We all wanted to be the very best, like no one ever was. All thanks to a set of games that was released in 1996. To this day they are in the top ten best-selling video games of all time. There’s a very good reason for that. Pokémon Red and Blue (Or Green if you prefer) were, and are still some of the most amazing pieces of art ever to have been gifted to humans. I personally spent much of my childhood on both games, running through the story several times before the age of ten. That’s when my life began. At age ten, when I was allowed to explore the dangerous world on my own. Running into the mafia, ghosts, and bloodthirsty Pokémon on my way. All to become the Pokémon Champion. Step aside, Gar Bear, there’s a new kid in town. Oh yeah, that was Red, not me. But anyway, we all have a special place in our hearts for Red and Blue. We always will. That’s why it makes our hearts smile when we see memes about them. Because they are so relatable. Especially these fifteen memes focused solely on Red and Blue, leaving Mystery Dungeon, GO, and Sun/Moon in the dust! Go ahead and try not to crack a smile with a warm heart as you relate to these games. Trust me, you’ll want to whip out your old Gameboy after you finish. If you’re lucky, a friend will read it and you can buy a link cable online so you can battle!

15 Missingno Throwback

If there was one nonlegendary Pokémon that we all sought out in Pokémon Red and Blue, it was Missingno. But back in the day, we didn’t all have our own PC to go look up where to find him. We learned through word of mouth and experimenting. What I want to know is who was the first person to talk to that old man in Viridian then fly straight to Cinnabar just to surf up and down the shore? Hmmm…

It would have had to be someone with a name ending in the correct letter, which would have just been chance. If they did it a little differently they might have gotten the ghost or Aerodactyl version. Those were all great, but we are really wanted the original, Red and Blue exclusive original Missingo.

14 Mentally Deranged Pokémon

Confusion. It has been confusing us since 1996, how ironic. For some reason, whenever Pokémon become confused, they start harming themselves. We never really understood how this could be. Sure, if the opponent was controlling them. But this isn’t the case, this is just the Pokémon doesn’t know what’s going on. So they “punch themselves in the face” instead of, I don’t know, talking funny or attacking you.

Even the mentally deranged often don’t harm themselves. But these confused Pokémon need put in a pillowed room. What kind of move is confusion that would cause a Pokémon to hurt themselves? Shouldn’t that be outlawed? It seems like a sort of dark magic that needs to be stopped. What if the Pokémon ended their own life due to it? Not okay.

13 Prof. Oak Sits On A Throne Of Lies

Either Prof. Oak is a liar, or he has never left his house in his entire life. How in the world can this man even claim to know about Pokémon if he’s never seen one? Maybe it’s a new Pokédex, and his is all full? If so, you think he could have used a USB or something to transfer over the data. The man is intelligent, he knows how to fill your Pokédex up. But nope. You’re on your own. Does that mean everything he ever told you about learning about Pokémon is a lie or that he’s just lazy?

Well, obviously, he wants you to leave town so he can have your mom to himself, right? Hard to romance a woman when her son won’t leave you alone. Hmm…while you’re at it, you could send your grandson dependent away too. Perfect!

12 Unacceptable!

Why in the world every cave is chock full of Zubat, we’ll never know. By the time you get through your first cave, you want to set fire to it, burn every Zubat in sight. It gets so bad that it’s a relief to see a single Diglet. Like, “hi, little guy, thanks for not being a Zubat. I think I’ll catch you for it. Oops, sorry, critical hit. At least I tried.”

Speaking of caves, did anyone memorize the map layout so they didn’t have to go get Flash to get through it? That was the bomb! Yep, you bet I got through Rock Tunnel to Lavender Town without using any HMs. Mostly because I got stuck and didn’t have an escape rope, so I spent the next six weeks walking in random directions hitting walls and using all of my repels.

11 Squirtle Used Sandstorm

Why is bottled water a thing in Pokémon games? Why did Brock, Ash, and Misty nearly dehydrate when they had a Squirtle with them? Is Pokémon water toxic? Is it like drinking someone’s saliva or worse? It can’t be worse than dying. But obviously, Ash, who owns a Squirtle thought so. Don’t worry, they do the same when they have Charizard and are freezing to death in the snowy mountains. Anime isn’t known for its logic.

Same as the fact that SpongeBob can’t swim and he can start fires underwater. But SpongeBob is meant to be lame. Amazing, but lame. Pokémon is meant to be super boss. So the fact that these inconstancies exist is a little disheartening. But freakin’ hilarious. That’s why rather than ridiculing them, we simply roll our eyes and laugh.

10 Gonna Need An HM For That

It’s no secret that Red is special. He is the Pokémon Master, able to go where no Pokémon trainer has gone before. So why can’t he to the silliest things? Like jump unless off a cliff? Or maybe walk around a tree? Even his Pokémon can’t do it…or fly over it. He has to teach a Pokémon how to cut it down. Which happens to be the destruction of property anyway. Only you can prevent forest fires, Red, and only you can prevent the destruction of these forests via negligent and uncaring Pokémon trainers. Have you ever seen Fern Gully, it’s a brutal example of what can happen if you cut down the wrong tree? That goo was the creepiest cartoon character ever. Rivaling Tingle himself.

9 Lt. Surge Threatens Children

Let me tell you that Lt. Surge, the Electric Pokémon pro, Vermillion City gym leader, is savage. Let’s get this straight. This man is a war veteran, a brutal one. His enemies were “zapped” by electric Pokémon. The same electric Pokémon that he plans on defeating you with. That’s great. But the way he says it, “the same as I’ll do to you!” meaning that he plans on zapping you. A ten-year-old boy. I think he has a small case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

However, when we were children, we didn’t realize how threatening he sounded. Maybe because we continuously pressed A while he was talking. Almost as much as we mashed and spammed it while our Pokémon were being healed. Poor Nurse Joy had to smile and be polite. Though she did throw in the, “we hope to see you again” which is really rude coming from a hospital.

