Twenty-One Years: A Reflection #PokemonDay

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One of the earliest memories in my life I can recall is about Pokemon. I must’ve been about four or five in my family’s old green minivan driving along and up a dirt trail of a mountain of some sorts – I had my GameBoy with Pokemon Blue in the cartridge slot and all I can remember is picking Bulbasaur as my starter and watching it evolve into Ivysaur over and over and over again because I couldn’t figure out how to save the game.

Since then a lot has changed: I’ve figured out the save function of the Pokémon games, and several spin off and main games have added another six generations, 801 Pokémon total, to the mix. The world around me has changed but even with all the amazing additions, the leaps and bounds, the metamorphosis that the Pokémon franchise has undergone, I take solace in the fact that throwing a Pokéball and getting your opponents HP down to zero hasn’t. When so many things refuse to stay the same in life these small, precious memories become exponentially more dear to me.

Pokémon has taught me more than I ever could have imagined. Through the tough training of a Magikarp to evolve to a Gyrados I learned to never underestimate and count someone out; everyone has potential to do incredible things. Through having the option to either run away from a wild battle, or grind through it for experience points I learned that putting in the time and the hard work is the only way to become a champion in your field. Through the ever-growing world-wide connectivity of the games, and the inability to catch version exclusives and complete the Pokédex without trading with a friend, I’ve learned that you can never truly succeed by doing things all by yourself. Above all I’ve learned the value and power of teamwork, friendship and hard work to reach your goals and dreams.

Socially, Pokémon has connected me to hundreds, if not thousands of people throughout my life. In my younger years it helped me make my first few friends – using the link cable to battle and trade whenever I got the chance to have a play date. More recently, through the power of the Internet, Pokémon has allowed me to interact, befriend, trade and battle people on the other side of the world instantly! First hand, I’ve seen these creatures and the amazing world that they live in break the language barrier, close the age gap and forge unbreakable friendships with people that I would never have the opportunity to normally interact with. And that’s without all the amazing people I’ve got to meet as Pokémon GO as taken over the world.

I didn’t realize it then, but when I took those first steps into the tall grass outside of Pallet Town in Pokémon Blue almost twenty years ago I wasn’t starting a mere video game – Those first steps were the beginning to the adventure of a lifetime. An adventure that spans multiple regions, thousands of interactions with people around the globe and creates infinite precious memories. It’s been a journey like no other so far, and I hope it never ends.

Thank you Pokémon for the past twenty-one years. Thank you for staying by my side; no matter where life has led me, no matter how tall the grass got.

 

Want to be featured in tomorrow’s #PokemonDay post? Comment below with your favorite Pokémon-related memories, what the franchise means to you, or a time that Pokémon made you happy! Be sure to also send us your story on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

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891 thoughts on “Twenty-One Years: A Reflection #PokemonDay”

      • Ree is the granddaughter of my Omega Ruby “competitive” Dunsparce, so she has at least 4IVs, if not 5, with an Adamant nature. The only egg move she inherited was Headbutt. (The imgur gallery link shows much more of the story)

        As for beating Hala, I had to reload the save once. Then I used a Red Card to get rid of his Hariyama, I used Coil probably 4 times, and just hammered them with Return and Dig, with Rock Slide for the Crabominable. Since Ree’s affection was maxed, she dodged a lot of hits on her own, and healed her own status conditions. Also she was 20 levels higher than all of his pokemon, and I was spamming Full Restores.

        Reply

  3. Looking back on it, my first big pokemon memory started in a hospital. I was seven and having a number of minor surgeries done on me, the main one being that I has having my tonsils removed. At that point it was well into the winter and I had played and restarted Pokemon red multiple times, mostly because I couldn’t figure out that I needed to give a drink to that one guard to get into Sabrina’s city(someone eventually showed me how). By that point I was around Blane’s gym, going through the old lab when a kid, a little older then me and sharing the room saw I was playing pokemon. He took out his own copy and he even had a link cable and asked me if he wanted to battle and trade. We had a quick battle, and I lost pretty badly, but we traded some pokemon, getting a machamp and a gengar(though my game glitched midtrade so my machamp was lost forever, but I didn’t care much). The day after the surgery I went home, went to a walmart, and had a ladder fall on my back. One quick settlement and some MRI’s to see the damage and a few month’s had passed. With the settlement money my parent’s let me get an N64 and the first game I bought for it was probably my favorite game for that thing; Pokemon Snap. A game that I have put countless hours into. But beside that, I think back to that old save file, long lost now. For some reason I never restarted it. I just kept going, though I didn’t have a reason to. I had someone’s pokemon that I’d never meet again on that file. My pokemon weren’t all that great, but I still wanted to see that game to the end… I did eventually, though I don’t know how. I think I mainly used Dugtrio, Zapdos and Blastoise through most of the game since I thought they were the best pokemon, but I did. I even ended up catching Mewtwo, and I never reset that file again. Honestly I think that might have been one of the first game’s I saw to its end on my own, and it was a bit of pride for a younger me. And I only grew from there, having a better team in yellow, beating Silver and grinding my way every day so I could fight red, losing some love for pokemon with Ruby, only to have that flame re-lit with Platinum. Bonding with friends in White, feeling part of something much bigger in X, and finding a great community here with Sun and moon.

