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Game Review Analysis
Game Review Notes - Pokemon Red/Blue
Genre - Pokemon Red and Blue are a pair of JRPGs, and the western localized/edited versions of Pokemon Red and Green from Japan. Both different versions have their own exclusive content, such as Pokemon that can be caught or items available to the player, and you can trade between the two versions in order to complete the full game.
Target audience - The two games were designed with a younger target audience in mind, younger children of 3 and over. When the games originally came out in 1998/99 in Europe and America, they were rated as an E for everyone on the ESRB rating, and a PEGI 3. However, when they were re-released back onto the 3DS in 2016, the PEGI rating was shifted up to a 12 because of a gambling themed section in the game, which didn't greatly affect its sales as the target market had shifted from just children to people of all ages.
Narrative/storyline - In the game, you play as a young boy (who you can name yourself, originally referred to as Red) who is sent to complete the PokeDex of the Kanto region for the famous Professor Oak. Along the way, you must also conquer the Indigo League and its eight gyms, as well as put up with challenges from your rival (who can also be named, originally referred to as Blue/Green). Along the way, the mob like organisation Team Rocket starts wrecking havoc in the region, so your character thwarts their plans along the way. Some of the gyms you challenge are awkwardly placed however, and for a majority of the game once you've left the fifth city, you're stuck on what task to do next for a long while (up until the 6th gym/second last city).
Characters - There are few characters that play a major role in the game, as the main game itself isn't overly long. The most important is obviously the player/protagonist, followed by your rival as he's involved with a major plot point at the end. The third most prominent is Giovani, the leader of Team Rocket, who also has a plot twist later in the main story.
Gameplay - The gameplay itself is simple, only using five buttons on the original GameBoy (the 3DS version contains an optional two for easier controls). The battle system uses small menus for all of your options, which only take up a small section of the screen, unless you're in the party menu. You can also use the menu on the overworld, which is where a majority of events and encounters happen. Due to how the game's coded, there are numerous glitches throughout the game, these range from minor graphical quirks (eg, your rival's hair when he walks/certain characters glitching in and out) to the infamous, gamebreaking yet sought after MissingNo., which does everything from messing with the graphics to corrupting and erasing your data. Strangely, Nintendo did not remove this glitch from the re-release of the game.
Platforms - The original GameBoy cartridges can be played for the original GameBoy, GameBoy Pocket, and GameBoy Colour, including compatability with the with the Super Gameboy for SNES and the GameBoy Advance's backwards compatability. The 3DS version can be played on any 3DS model (original, XL, 2DS, New 3DS, New 3DS XL, 2DS XL) with enough storage on the internal SD card for the game files.
Personal recommendation of reviewer - I would definitely recommend one of these two titles if you want a challenging new RPG title or series to play (due to the scattered storyline and steep difficulty curves (thanks Sabrina)), or want to have fun exploring and messing up the game's simple coding. It also has a very fun, hyperactive soundtrack, which sounds incredible with headphones on it's original system thanks to how the 8-Bit channels were designed. For being the first in the series, these games already get a lot of phrase, but I can't dent that it definitely deserves it.
Game Review Notes - Pokemon Red/Blue
Genre - Pokemon Red and Blue are a pair of JRPGs, and the western localized/edited versions of Pokemon Red and Green from Japan. Both different versions have their own exclusive content, such as Pokemon that can be caught or items available to the player, and you can trade between the two versions in order to complete the full game.
Target audience - The two games were designed with a younger target audience in mind, younger children of 3 and over. When the games originally came out in 1998/99 in Europe and America, they were rated as an E for everyone on the ESRB rating, and a PEGI 3. However, when they were re-released back onto the 3DS in 2016, the PEGI rating was shifted up to a 12 because of a gambling themed section in the game, which didn't greatly affect its sales as the target market had shifted from just children to people of all ages.
Narrative/storyline - In the game, you play as a young boy (who you can name yourself, originally referred to as Red) who is sent to complete the PokeDex of the Kanto region for the famous Professor Oak. Along the way, you must also conquer the Indigo League and its eight gyms, as well as put up with challenges from your rival (who can also be named, originally referred to as Blue/Green). Along the way, the mob like organisation Team Rocket starts wrecking havoc in the region, so your character thwarts their plans along the way. Some of the gyms you challenge are awkwardly placed however, and for a majority of the game once you've left the fifth city, you're stuck on what task to do next for a long while (up until the 6th gym/second last city).
Characters - There are few characters that play a major role in the game, as the main game itself isn't overly long. The most important is obviously the player/protagonist, followed by your rival as he's involved with a major plot point at the end. The third most prominent is Giovani, the leader of Team Rocket, who also has a plot twist later in the main story.
Gameplay - The gameplay itself is simple, only using five buttons on the original GameBoy (the 3DS version contains an optional two for easier controls). The battle system uses small menus for all of your options, which only take up a small section of the screen, unless you're in the party menu. You can also use the menu on the overworld, which is where a majority of events and encounters happen. Due to how the game's coded, there are numerous glitches throughout the game, these range from minor graphical quirks (eg, your rival's hair when he walks/certain characters glitching in and out) to the infamous, gamebreaking yet sought after MissingNo., which does everything from messing with the graphics to corrupting and erasing your data. Strangely, Nintendo did not remove this glitch from the re-release of the game.
Platforms - The original GameBoy cartridges can be played for the original GameBoy, GameBoy Pocket, and GameBoy Colour, including compatability with the with the Super Gameboy for SNES and the GameBoy Advance's backwards compatability. The 3DS version can be played on any 3DS model (original, XL, 2DS, New 3DS, New 3DS XL, 2DS XL) with enough storage on the internal SD card for the game files.
Personal recommendation of reviewer - I would definitely recommend one of these two titles if you want a challenging new RPG title or series to play (due to the scattered storyline and steep difficulty curves (thanks Sabrina)), or want to have fun exploring and messing up the game's simple coding. It also has a very fun, hyperactive soundtrack, which sounds incredible with headphones on it's original system thanks to how the 8-Bit channels were designed. For being the first in the series, these games already get a lot of phrase, but I can't dent that it definitely deserves it.
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