Pokémon Green

Score - 43

Release: 1996

Platform Played: Game Boy

Developer: Game Freak

Overview

Pokémon Green is the OG Blueprint for one of the most popular franchises of all time. It was only released in Japan, so you have to play a translated port. It is the base of Pokémon Blue/Red in its most raw form. It features the original sprites a limited 5-character naming system and a less smooth audio track. The game is historically important but playing it today feels like revisiting a prototype.

The Good

The core concept of Pokémon will always be amazing. Catching, Training, Battling, and building a team with infinite combinations. The game is very linear and overall, a very relaxed experience. The progression of your team building is very rewarding, and each player’s experience is very unique. The checkpoints of gym battles provide a very straightforward progress tracker as well as the functioning of the map. This game implements the DNA that every Pokémon game who will ever follow possesses.

The Bad

Green is rough. even in comparison to Blue and Red the sprites are awkward and more specifically the user-controlled sprites sometimes look unrecognizable. Gen 1 specifically has major glitches/cheese, and it makes the game extremely exploitable to the point people will be the entire game with just a caterpie and other ridiculous stunts. Mechanically Gen 1 is very bare. The game is extremely easy (as to be expected with a game originally designed for children.) Most importantly, there is absolutely no reason to play this game over even red or blue unless you are absolutely dedicated to experiencing it.

Final Verdict

Pokémon Green is more of a historical artifact than an operational story-driven game. It laid the groundwork to something incredible, but you can experience the same thing in a more polished version of the game in Red or Blue. As with all Gen 1 games the only actual challenge comes from self-imposed handicaps in the form of different Nuzlocke variants. If you are just overall curious about the roots of Pokémon, skip this and play red or blue.