Memories of Pokemon

Ah, Pokemon.  Out of all the video game series in the world, this is easily the one I'm most nostalgic for.  It was the first game I ever played and Pokemon Blue still stands as one of my favorite games ever made.  Why do I like it so much?  Is it for the adventure of exploring a strange world populated by powerful creatures that I can capture and command?  Yes.  Is it for the opportunity to trade those creatures and compete with my friends and peers?  Yes.  Is it because the games are just well-crafted RPGs in their own right? Yes.  Today, since it is Pokemonth, after all, I thought I'd share some of my favorite memories of the series with you.

I got Pokemon Blue on my birthday, which for some reason seemed to fall on the last day of school each year in my elementary days.  I had to wait through seven hours of watching movies in class (since this was the final day, there wasn't much to do otherwise) before I rushed home.  Even then I had to wait until after supper to open my presents, but the wait was absolutely worth it.

When I first started playing Pokemon Blue, I didn't really understand the mechanics of the game.  All I knew was that it was something I could play, and did I ever play it...to a pulp.  I can't even begin to count how many AAA batteries I went through in my childhood.  In the days before handhelds had built-in rechargeable batteries, there were often days I would have to go without Pokemon as I waited for my parents to get another batch of the vital little things.  I know, the horror!

Anyway, as I said before, my understanding of the mechanics of Pokemon were limited indeed.  I went through the game training only one Pokemon, my favorite, Blastoise.  Somehow, I managed to get through most of the game with only one viable Pokemon on my team, although it still baffles me that I managed to get past gym leaders like Erika with her team full of Grass-type Pokemon.  I must have had some serious skill, even back then.  That said, I never made it past the Elite Four in that playthrough.  I could get past Lorelei and Bruno easily enough.  But mean, old Agatha would always wipe the floor with me.  I can't remember ever getting to Lance, but I bet he would probably do worse.  And don't get me started on my rival!

But did it bother me that I could never beat the game?  No.  I was a kid back then.  It didn't matter if I couldn't beat the game without some serious grinding, because I could still play it anyway.  So, what were some of my favorite pastimes in the 8-bit Kanto region?  Well, I do remember the Safari Zone quite fondly, even if it was a pain in the arse.  Chansey, Kangaskhan, and Tauros were the white whales of my endeavors in the Kanto Safari Zone.  Try as I might, I could never catch any of these elusive Pokemon.  And getting to the end of the Safari Zone and retrieving the warden's golden teeth and the ever useful HM for Surf was quite an accomplishment back in the day.  Even when playing the Gen 1 games today, I still find myself getting lost in its labyrinthine expanse.

There was one catch I made in the Safari Zone that still sticks out to me.  It was a Rhyhorn, and, as always, I took it upon myself to nickname the newly caught Pokemon.  And what did I call that Rhyhorn?  Horny.  At the time, I didn't know any better.  I didn't know anything about sex and sexual organs.   Whenever I showed Horny to anyone, they'd get offended and I hadn't the slightest idea why.  I know people naming their Metapods “Penis” or something is a common joke among Pokemon fans, but this was entirely unintentional.

I also remember getting stuck in Silph Co. Tower for the longest time during a trip to my grandparents in Vermont.  I don't know why.  It's not like there were any particularly difficult enemies to fight.  Maybe the warping tile puzzles really stumped me as a kid.  Yeah, that must be the reason.  But, whatever the case, Silph Co. Tower stands as one of my most remembered locales in the Pokemon Series.

Not long after I got my hands on Pokemon Blue, my sister managed to get an Nintendo 64 with her paper route money.  It was our first home console and guess what game we got alongside the system.  Jet Force Gemini!  Yay!

Well, that and, probably more relevant to the topic at hand, Pokemon Stadium!  When I saw that Ice-colored N64 for the first time, my reaction was pretty much the same as that kid in the famous internet video.  But when I found out that wondrous machine had a game that would allow my Pokemon to battle in glorious 3D...

Suffice to say, I flipped my lid.  And for good reason.  Because Pokemon Stadium was a darn fine game.  Multiplayer is still an absolute ball, with nearly all of the Gen 1 Pokemon available for rental.  Getting through the Indigo Plateau was always satisfying.  Then there were the minigames. Normally, I'm not too fond of minigames.  But, for some reason, the minigames in Pokemon Stadium still hold a special place in my heart.  Maybe it's because I've played them so much.  Anyway, I was a champ at Magikarp's Splash.  But that Clefairy Says game...never did very well at that.

Anyway, Generation 2 wasn't far behind with the release of Pokemon Gold and Silver.  My sister had a copy of Silver on her GameBoy Color and I always marveled at seeing all the new Pokemon in color.  So, you're probably guessing I eventually got Pokemon Gold, right?  Or maybe Crystal?  Well, you'd be wrong.  In spite of being one of the most revolutionary and beloved Pokemon generations, Gen 2 passed me by.  I occasionally had the opportunity to play my sister's copy of Silver or Crystal, but I never got very far as I wasn't allowed to save my game.  If I had, we probably wouldn't be on speaking terms to this day.

