Pokémon Red and Blue (1998)
Best: The whole deal. Pokémon Red and Blue started with a core concept so solid it hasn’t needed to change in nearly three decades. The feedback loop was easy to grasp, and intoxicating, too. You find and capture monsters (151 of them!), train them, watch them change and evolve, and battle them against the monsters of other trainers. Your goal is, simply, to become the best trainer out there, by defeating all eight “gym leaders”—considered the top of the top for their respective regions. You were constantly progressing and moving forward, and you did it with a trusty team of often-adorable pals.
Worst: The audio. Yes, Pokémon Red and Blue were creatures of their era, and thus should be assessed through that lens. Still, some of the sound effects—the screech of a Zubat, the ding ding ding of a low health bar—were insufferably grating. A shame, seeing how iconic most of the music was.
