So I'm going to date myself a little bit (at least as far as the gaming community is concerned). When Pokemon came out in 1998, I was in 8th grade. I remember begging my mom for hours on end to get the hot new game I saw in Nintendo Power. I remember the character art is what struck me then, and it still does to this day. Even though it had that anime feel, it also gave the illustrations a clean solid look. Something I grew to love even as an adult. I remember distinctly going to Wal-Mart and purchasing Pokemon Red as I dug the Charizard at the time. It also came with a pokemon manual of sorts that was also a poster. I couldn't have been happier.
Charizard, the original OG
I spent hours and hours on that game. I remember beating all the gym leaders, and even the excitement of flying around near the end of the game. I also remember catching Mewtwo for the first time and feeling pretty proud that I had the most powerful (at the time) Pokemon in the entire game. So time went on, and I was in probably 10th or 11th grade when Pokemon Gold and Silver came out. It wasn't too long after that that Crystal came out. I got into that game hardcore too. I remember how excited I was to hunt for the new pokemon. It added way more features to the pokemon set that made it impossible for me to resist. So I beat that as well (mostly on the bus ride home and to school).
This was epic. You can tell by the serious face.
Many years passed, and Ruby and Sapphire and Emerald came out. I actually skipped those as I was into Xbox and PS2 gaming at the time. I dabbled in Gamecube games and may have rented one of the pokemon games as I worked at Blockbuster at the time, but I didn't give it too much thought. I wound up missing Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, Ruby and Sapphire, Emerald, Platinum, Pearl and Diamond, as well as all those offshoots like Pokemon Ranger, Pokemon's Mysterious Dungeon(Which I may do a huge article on the Mysterious Dungeon series which includes Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Pokemon and some others as I love the Mysterious Dungeon series). So a few weeks ago I noticed Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver came out. I decided to buy it on a whim to relive my youth, and may I just say, that I love it just as much now as I did yesteryear.
The Pedometer makes this worth it!
There's something about the game design that's so utterly flawless that pumps me up. In a day and age where flashy graphics and hardcore violence sells, Pokemon is and always will be a breath of fresh air. Sure the act of battling monsters could be deemed as violent, but there's something else there that keeps me entranced. I don't know what it is. Maybe it appeals to my collectors side. Maybe it appeals to my RPG gamer side. At any rate, I commend GameFreak for creating such an amazing game series (which if you didn't know is one of the top selling video game franchises of all time.) Now I know a lot of you will autodismiss this title as you guys are now in your twenties, but I urge you. Forget the anime. Forget the marketing. Go for the original. Play it all the way through. If you don't have fun with it...then you have no heart.
Purchase Pokemon SoulSilver here: [Pokemon SoulSilver Version]
Purchase Pokemon Red here: [Pokemon - Red Version]
Purchase Pokemon Red here: [Pokemon - Red Version]
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