A day before the Gen 10 reveal, I think this is a nice question to ask and reflect on the 30 year history of the franchise.I'm 26 now, and Pokemon helped make me into the person I am today, for better or for worse, and unknowingly ignited my love for Japan as a whole,I will never forget my memories with this series, especially Gen 1 to 4, but also being in 5th grade and sitting in a McDonalds (am not American btw for the record lol) with a friend of mine from school to get their free WiFi and download Victini on our DS.I kind of lost interest starting with Gen 8, SM was the last game I properly played, and I remember buying Ultra Moon but never playing it beyond choosing my starter due to time constraints of starting university.Nowadays I feel like an old man reminisicing of playing during the good old days, FRLG was my first game ever and I played it back in 2005 or 2006 after getting it 2nd hand. I picked Bulbasaur and the rest was history.I will also never forget playing PMD Darkness on release in 2008 and sitting in the kitchen, playing the ending scene where you disappear and crying over it just for my mom to come in and ask what's wrong.I feel like an old man because I cling to those good memories from back then, but I feel like the childhood nostalgia magic is gone now. Sure, a kid starting with the modern Pokemon games today will probably think those are the peak of the series because that's how kids are. But although I don't actively play Pokemon anymore, I'm still worried about the path the franchise is taking.Even if Game Freak were to do another new game in the pixel art style I adore so much, I don't know if that could bring back the feeling from long ago.In summary, I do still love the franchise for all that it gave me, and wish that Gen 10 turns out good, We'll see tomorrow.
>>58964401I remember getting out of school early for something the day DP came out (or I had a break) and rushing home to get on the phone with my friends to play online. Only XY beats the online experience
I remember going to buy Sun and Moon with my friend on release date or shortly after and finding a coupon in a leaflet from the store that you were supposed to cut out and bring to the store to get 5 bucks off. I cut out one for me and one for him and we went together. At the time I must have been 15 or 16, and mind you this was before the current day Pokemon crazy, so I would have felt a bit embarassed if I had to go alone, so I was glad we both went and it was fun in the end.
Buying a yank copy of Red in the imports store in town. Second is buying a JP copy of Silver with pic related so I could actually beat the thing.
>>58965531Didn't even know they made printed English guides for Japanese copies
>>58965531Kino cover
>>58964401When DP came out, i played throughout the whole night. I never stayed up that late till then
>>58964401>Cosplaying as Hoenn Ash for a school carnival, Pikachu plush ducktaped in my shoulder and everything>Getting traded in Emerald a bunch of (likely hacked) legendaries from my cousin and showing them off to my friends after school>Beating the Entei final boss in Ranger during recess in the last day of third grade school>Playing matches with the Tomy and finger puppet figurines with a friend at his bedroom every Friday afternoon
>>58964401I remember being in elementary school during the first gen Pokemon boom. Going out for recess you'd see huge clusters of people clump up for trades and battles and shit. You could look out across the sea of kids and just see hundreds of them in their own little circles of like 6 or 7 all grouped up across the school. It was the first and last time I think I ever saw that much interaction between people all doing the same stuff at school.And when Diamond and Pearl came out I remember trading Pokemon with a girl I knew online (she wanted a volt tackle Pichu). On accident, she left the voice chat feature on and I could hear her get really happy about it and brag to her sister about how this guy she knew was so super nice and how much she appreciated me doing this trade for her. I married her a few years later.I have a lot of really fond Pokemon memories, honestly.
>>58964401>be me>10 years old>moved to a new neighborhood>had zero friends>started getting along with neighbor's kid >he introduced me to Pokémon and would let me play Diamond on his second DS>mostly so I could help him trade and do battles >was obsessed with Pokémon and needed more>instantly asked mom for a copy of Platinum for Christmas >played it all day when I opened it up and ignored the other presents >after the holidays I wanted to show off all the mons I caught to my friend>found out he was moving shortly after I'll never forget those days, the sleep overs, trading, and getting hooked on Pokémon and wanting to play every gen
>>58966706>And when Diamond and Pearl came out I remember trading Pokemon with a girl I knew online (she wanted a volt tackle Pichu). On accident, she left the voice chat feature on and I could hear her get really happy about it and brag to her sister about how this guy she knew was so super nice and how much she appreciated me doing this trade for her. I married her a few years later.that's pretty amazing
>>58964401It was around 2010. During elementary school I had friends that I'd trade and battle at their and my house using both Battle Revolution and DS wifi, and I had an action replay for Platinum that I maxed out a bunch of items. Then I moved around middle school and had to keep my interest in Pokemon and Nintendo in general a secret to not get made fun of. I used to have my games in my backpack but it had a hole in it so my copy of Platinum had fallen out and I lost it. I spent weeks looking for it and eventually had to give up after I spent 100s of hours playing it. Months later I was talking to my friend during lunch break and he was telling our group about how he found a Pokemon game that had maxed items. I asked him if the player's name was Lucas which he said it was. Afterwards I got the game back and we never talked about it or Pokemon again.
My cousin had an N64 and I really enjoyed playing Mario Kart 64 when I went over and thought video games were the coolest thing ever. My parents got me a Gameboy Pocket when I was probably 6 or so and I really loved Pokemon at the peak of Pokemania. I collected the cards but, because my parents didn't pick me up from school until late (I was in an after-care program and they wouldn't get me until a little after 5) I rarely got to watch the show outside of a few VHS episodes.I would have been 7 years old when G/S came out and I had an older friend who I think got Nintendo Power or something so he was telling me about the day/night system and all the cool new stuff in the games. My mom asked me which version I wanted and I remember agonizing over the decision. It turns out she had gotten me both in advance and just gave me the one I ended up asking for.I played SO much of gen 2 and remembered being absolutely blown away by all the little secrets or day to day things (hearing about Lapras that only showed up on Friday, the bug catching contest, trying to wake up early enough to get Ledyba or other early morning mons, getting phone calls saying "OH SHIT ANON THERE IS A DUNSPARCE SWARM. YOU CAN CATCH A RARE POKEMON IF YOU HURRY!".You have to understand that cell phones were not ubiquitous (neither was the internet for that matter) so the idea that you were playing as an independent kid who got to go on adventures and had super cool futuristic tech and lots of friends was top tier wish fulfilment. I talked a lot with friends and whenever we discovered new shit in the games we'd share it at school.I also have some really fond memories of Colosseum at a friend's house and we didn't have a memory card so we had to keep the game running and having fun with D/P underground when I was in high school, but my all time top Pokemon memory was definitely just getting Gold more or less immediately when it came out and my mom being really happy about how much I loved the gift.
