Nintendo’s Pokemon franchise is still going strong after decades of popularity, but it all started back in the day with Red & Blue. Even though these games are incredibly old now and graphics, gameplay, and pretty much every other aspect of Pokemon has improved, they’re some amazing games to replay for the sheer nostalgia factor.
However, diving into these games for a second replay — or third, or fourth, or fifth — will reveal some details that you might not have noticed on your initial journey through Kanto.
10 You Can Fish At Gyms
Each gym has statues outside and patches of water, and you can actually fish in them! The catches aren’t too impressive — lots of Magikarp — and super rods don’t even work, but it’s a neat little trick to farm some average water Pokemon if you’re in a city and fancy throwing a few Pokeballs.
On your first playthrough, you might not even think to try this. For the most part, Pokemon are only catchable on routes and in wild areas, not in the middle of cities.
9 ‘Cut’ Can Be Used On Grass
HMs are machines that teach Pokemon critical moves that are more useful outside of battle than in it — for example, Strength that can move rocks or Cut that can cut down trees blocking your path.
That isn’t all Cut can do, however.
Cut can actually be used on patches of wild grass if you really, really don’t want to run into some wild Pokemon. It’s a bit of a longer process than just dropping a Repel, though.
8 Lance Isn’t Really A Dragon-Type Trainer
Lance is hailed as the champion of Dragon-types, but the truth is, he doesn’t really use them.
This isn’t Lance’s fault, of course. Gen one wasn’t too generous with the Dragon-types, and they pretty much stop at Dratini, Dragonair, and Dragonite. The poor guy is pretty limited. He makes up for it by using Pokemon that vaguely resemble dragons, even if it’s not their actual type (such as Charizard).
It does seem pretty misleading to call him a Dragon-type trainer, though.
7 The Nidoran Audio Mistake
Professor Oak will give you a pep talk at the beginning of the game and show you a female Nidoran — but the audio cry that plays is actually that of Nidorina, the evolution. It’s a tiny mistake that most players won’t catch until they’re super familiar with each Pokemon, so well done if you did spot this.
6 There’s No Focus On Legendaries
In most Pokemon games, legendaries are pretty central to the story. For example, in the very next generation, Lugio and Ho-Oh’s legends are perpetuated throughout the game and make the build-up to catching them really exciting.
In Red & Blue, there’s no such focus. The legendary birds and Mewtwo can be owned, but there’s very little myth surrounding them and no one really talks about them very much. They’re just a nice bonus, which makes them the odd ones out of the Pokemon games.
5 The Silph Scope Isn’t Needed
When you’re trying to make your way through ghost Pokemon to get rid of Team Rocket, you’re supposed to go and get the Silph Scope — but PokeDolls work just as well to scare off Ghost-type Pokemon, so you don’t actually need to go through all of that.
4 Celadon’s Invisible PC
Is it a coding glitch, or just a hidden PC? PCs aren’t exactly hard to come by, so there’s no need for them to be secret, leaving most people to believe it’s the former. An invisible PC exists in Celadon City, randomly tucked away in a corner. It’s fully accessible and functioning, but invisible until you walk up to the right place and hit a button to access it.
3 There Are Way More Glitches
In general, there are just way more glitches in the original two Pokemon games that make no sense.
That’s understandable, of course. The games became more streamlined as Nintendo fine-tuned everything, and the glitches became less and less in future generations. However, a playthrough now, with the current games to compare them to, will show you that there are actually a surprising amount of glitches, from items stuck to walls you can walk through and locations that shouldn’t be accessed.
2 It’s So Short
Most of the Pokemon games are pretty short but because of the lack of good post-game content, Red & Blue really wins out on having a short playtime. You might remember putting hundreds of hours into this game as a kid, but if you play it now, you’ll likely complete it in a single day and be pretty content to put the game back down again.
Kanto is a pretty short run-through!
1 So Much Just Didn’t Age Well… But It Doesn’t Matter
When going back to replay Red & Blue now, there’s a lot that didn’t age well. The graphics are definitely a sign of their time, there are many glitches, and there’s so much from future games that would have made a big improvement to Red & Blue.
But you’ll also notice that it doesn’t matter. Red & Blue are so full of nostalgia that they’re amazing to replay anyway, especially if you’re preparing yourself for a new release and want to dive back into the Pokemon world.
