The player begins in their hometown of Pallet Town. After venturing alone into the tall grass, the player is stopped by Professor Oak, a famous Pokémon researcher. Professor Oak explains to the player that wild Pokémon may be living there and encountering them alone can be very dangerous. He takes the player to his laboratory where the player meets Oak's grandson, a rival aspiring Pokémon Trainer. The player and the rival are both instructed to select a starter Pokémon for their travels out of Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander. Oak's Grandson will always choose the Pokémon which is stronger against the player's starting Pokémon. He will then challenge the player to a Pokémon battle with their newly obtained Pokémon and will continue to battle the player at certain points throughout the games.
Pokémon Red and Blue are played in a third-person view, overhead perspective and consist of three basic screens: an overworld, in which the player navigates the main character; a side-view battle screen; and a menu interface, in which the player may configure their Pokémon, items, or gameplay settings. The player can use their Pokémon to battle other Pokémon. When the player encounters a wild Pokémon or is challenged by a trainer, the screen switches to a turn-based battle screen that displays the two engaged Pokémon. During a battle, the player may choose to fight using one of four moves, use an item, switch the active Pokémon, or attempt to flee; however, fleeing is not possible in trainer battles. Pokémon have hit points (HP); when a Pokémon's HP is reduced to zero, it faints and can no longer battle until it is revived. Once an enemy Pokémon faints, the player's Pokémon that were involved in the battle receive a certain number of experience points (EXP). After accumulating enough EXP, a Pokémon will level up. A Pokémon's level controls its physical properties, such as the battle statistics acquired, and the moves it has learned. Some Pokémon may also evolve at certain levels. These evolutions affect the statistics and the levels at which new moves are learned. Pokémon at higher stages of evolution gain more statistics each time they level up, although they may not learn new moves as early, if at all, compared with the lower stages of evolution.
Source: Wikipedia, "Pokémon_Red," available under the CC-BY-SA License.
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