2nd Gen Still Worth Playing To A Newbie?

Started by Nikkolas January 12th, 2014 5:45 AM
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Seen June 1st, 2016
Posted January 4th, 2016
7 posts
10.8 Years
Well I'm looking to get into the Pokemon games proper and I'm just seeking unbiased opinions on the quality of these games. It seems a lot of people, in retrospect, say they are buggy, unbalanced, ugly pieces of dung.

Do these games hold up or no? Would you recommend them to me as a way to get into the series?

Palmer-Granate

The Champion Jester

Male
The end and the beginning of the Universe.
Seen March 6th, 2022
Posted December 10th, 2021
167 posts
9.6 Years
Really? Do we have to go as far as to refer the classic duo that started the whole phenomenon in the first place? "buggy, unbalanced, ugly pieces of dung" would be far from what I and many others would refer to, they were classics.

Think about the 10-yo's who were born in the late 80's. We didn't have DS like the youngin's do now, so we NEEDED pokemon Red/Blue to keep us from boredom, back in the day.

I will 100% recommend it, starting or not. Every pokemon game is going to start and remain consistently confusing throughout a game you've never played before, so go for it!
While traveling from Johto to Kanto, you'll end up at a certain building in Viridian City. When you go against the trainer there, that's not just Feraligator biting you, that's life.

Note: Seriously, the dude always has all three starters. How cool is that?
Male
Seen January 20th, 2014
Posted January 20th, 2014
12 posts
9.3 Years
I've been playing Pokemon X for 2 months now. And weeks ago I began playing Yellow again, and wow it still is fun as heck, as it was way back like 14 years ago. It's interesting how the basic gameplay never changed much... So really, to get a taste of say X and Y, getting started with the early generations definitely helps to understand what it is all about.
Age 31
Male
Argama
Seen June 14th, 2022
Posted October 9th, 2016
580 posts
10.9 Years
I've been playing Pokemon since the release of Gen 1, and I have to agree that the first generation was buggy, unbalanced and ugly at times. Gen 2 pretty much fixed everything that was wrong with Gen 1. And then each new generation improved the basic gameplay.

I still replay Red and Blue because they are quick to play on an emulator, but they are highly flawed.
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Seen 2 Weeks Ago
Posted December 22nd, 2022
498 posts
10.2 Years
Red/Blue were my first games of the series back in the '90s, but for someone that is getting into Pokémon nowadays, I see nothing wrong in advising to get the remakes FireRed/LeafGreen instead. Not only are they faithful remakes, but graphically may be more welcome to somone new to the series.

AkameTheBulbasaur

Akame Marukawa of Iyotono

Age 25
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Seen 3 Weeks Ago
Posted January 11th, 2023
408 posts
10 Years
Well, the first games were incredibly broken with the number of glitches that it had, but they were still good games overall. They got that popular for a reason. FireRed and LeafGreen are pretty much identical to the originals with updated graphics. You could really go with either and get the same experience. Thing to note about FR/LG, is that they are what I call "overly newbie friendly." They throw a ridiculous number of hints and help at you within the first couple minutes of gameplay. They also have a whole entire help system with various entries designed so that there is no way that you could possibly get confused. (There's an option to turn it off though). R/B/Y just throws you in the game and lets you figure it out yourself.
"The human sacrificed himself, to save the Pokemon. I pitted them against each other, but not until they set aside their differences did I see the true power they all share deep inside. I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant; it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are." -Mewtwo

Puddle

Mission Complete✔

Age 27
Male
Jacksonville, Florida
Seen November 17th, 2019
Posted September 5th, 2014
1,458 posts
9.4 Years
Well, the first games were incredibly broken with the number of glitches that it had, but they were still good games overall. They got that popular for a reason. FireRed and LeafGreen are pretty much identical to the originals with updated graphics. You could really go with either and get the same experience. Thing to note about FR/LG, is that they are what I call "overly newbie friendly." They throw a ridiculous number of hints and help at you within the first couple minutes of gameplay. They also have a whole entire help system with various entries designed so that there is no way that you could possibly get confused. (There's an option to turn it off though). R/B/Y just throws you in the game and lets you figure it out yourself.
Both the story lines are still pretty much straight forward and you really don't need to much help regardless. And the help that you could possibly need, you wouldnt be able to find through that menu.

Evening

Non-binary
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Seen December 1st, 2021
Posted February 5th, 2016
808 posts
9.4 Years
It's worth playing to a newbie.
It's enjoyable, my life in Pokemon actually started there.

Meganium

memento mori

she/her
Houston, TX
Seen February 1st, 2023
Posted February 1st, 2023
It'd be nice to introduce the older games, mainly the GBC games to new Pokemon players because they could be much more familiarized with how Pokemon gaming had evolved and how it changed. For us older gamers, we play them because we want to feel nostalgic, we want to be young again. Trust me, playing Silver always gives me that nostalgic vibe.

