10/10/2024
With the nostalgia bug latching onto me recently, I’ve started revisiting some old favorites. Pokemon being one that pretty much every kid has at least one major experience with dumping countless hours of their life into.
As an overall property I didn’t watch too much of the anime, Digimon was my jam as a kid and I’ll die on the hill that its theme song blows Pokemon outta the water. Yet I wasn’t a total outcast as a kid, or at least tried not to be, so of course I collected the cards when they came onto the scene during the late 90’s. I was literally the exact target demographic and age. Resistance was futile.
What saved me was not being able to keep up with my friends. I’d get like… one or two packs a month. I had a friend who would get cards all the time. His dad even took him to a niche collecting card spot and that motherfucker had BINDERS of cards. I think what ended my enthusiasm for card collecting was when we went to Blockbuster one time and my mom bought us each a pack of cards.
Dude pulled a holographic Charizard. Not. Fair.
As for the games… I went hard on those. I vaguely remember getting Blue as a kid and not really knowing what to do, but I ended up getting Yellow and a Game Boy Pocket (that my brother destroyed with a sharpie when he was a stupid baby… that’s a whole other story for a different time. I got a Game Boy Color shortly after that.) and I probably dumped hundreds of hours into each release from that point. Gold/Silver/Crystal was such a huge deal with its day/night cycle. Fire Red and Leaf Green introduced those little wifi warts that made trading on the school bus SO much easier. The last game I really was invested in was Diamond on the DS. After that I was too old and too cool for Pokemon games.
Guilty admission: Around 2004-2005 I used to run role-playing threads on the nsider forums as the ‘leader’ of Team Rocket. As embarrassing as that is to share, it really did cultivate my love for crafting stories. I actually was so involved with it that I grew to be friendly with the Nintendo of America staff that operated the nsider forums and when Twilight Princess was first previewed I got a print with the signatures of all of em on it lol. After so many years and so many moves, I’ve unfortunately lost it.. To be fair… it was kind of a crappy print. Probably off a cheap laser printer as an easy gift for an overactive user in their community lol.
Fast forward 15 years and I started hearing rumblings about a 3D Pokemon game and after getting a Switch to finally play Breath of the Wild with its sequel looming I was mildly curious. I didn’t think much of Arceus when I picked it up, but upon playing it holy crap. I was in. This was the Pokemon game I dreamed of as a kid. And I adored the new battle mechanics. Being even older and yet much less cool, I didn’t care what people thought about me playing Pokemon. It was fun! I even beat the dang game, which is quite an accomplishment for a known quitter like me.
If Ash can become a world champion at 35, then there’s still time for me to become the very best.
When Scarlet and Violet were announced it was the first Pokemon games I actively was excited to see released in ages. They got roasted pretty bad when they finally came out, but I had fun with em. Yes, they were buggy. Yes, Game Freak struggles with the 3rd dimension (Seriously they should’ve adopted that retro 2D/3D Octopath Traveler / Dragon Quest HD-2D style. They used to be SO good at pixel art!), but the core gameplay was FUN. Especially if you played it at the same time with friends. Being able to adventure through the world and catch stuff with others was just a good time. The first DLC was crap. Second DLC was okay. Overall I enjoyed the experience. Enough that I had the craving for more. What about those games in the series I missed during my absence…?
I began my adventure looking back with Heart Gold. That game is quite possibly the most refined old school Pokemon experience you can have. After that, I played Black and Black 2. Peak sprite art from Game Freak and was a delightful play. The later games I’m dabbling with are okay, but if ya wanna go back to the older style those two generations were the peak of traditional Pokemon.
I actually like and prefer the new direction that Arceus introduced in the overall design. Scarlet/Violet was kind of a mix of that and traditional Pokemon. I hope Legends Z-A brings back and expands upon what Arceus started. I liked how much quicker and interactive the battles felt.
I will say there’s a certain charm to the traditional Pokemon formula. Funneling you through an obvious direction and straight up expecting you to grind away mindlessly. Those games ended up being kind of a fidget spinner for me when I wasn’t feeling great due to chronic pain. If I was having a hard time I could at least grind away and level up my pokermans. The end result was the longer I was in pain, the stronger my team would be!
So while I have a newfound appreciation for that old formula, I still want them to pursue the quicker and more interactive style that Arceus introduced. With its sprawling open-world design… just hire better 3D artists/designers Game Freak. You can afford it.
-K
