Gameboy Pokemon Games

[mastodon]

I never got into Pokemon. I remember the craze over the GB games. Did I miss out?

[weirdfeline]

They are pretty good games.

[kamikazekeeg]

I'd only say you missed out if you feel like you would've liked them, like they aren't amazing games or anything, they don't have great stories or real amazing characters, but I got big into the collecting aspect, building a team of my favorite Pokemon, so there's a lot of nostalgia to Red, Blue, and Yellow for me.  I stopped playing after those, and didn't get back into the series until the Switch games. 

If Let's Go Pikachu was a better game, I'd recommend checking that out for kicks, it's a remake of Pokemon Yellow, but it's got the crappy Pokemon Go pokeball throwing gimmick, so it's a mixed bag.

[emporerdragon]

I would say you missed out if you had friends that were into the games. Multiplayer was the big draw, where you'd try to build up teams to take each other on in a metagame that just got bigger with each successive generation. Otherwise, just as a single-player experience, they're pretty basic RPGs that serve more as an introduction to the genre than anything else.

[sworddude]

If you had any other game series back in the day as a kid and had fun memories with friends while playing those you didn't miss out.

I think the most special thing about pokemon is the speculation part because of the lack of internet, in the gb days you had mew and them glitches like missingno how to get them, while in gen 3 gba days you had the extremely hard to catch feebas and the regi puzzles wich had weird sentences and forced kids to use braille. Like seriously one of the best things in the entire series with cryptic puzzles and messages. why can't they do such stuff nowadays. let alone all the made up stuff.

So many rumours on the school grounds or that some old cousin knew it's secrets. If you had the knowledge you where the king. It's not pokemon exclusive zelda had this aswell if I'm not mistaken or the secret codes with mortal kombat etc etc. Pokemon just had allot of secrets. or people just keeping their moves a secret to assure their succes in more skillbased games. Those where the days 

Nowadays with the web being the beast that it is, it's hard to replicate such experiences although there wouldn't be much room in the newer games for such fun speculation to exist anyway. gen 3 to 5 where packed if you want a cool single player experience but gen 6 and up not so much and more childish.

if you didn't play luigi's poker with friends as a kid you missed out

Overall the games have good music, but if monster catching rpg's ain't your thing I can't recommend it. not to mention that the later gens have dumbed down on the single player experience multiplayer is the only selling point nowadays imo anyway. I'm curious what legends arceus will bring to the table though.

if you like rpg's and you don't mind having almost no story (except for gen 7) you could give it a shot but don't expect to much depth unless your going multiplayer in the last couple of generations. It's very accesible so you might like it, the pokemon formula does attract a pretty wide variety of audiences compared to other rpg's even people who aren't usually into them.


if you are especially talking about just the gameboy classic games red blue & yellow. I'd say skip those, gameboy classic is so limited only good thing about the og is the 8bit soundtrack if you want some variety. Play the superior remakes firered leafgreen on gba instead with added content like the sevii islands, also the music is more accurate to old school pokemon not to mention with added mechanics of gen 3 plus all mons till gen 3 being usuable compared to just gen 1.

Let's go is a thing but it's in my humble opinion a game with visuals and music for babies, no offence to the masses of adults that do love let's go I hate them personally the cool factor is lost in let's go unlike previous entries this particular game seems to be made with a way younger audience in mind than usual even compared to other modern entries. the disney music the cutesy visuals dumbed down mechanics i don't see the nostalgia here. removing held items and abilities and actually stuck with 153 mons compared to previous remakes. pokemon go catching and the funko visuals are the icing on the cake. plus no sevii islands like the gba remakes.

[Bluemoon]

kind of, Pokémon is really hard to get into if you never liked or played it as a kid but that's because most of the games aren't objectively that good, it's simple in it's story and gameplay but that makes for a game that brings huge nostalgia and attachment for anyone that did play it back when they were a kid. The huge number of Pokémon can make a playthrough feel quite personal so its no wonder why so many got engrossed in it but I don't think your missing anything hugely special if you don't feel like you get the appeal of the series now 

[undertakerprime]

Because I’m an old man, I was already in my 20’s when Pokémon came out in the US. But I got Blue for my Game Boy and I actually had a really fun time with it, and I got Gold too. Then I fell out of Pokémon until we got Sword & Shield for my kids…and I completed the Pokedex 
Since I loved Sw&Sh I went back and got Sapphire and White a couple years ago before the prices got totally ridiculous. The point being, it was still a good time-waster for an older person.

Bottom line is, they’re not groundbreaking or mind-blowing or anything, but it’s really fun to find the best Pokémon and put together a strong team of varying types. At their core Pokémon games are kinda like more simple and accessible RPGs.

[bikingjahuty]

It depends how old you were.


I was one of the first people I knew that got into Pokemon in the US. I was in 6th grade when Red and Blue came out and an acquaintance of mine was the first person I knew who got the game and the first time I'd ever heard of Pokemon. Then a close friend of mine got it, then I did. At first I was just obsessed with the game, but then when the cards came out, holy shit! I also religiously watched the anime at like 6:30am every morning before it went to Kids WB in the US. Pokemon really hit its stride in fall of 1999 or so when I started 7th grade; that's when Pokemon the first movie came out, Pokemon cards were cardboard gold, and the anime started getting new dubbed episodes. I lived and breathed Pokemon all the time whether it was the cards, games, anime, or any other Pokemon merch I could scam my parents into buying for me.


