Games that changed the industry #4 Pokemon Red/Blue

After Super Mario Bros. made an appearance in the last article in this series I think you’d forgive me if the following game was not as impressive.

But because I wanted to be the very best (I hope you appreciate that)why I have picked the beginning of another of Nintendo’s star franchises: Pokémon. Like Mario, every knows what Pokémon is (even if that only means Pikachu), but more than Mario, Pokémon Red and Blue spawned a plethora of other media including cartoons and Magna, in what can only be described as a cultural phenomenon.

            

That aside, you might ask why are these games so popular? Well, when released in 1996, the two original games followed the basic formula of catching Pokémon, (it’s my real test), training them (that’s my cause) and collecting gym badges before challenging the Elite Four to become the Pokémon champion.

Choose anyone of Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur as
your first Pokémon 

It sounds familiar because if you’ve bought any of the other main sequence Pokémon games since then, you will have had largely the same experience. Pokémon as entities tend to be too cute to brush off or so macho that you really did want to prove to the world that you could catch them. Pokémon Red and Blue are not significant because of impressive graphics or great storylines, but because they gave gamers the chance to live an experience that they would want to relive again and again.

Beyond that however, they offered a simple storyline that could be understood by young children while giving the option to make things more complicated for those who wanted to replay the game over and over.

There were plenty of games that could have gone after Mario in this series, but Pokémon Red and Blue are here because they are two of the few games that have made such a long lasting impact alongside their Italian plumbing friend.