    I still don’t know why I didn’t reset that game, or what made me want to finish it. But I’m glad I did. Pokemon has helped me make a lot of friends over the years, and still stands tall as our united banner. Happy 21st pokemon, and thank you to all who have made this a time worth treasuring.

    Reply

  4. I’ve been watching the anime, reading the manga, and playing the cards since my earliest childhood memory.
    But my family couldn’t afford a personal Nintendo console until my 10th birthday. I got Pokémon Pearl that went along great with my limited edition Zelda DS.
    I played that game everyone I went; whether I went to the mall or had to go to business meeting with my dad, I always pitting my Chimchar against every opponent, even when it was mismatched.
    Today, I’ve learned not rely solely on my starter. Even then some habits die hard; nine times out of ten, I’ll pick a Fire type starter in honor of Chimchar, my very first starter.
    Some people like to pick at Diamond and Pearl’s flaws and go as far as to describe it as the worst gen ever.
    I’m alright with people thinking that; but you know what?
    Pearl will forever be filled with magical moments for me and even though it hasn’t aged well over the years, I wouldn’t change a thing.

    Reply

    • People who think Gen 4 is the worst are idiots.
      -Physical/Special Split
      -Wireless communication
      -GTS
      -Bag can store virtually any amount of items
      -Touchscreen integration
      -Whole separate music based on time of day
      -Categorizing status moves
      -So basically redefining the entire mechanics of battling

      Do I even need to go on and talk about features like
      -the amazing music
      -walking with pokemon
      -pokeathlon
      -Great story in Platinum
      -underground (underrated honestly. Can’t wait till DP remakes revamp it)

      Each gen has introduced great new features, but Gen 4 changed SO MUCH for the better.

      Reply

      • It’s just like with Gen 3; people that was the worst gen ever and then the remakes came out. Now Gen 3 has been vindicated.

        Maybe the same will happen to Gen 4.

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  5. I started pokemon at a really young age. For starters, Red and Green were trademarked on my exact date of birth, so I like to think I was literally born to be a fan. I watched my sister play Red for a long time and loved watching the anime after school. I was obsessed with water types and loved Misty in the show cause she had Starmie, who I thought was amazing and symmetrical, and Togepi, who was just adorable. My sister and I collected the trading cards and I’ll never forget the day I got a foiled Zapdos out of a pack at Meijer. She was super jelly 😉

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  6. Time to boot the time machine I guess.

    My first experiences with Pokemon was as fast as 2007 (when I was 7/8) Pokemon was extremely popular at that time and every kid was talking about it. My first inclusion in the franchise was from the anime, I loved it and watched many episodes from it, they aired episodes from the first season to the DP ( I always got confused with the timeline because I usually missed key episodes :v). I had an obsession with the gen 4 starters,I couldn’t decide which one of the three i like the most and they were my first mons that I considered my favorites one, another favourites that I had were shinx (I found it so cute) and Gliscor, Wich I still love to this day, regarding the movies, I only watched the Lucario movie, the Shaymin one and the Arceus one, even though the channels loved to air episodes from Kanto and Johto, they never aired the Mewtwo and Lugia movies but I don’t mind because I don’t think they’re that good, are they?? Are they??????

