The good, the bad, the ugly: Gen I

The good: they're the original
The bad: Ghost- and Dragon-types lacking moves
The ugly: Psychic-types being broken as heck...

 

Gen 1's good, bad and ugly? Let's see...

The good:
A simple, yet engaging story. It was the first in the series, so all the ideas were fresh. Almost every Pokémon introduced in this generation is remembered fondly (or not so fondly. But regardless, they're remembered). This generation introduced many iconic characters that still remain popular today.
Best plot twists in the series. This was before the internet was around to spoil everything, so your rival being the champion and Giovanni being the final Gym Leader were genuine surprises. I don't think any of the other games have been able to surprise me like that.
This game introduced zubat, which is my favourite Pokémon. It filled Mt Moon full of them. I am blessed every time I set foot inside that place.

The bad:
Some types just were better than others. The psychic type was completely OP and bugs were completely useless. Several types lacked in good moves (e.g. dragons and bugs) and several types just lacked variety (the gastly line were the only ghost Pokémon and the dratini line were the only dragons).
It was also pretty easy to get lost in some parts. It took me a while to figure out I had to press that darn switch behind the poster, and don't get me started on finding the HM for Surf (I didn't want to catch them all, so I didn't even set foot inside the Safari Zone until I found out it was necessary to advance forward). I'm not saying you needed someone holding your hand the whole way through, but a point in the general direction to where we needed to go would have been nice.

The ugly:
Some of the glitches, particularly game-breaking ones. But let's be honest, some of the glitches were just plain fun. I know I always used the Mew glitch whenever I could so I could breeze through the game with the most overpowered Pokémon. This is only an 'ugly' because they looked aesthetically ugly and because some could cause damage to the game itself.
Some of the graphics looked pretty bad. Some Pokémon sprites were downright ugly in the first games, and each new route looked nearly identical to the next, lacking in variety. I can't really fault the creators too much as this was the first game in the series, but still.
The Elite Four being like, 10 levels above my own Pokémon. Seriously, it would take me forever to get past just Lorelei because she'd murder all my Pokémon. Am I the only one with this problem?

 

I never played the Gen I games, but I'll do have stuff to say.

The good: I loved all of the starter Pokémon. You can't go wrong with any of the three.

The bad: I think this was prior to the introduction of the dark-type, so psychics were ridiculously OP. I also hated the fact that the HMs required badges to access new areas or people blocking off places to go unless you had the badge.

The ugly: Some of the gym leaders and elite four were overpowered.

 

Good: They had a good roster of Pokémon to make up the basis of Pokémon.
Bad: they fucked up with type match up and lacked in moves (Dragon)
Ugly: Those sprite were bad, admit it.

 

I only played this game once so idk too much about it

The Good: Obviously they get the good for being the games that kicked off the series, but they also get my good for being pretty enjoyable even to this day. I'd rather play many others games, but it still holds to me. Also the glitches!!

The Bad: Also the glitches. This game is BROKEN. At some point being broken takes the fun right out of the game. It was fun to maul everything with my Persian at first, but then it became stale. Also this game is very barebones nowadays.

The Ugly: The sprites. That's it.

The Special: The fact that many Pokémon fans dearly hold this game to their hearts. Not in a "Genwunner" sense though.

 

The good:

• The games' music package is one of the most memorable of any of the Pokémon games that I've played. I especially remember holding the Game Boy Color's speaker close to my ear to hear the Route 3 music bed (stupid, I know).
• The legendary Pokémon were meant as an optional side quest, as opposed to being an important part of the game's story, as they are nowadays.
• The ability to have Pokémon given to you by NPCs to be immediately sent to Bill's PC when your party was full, assuming your current box wasn't full at the same time. (Was this functionality really that glitch-ridden to the point where it had to be removed in Generation II?)

The bad:

• The brokenness of the Psychic type (though I do admit that I always had a Psychic-type on my team by the end of each game due to this issue alone), the fact that the only Dragon-type move from then is a "fixed HP" move, and the limited usefulness of Ghost.

The ugly:

• The individual Pokémon sprites in Red, Green, and Blue being downright UGLLLEY!
• Some of the glitches in this generation were bad enough to be considered game-breaking.
• The 20-item maximum bag, and the similarly-limited storage in both the PC item storage and Pokémon storage systems (the latter was especially bad in that you got no reminder to switch boxes until it was too late when trying to catch a Pokémon.

 

The first gen will always get credit for starting it all, so that's a plus. It also provides much more of a challenge compared to recent games... which can be good orbad depending on the player. The music was also fantastic despite its limits.

The battle mechanics are what bothered me the most with these games. Binding attacks and status moves were ridiculously annoying... more than they should be (they are better with the corrections with future gens). Amnesia and Hyper Beam were also OP... Hyper Beam being ridiculously strong and with no drawback if it KOs a Pokémon and Amnesia making the already broken Special stat make some Pokémon like Mewtwo untouchable.

Also the Bag and PC was horrendous. It was an EXTREME pain to stay organized in these games.

 

The Good:

As most people have mentioned here, Gen I gets credit for kicking everything off. The soundtracks were also, for the most part, fairly memorable and going through Kanto in RBY (moreso Yellow version) was enjoyable.

The Bad:

Although it's common to joke about how many glitches Gen I has, it's pretty evident that the games were kind of a mess. Although on the other hand, the glitches probably made the games more enjoyable to play through than anything else...

The Ugly:

Gen I has not aged well in the slightest. You would think a game that came out 20 years ago being as iconic as it is would stand the test of time, but sadly, it really hasn't. I remember playing through VC Yellow version and oftentimes I would struggle progressing through the game, and eventually I kinda gave up halfway through. I haven't even started on VC Blue yet all this time. ._. The visuals, although no one cared about them at the time, can be rather painful when playing in the modern era.

 

the good: music,concept and the fact that this is where it all began,very innovative champion ending too
the bad:many Pokémon designs and tons of glitches
the ugly:OP psychic types

 

The good: I mean, I have to give credit where it's due, these games kickstarted the franchise. Wouldn't be here without em. They must have been doing something right.

The bad: Really broken battle mechanics (Cough cough, Wrap, cough) but they're the first games, and those things were fixed later on.

The ugly: PC organization. I hadn't realized how much I loved Gen 3 + PCs until I got RB on the Virtual Console. Dear lord trying to keep track of your boxes is infuriating.

 

Tell me about it... and moving Pokémon from one box to another was still a huge pain in the backside. And good luck if you come across an enemy that used X Accuracy before Wrapping, and is faster than your own Pokémon...

 

More like Lance's Dragonair T Waving you and then never letting you attack again.

 

That too... Paralysis is a surefire way of making sure you are slower, no matter what you're fielding...