Retro Review: Pokémon Red
The original Pokémon Red box art – a classic piece of gaming history.
My first encounter with Pokémon came as something of a surprise. The game wasn’t even mine at first—it was a gift for my brother, Pokémon Blue. I saw him playing and was instantly hooked. The world felt huge, alive, and unlike anything I’d seen before. Within a few hours I’d convinced my dad to drive us to the nearest game shop—on Boxing Day, no less, right in the middle of the sales chaos—so I could get my own copy.
Up until then, my trusty Game Boy had given me plenty of fun—Tetris, Super Mario Land, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening—but nothing as sprawling or ambitious as this. Pokémon was on another level entirely.
Graphics and Style
The simple but iconic battle screen in Pokémon Red/Blue.
By modern standards, the graphics were simple. You wandered through towns and forests built from chunky sprites, detailed enough that you could tell a chair from a bed in each house, but never aiming for realism.
When battles started, you were greeted by pixelated renditions of Pokémon. They were clunky, static images that occasionally “moved” with little shakes or dashes across the screen—but back then, it was more than enough to fire up your imagination.
Story and World
The “story” was paper-thin, but it didn’t matter. You were given your starter Pokémon, a Pokédex, and a rival, and then sent off with the instruction to become “the very best.”
The structure was simple: travel the region, battle trainers, beat gym leaders, and eventually challenge the Elite Four. Along the way you stumbled into obstacles like the notorious Snorlax blocking the road, or the mischief of Team Rocket.
It was just enough to keep you moving, but the real magic was in the sense of scale. A whole region to explore, with caves, towns, and mysteries hidden away.
Sound and Atmosphere
The music was basic chiptune, but incredibly memorable. Each area had its own theme, and the jingles for evolution or hopping on a bike are still burned into my memory.
The Pokémon cries were just bursts of static noise, but each was unique—charmingly odd little sounds that gave the monsters some personality despite the hardware limits.
The Pokémon Themselves
Of course, the real magic was the 151 Pokémon. Each had a unique look, typing, and role in battle. The rock-paper-scissors style system of weaknesses and strengths made building a balanced team both a challenge and an obsession.
To make it trickier, each version—Red, Blue, and later Yellow—had a limited pool of Pokémon. If you wanted to “catch ’em all,” you needed a friend with the opposite version and a link cable. Luckily, my brother and I had both games, so we traded and battled constantly.
The humble link cable – the key to completing your Pokédex.
Lasting Impact
We poured hours into the game. Completing the story. Filling the Pokédex. Battling each other. When the Nintendo 64’s Pokémon Stadium came out, we could see our teams rendered in full 3D and fight on a bigger screen—it felt like the future.
What made Pokémon Red so special wasn’t its graphics or its story, but the freedom it gave you. The variety of monsters, the strategies, the exploration—it all came together in a way no handheld game had done before.
And of course, it didn’t hurt to have a certain adorable yellow mascot leading the charge.
Final Thoughts
Pokémon Red and Blue weren’t just great games—they were a cultural spark. They set the stage for one of the most successful franchises of all time. For many of us, they weren’t just games; they were adventures that left a lasting mark on our childhood.
Even now, going back to them feels like opening a time capsule. A simpler game, but one filled with imagination and possibility.