Though trapped within the 8 bit confines of the Game Boy, it's hard to understate the profound sense of curiosity in the original Pokémon Red & Blue games. They are games built around exploration performed for the joyous sake of itself, and discovery in them, whether it's a new monster, or a new battle strategy, or a new route or city to enter, is singularly magical.
It's a feeling that's tough to recreate, even as hardware improves and those 8 bit titles look downright archaic in an industry that is largely focused on recreating the appearance of "real life." Pokémon itself has often adjusted, not by making exploration necessarily more fun, but by adding more features to it. This can lead to a more complicated menu, but rarely a more fun experience.
