2024 Game of the Year Countdown
#12: Pokemon Yellow Version
Nintendo GameBoy, 1999
It has been an extremely long time since I had a true playthrough of a Gen 1 game. I have played Gen 1 extensively, and there was a time when I would play through, and then immediately restart for another playthrough. However, essentially all of my Gen 1 play for probably 15 years has been exclusively to farm for Gen 2 competitive teams, or to complete my Gen 2 Pokedex.
I am so well-versed with Gen 1 that I know almost all the locations of hidden items from start to finish, and that’s not from studying guides or speedrunning or anything like that. Just from playing through SO MANY TIMES. So, it’s probably impossible for me to truly play Gen 1 with anything resembling a new perspective. Yet, I can help myself a bit by using Pokemon I don’t generally choose. Mr. Mime. Poliwrath. Butterfree. Dodrio. It at least gives me a chance to rethink a couple of battles, and was fun enough.
I did struggle to really enjoy the game as much as I once did, however. It’s strange to feel this way about a game that was so important to me at one point, but it also helps highlight some of the ways that the franchise has changed over the years. There is essentially zero story to this game, at least in a structured way. We were intended to create our own narratives with our team choices and such, which is honestly still the way I recall my favorite in-game Pokemon memories. But, it does make going back to the game feel a little less interesting.
Additionally, knowing how every character will respond to you and every trainer’s lineup makes it hard to feel like there is anything at stake, which further sapped my interest. I can understand why some fans lament the idea of going back to Kanto, and while I disagree that Kanto itself is a bad place to visit, I can see why revisiting an unchanged, unvaried, stale version of Kanto would kill enthusiasm.
Gen 1 is still in my top half of favorite generations of Pokemon, with Yellow version definitely the best version of Gen 1. When it comes to battle systems and how the Pokemon stats and EVs are calculated (stat experience > EVs, imo), I much prefer Gens 1 and 2 to anything that came after. However, especially for those with highly ingrained knowledge of Gen 1, a simple playthrough of Gen 1 might prove to feel a little less exciting than it once did when it comes to gameplay.
That said, the classic 8-bit sounds and tunes will continue to last as classic examples of great video game music. There are so many enduring classics in this soundtrack that it is difficult to single any out. As such, I’ll just link some of my favorites without much explanation.
