Welcome everyone to the Searchlight Companion! My name is Mitch, and I’ve been struggling with finding the courage and commitment to start this blog. Today is the day that all changes, though!
As the title suggests, I’ll be writing about what got me into gaming from a young age. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you what age I was when I got my first game, maybe 5 or 6 years old, but I can tell you that it was a magical moment for me and it opened my eyes to a rapidly advancing world of technology and fun.
When I was young (5 or 6), I, along with my brother and sister, received one of the first generation Pokémon games as a gift from my uncle. My brother had gotten Red Version, my sister Yellow, and I got Blue. Blue happened to be my favorite color at the time, so I was so excited to see the blue game cartridge when I opened the box. I was a kid, so I didn’t know what I was doing in the game, but I knew what my favorite Pokémon was right away: Squirtle.
I chose the little water turtle for a few reasons. Firstly, he was blue, but I also liked water, and I had caught wind of Pokémon’s naming convention for monsters early on. I made the comment “he’s a squirting turtle!” once he learned Water Gun, and from then on, I started trying to figure out why Pokémon are named a certain way. Some names, like Gyarados, still elude me today, but most names are fun and easy enough to decipher.
While this is an incredibly nostalgic title for me, the main purpose of this blog is to review games. I intend to rate them as objectively as possible and let you, the readers, know if a game is worth playing. Games I review will be so reviewed in a vacuum, having no input based on similar games or even other games within its own series.
Rating
You may be thinking: “what is this madness?! How could you love this iconic game so much yet not give it a 5-star rating??” Well, that’s what this next section is for.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Clearly defined storyline that reveals itself through gameplay
- An easy-to-learn but hard-to-master combat system
- Incredible diversity in playable characters
- A rival that keeps you in check as the game progresses
- Milestones that have a significant impact on the world (gym leaders)
- Player-to-player interaction through link cable trading and battling
Cons
- Movement is slow until late game (when Fly is obtained)
- No way to actively track the next objective
- A long list of battle glitches that interfere with game mechanics, making some situations unintuitive
The drawbacks of the game are enough to bring it away from the 5/5 mark, but this (along with Red and Yellow versions) is still one of the best games of all time. It sparked a flame that grew into one of the largest fanbases ever. Pokémon would not be around today if these games performed poorly. Thankfully, they outperformed almost every other game released beside them.
I’ve loved this series for as long as I can remember, and it all started with this game. I put maybe 200 hours or so into it before I got Crystal Version when it came out. I continued playing the series faithfully until the 5th generation games, when I had to take a hiatus from the series. I still go back to it from time to time and can name most Pokémon all the way up to the 8th gen games! Overall, this is a wonderful game that has given rise to countless fan-made ROM hacks and copycat games and has brought people together like no other game has.
Do I Recommend This Game?
Absolutely. Whether you’ve been playing Pokémon games for years or you haven’t played one at all, Pokémon Blue Version is an excellent game to play. It brings you into a world of fantasy that makes you wish you were there. Few games can invoke the feelings that Pokémon does.
Next Time
I hope you enjoyed this nostalgic review of mine. Feel free to comment and suggest games for me to play, improvements to the site, or anything else you’d like to discuss! Next time, I’ll be reviewing a game that I have a love/hate relationship with: Rocket League.
The Searchlight Companion 