Best Kanto Game?

[Javier952]

Hey everyone!

Lately, I've grown a desire to play through Kanto in all its glory. I say in all its glory because I started playing the games when Diamond came out so my most prominent Kanto experience was SoulSilver. I played through a good portion of FireRed when I was really young, but I lost it before I could finish it and don't remember it very well; I skipped VC RBY and Lets Go.

So basically, which game would you say is the best experience?

I'm open to playing through any but FR/LF and LGPE have the pros of being most similar mechanically and being on the current system, respectively.

Any/all opinions are appreciated

 

[Jessibella]

FR/LG are perfect. I can't think of any better Kanto games not even the originals despite how much nostalgia I feel towards Red and Blue.

 

[Daren]

Red, Blue, and Yellow have a ton of first generation jank--no special defense, some awful level up movesets, glitches, weird things like Wing Attack being a 35 power move learned at high levels, and your character walks painfully slowly which can get annoying. If you played later games first going back to them is probably going to be painful, so I definitely recommend FireRed or LeafGreen over them.

No comment on Let's Go which I haven't played and look pretty different from the mainline games in general.

 

[Esserise]

As will probably be a common answer, Red & Blue are dumpster fires. Yellow is a bit better; if you want the nostalgia of playing with the original Game Boy aesthetic, that's undoubtedly the way to go - better sprites, better movesets on the Gym Leaders and E4 (I mean, they don't blow my hair back or anything, but at least Blue's no longer running Ember on an Arcanine), as a trade-off for Raichu you can get all three Starters natively, and you even get a cute little bonus minigame (more easily if you play on the VC version). That said, it's still Gen 1 with all its attendant problems.

I think as far as FRLG vs Let's Go goes, it's down to preference. Do you prefer traditional Pokémon RPG gameplay? Battling wild Pokémon, Abilities, held items, and all that? Then you will probably want to stick to FRLG. They feel a little dated due to the lack of things like the Physical/Special split and other technical advancements, but I think they still hold up for the most part, and they're the only Kanto experience that includes the Sevii Islands (which I don't think are amazing~, but it's some nice extra content to prolong your playtime). They also include a handful of Johto Pokémon in the post-game, which is something that neither the originals nor Let's Go can boast. Personally speaking, I also really like FRLG's soundtrack. All in all, they're very solid, well-rounded remakes that I don't think would disappoint.

If you're willing to push the boat out a little and try something a bit more experimental, I think Let's Go can be refreshing. Personally speaking, I enjoyed them - I think GO's catching mechanics blend quite smoothly into the series and I love being able to see Pokémon walking about in the overworld, and for someone like me who's sunk thousands of hours into Pokémon games with the same formula over the years, it's a fun change of pace. The degree to which you're able to interact with and customize your Starter is pretty unparalleled by other main series games, and on top of that, you have the option to let any one Pokémon on your team follow you around in the overworld, which is a popular feature. You can even ride or fly on some of them, like Arcanine and Aerodactyl. The rival of these games is not interesting at all, but there are certain story beats that I think are written better than in the other Kanto games. Still, there's some other flaws - although the Gym Leaders and Elite Four all get very nice rematch teams in the post-game, there's not much to do beyond battling them and the Master Trainers (which is a tedious grind for a nothing reward), which gets repetitive. The co-op play feature, if you choose to make use of it, completely trivializes the difficulty of battles. Abilities and held items are removed, which makes the battles as simplified as they were in Gen 1 - I suppose this can be good or bad depending on one's taste, but I tend to like the extra dimension that those elements add to the game. I think ultimately I would say these are a good one-time experience, but you will likely get bored of them after beating the Champion (unless you're really into Shiny hunting, which these games are pretty good for), whereas FRLG have a bit more meat for you to dive into. But I do like Let's Go and think they explore some interesting territory for the series.

Edit: Casting my vote for FRLG, but I think it could be worthwhile to check out the Let's Go demo as the post below me suggests.

 

[Phosphene]

The original gen 1 games were, like Daren said, janky and frustrating to me. I played Red several years ago and honestly didn't really enjoy it outside of seeing how the series started. RBGY really pales in comparison to the rest of the franchise outside of maybe gen 2 in my opinion, if you didn't grow up with it, just due to how rough it is. LGPE are better than the gen 1 games by virtue of being more modern, but honestly I don't think they can hold a candle to FRLG even though I haven't played the GBA games. Let's Go Eevee to me was very plain and boring, so I stopped playing after the Silph Co. event. That was the first time I stopped playing a new game before completing it. But I feel that LGPE are really divisive and your mileage may vary a lot depending on your personal tastes. For me, LGPE just wasn't my kinda of Pokemon game. I think there's a demo for the Let's Go games on the eshop or whatever it's called, which I strongly recommend you check out if you're debating getting the games.
Honestly the best Kanto games I've played are probably HGSS...