8 Don’t Ride Indoors

Speaking of hospitals, did you ever wonder why Prof. Oak was so bent on you not riding your bike indoors? Well, maybe he was just saving your life! Look what happened to poor Gary…or Blue. We always knew that kid was trouble. But we didn’t think it was that bad. That he had the gall to ride his bike…indoors! He’s out of control, and he had to be stopped. He did this to himself.

Let this be a lesson to kids everywhere: don’t ride your bike indoors in the Pokémon world. Not like you have a choice. “There’s a time and a place for everything” and Prof Oak will never let you ride where you shouldn’t. He keeps you safe, his grandson, on the other hand, had to learn the hard way.

7 Squirtle? Is That You?

Why is it that every Pokémon you surf with looks the same whenever you put them in the water? This is pretty consistent with every Pokémon Game. But I think Red and Blue was the most ridiculous. It isn’t a Lapras, that didn’t come until Gen II. In Gen I, it was what looked like some Pokémon you’ve never seen before. But it was actually based off of Seel. Weird, right? Seel is hardly big enough to ride. But neither is Squirtle exactly. The thing you ride in the water is the perfect size. A really big Seel. I seem to remember my favorite being the Snorlax you could ride in one of the games that actually showed up as a sprite. Now, seeing that for the first time was so surprising and exciting. Ah…good times. Good memories. Then, adulthood happened, and small things like that don’t seem to happen to us as often.

6 Who Wouldn’t Do This?

This is 100% accurate. I mean, if we were given the choice before, we’d definitely join Giovanni’s team. He was pretty cool anyway and we all secretly admired him. But aside from that, the world has changed, they’ve stopped caring and have become more corrupt. Even since the Fable alignment days, we have changed. I can imagine a lot more people growing horns these days than back then. When we actually felt kind of bad for killing innocents or turning orphanages into "other establishments."

Now, we’re way more brutal. It’s just a game after all. So we sure will join Team Rocket in a second. Who needs to Prof. Oak to give you a Charmander when you can just steal one form him yourself? The only catch would be that you’d try to become the new leader.

5 Never Going To Unsee This

Young man! There's no need to feel down! Young man, pick yourself off the ground! Young man, 'cause you're in a new town! There's no need to be unhappy. Talking to you, Red. Looking at these sprites can do nothing but bring you joy and get “Y.M.C.A.” stuck in your head. The whole scene is hilarious, especially since back then Pokémon didn’t dance. So, to imagine them dancing to such a silly song is truly priceless. But, if you were born between 1965 and 2000 and you haven’t danced to Y.M.C.A. by The Village People have you really lived? I think not. It should be on everyone’s bucket list, for sure.

That and collecting at least the first 151 Pokémon. Preferably in Red and Blue rather than GO or “Sun” (which is a great game, don’t get me wrong).

4 We Are Gameboys…

Truth is, you’re not an Xbox One. You’re not a Nintendo Switch. You’re a Gameboy. Not even likely that you’re a Gameboy Color. Sorry, champ. But you are totally okay with this, because it likely brings back the most nostalgia if you were a super fan of Red and Blue. Unless you took it to GameStop to get a Gameboy Advance, then you still have it somewhere, you just have to find it. More than likely Red is sitting inside of it as you read this. Don’t you wonder how many hours, badges, and Pokémon you have on that particular save? Am I getting to you yet? Did you remember to save at a Pokémon Center so you can use it on Pokémon Stadium? These are the days of our lives…in the 90s.

3 Respect Your Forefathers!

Kids these days have no respect. That is hurtful. They will say anything and everything to adults. Things that you would have gotten slapped right then and there for. But what’s even more hurtful than that is that they think Pokémon GO is the original Pokémon game, believing they know more about Pokémon than you do. Well, they need to sit down and shut up if they want a real history lesson from the master of them all. We love to talk about Pokémon, and if they’d give us a chance, they’d really enjoy listening as well. Pokémon GO tried to bring us together, and I know it did to some extent. But throwbacks are always welcome in my book. Though Red doesn’t exactly feel like a “throwback” to me. Gosh, already over 20 years old.

2 Learn Something New Every Day

It doesn’t matter if you’ve collected every handheld to date and haven’t picked up your Gameboy since 2004. Red and Blue are the best Pokémon games that have ever existed. And if you heard of something that was unlockable that you never collected in the game, you bet your clip-on bendy light (we all had one) that you’d dig up your old Gameboy and unlock that secret. If you didn’t know about the Mew trick, then you will probably go find her tonight.

But truth be told, there is no legitimate way to catch one. You can get one through the GameShark or Action Replay. But is that really the same? What is almost the same is a glitch that supposedly gets you Mew. It takes an Abra and a lot of saving, walking, and quickened pulses. But word is, it can happen on Nugget Bridge.

1 Naughty Pikachu

Pokémon are so mischievous. They won’t obey or respect you until you beat enough gyms! How do they even know if you have? Geez. But they also decide that you aren’t allowed to capture Pokémon because they want to remain number one. So it seems they do everything in their power to not let you capture any that you wish to capture. They will get every wild Rattata to one health that you don’t want to catch. Then kill the one you do want to capture in one hit. Shame, for shame, Pikachu. You can’t always be the favorite. Once I catch that Eevee I’m after and give him a Thunder Stone, you’ll be my second favorite electric Pokémon in the game. Third, if I get a Zapdos. Fourth, if I find that elusive Electebuzz. But fifth isn’t that bad is it? Promise I won’t turn you into a Raichu.