You don't become the most profitable IP of all time without a few tricks, lol

So for the original games it was a new idea and a new concept. You wouldn't complain about an MMO requiring an internet connection, because the entire point is playing with and connecting with others players. For Pokemon a key part of the gameplay was trading and battling with other players.

So, to further encourage trading you create two different versions with version exclusives.

Every version split beyond the first is just legacy. That's just what Pokemon games are.

Now, I completely agree that it can viewed a "evil" or done only for money, etc. I don't think that was the original intention, but I'm sure the idea crossed some minds when it was first being developed.

You also have to remember that Nintendo has pioneered, or at least popularized, a lot of video game "gimmicks" that have resulted in interesting new mechanics. In this case the trading cable. But you have the Rumble Pack for the N64, or motion controls with the Wii. Video games couldn't talk to one another before the trading cable, once it's added you get new ideas. Some bad, some good, some meh.

That came out over a year later.

Not at launch. Our only choices were red and blue.

Red and Blue had the same graphics outside of Japan. People seeing these boxes weren't choosing between sprite work.

In fact, going by the Japanese versions, it was Blue that we never got. Red and Blue outside of Japan were just reskinned Red and Green.

Hence why one of the trainers being able to talk about the Raichu that you traded him evolving -- it came from the script of the wrong version of the game (I'm guessing Blue) even though the games have the Red/Green trades (I think).

You might have known this, but adding for clarity that the west still got Red/Green under the hood but with Blue's sprites shared between both games.

It's amazing how these tricks circulated pre-internet.

I remember it being the person with the good pokemon switching off the console at the right time.

Back in primary school I sacrificed my save file, pick a starter, clone it over and over again, repeat with the other starters till we had about 2 of each. Then cloned back the others to me.

From then on we could evolve one of each and keep another spare for cloning to others.

Someone somehow got a mew. So we cloned that to everyone too.

Pokemon red/green minimum requirements:

[x] Game boy

[x] Batteries

[ ] Friends

Catsup

As the sibling who got red, fuck you too.

Blue had Victreebel which is the best grass type behind Venusaur (Exeggutor is mid game and is really slow to lvl so less useful for a run) and Victreebel's base 70 Speed gives Razor Leaf a 99.9% chance of landing a critical hit.

Also Meowth lets you farm money really easily which gives access to TMs.

Red has Arcanine as a standout but good fire types aren’t hard to come by and Scyther… but having the best bug type isn’t really doing anything.

Honestly I prefer Blue’s exclusives.