Whew . . . as I type, I feel a distinct pain coming from my right hand, but I have to sit down right now and type some of this out while it's still fresh in my mind. I just barely hit the final credits of Pokémon Red.
The game shifted big time since the last time I posted. The maze puzzles found in the game doubled down, and the sheer amount of enemies you have to wade through (figuratively and literally once you get the Surf skill) was the stuff of nightmares, but at the end of the day, really two main Pokémon carried me through the game.
1- Rafael, my starter Squirtle buddy ended up evolving into a level 64 Blastoise that was an absolute beast. His final four abilities were Fissure, Bubblebeam, Ice beam, and Hydro Pump, which actually ended up being a very weird combination of powerful hits that made his stamina a bit short-lived. By the end of the horrific final four and rival battle sequence, he was absolutely . . . out of power.
2- That Oddish that I named Beatdrop from the other post? Yeah, it evolved into a level 56 Vileplume wielding the powers of Mega Drain, Acid, Cut, and Double-edge. The Double-edge/Mega Drain combo was a thing of beauty to be honest. Its stamina won the day at the very end. I was barely scraping out a win using its acid ability, which btw . . . after using the Acid Music software to create music for so many years, I had to laugh every time I saw, "Beatdrop uses Acid."
Can I just say how cool that final four and rival battle sequence was at the end. It's really no wonder this game did so well and spawned an entire Pokémon empire. That feeling of desperation when you finally beat Lance, thinking you're done, and then realizing it's not over . . . OH MY WORD . . . so good. I was sweating so hard in that final battle with John, my rival. Glad I beat that guy even though I felt genuinely bad for him afterwards when Professor Oak was laying into him.
Also, just a side comment about my lack of patience, I really did not have the patience for some of the maze puzzles found in the mid-game and had to look up the strategy guide to save myself a bit of time. Team Rocket's Hideout? Finding the Warden's Teeth in the Safari Zone? The Silph Company's Maze of Teleporters? Some of those were super confusing . . . especially when there was a part where you had to jump off a balcony to the next floor down, but the balcony looked like a wall! WHAT? I had absolutely no idea I could jump off of that!
Now the only question that remains is . . . do I keep going? You know it's not over after the end credits, right? heh. I honestly don't know if I have it me to do the post-game activities, but it is pretty tempting to use that Master Ball I picked up from the Silph Building Boss to capture the level 70 Mew-two Pokémon hiding down in the Cerulean Cave. It also would be pretty great to get that Pikachu I was working up as a third to evolve into a Raichu . . . hmmm.
When I told my son that the end credits were rolling, the first thing he said was, "So are you going to do a nuzlocke for it now?" The thought made me shudder . . . nah . . . if anything what I'd love to do next with Pokémon is shift my sights to the modern day and have a playthrough of Pokémon Sword or Shield.
Thanks again to @Jetsers for the wonderful game suggestion. It was $10 well spent and gave me new eyes for looking at an old gaming franchise. I wish I could come up with a game idea as genius as Pokemon. Maybe someday!
Happy Dueling!
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