Here's something to keep in mind: Pocket Monsters Red & Green came out in Japan in February of 1996, but didn't come to our shores until September of 1998. Nintendo Power, which I subscribed to back then (of course—didn't we all?) massively hyped the game before its release. Several issues of the magazine featured a smaller, separate magazine with an ongoing monthly comic produced with stills from the Japanese anime. This was incredibly important to my early excitement about the game. I knew the characters before I ever bought Pokémon Red, and by the time the games came out in North America, I knew I wanted to be a part of that story.

It's difficult to convey the feelings I had leading up to the game's release. Nintendo Power, but other magazines as well (remember GamePro?) covered virtually every aspect of Pokémon, including the unique hook of trading monsters with friends—the reason two games were produced is because each game had unique monsters. The collect-a-thon aspect, as well as the social angle, got me really excited about Pokémon. My brother and I bought Red and Blue together and we traded like crazy. Both of us had complete Pokédexes, but it was the depth of gameplay that really surprised me. Building teams became an obsession of mine. Unlike any other Pokémon game since, I put a lot of effort into experimenting with each pocket monster I caught. I can't imagine how many hours I spent playing that game (I don't think I'd want to know). My core team was eventually able to blast through the Elite Four with unbelievable speed, one-hit KO'ing every one of the opposition's Pokémon. Of course, it helps when your team is made up of level 90 powerhouses. I would blow through the Elite Four twice just to gain one level. It was irritating, but at the same time, oddly compelling.

The craziness just kept going after the game's release. My brother and I found Mewtwo and usually battled to the point where we'd both just be fighting with that incredibly powerful Pokémon. Remember how overpowered Psychic-types were back in the day? You'd basically raise an Alakazam or Hypno until it learned Psychic, then decimate the rest of the game. Psychics were weak against Bug, but nobody used Bug. Bug types were weak to everybody else worthwhile, and their attack power was totally gimped. Things are more balanced these days, but back when Red and Blue were running the show, natural selection funneled every player toward the same core team with the same move sets and types. Everybody was using Mewtwo.

Then there were rumors that Mew was buried somewhere in the game, and that infamous MISSINGNO glitch fueled even more playtime. It was a weird time for me as a gamer. I never paid too much attention to gaming news, but I was ALL ABOUT POKÉMON. Oh yes, I used a GameGenie to catch a Mew, and I glitched the hell out of my save file catching MISSINGNO, but that heartache did give me virtually unlimited Master Balls.

HOLY CRAP IT WORKS.

But then, the bomb dropped: the Pokémon Card Game swallowed me hook, line, and sinker. Keep in mind that, in 1998, I was 16. I had a steady job (as a lifeguard) and lots of disposable income. The Pokémon card game may as well have been crack. It didn't help that the comic shop was within walking distance of the pool, so lunch breaks were often spent ripping open new packs of cards, frothing over the possibility of finding a Charizard or a Mewtwo. I was a Pokémon addict so long that when Gold and Silver were announced, I felt like I was barely done with Red. And when those games actually came out (in 2000)? Holy crap—I was done. Those games took what I loved about Red and Blue and dialed it up to 11.

My Pokéfandom has largely calmed down at this point, but vestiges still remain: I can't say no to a new canonical Pokémon game (except Ruby/Sapphire, which I didn't like and never completed). I still think Heart/Gold and Soul/Silver are the best games in the series, even to this day, and I still look through old single Pokémon cards at the comic shop, hoping to complete my card collection. My parents still give me a hard time about all the money I blew on cards and Pokémon paraphernalia back in the day. They're not wrong—it was, for the most part, a spectacular waste of money but also a testament to the incomparable power the brand had over me for several years. I imagine it was the same with a lot of kids back then. The idea of a "collect 'em all" game has been so watered down now by Yu-Gi-Oh, Beyblade, Monster Rancher, and various others that it's hard to imagine a time when such a game could capture the country's imagination. But it did, back in 1998. I was there—I remember it fondly.