Pokémon gen 1 will always be the most successful social game ever in my life. I had never experienced the kind of social explosion that game brought and haven’t since. Because so many kids were playing it it was an instant thing you could talk to anyone about even if you were super shy like I was. And the link cable trading and battles really forced you to develop and maintain friendships. It was incredible and nothing since has been able to recreate that for me, even subsequent Pokémon games. Just complete magic.
Since then I’ve only played a few. I couldn’t get Gen 2 or 3 copies when they came out and only dabbled in Gen 4 in high school, never finished it. After that a few friends got the Gen 1 remakes used and we played the hell out of those which was a great time. I came back into the fold with Gen 6 which looking back were unremarkable but it had been so many years since I played one that they felt sooooo fresh and exciting to me. They were the first games I hardcore did breeding and EV training in. Good times! Gen 7 was totally fine, I really liked some of the silly Alolan forms but I only finished the single player campaign. Skipped the Ultra Sun and Moon version. And I didn’t like Gen 8 at all, I thought it doubled down on some of the bad character trends from Gen 7 and it just felt super sterile. Couldn’t really get down with the new mons, definitely couldn’t get down with the new characters, just couldn’t connect with it at all.
I know I still have it in my heart to love a Pokémon game and I know what my next attempt will be: Gen 5. I actually know very little about them besides hearing from friends that they’re sneakily the best. I really wanna play them!!!
A side note too that it’s really depressing out here if you wanna actually buy a Pokémon game older than the 3DS era. Prices are insane and the fake carts are plentiful.
Blue and Silver felt like my entire life for awhile. I remember telling a friend that I needed to “take a break” from it, so it could still feel fresh. Dang - 10 year old me squeezing every last drop of dopamine even then.
I believe the anime was my first introduction to Pokemon. The first episode I caught was the one where Ash's pokemon talk in subtitles,[ "The Island of Giant Pokemon".](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP017) A weird one to get started on, but I think it forever cemented that these little monsters have distinct personalities and I need to treat them as such - no matter the form they take (digital, plushy, card, whatever).
I stopped playing after gen 2, but got into Sw/Sh (gen 8) late once I finally got a switch. You know what? I had a blast. So much was new to me, and parts of it really did feel like the adventures I had as a little kid. I see a lot of criticism of the designs of the newer pokemon, but I tend to like the ridiculous ones. Give me all the trash bag and ice cream cone pokemon, please. I got the Pearl remake and have played through a few gyms but fell off pretty hard. I'm not sure what my issue with it is, but I was not having a good time with it at all.
When I was 9 or 10 I got (read: my parents) my best friend a couple of booster packs of the cards for his birthday. One of them had a shiny Charizard. Another friend was so jealous that he punched me in the face.
last time i played g1&2, i couldn't help but notice that gen 2 has a far more considered level and encounter design than gen1. particularly route 38/39 in johto, versus something like 13/14/15 in kanto.
Sorry everyone, can‘t reply to most questions. I frankly have an embarrassingly large amount of opinions related to pokemon games and don’t want to be that guy. Though let it be known, I am not a hater!
@"whatsarobot"#p79102 I will say to this I think the orignal SuMo games are the better than USuMo ones. I thought the story had a better ending.
@“sabertoothalex”#p79118 A side note too that it’s really depressing out here if you wanna actually buy a Pokémon game older than the 3DS era. Prices are insane and the fake carts are plentiful.
a bought a cheap, knackered game boy micro a year or two ago that had a copy of emerald in it (minus the cartridge sticker label). it had a complete dex of unknown legitimacy, although most of the mons had been transferred elsewhere. >!i wiped that save, it's now my dex to leave mostly empty! !<
I traded in my Japanese berry GBC, GB camera, Link‘s Awakening DX, Pokémon Blue and probably also my GB printer and Tetris—all complete in box, save for Tetris—for money to buy an iPod in 2003. It didn’t even cover the full cost of the iPod, and now Blue costs hundreds of dollars even though it was a smash hit ultra common game!
Anyone here old enough to remember going to KFC for the pokemon bean bags? I do! me & all the kids my age had a plethora of them and they‘ve popped up over the years.
It’s so old that you can‘t just search “KFC Pokemon”, you won’t get any results on the first page except for new stuff. You gotta search “KFC Pokemon 1998”. I was 7. It was the first time I heard of or considered what happens to the standees inside resturaunts and who gets to take them home. I Really wanted those cardboard standees and stuff… I think I got one, but only a short time before a family member threw it away.
so terrible. basically just photoshop dollar signs in the colonel‘s eyes lol.
The pokeball tag on their ears was a ripoff of TY’s beanie baby tags, but they were really cool. Each pokemon had it's nickname in it. Like I recall the Seel being nicknamed “Steel”, which was bad ass. It was when I was beginning to read a lot.
It was really early on in pokemon merchandising, so the pokemon selection was unique before everything became pikachu jigglypuff, etc. as a rule.
Also this predates the Burger King promos for Pokemon the first movie, so this had to be one of the earliest Pokemon promotions, I was wilin' and feel for it hook line and sinker. Because KFC was the first to get their foot in the door as far as I know, I definitely got addicted and begged to go to KFC before anyplace else. It wasn't until the neopets toys at mcdonalds that I begged to go there, haha.
I remember going to BK immediately after seeing the first movie. All the other kids from the showing also were there lol. Everyone was trading their toys for the ones they didn’t have/the ones they wanted. Further cementing how incredible a social experience original Pokémon was.
I went to the first movie in theatres with my friend at the time whom I've mentioned on this forum, but the only souvenir I got from it is my orange Sleepy Hollow popcorn bucket.
I kept my zubat KFC bean bag, my blue gameboy pocket, acessories and etc. in a plastic grocery bag and one day it got stolen when I was 7. That's the story of how I eventually got a gameboy color lol.
@“treefroggy”#p79359 I’m not sure about the bean bags, but I do recall going to kfc for the “gold” collectible Pokémon cards, which came in cool little pokeballs. This was significant for me because we would pretty much never go to kfc growing up, so I finally got to taste the forbidden fruit… I still have one or two kicking around somewhere, I’ll see if I can dig em up
@“kory”#525 the gold cards were also Burger King! If you member going to kfc for Pokémon then it was for the bean bags! Glad I’m not the only one, like I said it was super early, before the Burger King movie promos. Pokémon had probably barely been in the US for a year even.
