Truly one of the most underrated generations in the history of Pokemon. Imagine my plight when I found out that you can't say a single good thing about this game without the terrifying elitist fanbase reminding you that there is a sludge pokemon or a magnet pokemon. I think this really speaks to the tragedy of the lovely region of Kanto, doomed to never be more than the default from which the franchise has turned its back on in order to progress to further pastures. That being said, since it's the Pokemon series, it can't have progressed too far, so even going back now, it ends up being a pretty nice JRPG.

The concept is the same as always, just stripped down to the basics. This comes with a lot of benefits. Don't like Fairies for being too OP? Well they're gone! Want to ban boots or rocks for being too centralizing? Good news! Sick of the Gen 1 pandering? You can't pander to yourself!

One of the greatest benefits is to the Pokedex. A lot of the Pokemon here may seem plain and uh, pretty bad by modern standards, but all the epic mechanics tend to make them much more fun to use in game. Something like Arbok can spend an eternity stunlocking the opponents to death, which may be boring, but is certainly better than whatever it's been doing nowadays with all its sub 100 stats (was gonna say sub 90 but i think one of the new gens buffed its attack by a pretty inconsequential 10 points).

The general power progression is also quite neat. Getting fun moves like Dig or Body Slam way too early reeks of good game design, with the developers giving you the reins to really do dumb stuff, like Dark Souls probably I've never played it but I gotta shout it out right? There really is something viscerally fun about just breaking the difficulty design like this, or say by using a Moon Stone mon. The closest the series ever came to this was the similarly beloved Sword and Shield with the TR system, but that felt a bit grindy and kinda weird for being outside the main progression. But then all the TMs you do get on the main path are garbage like Snore? Seriously? You get rid of Tail Glow, Jump Kick, Assist, and Snatch but this 50 power and only use when asleep guff is worth keeping in?

Not sure where to go from here, but the inventory system sucks. Sorry I can't gas this one up, I guess.

Another benefit to the ingame experience is the groundbreaking non linear nature. Unlike the games which ruined the series, Gold and Silver, as well as their mediocre remakes, the level curve keeps up its pace well enough. The experience is great to customize to fit your own playstyle, such as when I played a monobug run and strategically chose to fight Koga before Erika because ???. The only real level trifles come up in the Elite Four being a pretty big spike, but their movesets are probably bad enough to let you get away with being in the low 50s if you're an epic Pokemon trainer.

Overall, there's just something fascinatingly awful about these games, which is just what makes them so lovable. For a 1996 Game Boy game, Gen 1 is honestly astounding. It must have been a real miracle getting this game to run, so I do feel like there's something off with brushing it aside as "bad glitch psychic op" game. While it kicked off the series, there never really was a generation as odd as this one. Even the out of place real world references make this gen feel like it's in its own little bubble. And in that little bubble, sitting down to experience what started an absolute phenomenon, I find myself enjoying this weird little game with my team of game exploiting creatures, and it's a blast.

I mean... best gen ever besides the almighty gen 5, which introduced Simisear so honestly isn't even fair to compare it to!

Fuck this gacha game in particular for being the only Mario Kart game with Dixie Kong and Hammer Bro. They should be in a real Mario Kart.

also i only ever played the closed beta (saw the warning signs it would suck just from that alone) and did you know the original premium currency was emeralds, but then in the final they made them rubies? is that weird or what?

Like was this just a focus testing thing? They sent a survey for feedback at the end of the beta period, so was there enough of a public outcry that the world wanted to spend real money on fictional red gems instead of green ones? Since they're red, are they more fitting for a Mario game than green gems? The world may never know, unlike how the world knows this game is bad as one of the scant few objective truths on this great big globe.