I am the most powerful trainer in the world!
Life has been a series of unfortunate events recently; relating to this though, my computer broke and has been in Repair Hell for way longer than it was supposed to be (I’m on my phone right now). Originally, I was gonna play WoW Midnight, but that’s not happening. Depressed and down in the dumps, a family member gifted me this Pokemon version that I wasn’t intending on buying, but I happily accepted. Because of the computer issue continuing far beyond what I expected; this post isn’t written hot off the pages of me finishing the game like I usually want to do to capture those raw emotions, so it might feel different. Or not. Who knows?
So instead of doing a gameplay review section for literally the first Pokemon game (deluxe), I thought I’d instead talk about how much playing a GBA Gen 3 release makes me appreciate what we have nowadays.
The biggest thing: holy shit how did we all survive before the Physical/Special split???? Having types locked into one side of that dynamic makes so many Pokemon and their movesets not nearly as good as they could be, ranging even to almost unusable. I used a Dratini for most of the game (shoutouts gambling), and the fact that it only had Twister for most of its life, a special move with a higher attack stat, REALLY sucked. Or Hitmonchan, with his cool elemental punches, and not even being able to use them because he just doesn’t have the special power behind it. It really makes me appreciate how Pokemon work in the modern age, allowing your options to be far more wide, letting you use what you want to use, rather than feeling kinda pigeonholed into a few mons just cause they actually have the stats for their moves.
Inventory management is another one. Only 3 pouches, all accessible in battle: you have to manually sort it. I don’t want to manually sort it, so the consequences end up being I gotta scroll all the way through hold items I don’t need just for the full restore. Simple convenience features like autosorting inventory is something you really take for granted until you don’t have it.
I think the last bit that as I was playing I was really feeling the “I really wish I was in later gens” was experience and grinding. Now, there is a charm to how difficult it is to grind up in this one, which I’ll probably talk about later, but for me personally, oh my god it’s SUCH a slog, having no good xp share, dealing with that share the half xp that’s ALREADY small, and pretty much having to squeeze every trainer and wild mon for everything they’ve got. For me, I really do appreciate the shared party xp we have now- minimal grinding, just lets me play through the story.
It really was a whole different world back then, and not necessarily one I miss.
So… TECHNICALLY. I’ve never really played a Kanto game. I started in Unova cause I hopped on the bus later than others, went back to Sinnoh and Johto, then experienced everything else as it came out (along with Hoenn in Gen 6). So this was actually my first go through in the region; and something I realized is that… people never really moved past it. I think the height of Pokemania is something I can’t really comprehend? Meaning all the people that played it back in the day have Kanto in their minds, then it disappeared, so to see what Pokemon is now… I understand the complaints I see. I don’t necessarily AGREE, but I understand.
When it comes to the story- it really does just throw you to the wolves. Team Rocket is the only “overarching plot” (not counting the gym challenge) but I don’t really FEEL that narrative power from them. But I can see how people would appreciate an adventure where they can just put themselves in, make their own story, cause I like doing that in other games. Pokemon doesn’t do it for me personally, but I GET it.
The one character that really does anything for me (and for that reason I’m not doing my usual characters section) is Blue. He is. SUCH a dickhead; and that’s really his only characteristic. He’s just kind of an asshole for no reason. But I do think the game shows you very well that he’s always ahead of you. He’s on every gym statue before you are. He comes out of nowhere with Pokemon leveled higher than you. He beat the Elite Four minutes before you did. He’s always ahead, and that’s communicated very well. He’s also another thing that made me realize that people never moved past Kanto: I often see complaints that rivals are too nice and they want assholes back, but that’s just cause they only know Blue. Personally, I’d rather have a well written character like the Galar and Paldea group over dickweed supreme (I even think Hop is well written don’t fucking @ me), but this is another one of those things where experiencing something helps your empathy (sympathy? I don’t know which one in this case).
Gen 1’s dex doesn’t necessarily do anything for me. I mean, there ARE standouts: I LOVE Nidoking, Gyarados, and Exeggutor, and I definitely have a new appreciate for Starmie now, but for the most part I just don’t have the same love as many people do. Anyways, onto my main point. It’s very interesting how a Pokemon game with only the original 150 (1) feels. There’s so many of the same guys being used. Fully evolved pokemon are really rare to see from a trainer. From a worldbuilding perspective it’s kinda awesome actually; real life you’re gonna see a hell of a lot of cats and dogs and birds and then you meet that one dude with the snake or the lizard and you’re like “oh shit” and this is just kind of a heightened fantasy version of that. I don’t think it blends well with the gameplay, because of xp and team building problems, but it is cool to think about in universe.
I think the thing I like about Kanto the best is how open it is. It doesn’t lend itself to a straight narrative as well as a path like Unova would, but it is cool that you can do gyms in a weird order, and it really feels like you’re exploring. Team Rocket in that way does fit the shape of adventure that Kanto is. With modern Pokemon being super railroady at times, I can understand how people who really have Kanto in their hearts have that dislike for it.
I know most of this was mainly a Gen 1 review, even though this is a Gen 3 game, so I’ll quickly talk about that Gen 3 addition: Sevii Islands was cool, and it really accelerated my grinding with the fighting trainer hot spring spot, but it didn’t do much for me beyond that. I also know I can get Deoxys, and I will be doing that, but I just haven’t had the motivation.
I don’t think my heart was really in this playthrough, for irl reasons hinted at, but I do appreciate it for filling out my Pokemon experience and giving me possible insight into the minds of the legions of online commenters I see. I might not align totally with their beliefs, but I can see where they’re coming from.
I also know my heart isn’t really into writing right now, maybe in another universe I could have done a deeper dive into this, but that’s not how life works, and I’m just proud I did anything.
EXCLUSIVE WEBSITE CONTENT: My computer has officially been repaired, so here's some bonus content! A picture of my party now that I can actually code. Also, an addendum that I forgot to add (cause I was sad while writing this originally): I really love the soundfont of this game. There's not a lot of songs, but what is there is great.
Leviathan the Gyarados, King Fonz the Nidoking, Ster the Starmie, Greeter the Dragonite, Mac the Hitmonchan, and K. Cracked the Exeggutor
6.5/10. It’s the first Pokemon game. It has a solid base formula, but really I found myself longing for modern conveniences and writing.