u/Justjack91

My first Pokemon games back when I was 7 in 1998 was Pokemon Yellow and my parents couldn't afford to get me too many games back then, so coming around to finally playing Pokemon Red the last week has been exciting. I'm glad at 35 I get to finally experience the true OG Pokemon experience. My goal was to make a cart ready to play some of the fights in Pokemon Stadium for the first time.

Having played through every Pokemon entry up through Sun/Moon (I skipped most of the Switch entries besides Arceus and Let's Go because...reasons), I definitely knew the RBY as a beautiful mess held together with hopes and dreams, but it has definitely put into perspective what a "true" 1st gen experience is when you don't have all the perks of Yellow carrying you (all the starters, better movesets, etc.).

I'm up to Fuchsia City at this point. I should caveat I am using exploits/glitches to get infinite TMs, but I'm trying to only use one each for my play-through until post-game (though some exclusions apply).

With that said, I wanted to outline a few thoughts I've had based on previous perceptions of the games:

• I chose Bulbasaur for my first run (basically after flipping a 3 sided coin). I gotta say it has been a bit of a grind getting it to be useful. Vine Whip at 10 PP was rough and made a lot of early routes hard with their only other move being Tackle for so long. I doubt my experience would be much better with Charmander (though Ember would be nice in early parts). I'm pretty sure Squirtle is the best Pokemon starter thanks to its early and long term usability. I look forward to playing with it for my Blue play-through.
• Probably unpopular opinion but Fearow is VERY overrated imo. I found myself struggling with only having Peck and Fury Attack for so long before the coveted Drill Peck (at friggin level 34). Sure most threats can easily be taken on early game with just those moves alone, but I rarely 1 shot things so it felt like an RNG fest hoping for Crits to carry me. It's funny because I got Fly before Drill Peck. I'm almost to the point where Fearow falls off though so I fear I could have had a more efficient run using something else.
  • Having said that, I've always raised Pidgeot in my Yellow play-throughs and this isn't much different, so maybe the early birds are just meant to be replaced sooner than later
• Raticate is amazing with Hyper Fang. Never used it before in a run and I realize how useful it is. Throw dig on it and it just cleans house up through the 30s.
• Butterfree was great but I'm so used to it having Confusion first thing. It was hilarious to have to level it up twice to finally have that move for Brock. Butter fell off much as predicted towards the mid-game but having so many powder moves (especially sleep) was awesome early on. Sleep is still so OP this gen.
  • Still crazy to me it learns Psybeam so late no matter which game you play; just play Abra line at that point
• The Nidos not getting Double Kick early on was a bummer, but it did make me have to figure out how to beat Brock more creatively. I'm so used to just using that to basically skip Brock.
  • Once they get TMs the game basically is solved, but boy do they chug more of them in this game for me than in Yellow
• Skipping on Pikachu for the first time ever in a Gen 1 game was PAINFUL. I didn't realize how many things rely on electricity (especially if you don't opt to use your Thunderbolt TM sooner). The lack of other electric options early on is definitely felt. Even just a simple Thundershock does wonders (and if they made Water Gun into a TM, I kind of wish they did the same for that move)
• I skipped raising most of the rest of the early Dex this go-around for some variety, and boy was that felt. I normally raise an Abra and a Magikarp to get their evolutions early on, but not doing so felt like a huge nerf to my teams. I guess I'm just so used to being overpowered in the early-mid game. I'll probably do a more optimized team like this for a my next Blue/Yellow play-through, but this has been an interesting experience for a change.
• Karate Chop is the bane of my existence...that's all. Those early crits from Mankey and the Machop line were brutal
• I was thinking to replace my Venasaur with an Exeggcute, but wow that Pokemon is NOT ideal for a play-through. Its only realistic offensive moves are the Psychic TM and the Egg Bomb TM, so you really feel the squeeze on raising it (almost as bad as raising a Dratini imo). I just got it and now I'm having second thoughts on using it for this play-through considering the effort required to get it up to speed.
• Having used Blastoise in Yellow every play-through, I never realized how many great water options you have to choose from. I've had a hard time figuring out who I want my "surfer" to be between Slowbro, Starmie, and Tentacruel. It'll probably be one of the Psychic types since Poison is so bad.
• Jynx is amazing to trade for. I've always wanted to actually use one in a play-through, but Yellow was so stingy with its weird exclusions. Rushing to grab a Super Rod after beating Snorlax and fishing in Celedon's pond, it was exciting to finally get one up and going.
• The rival fights have been pretty hilariously easy (even compared to Yellow's). I swear, the number of times he used Teleport and Roar against me was insane and made for some cheap wins. The AI definitely benefited from improvements down the line.

That's all I can think of for now! Thanks for reading. I'm very excited to get into the last third of the game and see what else is different from the later entries. :)