Pokémon Red and Blue/Gameplay

The main menu does not have many features at all. Upon pressing the you'll be brought to a screen with two options: NEW GAME and OPTION. NEW GAME will start a new game and get on with things. However, you might want to visit the OPTION menu to tune things to your idea of perfection. Below is a list of the settings and information about those settings.

Setting	Description	Options	Versions
Text Speed	Determines the speed at which letters and words appear in a text box.	Fast, Medium, Slow	All versions
Animation/Battle Animation	Determines whether the appearance of graphical animations appear in battle, such as Moves, Weather, and Status Condition.	On, Off	All versions
Battle Style	Determines whether or not the player is asked to change Pokemon when the opponent changes their Pokémon for any reason.	Set, Shift	All versions
Sound	Determines the output of audio.	Mono, Earphone1, Earphone2, Earphone3	Yellow
Print	Determines the contrast of printing.	Lightest, Lighter, Normal, Darker, Darkest	Yellow

Starting the game

After press the NEW GAME button, the music will change and you'll be taken to a blank screen followed by Professor Oak fading in with a surprisingly stern look on his face. He says as follows:

"Hello there! Welcome to the world of POKéMON! My name is OAK! People call me the POKéMON PROF!" Professor Oak's sprite disappears and is replaced by a Nidoran♂. "This world is inhabited by creatures called POKéMON! For some people, POKéMON are pets. Others use them for fights. Myself... I study POKéMON as a profession." The Nidoran♂'s sprite is replaced by Red's (you) sprite. "First, what is your name?" You now can create a NEW NAME or choose from the names RED, ASH, and JACK for your character. "Right! So your name is (playerName)!" Your sprite is replaced by another boy. This boy is Blue, Red's rival throughout Generation I. "This is my grandson. He's been your rival since he was a baby. ...Erm, what's his name again?" You now can create a NEW NAME or choose from the names BLUE, GARY, and JOHN. "That's right! I remember now! His name is (rivalName)!" Blue will fade out and Red will fade back in. "(playerName)! Your very own legend is about to unfold! A world of dreams and adventures with POKéMON await! Let's go!" A short animation plays of Red morphing into a small version of himself. The screen goes white, then you spawn in Pallet Town, playing video games.

Moving around

To move around, press the UP, DOWN, LEFT, or RIGHT buttons on the D-Pad. You cannot move directly diagonally. Pressing a button on the D-Pad and holding it will make you walk in that direction until you let go. If you quickly tap a button on the D-Pad, you will turn in that direction. If you quickly tap a button that is in the direction you are already facing, you will move forward one tile.

For more information on this topic, visit the Controls section.

Battle

The whole game is centered around Pokémon battling. Battling consists of fighting an opposing trainer with Pokémon or fighting a wild Pokémon with your Pokémon.

For more information on this topic, visit the Battle page on Bulbapedia.

Items

To access the ITEM GUI, you have to press and click on the ITEMS tab. In other generation, this is called the PACK or the BAG. None of your items are organized at all, unlike future generations. Here's a complete list of all the items in the first generation of Pokémon(note that images of items do not appear in generation one games. However, pokeball sprites do appear and they all look like this.):

Pokéballs

Item	Name	Description
File:HGSSPokeBallSprite.png	Pokéball	A capsule used for catching Pokémon with a standard catch rate.
	Great Ball	Like a Pokéball, except with a higher catch rate.
	Ultra Ball	A Pokéball with an even higher catch rate that an Great Ball.
	Master Ball	A Pokéball that NEVER misses. Only given once in the game.
	Safari Ball	The Pokéball given to you at the Safari Zone.