2nd Gen Which is better? Red or Blue?

[Eight.Bit]

Well, I've been a fan of Pokemon for a long, long time. <3 Since I was 9 or 10. Problem is, I'm only 15 years old, and have never played the original red or blue. I have never even seen a gameboy in real life.
Most trainers say to be a REAL pokemon master, you must require a gameboy and an original generation one game.
I want to purchase either pokemon red or blue, because those are the originals.
Problem is, I hate playing BOTH "pairs" of games, because they are almost exactly the same... (ex. diamond AND pearl, X AND Y...)
So I only want one. And these are my questions=

1) Which is better? Pokemon red or blue? And why..?
2) What console do you need to play the game? I don't know the difference between all the gameboys.

Thank You! ^ ^

 

[Centipede Chan]

Gameboy Colors are good because you can move on to Silver and Gold after. Also they're pretty much the same except the pokemon you get. Red has better pokemon imo, like Primeape, Arcanine, and Electabuzz. This might help you choose better https://www.serebii.net/rb/exclusives.shtml

 

[Eight.Bit]

@DDDchu
Thank you! I looked at the link you've given me, and yeah it's true that Pokemon Red has better pokemon, but Pokemon Blue has these really cute ones like Vulpix and Meowth. >w< So I'm probably getting that one, lmaoo.
Or maybe I'll just get the cheaper one. xD But thank you, you helped me a lot! ^ ^

 

[BettyNewbie]

Yellow! {XD}

No, seriously, I'd go with Blue. From an objective standpoint, it has the better version exclusives. Persian gets STAB crithax Slash, Victreebel has STAB crithax Razor Leaf and Wrap/Stun Spore, and even Ninetales has solid Base 100 Speed and Special with Fire Spin and Confuse Ray.

Meanwhile, Primeape has poor STAB (Submission is literally the best it gets) and is weak to the game-breaking type, Vileplume has no reliable STAB stronger than Mega Drain, and Arcanine has a mediocre 80 Special and a 110 Attack it can't use anything but Dig and generic Normal moves with (yes, the Legendary Dog's strong in later games, but not this one).

 

[Zoinkity]

No yellow?
About GameBoys. Depending where you are at in the world is which ones you can find. The USA has three different types: the clunky gray ones, GB Pocket, and GameBoy Color. There's pictures of these in the wikipedia article but they are far too large to link here.

The differences:
The original GameBoy is much larger than any other, takes four batteries, and has an odd green-ish screen that can be hard to see. The screens have a problem where lines of yellow will show up on the left and right side permanently. They can only play the original GB games--not color ones.

GameBoy Pocket is smaller--slightly thinner than a GameBoy Color--and will look silver. They only take two batteries and the screen is much easier to see. The screen is a smidgeon larger and the black/white crisper than a GBC, but they've become somewhat collectible now so they'll probably be more expensive than the other two options. They will only play original GB games.

GameBoy Color is probably the best choice. They play both original GB and GBC games, come in several colors, and some handier gadgets like a light that plugs into the link port were made for them. They only use two batteries, and power adapters are pretty easy to find as well. The screen always displays colors, even with old GB games. When you play an old one, when the Nintendo logo appears, different directions on the + pad and holding A or B will change the color palette. If you do move onto the Metals games this version has the IR port for mystery gifts and can play Pokémon Crystal.

Owning all of them, would really suggest a GBC over the others if the price is reasonable.

[edit]Forgot the GBA ;*)
GameBoy Advance can also play GB and GBC games. They have a backlit screen and most of the same features as a GBC. I've heard that not all games will look exactly like they would on a GB or GBC, but that probably isn't a huge deal anyway.
The GB Advance SP is a smaller, folding version. The backlight on earlier ones was dim, but later models had a way to change the setting. They're really small but kinda uncomfortable to use.

You don't want a GB Micro. These are relatively rare and expensive and only play GBA games.

 

[BettyNewbie]

[edit]Forgot the GBA ;*)
GameBoy Advance can also play GB and GBC games. They have a backlit screen and most of the same features as a GBC. I've heard that not all games will look exactly like they would on a GB or GBC, but that probably isn't a huge deal anyway.
The GB Advance SP is a smaller, folding version. The backlight on earlier ones was dim, but later models had a way to change the setting. They're really small but kinda uncomfortable to use.

I should point out that only the GBA SP has a backlit screen. The original GBA did not (rather infamously, might I add), and if you see an original GBA with one, it's either a bootleg or a heavily modified original, neither of which you probably want.

I'd just get a GBA SP, if I were you. Thanks to having a backlit screen and a rechargeable battery, it's literally the best way to play RBY/GSC outside of emulators. (The only downside is GSC's Mystery Gift not functioning due to the GBA SP not having an infrared port, but that's pretty minor.)

 

[Eight.Bit]

I think Vizzed has Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue as games on their website, so you may not have to buy them. You can just make an account on Vizzed (which is basically similar to the process of signing up here) and then search for Pokemon Red or Blue (whichever you want) and play.

Anyway, I go with Blue because I like the color blue more than red.

Yeah it's true, you could do that. But most old people tell me that it doesn't feel the same and you will never see the original with all the glitches and stuff. ^ ^
But yes, I ended up going with Pokemon Blue for that same reason. xD Also because it was *cough* cheaper..

 

[JJ Styles]

I'll pretty much be saying this at the R vs B standpoint.

I'm pretty lucky that Blue was the first pokemon game that I've ever played and after more analysis of it, Blue's version exclusives made better use of Gen 1's mechanics and oddities (Wraphax Victribell, Crithax Persian) than Red's version exclusives so a play through with Blue was definitely more convenient than one in Red.

Also, GBC is the system to play it on, if one is considering a transfer of the team from Blue to G or S (or Crystal).