20 Game Anniversaries Coming In 2026 That'll Age You Mercilessly

The titles that started one of the biggest global franchises of the modern era, Pokémon Red and Blue, are still among the best handheld games out there, and can still put even their latest counterparts to shame, thanks to their simple premise, intuitively structured story and glorious array of well-conceived monsters and characters.

The games kick off in Pallet Town, as we set out as a young trainer with a starter Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Squirtle or Charmander), hoping to track, battle and catch all 151 of the original monsters, take down eight towns’ most skilled trainers, and take on Victory Road to become Kanto’s reigning champion. And all the key ingredients of the broader franchise are here, including gym bosses, Team Rocket and characters like Oak, Misty, Brock and, uhh, Blue (Gary).

This year it will have been three decades since we chose our first Pokémon and journeyed out into the wilderness to try and catch ‘em all. Along the way, we’ve collected and traded the cards, tuned into the show, bought the merch, and plugged in nine generations of games, with the total number of pocket monsters now over 1000. But while the original Game Boy display is black and white, that doesn’t matter, because having a pocket full of Pokémon is still more than enough to keep us coming back.