It was a great Direct, but this was undoubtedly the biggest announcement for me!
This a momentous occasion for Pokémon fans. This is the first time a core series game has made it to the Virtual Console! I was more surprised than I would have been normally since Game Freak had said once that they didn't want to/plan to re-release any of the core series games on VC. I guess there's really no telling what'll happen in these Directs. Maybe it took them so long because they were contemplating it until lately? Either way, this is big. I'm pleasantly surprised that you can actually trade and battle other people in it (I thought the lack of being able to use wireless communications was the reason they weren't putting them on VC), they really went all out with this.
This is great for kids or people like myself who've never owned the originals, and even for people who have played them before- we can all finally experience them on the 3DS. I know that they haven't aged all that well, I just want to experience the games that started the franchise in their original forms, with the bugs, music, shoddy sprites and all. People who've never played them can finally somewhat experience what it was like back then, and the others can re-live memories of the late 90's. The ability to battle and trade with other people is the icing on the cake!
As for which version I will get, I'm torn between Red and Yellow. On one hand, Red has Charizard (I always pick the fire starters, and Charizard's one of my favorite mons), but lacks color, while Yellow version has all the Pokémon, color, etc.
Either way, this was an amazing decision by Nintendo and GF. This will be a hell of a way to kick off what is looking to be a very memorable 20th anniversary. Here's hoping this will lead them to doing the same for GSC some time in the future! And RSE plz