News: Pokemon Games to Play

Pokemon has been a significant player in the realm of games.  At one point the highest selling card game on the market, its video games, board games, tv shows, movies, and whole slew of other paraphenalia have made it one of Japan and Nintendo’s biggest cash cows.

However, quite often one finds themselves asking which pokemon games to play.  And this is a solid question, as there have been more games than many can count.  It all started with Pokemon Red and Blue.  These Gameboy games introduced the original 151 pokemon and spawned a hit cartoon and card game.  This was quickly followed by my the Color Gameboy Pokemon Yellow where you started off with Pikachu instead of Charizard or Bulbasaur.  I always named my Bulbasaur Bobasaur. I also remember having Burger King toys, a hint guide, and tons of cards which I secretly hoped would pay for college. Alas, my foil Zapdos will have to remain in its plastic wrapping another decade.

Stepping off the quasi-RPG, Nintendo went with games like Pokemon Pinball, the photo game Pokemon Snap, and the thrilling and creative Pokemon Stadium, where you got to battle Pokemon in real time, and game with a unique peripheral for uploading your Gameboy games to the N64. Going on a quick tangent, this was not the first time, nor last, Nintendo would create a peripheral for adding Gameboy content to the another console: that belongs to Super Gameboy, which would let you play your Gameboy games on a TV with limited color. To this day Nintendo continues to release not just traditional and portable Gameboy Games, but games that really are just a waste of money, like the new My Pokemon Ranch for the Wii. Although some people greatly enjoy the game, it is probably left for die hard purists.

Again, this leads us to which Pokemon games to play. Truthfully, if you have played one, you’ve played them all. But if you want a new generation of Pokemon to play with Pearl and Diamond are great games, but for someone like me, I’ll stick with the original Red and Blue.

-Mike