It's been a while since I last wrote a review. Well, seeing yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the original releases of Pokémon Red/Green in Japan on February 27, 1996, I thought it'd be a great time to review these games.

These games were released in North America sometime in September 1998 for the Game Boy. You start off on a continent called Kanto as an unnamed boy (who's named Red) who is tasked by Professor Oak to fill the Pokédex and his grandson, Blue (who's called Green in Japan), is also chosen for the task. Along the way, you battle different trainers and wild Pokémon to get experience points. If a Pokémon reaches 0 HP, it faints. You can also apply status effects that can change the course of the battle, such as Thunder Wave paralyzing foes.

What is a Pokémon, you ask? It stands for Pocket Monster, and they can be caught on fields, forests, caves, and with a fishing rod, in the water. You may even find them surfing in the water! As you get through the game, you'll earn Pokédollars for winning fights. Should you lose a fight, you'll respawn at the last visited Pokémon Center with half of your money gone. Poké Balls come in different forms, as the more rare it is, the easier it is to catch one.

As for combat, there are fifteen types that work similar to rock-paper-scissors. Fire destroys grass, Water douses fire, and grass dehydrates water. There are more type advantages, disadvantages and even types that are immune to another along the journey. If you reach a certain level with a Pokémon (i.e. Level 7 for Caterpie), it will attempt to evolve. Pressing B cancels it, but if you choose to let the evolution go, it will evolve (usually increasing their stats).

Speaking of stats, you have the usual attack, defense, speed, HP and special. Special in this game dictates special attack and defense. They can temporarily decreased and increased by moves in battle, or they can be permanently increased by vitamins you'll find. Speed also increases their critical strike chance, meaning a speedster like Persian can score critical hits more easily.

Box management and trading are vital to completing the Pokédex. After 20 Pokémon fill a box, you'll have to switch to another one and save the game. You will find different aides for Professor Oak in route buildings who will give you items if you catch a certain amount of Pokémon.

In certain towns there are gyms (not for working out, silly) where you have to fight the gym leader. As you fight them, their members will challenge you to battles. The gym leader will employ different Pokémon that you probably haven't met yet. Brock is the very first gym leader, who specializes in Rock types. If you picked Charmander as your starter, you're in trouble unless you can evolve Caterpie into Butterfree. Defeating him will get you the Boulder Badge and a Technical Machine, which in this case, teaches Bide. Be careful, once the TM is used, it's gone forever! Sometimes, badges can increase Pokémon's stats, or allow them to obey at higher levels.

Eventually you'll find hidden machines that teach your Pokémon different field moves. These cannot be forgotten under any circumstance. In very rare cases, you will find Pokémon on the map deep within dungeons. These are considered legendary Pokémon, and you only get one shot at catching these. If you run away or accidentally knock them out, they're gone for good.

The game tends to be criticized for its graphics, but trust me, I've played Game Boy shovelware with far worse graphics. Even then, it's passable for its time. The soundtrack is good and adds the atmosphere quite well. The gameplay makes up for it, with the player being able to come up with different team combinations to win.

At the very end, you'll fight the most powerful trainers in Kanto, the Elite Four! They have to be beaten in one sitting and if you lose at any time, you start over from the first member of the Elite Four.

Overall, despite time not exactly being kind to these games, they're worth a play through if you're looking for something to kill time with.