With the rerelease of the original Generation I games, some youngins might not be familiar with them, or veterans may simply be spoiled on newer features.
So here’s some quick reminders for those who have never played/need a refresher on Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow:
All Poké Balls, of any type, have a chance to completely miss. Yes, even the Master Ball–although its catch rate is so absurdly high, it’s a one-in-a-million chance. Still, make sure you save before going and chucking it.
Steel, Dark, and Fairy types do not exist: the former two were not introduced until Gen II and the latter until Gen VI. (ex. Magnemite is a pure Electric, Jigglypuff is simply a Normal, etc)
Because Steel and Dark do not exist, Psychic types are overpowered as hell. While they are weak to Bug-type moves (although there’s only 3 in Gen I), Ghost moves will only deal standard damage to them due to a programming bug. If you’re having trouble, get a Psychic-type.
The Mew exploit is alive and well in the 3DS rereleases. Make sure to do it as soon as you get to Cerulean City because you won’t get another opportunity. See Bulbapedia or Serebii to figure out how to do it.
There’s nothing under the truck in Vermilion City’s port, but it is there, and you can still go check it out for kicks.
Bind, Wrap, and other such “binding” moves work much differently–they completely prevent the victim from taking their turn until the move’s effect ends.
Multi-hit moves such as Fury Attack are all-or-nothing when landing a critical hit–either all of the hits in the move will crit, or none of them will.
A Pokémon that is frozen doesn’t thaw over time. You must manually do so.
When a Pokémon wakes from sleeping, it will take the full turn.
Poisoning CAN and WILL KO the victim outside of battle if not removed. Keep Antidotes or Full Heals/Restores on hand.
You must manually switch PC boxes when you fill them–the automatic switching was not introduced until Gen III. You won’t be able to capture any more creatures until you switch. The only reminder you’re going to get is when you attempt to throw a Ball when your box is full.
You have only 20 slots in the PC box before you must switch.
There’s no Special Defense stat–it’s all done with just the Special stat. This can lead to Special sweepers that have absurdly high resilience to Special moves.
Certain type moves will use either Attack or Special stats in their effectiveness (ex. Grass uses Special, Fighting uses Attack, etc). The physical/special split wasn’t introduced until Gen IV.
Leech Seed and Toxic use the same damage counter. Try inflicting both at once and laugh when your opponent rages.
Do not use Focus Energy or a Dire Hit! These are meant to raise the crit ratio of the active battler, however, they will actually lower it by 75% due to a bug.
The EV/IV system in Gen I is completely different.
Base crit ratio, as well as accuracy of OHKO moves such as Fissure are completely based on the user’s Speed. They will always fail if the user is slower than the target.
If Hyper Beam successfully KOs the target, the user will not need to recharge on the next turn. This also applies to destruction of a Substitute. In addition, Selfdestruct and Explosion will not KO the user if a Substitute is destroyed. This can be abused to great rage and hilarity.
On the subject of Substitute, the game won’t stop you from using Substitute even if the user is at 25% or less of their maximum HP. You can accidentally KO your own Pokémon this way, so watch it.
If Rage connects, the user will become disobedient, and will continue trying to use Rage until it faints or is recalled. Pls calm down you are doing me a frighten.
The player’s inventory is not sorted into pockets, and you only have 20 slots to use. However, your PC can store extra items, a feature that was removed in Gen IV due to being rendered obsolete.
Some other stuff that’s missing or works differently
Pokémon aren’t gendered (barring Nidoran)
Pokémon cannot hold items
No breeding (caveat: a Day Care does exist south of Cerulean City and can be used to level up Pokémon for you, but you can only put one in at a time)
Cannot set an item to the select button
No day / night system or clock
No shiny Pokémon or Pokérus
No way to re-challenge previously defeated trainers
Stuff exclusive to the VC releases:
Wireless trading (haven’t tried to see if there’s online)
Some visual effects were toned down to be slightly easier on the eyes (most flashing effects, to consider those who may be sensitive to bright, flashing lights)
Jynx’s sprite in Yellow has been recolored to avoid racial concerns (which interestingly breaks the “8-bit rule” of color palettes)
In Yellow, you can play the Surfing Pikachu minigame as long as Pikachu is in your party–it does not have to learn Surf as this is not possible in the VC versions
That’s all I could think of off the top of my head. Check Bulbapedia or Serebii for anything I missed.
janainaart
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theartofmadeline
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