Playing those games are entirely optional and it's up to you whether you want to obtain that experience or not. I would recommend it though!~

She_Delphox

Delphox used Mystical Fire!

Age 32
Female
Mt. Pyre Summit
Seen August 19th, 2016
Posted May 11th, 2016
375 posts
9.6 Years
I have been playing these Pokemon games for over 12 years, so I'm quite a veteran by now rofl xD But, I would recommend these games to anyone new to the series anyway! I have played a lot of other different games too, for example on my Playstation 3 and XBOX (Prototype fan for example), but the games on these consoles NEVER were interested enough for me to play non-stop, that's why I stick with Nintendo from the beginning ^_^

I began playing when the Red/Blue series came out, and therfore have bought pretty much every Pokemon game after that, so I still have all the cartridges from Pokemon Red to Pokemon X now :3

I really grew fond of the games, collecting Pokemon, training them (takes a lot of time and effort, also very nice that even though you can catch more of the same Pokemon obviously, the stats and in modern games, and natures differ each time!), but also like the story. Sure, you may notice that the story barely changes throughout the games, but that's just what Pokemon is about!
I can't get enough of Pokemon, when I was a kid I liked the TV series a whole bunch too, and the great feeling of nostalgia and excitement, catching a rare Pokemon you have been looking for all day or finally encounter a shiny the first time! ^_^ Those days were awesome.

The gameplay can take you away for HOURS and even WEEKS on end, the story is large enough to continue to play as long as you like, and even after completing the main story, there is SO MUCH to do after that! My experience with other modern games like GTA or so, where nice games but I never could play those as long as Pokemon and still find new things to do that I haven't done before! I never experienced any game like the way Pokemon games are, there is so much to do in the story and even after that, there is plenty of stuff to do! Making these games totally worth buying! :)

So, if you are really serious in trying these games, I sure would recommend doing so! Sure, obviously the first games from Gen.1 are 8-bit/16-bit, not much colour variation, glitchy in a way because those where the very first games. Programming games is also a different matter and complicated so ofcourse there are glitches and stuff, but they are still worth playing! I'm FOND of my Pokemon X game, but I still like to play Pokemon Red now and then, for example!
The more variation came ofcourse when game development aged and became more sophisticated, so the more modern games have even better and longer stories, and ofcourse MORE Pokemon to collect and more playtime before beating the games! :) I already have played for over 300 hours in my Pokemon X game, and there is still so much to do (I never played for that long on any game in my life)!

But, it's up to you though ;) If you want to try, I welcome you and sure hope you will have great moments yourself with these games! And if you appear to dislike these games after trying out, that's fine too, but still, these games are definitely WORTH trying! Also, if you are really new to Pokemon I recommend to start playing the first Generation games to get to know the story and all the different Pokemon :) You dont have to start with Red/Blue/Yellow if you really don't like the older games, you can try FireRed and LeafGreen instead to start with, those are great remakes from the Red/Blue and Yellow series! :)

Good luck and have fun going to catch them all! ;)


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Male
Seen January 26th, 2014
Posted January 24th, 2014
15 posts
9.3 Years
I've been playing Pokemon X for 3 months now. And weeks ago I began playing Yellow again, and wow it still is fun as heck, as it was way back like 14 years ago. It's interesting how the basic gameplay never changed much... So really, to get a taste of say X and Y, getting started with the early generations definitely helps to understand what it is all about.

Hiatus

Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted July 24th, 2021
12,283 posts
10.8 Years
It depends, really. If you're planning to play only for the storyline and ignore everything else, then sure, go ahead! If you really care for graphics though, then maybe you shouldn't. If you do, chances of you actually enjoying these games would be pretty low. Instead, you should probably play either FireRed or LeafGreen. They have the same, basic story as Red, Green, and Blue, but are far superior in terms of graphics. :b

Sydian

fake your death.

Age 30
they/them
Georgia
Seen May 22nd, 2022
Posted November 29th, 2021
33,354 posts
15.2 Years
I don't think they aged well gameplay wise at all, to be honest. However, the music is still wonderful, and if you like playing old games in general, despite the bugs and graphics, I think it's worth a shot. Or if you just like being able to say you've played all the Pokemon games, that's a good enough reason too, I believe.

