Honestly the Gen 1 Pokemon games are such historic games that it's difficult to critically look at them. If you've ever played them, you know that they're barely functioning game spaghetti, with so many exploits that it's harder not to run into a glitch than it is to do so.

As a Pokemon game, I think a lot of the important parts of the formula have already been nailed perfectly from the start. The base of the battle system, most of the Pokemon designs, the design of the region and progression are all very good for what is a first attempt, and one that pushes the GameBoy to its absolute limits. I have to commend the technical marvel that this game even works at all on the system.

This is, however, a VERY technically flawed game. Bugs and exploits persist throughout, Pokemon movesets are about as barebones as they could be, the types themselves are terribly imbalanced, a lot of the sprite art is very rough around the edges (although thankfully not NEARLY as bad as Red/Blue/Green, those games are atrocious), and the need for multiple games (in this case, both Red AND Blue are needed to complete this game's Pokedex) hold this game back from the heights this formula will go on to succeed at.

The story is light but gives the player a lot of agency, with some parts of the game being non-linear in progression, and the twist rival at the end must have shocked those kids back in 1998. The sprinkled lore about Mewtwo helps to add a tone of mystery, and places like Lavender town aren't afraid to go all in on unsettling tones. Also, for the first games in the series, the soundtrack has become iconic and that's for good reason.

I know this is just a long ramble about random parts of this game, but I think this is a great game for fans of the series to go back to, even if it isn't a good 'game' by today's standards. Probably play Red/Blue though, the rough edges are even more present and exploits make the game even more fun, plus you aren't saddled with a literal Pikachu as your starter.