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.

 

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

  2. SO. Here is me, being curious:
    Do you think GF will ever release Gen 2 for the VC?
    I know that Gen 1 was released particularly for the 20th Anniversary, and that’s great! But from a business standpoint, it just makes sense to release Gen 2 as well. Gen 1 made a metric crap ton of money in the eShop, becoming some of the best selling games of 2016.
    So, why would they NOT release them? The games could easily be compatible with their Gen 1 counterparts, and could use the same transport method to Gen 7 or higher.

    OR: do you think that they may wait, and put them on the Switch? Perhaps they will be compatible with a third Sun and Moon/DPPt remake/Gen 8?

    Reply

    • I think if we do get gen 2 it’ll either be on the Switch or something we don’t know about yet. GF has stated they are open to doing gen 2 VC, but not right now. I can’t see them putting it out for the 3DS after they make their way to the Switch. There would be no reason to as their core market would have moved on as well.

      Reply

      • Very fair point! At this point, regardless of the system, I would be tickled pink to have them at all!!! My guess is it will likely be the Switch, and it would work well, considering it’s a single screen. It would be like having a much bigger, nicer GameBoy Color. xD

        Reply

        • I just hope they scale it right. the Switch screen (plus the TV of course) is much bigger than the 3DS screen and certainly bigger than the GBC’s screen. It might not look right blown up lol

          Reply

          • Oh…true. >.<
            Well, they're smart programmers, I'm sure they could maybe come up with something to sharpen the image. If not, then we may just be blurry and pixelated. xD
            I wonder then what the three remaining code slots are pertaining to symbols that are in Sun and Moon's coding? They had slots for Gen 1, Gen 6, and seemingly for GO. But there are 3 unused slots…GSC?

    • I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I’m sure, but if they do DP remakes they better damn well make it worth it. DP were imo not the greatest. I’ve given my reasons before, but they’ll need to improve it in order to really suck me in. I’m open to trying it again and will likely buy it no matter what, but I can’t see myself enjoying it if it’s the same god awful trudge through the region it was the first time…..lol

      Reply

        • I never played Platinum as by that point I was so turned off of DP I couldn’t justify playing through Sinnoh again. It’s a shame too as over all I really like gen 4. The Pokemon are awesome, the region’s overall design is pretty cool, and the characters (well some of them anyway lol) are amazing. The pacing of DP and the way you basically have to push through MT Coronet every time you need to go to the other side of the region made it unbearable for me. Maybe I’d have different opinion now after so long, but that’s how I remember it. I have a feeling my memories are right tho as I’ve never had this problem with any of the other Pokemon games. It must have really done something to me hahaha

          Reply

  4. Man 21 years now,I loved pokemon since the beginning.Playing from Pokemon Red to Pokemon Moon is quite the adventure.I have lots of memories.I thinking I’ll show them through my art,this will be the first I showcase my art through here.Guess I’ll start with first gen:
    ( apparently I cannot uploaded my images for some reason so I’ll have to resort to sending a link to my Deviant Art… )
    http://gamerdragon07.deviantart.com/art/PokeMemories-1st-Gen-592397221
    http://gamerdragon07.deviantart.com/art/PokeMemories-2nd-Gen-592538475
    http://gamerdragon07.deviantart.com/art/PokeMemories-3rd-Gen-592676998
    http://gamerdragon07.deviantart.com/art/PokeMemories-4th-Gen-592893099
    http://gamerdragon07.deviantart.com/art/PokeMemories-5th-Gen-593098813
    http://gamerdragon07.deviantart.com/art/PokeMemories-6th-Gen-593295128

    Reply

  15. So apparently some retailer listed a switch game called “Pikmin World”.

    Huh….at least this gives me hope that Pikmin 3DS isn’t Pikmin 4.

    Reply

    • i really want to see my fan idea come into fruition
      Pikmin 4
      olimar finally earned enough treasure to finally take that family vacation he’s been yammering up about for the last 3 games and (unsurprisingly) he once again gets winged by space debris and lands on yet another uncharted planet but this time his wife and two kids are there too

      as each family member reawakens they meet up with the famed pikmin and utilize them to reunite even meeting new evolved Pikmin species (Red have thorny bodies, Yellow have gliders, blue have tails)

      but during this time, they discover that this planet isn’t so alone and they see metal droids harvesting plants and animals (and your ship) now you must stop these robot things free the captured creatures and get your ship back

      Reply

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