Now I’m going to be referring to Pokémon as a whole, not just specific games. But I’ll be sure to call out my favorites of them still.
Pokémon has been around a long time, I still remember when it launched in the U.S. I was so excited, but I was limited to the card game at first, as I did not have a Gameboy. My first version was Blue, I was so excited to try it out. I played it for hours. I was probably around 9. I trained my Pokémon to be the best I could.
Once Silver and Gold were released, I was pretty good at the game, and loved the new Pokémon they had added. The ability to play in the Kanto region after the main game also was really nice for me. Typhlosion was my main man. Followed by Tyranitar. Those two were my driving force to win everything thrown at me.
I admit I didn’t really play Ruby or Sapphire much, mostly emulated just to give them a go. But those games also felt like a lot of fun. Leaf Green wasn’t far behind those. Remakes of the originals with all the added features that made the game even more fun to play. I loved them, and sunk my teeth into them for hours on end just like when I was younger.
In 2006 Pokémon made its way to the Nintendo DS. I played the Diamond and Pearl versions, but they were kind of clunky, as I expected. The Pokémon were still alright, but not as good as the others.
In 2009, I picked up Pokémon SoulSilver for my aging DS. I was now 19, and was pretty stoked to play my all time favorite Pokémon game again. It included many Pokémon I’d come to like from other games, but didn’t feel like the interface was messed up like diamond and pearl. I loved every second playing it.
Unfortunately, I felt after that game released, Gamefreak just felt like they had to release a new game every year. Throwing stupid ideas for Pokémon into the mix. I mean, come on, keys? A trashbag? An ice cream cone?! I was appalled to say the least. So even though I purchased Y and Sun after that, I didn’t even finish them. The games were made too easy, focusing more on gimmicks a 5 year old would like over a good game that had any challenge. The moment experience share was handed to me in the beginning of the game and gave ALL my Pokémon experience, I knew that the game just wasn’t going to have any fun left for me.
For these reasons, I feel like the game I loved for so long was taken from me. I hope one day they will bring back a game for those of us who fell in love with it as kids, but grew up. Give us some magic back.
Fun fact, these two cards are probably around 19 years old. They could legally vote. When I was about 10 my dad took me to a flea market where one guy was selling booster packs of Pokémon cards imported from Japan. I bought two booster packs from him. This was before silver was announced in the U.S. Since the internet was still pretty new you had to wait for official announcements on TV before finding out new stuff. I pulled these two cards from the boosters. I fell in love with them right off the bat. I remembered thinking, “Man, these two Pokémon look really strong. I can’t wait to catch them.” As it turns out, they ended up being my two favorite Pokémon ever.
EK Creates 