Pokemon's 25th Anniversary

 

So yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the Pokemon series and it got me thinking about my childhood and the birth of my love of gaming.

So while Pokemon debuted in 1996 it wasn't until 98 where it released in America where I live. I was in third grade at the time and had the original fat GameBoy that me and my brother shared. While I don't remember how we got our copy of Pokemon Blue I remember the feeling of my first playthrough. I think Pokemon Blue might have been my very first RPG. It was either that or Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars for the SNES. There's always a sense of wonder when starting an adventure with a game for the very first time and Pokemon started a path that will lead me into delving into Pokemon fan games for years to come.

Even to this day Generation 1 Pokemon maintains a graphical art style that is pleasing to the eyes. Sprites are timeless as those say and walking out of your house into Pallet Town just invigored joy. My first starter was Squirtle who remains my favorite to this day.

I recall the feeling of resentment I had for my rival, cannonically known as Blue and the strive to best him. Of course Pokemon was easy as shit even for me at the age of eight so he never really gave me any problems. I remember having the Versus strategy guide and it telling me about the rare Pokemon Pikachu in Viridian Forest. I spent some time mulling around the tall grass until I captured the iconic Electric-type. Brock was easy since Squirtle learns Bubble at level 9 which is weird that I remember that considering I probably haven't played Blue since the early 2000s.

My memory is still iffy on a few things, but I think during my first playthrough is when the anime released in America and that's when Pokemania hit the world. The anime made a lot of changes mainly the starter being Pikachu instead of any of the three from the game, but I loved it for the time. I cannot watch it now. That shit is awful and strictly for the children. The theme song still slaps though and I still get crunk every time the DJ plays it at a con I go to, speaking of which R.I.P. cons. COVID, we need you gone like yesterday.

Man, the popularity was crazy! Pokemon spun off into a bunch of other games. It got a virtual pet thing ala Tamagochi. I had the Pikachu virtual pet, snacks, and much more I can't recall at the moment and when Pokemon Gold and Silver came out fans went crazy.

Back to Blue though, I believe my first party was Blastoise, Pigeotto, Zapdos, Hypno (nicknamed Mr. Magic), Dewgong (nicknamed Sora), and Sandslash. I had a Jolteon until I caught Zapdos at the tower. Also during this time I'm not sure how it happened, but all the cool glitches in Gen 1 started to spread like wildfire. My older brother told me about the Missing No. glitch and I think I heard about the safari glitch at school, but I think that was still linked to Missing No. For those who might be too young to know about it the Missing No. glitch was a glitch that spawned a corrupted data Pokemon off the coast of Cinnibar Island. To initiate it players must talk to the old man in Viridian City who teaches you how to catch a Pokemon, then fly straight to Cinnibar Island and surf off the coast. You will eventually run into a sprite with a scrambled image with the name Missing No. If you run away or knock out the Pokemon it will give you 99 of the item in your sixth slot.

You can also catch Pokemon outside of the Safari I think by encountering Missing No. flying to the Safari Zone and then back to Cinnibar Island and surfing the coast. Pokemon found in the Safari Zone will show up here and you can catch them like normal. This helped me a lot because catching Pokemon in the zone was a pain. Anybody knows that who tried it. Catching Missing No. will result in the corruption of your save data so I wouldn't do that. There was also the mysterious Mewtwo and Mew. I never got Mew myself, but I got Mewtwo plenty of times. I think I had saved my Master Ball my first time due to our strategy guide telling us to save it so I got him instantly. Trying to catch him with Ultra battles will have you in for a long and arduous battle, but once you get him it feels sweet as Mewtwo is the single most powerful Pokemon in the game.

There were so many rumors about getting Mew back in the day. I remember the one about the truck near Curealean City. I also remember days at school where me and some friends would do imaginary Pokemon battles. I was a Hitmonlee that used a metal bo-staff and my friend was a Machamp that a had a sword in each hand. I have a bunch more little random Pokemon memories from grade school I could share, but I'm not too sure if y'all are interested in hearing them. There was also the trading card game. I never liked it. I think the whole energy system is dumb so I had only collected a few cards back in the day. I'm surprised the TCG scene is big though; like it's right behind Magic and Yugioh.

I only dabbled in a couple of Pokemon spin off games: Pokemon Stadium, Stadium 2, and Pokemon Snap. They were okay games, nothing could beat the mainline for me. I played Blue so many times and I think I used the same team almost every playthrough. I had a GameBoy color by the time Pokemon Yellow came out and played the hell out of that, but this time GameFreak took out the Missing No. glitch so that marked the end of a really fun run. When Gold and Silver came out it felt so fresh. This was a true sequel. We had day and night cycles with certain Pokemon coming out at a certain time of day, one hundred new Pokemon, pokeball crafting, and new two types in Steel and Dark.

It was so amazing to discover you could go back to Kanto from Red, Blue, and Yellow at the end of the game and even fight your character from that game after beating the Kanto gyms once again. My team was Feraligator, Noctowl, Ampharos, Espeon, Hitmontop, and Lugia. After this game is when I went on a long hiatus from Pokemon. Aside from playing a demo of Crystal in a K-Mart it wouldn't be until 2012 when I picked up a new Pokemon and that was Pokemon Emerald for the GameBoy Advance.