To be honest, if I knew someone that was starting Pokemon now and they wanted to play through Kanto, I'd advise them to play FireRed and LeafGreen, mainly because they would eventually be able to have the Pokemon they use in their latest game. But I'd still suggest to play Red and Blue at some point. I personally think, no matter the series, knowing the roots is a good idea. I like playing things from all generations and platforms, but that's just me.
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Stockholm
Seen June 24th, 2014
Posted March 31st, 2014
70 posts
9.3 Years
Before I "returned" to the series recently with X/Y - I played a bit of Silver last summer and thought it still held up pretty good. Of course things have developed and improved a lot in 10 years (otherwise it would be hard for the series to survive), but I think Nintendo (and in this case Game Freak) have always been good at keeping a functioning core intact and then improving on the "layers". Because of this, that great core can in my opinion still be found in the old games + being a retro nerd I am fine with a bit of pixelated graphics and 8-bit sounds :)

Treecko

the princess without voice

Age 31
He/Him
St.Louis,Missouri
Seen November 30th, 2021
Posted November 29th, 2021
6,311 posts
11.2 Years
While I admit that the Gen 1 games are very flawed and buggy, they're still excellent games and overall very nostalgic since Red was my first Pokemon game and video game.

If you want to experience Pokemon's roots and what veterans like me experienced than I recommend them. I replay them when I get a chance despite the flaws it has.It can allow new users see how much the franchise has improved graphic-wise and gameplay-wise. If you just want the story of Red and Blue, then FireRed and LeafGreen are better cause the graphics are higher quality , it's not so buggy, and there's extra features that make the story and post-game more fun.Ultimately it's up to you though.
"Unable to perceive the shape of You, I find You all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with Your love, It humbles my heart, For You are everywhere"
Age 28
Male
Seen January 3rd, 2015
Posted October 4th, 2014
655 posts
10.1 Years
If you're playing for the first time ever!!!
Then, yes, play R/B/G/Y first, there's alot less to learn about how to be a good player, and makes it easier.
That's why people whom have playd since Gen I are alot better, come a new generation all there's to learn for long term players is a few type changes and new moves.
Where as if you jump straight to Gen VI, you'll have to learn the type charts, Every move that could advantage you, or disadvantage, it's an awful lot to learn for a small newbie.

tl:dr?
Play Gen I first, and make your way up each Gen, till you reach Gen VI

Just strollin' to my next destination...

Mesmerella

Preschooler

Age 28
Female
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Seen May 22nd, 2014
Posted May 12th, 2014
74 posts
9.3 Years
As other people said, you don't really run into glitches that often unless you're looking for them. But, as far as being buggy goes, the only thing I can really say about that being true is if you're playing an actual cartridge copy. I have cartridge copies that I got secondhand years ago, and now, they are very difficult to play. I have to save every couple of minutes, just because the game likes to freeze at random. That's really the only "bug" that I've run into... If you're playing on an emulator, though, you should be fine, and I definitely recommend it! It's always cool seeing how the game started, and how different everything is, even if it's not the generation you started out with. C:
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Gigabeat

Professionals and all.

Male
50,000 light years and right
Seen September 17th, 2014
Posted March 29th, 2014
62 posts
9.3 Years
I bought an unboxed GB off EBay recently as well as a new cartridge, so the glitch issue is not really a problem for me. Besides, some of the glitches like the Mew Encounter one can be pretty fun. Though it's not really a big issue, the game didn't receive bad reviews because it had multiple glitches, quite the opposite. But keep in mind that it can be a slight challenge if you didn't start out with it because the newer Pokemon games while more feature packed tend to be much easier level wise. But definetly ,it's worth the play!


“We do have a lot in common.
The same air, the same Earth, the same sky.
Maybe if we started looking at
what's the same instead of
always looking at what's different,

...well, who knows?”


― Meowth

*~Ghost Type Fan Club~*
'Cause Normals can't touch Specials.
Age 29
Male
Germany
Seen September 4th, 2015
Posted August 28th, 2015
19 posts
10.2 Years
I've played 1st Gen, 2nd Gen and 3 years ago I tried the remakes of Gold and Silver, and I absolutely don't like the remakes, graphic-wise, music-wise and of course, most of the new pokemon. I can't really tell why, I'm just so used to Gen 1 & 2 that I don't really like these changes. I can definitely recommend playing Gen 1 and 2, but as others pointed out, the newer ones might be more appealing for new players.

Saphyre

Female
Florida, United States
Seen March 4th, 2014
Posted February 26th, 2014
47 posts
9.3 Years
I would recommend playing the games, though I would advice the player to look at the games in the context of the time they were made.

Yes, the graphics were not pretty, but for the late 90's, to me they seem alright. As a kid, I didn't care about the pixels, I was too excited about playing. The games may have been glitchy, but I would again say to look at the era they're from, because if I recall correctly, handhelds were still on the newer side.

Also, a lot of Pokemon fans refer to the previous generations a lot, and playing them will give you an understanding of their discussion.
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