difficult one: the maddening amount of bugs and oversights that populate the game. It's clear to me that this game wasn't properly tested, as some of the moves and types don't really work properly, and the lack of memory also hits the game hard un this regard. The list is too long to write it out here, but what I can say is this: they really aren't that bad for the most part. The more you play, the better you get to understand its intrinsicacies and some of the problems even became features for me in the end. But, to be fair, they range from unnoticeable to confusing for a first-time experience. In conclusion, I think Game Freak did something short of a miracle with this game. They manage to create a long, dense and fully-packed experience while forming a new sub-genre in the process and they keep being relevant to this day. This is a must play for the Gameboy. GRAPHICS 4/5 SOUND 5/5 GAMEPLAY 5/5 ORIGINALITY 5/5 OVERALL ENJOYMENT 5/5