 

[Esserise]

The best version of Kanto I've played is actually GSC Kanto, mostly because of how emaciated it is. Good for gameplay? Not at all, but great for filling my young and impressionable mind with a poignant sense of melancholy about the passage of time.

I still say they should have kept Viridian Forest cut down in the remakes, especially since Cinnabar still got blown up. Where's that sense of push and pull between rapacious human development and nature's ambivalent catastrophic metabolism?

 

[Javier952]

Alright, I WAS interested in the nostalgia of RBY but looks like I’ll definitely pass on them as everyone seems to agree lol

@Esserise I appreciate the breakdown! I was aware of a goof chunk of the things, but it helped put a lot of things into perspective.

I am really interested in the new aspects implemented in Let’s Go, so I think I will check out the demo!

Probs going to keep an eye on a copy of FRLG cuz the sevii islands are tempting because I couldn’t explore them last time.

 

[Xenidal]

I'm not voting as I haven't played FireRed or LeafGreen yet (I do plan on it though. I too look forward to seeing what the Sevii Islands is all about).

But of the games I've played, I'd vote either R/B or Y. Not sure which.

- I did not like "Let's Go! Pikachu" all that much. (Haven't gotten around to beating it yet, but from what I've played it's too easy. And the changes to Pokémon catching are novel and unnecessary... feels like I'm in the Safari Zone or something. And I don't care much for the gen 7/8 art style, though that could just be me. But it's kind of a weird game in general, as it wasn't intended to be a faithful remake of Yellow but it's also not distinct enough to be regarded as an entirely new game. But I think that if they weren't going to be faithful to Yellow, it would have been better if they had just come up with an entirely new adventure set in Kanto. Not mess with one of the classics.)

- Between R/B and Y, I'm kind of on the fence. In many ways Yellow was a better game. Yet I was never really a fan of the anime-inspired battle sprites (I did love the anime back in the day... just not the sprites). I also didn't like that they patched a lot of the glitches (the glitches really added to the replay value IMO). Those were the two main reasons that I, as a child, spent a lot more time playing Red Version than I did Yellow Version, despite the fact that Yellow was an overall better game.

- I also think Japanese Red/Green are worthy candidates. Not sure where I'd rank them though, as I haven't really played them much (apart from messing around with the 'dokokashira door glitch' and some of the other 'select bugs'). But oddly enough, I actually prefer some of the Red/Green graphics over the updated Blue. (Both the monster sprites and the tile sets. Not all of them, but some of them.)

 

[Aulos]

FR/LG. R/B/Y are horribly dated. They were fun for me back in 1999/2000, but coming back to them later they are so clunky and hard to play. LGP/E need not even be acknowledged, if you want my opinion on those.

 

[Camille]

FireRed/LeafGreen by far. I really liked the addition of Sevii Islands, which made for a good amount of post-game content. The best things about the Let's Go games are the Fairy-types and physical/special split, the rest I didn't really like. The Generation I games...well, there are some fun glitches, but that's it.

 

[Bolt Strike]

FRLG by a country mile. They're the only ones with a remotely serviceable amount of content and features, the rest are incredibly bland and barren experiences with almost nothing outside of the main campaign. At least FRLG has an actual postgame and side activities.

Still, I feel there are massive improvements to be made over even FRLG and no game has done Kanto entirely right. They're all 1:1 recreations of the same dated region design, the same empty and unvaried rosters of Pokemon, the same practically nonexistent story with bland and one-dimensional characters, and just a general lack of features that make every Kanto experience feel like an outdated relic that's out of place on the console it's slapped onto. Kanto desperately needs a BW2 kind of experience where they're not afraid to make massive changes that modernize the experience. And no, GSCHGSS don't count. Those games were one step forwards and two steps back as far as Kanto was concerned. I'm talking about something that's an overall improvement for Kanto. Something that puts all previous Kanto games to shame.

 

[Isaac the Investigator]

I haven't actually played any of the Kanto games. I guess that would put HGSS as my favorite Kanto experience.

 

[wanderist]

I'm gonna be that one weirdo who actually says Let's Go. Please forgive me.