So, I never got to play any of the original Gen 2 games.  But, when Generation 3 came out I was positively dizzy with anticipation for Ruby and Sapphire.  I'd just bought a GameBoy Advance, the first system I'd bought with my own sweat and blood (and birthday money, mostly birthday money, pretty much all birthday money, in fact).  At the time, the only things I had to play on it were the video game adaptations of Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Finding Nemo (euugh!).

I remember going into Best Buy and seeing the cover art for these games with Groudon and Kyogre in all their glory.  Back in the day, I always thought the cover Pokemon were the final evolutions of the starter Pokemon.  Keep in mind, the only Pokemon game I'd played at that point was Blue and Gold and Silver may as well have never happened as far as I was concerned.  How my brain managed to conceive that Torchic could evolve into Groudon is a mystery to me today.  It's more understandable with Mudkip and Kyogre.  But only slightly...

Anyway, my sister was generous enough to buy my copy of Pokemon Sapphire for me, a gift for which I am eternally grateful (until I sold it, little punk that I was...)  And it was awesome.  By the time I was playing, I'd finally learned the mechanics of Pokemon, at least enough to carry me all the way to the Elite Four and beyond.  Yep, Sapphire was the first Pokemon game I ever beat.

But my days with Pokemon Blue were far from over.  With my new found knowledge of the Pokemon meta, I returned to Blue to give the Elite Four the beating they deserved for causing me so much trouble so long ago.  And I succeeded!  This was also the time I learned the internet was a good place to learn about one's favorite games.  This is how I discovered the infamous Missingno glitch as well as the secret way to catch the ultra rare, hidden Pokemon, Mew.  There was also a rumor about some PokeGod that you could encounter after beating the Elite Four one hundred times, but, forget that noise!  I wasn't that gullible.

Not long after that, my family moved to Illinois.  FireRed and LeafGreen came out a few months later.  Those were pretty great as well, but I don't have any colorful memories of those games.  Then along came Emerald.  I was really excited for this game, but, when it came out, I couldn't find it for days.  It was really irritating.  Eventually, I found a copy.  Thing is, this copy came with a GameBoy Advance SP carrying case.  Problem was, I didn't have an SP.  My GBA back then was of the old, back light-less, built-in-rechargeable-battery-less variety.  So, I have an awesome Pokemon Emerald SP carrying case with Rayquaza stitched to the front of it that I never used.  I still don't have an SP to this day.  But I plan on buying one eventually, and I still have that Rayquaza carrying case waiting for when I do.

Other than Pokemon Blue, there was one other Pokemon game I got for my birthday, Diamond.  Yes, once again I'd recently bought a new Nintendo handheld and the only thing I had to play on it was another crappy licensed game, this time it was Avatar The Last Airbender.  Diamond was a godsend.  But it's successor, Platinum, was even better.
You want creepy in your Pokemon?  Platinum had it.  Listening to the Distortion World theme now sends shivers up my spine.  The story was also much improved, with Team Galactic's motivations being defined and far more sinister.  In short, Platinum was a huge improvement over its predecessors, and probably the largest improvement I've seen from the third version of any generation.

Platinum also marked the beginning of Pokemon's status as an annual franchise.  Since it's release in 2009, we've had one Pokemon game a year.  I bought SoulSilver and was finally able to experience Gen 2 for myself.  And it was awesome.  One cool thing about SoulSilver is that it could be controlled almost entirely with the touchscreen, excepting movement with the D-pad.  It was an incredible interface, one that I'm absolutely baffled wasn't implemented in future games.

And before I knew what was happening, another Generation was upon us in the form of Black and White.  Even right at the cusp of the 3DS launch, I was still excited for the new generation.  And they didn't disappoint.  I liked the philosophical approach the game took with some NPC conversations.  It was also interesting to see the game assume a degree of self-awareness with the motives of N and Team Plasma.

The year after that, Black 2 and White 2 were released.  Out of all the Pokemon games I've played Black 2 is the one I was most disappointed with.  The story wasn't so offbeat as the first Black and White games and stuck much closer to the expected formula.  Beat gym leaders.  Stop evil team.  Battle elite four.  It felt stale, and I lost interest in it relatively quickly compared to the other Pokemon games.

And that brings us today, a few weeks before X and Y.  Who knows what new adventures I'll have while playing X.  I'll be up at the end of October 11th, counting the seconds until midnight and the release of X and Y on the eShop.  I'll download X straightaway and watch it download, as opposed to letting download while the 3DS is in Sleep Mode, like I usually do.  And then I'll start playing my most anticipated games of the year.  Regardless of how those two titles turn out, I will always love the Pokemon series for the fond memories it has given me over the years.