Do you prefer the original gen1 games or any of the remakes of gen1 (Firered/Leafgreen, Let's Go)?
I prefer the original Gen 1 games. Mostly because of the art direction of the overworld. I think of Let's Go as its own thing rather than a strict remake due to its gameplay changes, and I find it's art direction lovely.
What do you think of the special attack/defense split?
It was needed as the number of special-type attacks increased. Gen 1 special is effectively a "magic" stat, with a huge amount of the move list being normal attacks or other physical attacks.
What do you think of the physical/special split?
It becomes a necessity when the amount of moves in the game increase to such a degree that some differentiation needs to be added. I personally think that line was crossed in Gen 3. I see rom hackers sometimes putting the split in Gen 1 without adding any new moves, and I have to ask myself, "Why?" The move roster in gen 1 is so limited that it doesn't do much.
What do you think of the added evolutions for the gen1 roster (Porygon2 & -Z, Tangrowth, etc.)?
They're fine for the most part. But I really don't like the Gen-4 additions along the likes of Magnezone and Rhyperior. They're too...off. Like they seem too busy and don't follow the same design philosophy as their pre-evolutions. Rhyhorn and Rhydon look very animal-like with a gray color scheme and pronounced curves, but then Rhyperior becomes very blocky and stiff and turns brown & orange. Contrast with Tangrowth which feels like a natural extension of Tangela.
What do you think of abilities in general?
They're a neat way to set pokemon apart as the pokedex increased.
What do you think of gen1's roster being recycled in other generations?
I'd prefer to recycle rosters rather than have a new "early game bug/flying butterfly" every generation that fills the same niche.
Would you rather have games use completely separate rosters, or the gen2~4 style of being a mix of old and new Pokémon?
Regions need to have some uniqueness, but going all-original like black & white can be alienating. I think a healthy mix of new pokemon and a slate of returning "fan favorites" is the best way to do things. Kind of like a fighting game roster.
What do you think of Pokémon game balance overall in gen1?
Depends on the perspective. It's one of the more balanced single-player RPGs of the 90s. Most pokemon are viable for beating the game, and even psychic types are punishable when you learn that most of them are glass canons.
Mewtwo and Mew are broken, but they are "cheat characters" like how you could play as Akuma in SF2 Super Turbo with a code. Man...I miss cheat codes and overpowered secret characters.
From a competative perspective? It's...uh...well it's kind of a miracle that it wasn't a total disaster. Link battles were not initially intended for Gen 1, and Morimoto coded them in on very short notice after a request by Nintendo. That said, the competative meta is pretty "okay-ish". It gets interesting once you apply sleep and freeze clauses. There's
a good 20 or so pokemon that you can build a viable team with. For 1996, that was a lot of choice.
