Pokémon Blue

THE GOOD:
-One of the first Pokemon games!
-Many unique and different types of Pokemon!
-Battles!
-Training.
-Gym Badges.
-Great storyline!
-Rival!
-Character NPC's help out on your adventure!

THE BAD:
-Compared to future Pokemon games, graphics aren't too great.
-Sound quality is fuzzy and too loud at times.
-Pokemon attacks are somewhat fake.

SUMMARY:
Pokemon Blue was released in North America on September 30, 1998. It was one of the very first Pokemon game in it's series and the first for me to ever play. I was only around the age of six or seven when I first started playing but it was so user friendly that I was able to understand the game. As I explored throughout Pokemon Blue I started off with my very first pokemon that was given to me from Professor Oak. I was so surprised to see that besides this pokemon there were so many other unique types out there.

Professor Oak acts as one of the guides in the game that helps you out with getting adjusted to the games many features. He also helps to show you how to catch pokemon with poke-balls. Using poke-balls was one of the only ways to catch wild pokemon. Throughout the game, while sifting through the many deep grasses, there are many different type of pokemon you will come across and want to catch.

Before I really ever was able to begin using my first pokemon I met my rival, commonly known as, Gray. In most pokemon games you will compete against a rival to see who can make it to the top of the pokemon league and become the ultimate pokemon trainer. After meeting your rival you go into an intense battle with him between your pokemon and his. The pokemon who can withstand the most attacks while attacking back until one pokemon is knocked out wins. This is also how training is commonly done. When I would go to train my pokemon I would usually just go into the wild and battle as many pokemon as I could find. Most times I would win and my pokemon's status would rise, sometimes high enough that they would grow a pokemon level. Levels determine how strong your pokemon are, against attacks and attacking pokemon themselves, a pokemon with a higher level is always better than a pokemon with a lower level.

On your adventure you will not only battle other trainers including your Rival but you will also need to collect Gym Badges. To get a Gym Badge you need to make your way to a pokemon Gym and then battle it's Gym Leader. But to actually obtain the gym badge you will need to successfully win against this gym leader. For me when battling against Gym Leaders I would train a whole lot before I actually battled and then when I thought my level on my pokemon was high enough I would go to hopefully win a gym badge. There are eight gym-badge throughout the whole game that you are required to obtain to get closer to beating the game.

Throughout playing the game many of the NPC characters such as the villagers in the towns, the gym leaders, other trainers, and just common folk would give advice to help you out on your journey of becoming the ultimate pokemon trainer. Whenever I would get lost during the game I would usually turn to the countless NPC's to help me out. Most times they were very helpful to directing me to where I should be going. Pokemon Blue isn't just a game made up of only training and battling other trainers but there is sort of a small plotline in the story of the game as well. This plotline consists of you battling against this team of trainers called Team Rocket. You will not only battle them once or twice but many times until the final battle between you and their leader. The whole plot between you and the Team Rockets really made me enjoy the game even more as I played.

There are many ups to the Pokemon Blue game but then there are some downs as well. For me, when comparing the game play graphics of this game to many future games they are really poor. But I can really understand why, since this is the one of the first Pokemon games to ever be made in the series. Besides this I also didn't really enjoy the music too much at times since it could get fuzzy and too loud at times. Yeah I know I could just turn the volume down but I'm meaning loud as in like it sounded as if the notes in the music were screeching and scratching. Overall it just didn't sound too good at times. Also I noticed when battling with my pokemon, most times, their attacks would look really fake and just added to the poor quality of graphics the game had.

Overall with Pokemon Blue's many ups and downs I just have to say that the game was a huge success, not only with me but also with many other players all around the world. Not only did Pokemon Blue mark the first steps to the Pokemon series but it also grew the gaming series into something more, something ten-times enjoyable for all players all around.