My initial Pokemon fandom did fade around the time Gold and Silver came out and was more or less dead by 2001 or so. However, those couple of years I was balls to the wall obsessed with it were incredible. I associate Pokemon as that last little flicker of my childhood before I became an angsty, depressed, cynical adolescent and because of that I deeply cherish my memories of when Pokemon first came out. Had it come out a few years later I probably would have passed on it completely. My wife is a few years younger than me and she also has super find memories of playing Pokemon and collecting the cards when she was in elementary school. So yeah, if you were born after 1985 or so I'd say you missed out.

[sworddude]

kind of, Pokémon is really hard to get into if you never liked or played it as a kid but that's because most of the games aren't objectively that good, it's simple in it's story and gameplay but that makes for a game that brings huge nostalgia and attachment for anyone that did play it back when they were a kid. The huge number of Pokémon can make a playthrough feel quite personal so its no wonder why so many got engrossed in it but I don't think your missing anything hugely special if you don't feel like you get the appeal of the series now

interestingly enough just nostalgia ain't the reason why I personally stuck with the series for so long

Especially multiplayer wise there is enough depth with the iv ev system abilities egg moves etc etc, let alone the methods to train your mons in specific ways for the best competitive results. exploration and lore wise It's also really interesting if you go beyond the main story it gets far more complex with the less obvious details, let alone that past entries had post game battle facilities such as the battle frontier or the world tournament wich definitely posed a nice challenge. battle factory and the pyramid are my favourites.

Still multiplayer wise the battle system of pokemon is really nice, other monster catching rpg's haven't really matched it if they have multiplayer in wich it's only fun for a short while. Has plenty of nuances and variety.

That being said if your looking for a pokemon game with a decent story and challenge during the main game I'd highly recommend Pokemon colloseum on the Gamecube.

This game was made with an older audience in mind with darker themes than usual also the main playable character is 17 in this entry. Not to mention that the difficulty is actually pretty decent strategy needed bulldozing like mainline games ain't going to work, the battles where made with more competitive sets in mind. pretty nice characters in it aswell. I'd recommend people to give that a shot if you want something less simple for the main story in terms of gameplay and story.

The sequel the more pricy XD gale of darkness kinda reversed it to make it more like the traditional formula in terms of story and characters younger audience a downgrade. Has QOL and more mons + shadow lugia but it's the inferior game and also a bit more easy still harder than the main handheld games though. The characters and story are allot less interesting there that's not even a contest. Still a great game at the end of the day but colloseum is quite special a really interesting tone for pokemon.

[sin2beta]

It depends how old you were.


I was one of the first people I knew that got into Pokemon in the US. I was in 6th grade when Red and Blue came out and an acquaintance of mine was the first person I knew who got the game and the first time I'd ever heard of Pokemon. Then a close friend of mine got it, then I did. At first I was just obsessed with the game, but then when the cards came out, holy shit! I also religiously watched the anime at like 6:30am every morning before it went to Kids WB in the US. Pokemon really hit its stride in fall of 1999 or so when I started 7th grade; that's when Pokemon the first movie came out, Pokemon cards were cardboard gold, and the anime started getting new dubbed episodes. I lived and breathed Pokemon all the time whether it was the cards, games, anime, or any other Pokemon merch I could scam my parents into buying for me.


My initial Pokemon fandom did fade around the time Gold and Silver came out and was more or less dead by 2001 or so. However, those couple of years I was balls to the wall obsessed with it were incredible. I associate Pokemon as that last little flicker of my childhood before I became an angsty, depressed, cynical adolescent and because of that I deeply cherish my memories of when Pokemon first came out. Had it come out a few years later I probably would have passed on it completely. My wife is a few years younger than me and she also has super find memories of playing Pokemon and collecting the cards when she was in elementary school. So yeah, if you were born after 1985 or so I'd say you missed out.

I think you and I are about the same age. It was sixth grade for me and I was one of the first, buying it opening weekend based on Nintendo Power previews. And I'm also old enough that I initially thought it was a sequel to Monster in my Pocket.

I excitedly bought Gold when it came out, but never finished it. I had faded out then. I think I spent a week with it at best. 

[pzeke]

I never got into Pokemon. I remember the craze over the GB games. Did I miss out?

Did you miss out? Honestly, yes, without a doubt...that is if this were the type of game you would've liked back then. Otherwise, no; not really.

The franchise is currently a shell of its former self, so don't even entertain the idea of getting into it now. If you want to give the series a try and would like to start from the beginning, then I'd recommend Pokémon Yellow, then Pokémon Crystal, then Emerald and so forth. Otherwise, for a simple, streamlined experience while still keeping to the classic aspect of the original games, then check out either HeartGold or SoulSilver for the NDS. As far as the 3D games go, Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire for the N3DS, remakes of the GBA games, are serviceable enough to make them a good starting point.

While I still have your attention, if you're ever to give the 4th generation a try, don't bat an eye toward Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, as Pokémon Platinum is more of a remake of Diamond and Pearl than those two will ever be.

After trying out the official games, your next best step is checking out some fangames, which tend to be better.

Having said all that, if you're not interested in going through any of the older games, then perhaps trying Legends: Arceus would be the best option for you. They're taking the franchise in a different direction starting with that game, and given it's essentially a prequel story, I think it's a good jumping off point—the other games will always be there, so you can try them out later.