Kanto in general has just always been my least favorite region and story. I imagine it's because it was the first one, but still. Let's Go was the only one that at least refreshed things and made things a little more interesting for me to the point where I've finished it quite a few times. Not saying they're perfect or that I don't have issues with them, and I definitely wish they'd done a more traditional remake or sequel, but it was still the most enjoyable experience I had with Kanto. I think the starters, the little additions to the storyline, the updated visuals, and just the little stuff added up for me. The catching mechanics were also pretty fun at the time, just got really annoying late game.

FRLG was my first experience with Kanto and... I never finished it. I got to Victory Road and just... stopped. It was years ago so I couldn't tell you what it was, but it was just so bland and boring to me. It wasn't like usual games (including LG) where I couldn't put the game down. I get that it has more traditional stuff like regular catching mechanics and all the Pokemon, is less childish, and has cool stuff like the Sevii Islands, but I just couldn't get into it for some reason. Maybe I'll try it again if I get the chance one day and see if my opinion changes.

RBY... I tried them when they came out on the 3DS virtual console, and oddly enough I got sucked in and played all the way through them, but I think it was more because I was fascinated with them and their glitchy weirdness. It was completely new to me. That charm wore off on my second playthrough though, and once again I couldn't finish it.

That said, that's all personal preferences. It seems the general consensus here is that FRLG are the better games, and I can understand why.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

In my opinion, HG/SS is the best Kanto game, because you also get Johto, have a huge pool of Pokemon you can catch, etc. If you're looking for a specific plot line and a Kanto-Centric adventure then obviously it's not the right call, but I personally will not be replaying a standalone Kanto game because there's virtually nothing I could get from there which I can't get from HG/SS.

That being said, if I were to play a Kanto-centric game, it'd be the Let's Go games, because it would be a new and wildly different experience. I just personally see little in the plot, gameplay, available Pokemon, or anything else, which would draw me to play a Kanto-centric game in the first place. Just my 2 cents but that's why when I went to replay all Pokemon regions and collect all non-event Pokemon, I started in Johto.

 

[prog rocker]

Part of me wants to say FRLG because, well, my opinion on RBY is not good, but on the other hand LGPE doesn't have HMs, Blue got his role reduced (and apparently is not an annoying prick), and if they followed Yellow's footsteps trainer wise, then Pikachu's appearances got reduced, too.

Sadly, I would need a Switch to better compare them.

 

[Esserise]

One thing I will say is a negative about Let's Go for me is that on the Switch, the faithfully recreated, tile-for-tile Kanto maps feel a lot smaller and more hollow than they did on the GBA, where the sprites are not so directly trying to emulate lifelike proportions, which in turn allows your imagination to fill in a lot of the gaps. In particular, the post-game ability to "soar" in the sky feels extremely limited and cramped in comparison to the kind of soaring that we saw in ORAS, which had you traveling above a seamless map of the entire region. In Let's Go, you cannot, for example, fly over Viridian Forest if you are on Route 2 and want to go to Pewter City. You can only travel through discrete segments of the map.

and if they followed Yellow's footsteps trainer wise, then Pikachu's appearances got reduced, too.

By this, do you mean fewer NPC Trainers using a Pikachu? Was that even that big of a thing in RB?

 

[prog rocker]

By this, do you mean fewer NPC Trainers using a Pikachu? Was that even that big of a thing in RB?

Yes and no, but less Pikachu is less Pikachu, and that's a pro in my mind.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

One thing I will say is a negative about Let's Go for me is that on the Switch, the faithfully recreated, tile-for-tile Kanto maps feel a lot smaller and more hollow than they did on the GBA, where the sprites are not so directly trying to emulate lifelike proportions, which in turn allows your imagination to fill in a lot of the gaps. In particular, the post-game ability to "soar" in the sky feels extremely limited and cramped in comparison to the kind of soaring that we saw in ORAS, which had you traveling above a seamless map of the entire region. In Let's Go, you cannot, for example, fly over Viridian Forest if you are on Route 2 and want to go to Pewter City. You can only travel through discrete segments of the map.



By this, do you mean fewer NPC Trainers using a Pikachu? Was that even that big of a thing in RB?

I love to soar above Kanto on Ruby the Charizard.

 

[prog rocker]

I love to soar above Kanto on Ruby the Charizard.

I almost read it as "I love to soar above Kanto on Ruby with Charizard".

 

[Jet-black Zorua]

Fire Red and Leaf Green by miles. They're the best Kanto games because they were faithful to the original games while adding new features as well.