Last time on Blue,
 
Now to finally leave Pallet!

As you can see, there’s no way to get over to the empty area there, and by extension to go down toward the tall grass we saw to the side of Pallet. This only becomes evident in the endgame, at this point you have no idea where you’ll end up going, and the game’s actually pretty good about sending you back to areas you’ve seen earlier but couldn’t reach.

A helpful sign informs us this is ROUTE 1 PALLET TOWN – VIRIDIAN CITY

I quite appreciated these. Eventually you memorize the map, but until then it’s nice to have reminders of where you are.

Heading up, we find a guy who tells us he works at the pokemart and we should check it out. He gives us another potion, the game likely assuming you either used it up battling your rival or didn’t find it in the PC at all.

This sort of thing is why everyone in fandom has so much trouble with articles. Way to screw with a generation of impressionable kids, Nintendo.

Another person explains ledges and how you can jump over them but only in one direction. As it will in later games, this means that while we have to walk through grass on our way up, we can skip almost all of it on our way back. (Barring the entrance itself, which for some reason no one ever thinks to clear. Entering and exiting Pallet will always require running that gauntlet.)

As you can see, a very different design policy than in later generations. The pokemon are rougher and more detailed.

Pidgey know gust, which back in the day was a normal-type move, so my bulbasaur isn’t in any danger.

The only thing worse than regular sprites, as you see, are back sprites. Not only do they tend to be a terrible drawing, but they’re also blown up from what presumably started off as a similar sized image to the front sprites.

Some other things to remember are that there’s no lower bar showing how much experience a pokemon has and how close it is to evolution, so gaining levels is generally a surprise. You have to go into the stats page to find out how much more experience a pokemon needs. Also, there’s no pokeball marking pokemon you’ve caught already, which makes sense – you’re supposed to catch any new pokemon you see, plus there’s a far smaller number to keep track of. It’s only in later games that you’re likely to start to get confused about if you’ve caught this one already.

The best move in the game.

Also, if you chat with your mother you can rest your pokemon.

And now, Viridian City! See how I’ve managed to walk to the place labeled POKé all on my own? That was how it was back then, no one dragged you along on a mandatory town tour.

Pokemon continues to assume a friendship-free default. Pokemon are for protection and fighting other people.

Now, time to check out the pokemart like that guy mentioned.

You know PROF. OAK, right? His order came in. Will you take it to him?

Just look at the capitalization here. Just look at it.

I’m also unable to buy anything here, he just keeps telling me to say hi to Oak.

Screw you, cashier. If you didn’t have a monopoly then by god I would take my business elsewhere.

I’m actually usually a pretty obedient player, but I’d wager most people want to actually catch some pokemon already. I sure did. Where were the pokeballs?

But, of course, I can’t go any further toward, since some jackass is blocking the way.

His granddaughter chastises him but doesn’t do anything to let me go by. The claim is that he just hasn’t had his coffee yet, but he sure looks like he’s drunk, doesn’t he? If you look closely he’s even got colored cheeks.

Well, so upward is blocked. What else is there?

VIRIDIAN CITY
The Eternally Green Paradise

Pretty bland, but it’s getting across the color theme.

Presented without comment.

The trainer school is around as well to be helpful, and, like everything else, is completely optional. FRZ is outright godly in the first gen – you’re locked in ice unless you’re hit with a fire move or healed, no thawing on your own. I liked it better that way, really – it’s a rare status that should be a big deal when it happens.

Chatting with one NPC tells us about some pokemon we haven’t seen yet.

You want to know about the 2 kinds of caterpillar POKéMON? CATERPIE has no poison, but WEEDLE does. Watch out for its POISON STING!

Caterpie and weedle are not version exclusive pokemon of this game, but they do vary in how common they are. As you can see, caterpie is less interesting, but on the other hand, wild weedle are annoying.

Prior to that, there’s the different likelihood of pokemon appearing found in the area by the League HQ, to the west. That’s the one area left open at the moment.

This guy is blocked off by water and trees. What amazing secrets must he hold? If only we could reach him somehow.

Back in the first gen, invisible items meant something. They were rare and a trial to find. This one is probably here because the designers assumed you’d click on the tree when you realized if you could get through you’d bypass drunken coffee guy.

For example. There’s a bunch of empty areas here that seem like they should have some purpose, but as far as I know, don’t.

Here’s one half of our not-quite-version-exclusive pair. The other is nidoranM, which is extremely rare in Blue and common in Red. When I first played, I was flabbergasted to see a pokemon I didn’t recognize from the cartoon and proceeded to catch multiple ones of both pokemon because they must be super ultra rare.

But I can’t catch anything right now.

The people from the email!

Only truly skilled trainers are allowed through. You don’t have the BOULDERBADGE yet! The rules are rules. I can’t let you pass.

There must be something incredibly awesome beyond if they won’t let me through yet. (Although – false advertising! The email said they’d take on anyone!)

So, no helping it. We can’t go anywhere but back. Let’s go see Oak.