Pokemon Blue is a timeless classic and still one of the best RPG's ever made
The story isn't too terribly deep for RPG standards. You pretty much start out as a kid who dreams of becoming a Pokemon trainer. Well, today's your lucky day for Professor Oak has given you (and your rival) a new Pokemon of your very own to train, raise and help you fight off and catch other Pokemon and battle other trainers. That's pretty much how it starts off but story or not, playing through the game and making your way to the Pokemon League at the end feels engaging enough without one.
The game is controlled from a bird's eye perspective and all you have to do is walk and travel around the world of Kanto. You are to travel around the whole world, from one city to the next, and collect badges given out by gym leaders in order to advance to the next area. To get badges, you must defeat the gym leaders in a Pokemon duel (which I'll get to in a minute). Other than that, the towns are usually just a place to buy/sell items, heal your Pokemon at the Pokemon Center or talk to people about other important stuff that goes on in each city. In between the cities are usually tall grass areas or caves, which are where the wild Pokemon are waiting to attack (as well as trainers). The world of Kanto is huge, and exploring it is always exciting every time you play. With so much to do and so many people to talk to (and so many trainers to battle), you'll be occupied with each new area.
When you're not wandering through towns and talking to people, you're probably out in the wilderness either battling with your Pokemon to make them stronger or catching them (to add to your team or just to fill up your "Pokedex"). When you walk through tall grass or a cave, you are bound to run into a wild Pokemon. When this happens, you can either battle it until it faints and collect experience for your own Pokemon, or you can catch it. Of course, you need to fight it to weaken its health first before you throw one of your pokeballs to capture it for yourself. You can keep it on your team if you'd like or if you don't have room on your team (you can only carry 6 Pokemon so choose wisely) or don't want it, you can store it on a computer and come back for it later. Back then, this was a neat idea and organizing your team is always interesting. With over 150 types of monsters, you can strategize and customize your team in numerous ways until you find the team that works best for you.
To help you raise your Pokemon, the world is also filled with numerous trainers in the wild, in caves and sometimes, even within each town (namely in the gyms). The trainers are tougher than the wild Pokemon and their monsters will usually give you more experience than ever. When walking by, every trainer will walk up to you and challenge you once you walk into their sight and the battle begins. When defeated (by knocking out each of their Pokemon), you not only gain experience, you also gain some money too. If you lose all of your monsters, you lose money yourself and are returned to the nearest Pokemon Center.
When enough experience is gained, your Pokemon level up (and level 100 is the maximum). Most of the time, leveling up just boosts their stats and makes them stronger in speed, health points, strength, special and defense. Other times, your monster will learn a new move when he/she reaches a certain level. Unfortunately, he can only learn 4 moves so if you want to learn a move, you'll have to delete n existing move. This can also add to your strategy and makes battles that much more exciting, especially with TM's and HM's involved (little machines that can teach Pokemon moves). Other times, depending on the Pokemon, your monster can evolve into a stronger creature when a specific level is reached. Some evolve twice, some evolve once, others don't evolve at all.
But wait, that's not all. If you have a friend with a Gameboy and a link cable (with a copy of red, blue, yellow, gold or silver), you can also hook up to one another and either battle or even trade Pokemon. Trading with others is the only way to "catch them all" as there are some Pokemon only available exclusively in one version or the other. That, or you can battle your teams against each other and determine once and for all who has the better Pokemon. Multiplayer really makes you think and rethink your team as it is the most competitive way to play. Building a team that can take on your friend makes this game even more exciting than it already is.
Even 15 years later as an adult, Pokemon Blue is a timeless classic and one of the best RPG's available on any console. There's nothing like exploring the world of Kanto, catching Pokemon and organizing your own team of monsters. It's a neat formula and it holds up well today. With this series still making games for the DS, there are several you can try, but the one I recommend the most is the one true classic; Pokemon Blue/Red.