What was your Pokémon Journey?

Pokémon
1

How did you get introduced to Pokémon? What were your first games? Did you stick with the series or jump around over the years?

My Pokeémon journey began in the 90’s (shocker), I didn’t have my own GameBoy for quite a while, but I distinctly remember watching the Anime as it was coming out (I think in kindergarten or so), and my parents got me some cards.

It wasn’t until I got a GameBoy Advance that I started having my own video games. I remember getting a copy of Yellow from a good friend, and it changed my life. Then I asked for Ruby and Sapphire for my birthday, and those quickly became my favorites, until Emerald came around.

Gen 4 rolled around, and I played the games and enjoyed the Sinnoh Region enough. I also LOVED HeartGold and SoulSilver.

I started Black and White but they didn’t really grab me until several years later. That part of my life was far more dominated by other games when I had the time, like Zelda and Metroid and Fire Emblem. I preferred the Wii over the DS, at least.

X and Y were a fun return when I got a 3DS, and I’ve played every game since. Alola was charming, I like Galar more than most (though it’s heavily under utilized), and Paldea would be cooler if it had another two years of development.

Legends: Arceus is probably my favorite “modern” or “recent era” game, (post gen 5). There’s just lots of good there. Legends: Z-A is fun enough, but I wish we could explore just outside the city too.

And here we are now. Looking forward to Gen 10, really hope they knock it out of the park!

2

I think I’ve only played pokemon emerald (a decade ago), and ofc some pokemon go. Any recommendations for getting into the games? I’m probably most interested in the pre-Switch era.

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3

I think there’s some fun stuff during the Switch Era (particularly Legends: Arceus), but Pokémon really is at its “core” pre-Switch for sure.

I’d say it’s worth replaying Emerald, especially since it’s considered by the community as one of the best. Gameplay is tight, Generation 3 introduced the doubles mechanic that is used in the competitive field to this day.

Generation 3 also has Pokémon Colosseum, for the GameCube, which is exclusively double battles and has a pretty compelling narrative.

Though, I’d also recommend looking at HeartGold or SoulSilver on the DS if you can. Many people have these games at the top of their lists, and are typically considered the best Pokémon games of all time. You get to play through Johto in its remastered state, while also getting to explore Kanto in the post game. Plus your lead Pokémon follows you around in the overworld. Highly recommend them.

Honestly, any of the pre-Switch era games would be worth taking a look at, but I’d probably go with HGSS or Emerald.

4

I was in 3rd Grade when the Pokemon card craze swept my school. It was the new cool thing and seemingly overnight everyone had Pokemon cards. It’s kind of funny. One day, a classmate kindly gave me a Diglett card (since he had about 20 copies) and the rest is history. Who could have predicted that the rest of my life would be so influenced by that simple gesture?

Needless to say, from the day I received that Diglett, I’ve been obsessed with Pokemon ever since. I begged my parents to buy me cards; I watched the cartoon on Kid’s WB; I traveled ‘cross the land, searching far and wide, after school every day on my bicycle to trade cards with kids in the surrounding neighborhoods. At some point or another in those days - across time, never all at once - I collected, I had owned a copy of every card (from the Base/Base Set 2, Jungle, and Fossil sets) except Fossil Haunter and Jungle Nidoking, so by then I was very nearly a Pokemon Master in my mind.

One day, when someone asked me who my favorite Pokemon was, I reflected on how Charizard was the most popular card by far. Charizard had the highest hit points and the most damaging attack, everyone considered it to be the strongest card, everyone knew it was the rarest card, so it was naturally everyone’s favorite. I had to be different. I had my binder open, so for my answer, I pointed to a card that also did 100 damage: Zapdos (Base Set 2). I don’t remember if I previously thought of Zapdos as my favorite before then, but in the heat of the moment, I decided then and there that it was my favorite Pokemon. And I still own that very same card to this day. It is my identity and profile pic for everything I do online.

In 5th Grade, my best friend at the time loaned me his Gameboy Color and Gold Version for a little while. It was my first video game. To this day, I know Gold and Silver like the back of my hand. All the map tiles, all the trainers, most of their Pokemon and accompanying levels… stuck in my memory forever (taking up storage space instead of useful knowledge like chemistry and linear algebra). They are games I am always in the mood to pick back up and play again for old times’ sake.

By 6th Grade, the Pokemon pendulum had swung the other way. Now if you liked it, you were uncool and unpopular. But I stuck with it, proudly and unashamedly letting everyone know I still loved Pokemon. So I didn’t have a lot of friends. That didn’t stop me from playing the games every generation. My interests evolved over time into competitive Pokemon, and I spent lots of time on Serebii and Smogon studying the competitive metagame. Being too afraid to actually try for the possibility of losing a single match, I downloaded Shoddy Battle, Netbattle, Pokemon Showdown - all the major competitive battle simulators - and never actually played a single one.

After high school, I took a two-year spiritual hiatus from technology and worldly pastimes, including Pokemon. After the two years were up, I joyfully returned to Pokemon and resumed following the competitive sphere more for academic purposes than to actually attempt competing.

In the summer of 2016, Pokemon Go was released, and suddenly overnight, Pokemon was popular again. And I was the only guy around who knew everything there was to know about Pokemon, so I had my brief window of popularity that summer. Playing and talking about Pokemon with many friends and knowing the answer to every question they asked, were great memories.

Today, I have been a devoted Pokemon fan for 28 years and still going strong. I don’t think it is a lie to say that I have thought about Pokemon every day in all that time. I couldn’t afford a Switch in college so I never played Gens 8 and on, the biggest blight on my otherwise impressive fan resume. Nowadays I still don’t buy them because I have learned I can live a happy life without having everything Pokemon, and I simply had to give up some parts of it eventually. But even so, there are few things I will always keep a part of my everyday life with me like the way I do with Pokemon. Being a Pokemon fan helped me develop mentally from memorizing the cards and games as a kid. It also taught me to stand up for myself through the times when everyone made fun of me for liking it. Now that it is an unstoppable worldwide phenomenon, Pokemon lets me have something in common with many of the people I meet and interact with, on and offline. It’s such a special part of me and always will be.

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5

I feel this in my core. I slowed down a bit because I was late to the party getting a DS, but my friends and I really stuck with Pokemon for the long haul. Glad I did.

And good on you for not needing Pokemon in absolutely everything. The Switch Era of Pokemon has had some great titles, but I think most fans would agree that we haven’t quite hit the itch that the earlier generations did. Don’t get me wrong, I still quite enjoy them, but I don’t think you’re missing much.

Now, Gen 10 might actually change things. If Game Freak actually gets the extra time that they so desperately need to develop something worthwhile, we might have something special. Though, I’m not really holding my breath.