Topic: 20 Years of Pokemon In North America: The Memories

[Br26]

NWR staff share their first memories of Pokémon Red/Blue and the Pokemon craze that surrounded it.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/48481/20-years-of-pokemon-in-north-america-the-memories

It was 20 years ago today that Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue launched in North America.

Selling nearly a staggering 60 million copies across all territories, Red and Blue are some of the most popular video games of all time. But one can’t emphasize just how big Pokémon was at the time, especially if you don’t remember the craze. From the card game, to the anime, to the theatrical movie, for a few years in the late 1990s Pokémon was definitely the in thing for any kid growing up in North America, just as it was when Pocket Monsters first hit Japan in 1996.

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Red/Blue, various Nintendo World Report staff members are recalling their own memories of the Pokémon craze. What are your own memories of Pokémon when you were growing up? Feel free to share below.

[RPG_FAN128]

Because it's bothering me:  "...enough to pique my interest..."

I could write a 50-page essay about my Pokemon memories.  But considering I doubt anyone would even care here is a 2 paragraph version.

The first game I got was Red.  The only way I could play it was a Super Game Boy via my SNES.  In fact the first time I ever bought a Game Boy was my beloved Teal GBC when Gold/Silver were released.  For me the funnest aspects of this franchise are (1) Collecting and (2) Battling.  Here is a sentence containing my opinion for every generation.
1)  Amazing and beautifully broken.
2)  I fell in love with this later in life when I realized it was just as broken as Gen1. (Both Gen 1 and Gen 2 allowed for Arbitrary Code Execution, which ironically is retained in the VC releases so I can transfer as many shiny Mew's and shiny Celebi's as I want to Poke Bank!)
3)  This generation made me fall in love again considering in the 2000's Gen2 was not on my good side.
4)  No.  Just NOOO.
5)  Finally a breath of fresh air, for the first time since Gen 1 I could play an entire game and catch everything I see as I wasn't constantly saying "Oh this is a Gen 1-4 Pokemon and I have it already."
6)  FINALLY the franchise goes into 3D, and these games were great too.  However the fact so few new Pokemon were added it is also kind of a sad disappointment.
7)  FINALLY so many needed fixes such as HM removal, not using the same 8 gym formula, etc.  Amazing games.

Here is my most recent event.  Considering I owned Pokemon Stadium I stored all of my GB critters on the N64 carts.  (Good thing too, as my GB cartridge batteries have died) After replacing said batteries I transferred my Pokemon from Stadium to the GB games, successfully extracted the save data, injected this save data into my 3DS Virtual Console titles, and then transferred my legit Gen1/2 Pokemon into the Pokemon Bank.  (This requires a modified 3DS and Everdrive 64 by the way) I think it is the most epic thing to have my very-first-ever-Pokemon Charizard on my Pokemon Sun cart.  EPIC.