    “Fun” fact: While my experience with the games dates years later, my first experience with a game with Pokemons was a cheap handheld bootleg with terrible controls. I loved/hated it so much

    Fast forward the years later until 2015, I have forgotten about Pokemon, the only anime I got to watch were the Xand Y season, I completely missed black and white seasons (thank God) but I got interested in the main Pokemons games because: they get high scores in reviews sites, I wanted to know how they were like since I was a child and at the time I was obsessed with RPG’s so I decided to pick a game: Pokemon White (why I picked it instead of of Platinum is a mystery, I wasn’t familiar with gen 5 Pokemons at all and Sinnoh was an important part of my childhood) I loved it’s addictive gameplay and characters and music so I decided to play more games like Platinum, Soul Silver, Emerald, Omega Ruby ( I wanted Alpha sapphire instead ;-;), Explorers of Sky(my favorite in the saga) and possibly one or two more That I can’t remember right now.

    But anyways, I’m glad that I decided to play the main Pokemons games, I had so many interesting adventures in those games, more cool VGMs to listen, meeting you guys :3 , and it quickly became one of the four videogames franchises that I absolutely love (the others being Super smash Bros, Final fantasy and Kirby)

    *Turns off time machine*

    Reply

  7. Uuuuggghhhhh insomnia and anxiety do not mix, I keep reading how tons of people are getting Failed Authorization for their Best Buy Switch preorders but they claim only because they don’t actually charge until it ships so that makes me feel slightly better but I’m also reading that some got their to update from preorder to preparing which mine does not say, I’m gonna give it til Wednesday to Thursday to see if they update it otherwise I’ll go into full panic mode and politely make them hold a copy for me

    Reply

        • its not their responsibility to give you one, if your order doesn’t go through and gets cancelled, i still think you should call customer service.

          Reply

          • IT’S NOT FAIR! I TRY TO DO EVERYTHING RIGHT AND STILL BE POTENTIALLY SCREWED

            and besides it IS there responsibility to honor what i reserve, then what’s truly the freaking point, i reserved it the very night it went live and that kinda preparation deserves to be rewarded,

          • but if its cancelled they can’t just say “Oh Earthen even tho its cancelled we still have to give you one” Like i said call Best Buy and ask them about your order they see more then we do

          • (thankfully its not) but still its just utterly unfair that a potential glitch on their end causes me so much pain and suffering and i am not met with justice

            Point is if my Pre-order doesn’t say preparing by tomorrow or Thursday i will go to best buy in person and ask to be helped, they can’t refuse customer service with any or all their questions

            Hell i’m psychotic enough to wait out the entire damn night on their steps if that means i get a Switch HELL I’LL JUST BUY ONE AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL I GET ONE SO I CAN FINALLY HAVE ONE AND FREAKING RELAX AND PUT MY ALL CONSUMING FEARS TO REST

    • and like i always tell people, if you place a order for a big item when it know its gonna sell out and be hard to find day 1 order a back up on another website

      Reply

      • pre·or·der
        prēˈôrdər/
        verb
        gerund or present participle: pre-ordering
        order (an item of merchandise) before it is available, with the understanding that it will be shipped later.

        Ergo you are entitled to one,

        Reply

      • like i said, giving it til tomorrow and Thursday, if nothing i will go down, show them my order number and tell them to hold a copy because i freaking have the pre-order

        i don’t want to sound like a whiny bitch but this has been an ordeal since day one, and each and every day i feel nothing but fear and stress that what i ordered won’t be honored

        Reply

  10. My favorite Pokemon memory: tearing my hair out hatching 2500 turtwig eggs to get a shiny.

    Might as well just feature me now, there’s no contest.

    Reply

  15. The most favored memory I have ever thought of is the start of my journey ever since Kanto with my partner crobat and Feraligatr And now with my lv.100 shiny arceus

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  19. I love the fact that it’s letting us use Kanto mons in the next competition with Alolan Mons despite the fact that like every single Kanto mon that’s half decent is already usable. (Outside of like DUGTRIO and Zapdos)

    Reply

  20. Nothing quite like watching a stream of a game before it comes out only for the person to become “tired” and shut the stream off themselves…..

    Reply

  21. The new Global Mission to earn BP started today and we’re already at 227,755 out of 250,000. If you get 3BP you get five rare candies 😀 And also a Heavy Ball if (I’m assuming) you get 3BP AND we all meet 500,000 collective BP.

    Reply

  24. Brain not working correctly… Body needs Nintendo Switch… All I see is crowds, disappointed and fear… People getting it and me being left in the dust… Need confirmation that everything will be alright…

    Reply

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