It was freaking frightening to 4 year old me. Even now, I can see why. *shudder*
I even had to save up to "buy" a GBA from my parents. I think I've bought every main series Pokemon game I've ever owned except for Red, Blue, and Yellow, since I got Red and Yellow for the Christmas after my ninth birthday (Christmas 1999 was the one Christmas I got a ridiculous amount of Pokemon stuff - I got the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga, military-style dog tags with Rattata on them, a Squirtle motion sensor, and the two video games). Then I got the Pokemon Trading Card Game game for Game Boy the following Christmas and lost it not terribly long afterward.