Pokemon Red (1996) and Pokemon Blue (1996) are a pair of turn-based role-playing games developed for the Nintendo Game Boy. In Pokemon Red and Blue, Pokemon are a variety of species with elemental abilities that co-exist with humans in the Pokemon universe. You play as a young "Pokemon Trainer", a person who trains and battles Pokemon, as you start your journey to becoming Pokemon master.
Your primary objective in the game is to capture, train, and battle your way to becoming the Pokemon Champion of the Indigo League. Of course, this is no easy feat! In order to complete your goal, you have to defeat eight Gym Leaders and obtain their Gym Badges in order to have a chance at battling the top Pokemon trainers in the land, the Elite Four.
A unique feature of the Pokemon games you may have noticed is their dual releases. All mainline Pokemon games come in twos, with each game being majorly the same but with key differences, being the version-exclusive Pokemon. Each Pokemon game gets its' own version exclusive 10-15 Pokemon, with the intention that in order to fill your Pokedex, you either have to purchase both games or trade with a friend who has the rival game copy.
Pokemon Red and Blue is played in a third-person view and contains three main screens: an overworld, in which the player can navigate the main character; Pokemon battles, when the player encounters a wild Pokemon or is challenged by another trainer or gym leader; and the menu interface, where the player can modify their Pokemon team, items, or gameplay settings.
When encountering a wild Pokemon or battling a trainer, you will be taken to the battle screen. Here, you can choose to fight with one of four moves (provided you have no empty move slots), use items to heal themselves or hurt the enemy Pokemon, switch out members of your Pokemon team, or attempt to flee the battle. Once an enemy Pokemon faints, the player's Pokemon will receive a number of experience points. Certain Pokemon may "evolve", growing stronger and changing in appearance once a certain level of experience points or another evolve condition is met.
Another essential element of wild Pokemon battling is catching Pokemon. If the player has a Pokeball, they can use it on the wild Pokemon in an attempt to capture it and bring it on their team. Things such as lowering the wild Pokemon's health points or using certain items may increase the chance of capturing the Pokemon.
Players looking to complete their Pokedex, the ultimate guide to the Pokemon species, must link their GameBoy to another real-life player's GameBoy cartridge using the Game Link Cable to trade version-exclusive Pokemon. Using the Game Link Cable, it is also possible to battle other real-life players.
The player begins in the protagonist's hometown of Pallet Town. After beginning their journey, they will encounter Professor Oak, who informs them encountering Pokemon alone can be very dangerous. Guiding the player to his labratory, the player will met Professor Oak's grandson, a rival Pokemon trainer. The player will then be prompted to choose a starter Pokemon out of Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. The rival will always choose the Pokemon that has an elemental advantage over yours, and will intiate a battle soon after.
While visiting the Kanto Region's areas, the player will encounter Pokemon Gyms. Inside these Pokemon Gyms, the player must defeat a total of eight Gym Leaders to obtain the eight required Gym Badges. Upon completeing this task, the player will then be allowed to challenge the Indigo League, consisting of the best trainers of the Kanto region, and the current Pokemon Champion.
Though a seemingly peaceful world, there are nefarious powers at play. Along the way, the protagonist will have to encounter and foil Team Rocket, a notorious criminal organization that uses Pokemon for criminal activity and plots to steal other trainer's Pokemon.