I only played Emerald once so I don't have a lot of memory of it, but it took a while for me to adjust to the new starters. I ended up picking Torchic as I thought it was the least ugly out of the three, but ended up liking it a lot when it became a Blaziken. I remember quite enjoying the addition of Pokemon abilities that basically gave each Pokemon a passive ability in battle that can do a number of things and abilities can change the tide of battle and make an okay Pokemon into a good one. I think my team from Emerald ended up being Blaziken, Aggron, Gardevoir, Exploud, Torkoal, and Hypno (Mr. Magic). 

After this game I would take another long break from the series until I think it was 2016 when someone on Neogaf posted a Pokedex retrospective on the Pokemon series. Prior to that I had convinced myself that the games pretty much played the same and while that was true in their core mechanics and structure things the additional features made things fresh. Pokedex retrospective on Neogaf was very extensive and made me excited so I decided to go back into the series and start with Silver. Someone online told me to try out the rom hack Storm Silver instead which increased the difficulty of the game and made some other structural changes.

I always thought Pokemon was too easy so I downloaded it and played it. It felt so good getting back into Pokemon again and the difficulty in Soul Silver kept the experience from getting boring. Johto was reimagined well on the DS and having your first Pokemon in the slot follow you helped immerse me in the world. My team for this remake was Feraligator, Noctowl, Ampharos, Mr. Magic (Hypno), Umbreon, and Hitmontop. On my second playthrough I used Feraligator, Heracross, Magnesium, Red Gyarados, Sudowoodo, and Raikou. I had a Himontop before the Raikou. I was going for what I would think the canon team would be for Gold.

 

While I enjoyed Soul Silver, I was disappointed that there were no new Pokemon mixed in. I took a long hiatus since Emerald so I wanted to see what these new Pokemon were about. I then was introduced to Blaze Black 2. This was my most challenging Pokemon experience. I was getting wrecked from the jump. I really had to put in effort on my team to make my wins. I also really enjoyed the journey. The map is huge in Black 2 and in this rom hack there were so many Pokemon to capture. I made the effort for the first time to fill out the Pokedex, but even with the conveniences of the rom hack it still took way too long and I ended up giving up on completing it. This was my first time using more nicknames for my team as well. I can't remember them all so forgive me for that. This time around my team was Mr. Magic (Hypno), Zoroark, Volcarona, Lucario (Bruce), Bibarel, and Golurk (Tommy).

Aside from Pokemon Blue, Blaze Black 2 ended up being my most replayed game. I didn't have a 3DS or a Switch so I never got to play the newer gens so at this point I was just left to play rom hacks and fan games. I started with the battle simulator Pokemon Showdown which got me a taste of the competitive Pokemon scene. I later played Pokemon Prism which is still my favorite Pokemon to date as how much it changes the formula and I also had started a couple others like Phoenix Rising and something else I can't remember, but never beat them. I did beat Pokemon Zeta. Don't remember much of it, but it was enjoyable. In all of these fan games I made sure that my Mr. Magic was on my team no matter how difficult it was to teach him Dream Eater. I really wish in future generations they just allow Drowzee to learn Dream Eater naturally considering the Pokemon eating dreams is in its Pokedex entry.

Around the team people were wondering when Gen 6 was coming out I predicted the name of the game would be Sun and Moon so I was so disappointed that I was never able to buy a 3DS to play it. It also hurts that I never tried Sword & Shield either. Once I get a Switch I will definitely do it. Oh, and let's not forget the Pokemon Let's Go craze. Another thing I wasn't able to participate in, but it almost felt like the 90s again with how popular it got. It feels so far away now during the midst of the pandemic when most people are staying inside.

Nintendo also decided to celebrate this anniversary. Nintendo even held a concert for the series with even songs from celebrities like Post Malone. There was a Pokemon cereal and then they made a deal with McDonald's to include a Pokemon themed Happy Meal with a Pikachu box and a set of trading cards. My grown ass went to McDonald's and got a Happy Meal for myself. I ended up with all starter Pokemon: Chikorita, Scorbunny, Rowlet, and Piplup. This was the first time I've bought Pokemon cards since the 90s. I have to admit I was hit with a wave of nostalgia.

Nintendo also topped it off with a Pokemon Presents direct that showcased in progress and new Pokemon projects. We saw new footage of the new Pokemon Snap, the announcement of the Gen 4 remakes Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and a brand new game Pokemon Legends Arceus. Pokemon Legends Arceus looks like the Pokemon game many children dreamed about since the 90s. A fully 3D open world Pokemon game. The game looked kind of rough in the visuals, but it was still amazing to see a trainer in full 3D roam about a landscape throwing pokeballs and battling wild Pokemon. Arceus isn't planned to release until next year at the earliest and I am definitely intrigued to see how Pokemon can advance in this new game design.

Pokemon has been a pretty big part of my gaming history and I just wanted to express to you all what the series means to me. Let me know what is your relationship with Pokemon in the comments below and I'll see you guys next time.

I didn't find out until many years later when I got back into Pokemon, but there were a bunch about Lavender Town as well.