When I first opened Pokémon Blue, I was overtaken by a wave of nostalgia. It had been so long since I had heard the music pouring from my phone speakers. Pokémon Pearl was one of the first video games I truly got into on my own. I used to play it on my pink Nintendogs DS Lite curled up on the couch in my living room when I was still in elementary school. Hearing that same music again after so many years instantly brought a smile to my face. As I grew older, I played many more games in the Pokémon franchise with my brother as they were released. Filled with excitement, I created my character and dove into the world of Pokémon once more.
I began the game in the familiar setting of the main character’s bedroom and descended the stairs to greet my mother before stepping outside. After a few minutes of wandering around Pallet Town, I found Professor Oak and acquired a Bulbasaur, my first Pokémon. Then I set out to finally leave the quiet confines of the starting town and truly begin my magnificent journey through the Pokémon-filled Kanto region to fill my Pokédex by, obviously, catching them all. I was quickly disillusioned. I never realized how spoiled I had been to start out with later games in the Pokémon series, especially when I was younger. If I had tried to play Pokémon Blue at that age, I most likely would not have grown to love the series as much as I do. The level of difficulty in earlier Pokémon games is much higher than later titles in the franchise. The first thing I struggled with was obtaining any Pokéballs. You have to travel to the second town, Viridian City, not once, but twice after returning to Pallet Town in order to unlock the ability to purchase them. After overcoming this obstacle, I then struggled to make enough money from trainer battles to buy a sufficient amount of items such as potions and Pokéballs. As a completionist, it is vital that I have enough Pokéballs to catch every Pokémon that I encounter. Without a sufficient supply, I risk missing an opportunity to catch rare Pokémon with low spawn rates. Without enough potions, things like gym battles become exponentially more difficult, as your Pokémon must be a higher level to defeat all the trainers in the gym without healing at all.
This brings me to my next point. Leveling up your Pokémon in older games such as Pokémon Blue is significantly more difficult than it is in titles released later on. When I was preparing for the first gym battle in Pewter City, I was aiming for each of my Pokémon to reach about level 15, since most of them had a type disadvantage and the battles may be a bit too difficult if they were any lower level, especially since the Pokémon in the gym battles range from levels 11-14. I spent hours farming random encounters in Viridian Forest and just outside of Pewter City attempting to level up my Pokémon enough to take on the gym. The main issue I was encountering was that once my Pokémon reached about level 10, It would take about 20 encounters to level them up again. This is because the Pokémon I was fighting only ranged in level from 2-5. This led to me playing hundreds of encounters with wild Pokémon where my Pokémon would consistently one-shot their opponents and then repeating the mind-numbing process over and over and over again. Eventually I gave up when my Pokémon ranged in level from 10-15 and decided to simply attempt the gym. I beat it effortlessly. I had become so consumed in this mentality of having to farm myself into oblivion that I hadn’t even attempted the gym since my Pokémon were below level 7. Losing once convinced me that the game was harder than it was, and I had convinced myself that I wouldn’t be able to beat the gym leader unless I achieved some arbitrary goal I had set for myself.
Even having spent so much time mindlessly farming, I still found myself enjoying playing Pokémon Blue. It was simply so reminiscent of my childhood that I couldn’t help but have a good time. I will admit, even though I overestimated the difficulty of the game, it was still markedly harder than later Pokémon titles. It was also much simpler. In the newer games, especially those released on the Nintendo Switch, there are many more bells and whistles to distract yourself with. In the earliest Pokémon games, you have nothing but the core gameplay. It’s just you and your Pokémon on your quest through the Kanto region. It’s a game of strategy and perseverance. You must plan ahead for difficult battles and struggle through the occasionally laborious task of improving your team of Pokémon. Playing Pokémon Blue took me back to the core combat mechanics of Pokémon games. Something I didn’t realize I quite missed as it had become more obscured in newer games.
This is something I’ve seen as a trend when comparing retro games to newer ones. Older games were simpler due to technological limitations. But I would argue that this also forced them to be better. There were no flashy graphics or minigames to distract the player from the core mechanics of the game. If the main gameplay was bad, the game was bad, and that is why retro games like Pokémon Blue still hold up today, decades later, with cult followings holding strong and new game after new game is released.
Great review! I have realized despite enjoying the franchise a lot I have never actually played the first pokemon games and did not realize they were actually harder in difficulty. (makes sense considering all the changes gamefreak has made to the games to make them easier and feel less grindy) I will definitely give it a try sometime to see! Love the comment about how the original games are just the core gameplay with no bells and whistles to distract from it I have always found Pokemon loves to include all sorts of gimmicks to the games to make them feel fresh (Z-moves, dynamax, mega evolution etc.( but at at its heart the base gameplay itself is so solid it has held up all these years!
I really liked the ideas of nostalgia and game difficulty that you brought up in your retro review. The Pokemon franchise is a really interesting one in that respect. The original games, like Pokemon Blue, were played by many (including children). These games, while difficult, were very popular and I believe that even though some kids might have struggled, they still enjoyed playing these games enough to persevere and look back on them with nostalgia. Compare that to the newer Pokemon games, designed for kids, while yes these games are still enjoyed by children, it is much harder for the older kids who grew up with Pokemon, like myself, to look back and enjoy playing these games. I personally have not been able to complete or play any of the newer Pokemon games for extended periods of time. The only way I see myself enjoying games like these anymore is by adding my own difficulty to them which is why I think nuzlockes have become so popular. So it’s interesting to think about how far nostalgia is able to take people when it comes to playing games like Pokemon who have left them behind in terms of the target audience and demographic. Though I’m sure many of us, myself included, have strong opinions about where the Pokemon franchise has been heading.