I probably have hundreds of memories of Pokémon. Picking my favorite one is like trying to pick my favorite 3D Zelda game; the order is always changing, and the task is nearly impossible. And my best memories of Pokémon are tied to the raging phenomenon that the series was back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, when it was arguably at the height of its popularity and cultural relevance. I just happened to be at the perfect age of ten when the series launched in North America, and I quickly became obsessed with every facet of it; the anime, the games, the trading cards, the manga… you name a type of Pokémon merchandise that existed in the USA in the years 1998-2001, and it’s likely that I owned at least one of them!

Reflecting on my childhood memories of the series for its 20th anniversary it was tough to pull just one out of the hat. So instead I thought I would describe my personal Pokémon journey here, from the first time I heard about Pokémon, to the launch of the games, to what it meant to me as a young person, and up until the point when Gold and Silver launched. There’s a lot there, so I’ll just hit the high points and keep it brief.

I still remember when I first heard about the phenomenon called Pocket Monsters, sometime circa 1996. I, like many a Nintendo fan, was reading through the most recent issue of Nintendo Power when I stumbled upon an article about this new series on Game Boy that had caught fire in Japan. My love of Pokémon started right then and there. Something about the creatures drawn on that page, the presentation of the game, and the strangeness of it all really stuck with me. I couldn’t wait for those games to be localized so that I could play them! I was only eight years old, and this was well before the days of social media, and even before my parents had bought a computer with Internet access for our home. So my only real connection with Pokémon was that Nintendo Power article. I probably read it a hundred times, which wasn’t uncommon when I was really excited about a game that was coming out.

Unfortunately, it took longer than I wanted for Pokémon to arrive in the west. About a year and a half or so passed by before I would be able to play those games, and I remember the final few months were especially a killer. And the worst part? My old, brick Game Boy had broken down in the time span between that original Nintendo Power article and the upcoming launch of the Pokémon games. So there I was with no Game Boy, no way to play the games I had waited for, and no money with which to buy a replacement system. The launch of the games had finally come, and my cousin, with whom I had had frequent conversations about the games, got the Red version. I remember going to his house and watching him play. The entire time I watched I wished that I’d somehow find a hundred dollar bill lying around to buy myself a new handheld.

While that never happened, I was lucky enough that Christmas was just around the corner. I never asked for new video game systems as a kid because I thought it was too expensive an item to ask for. But my parents were awesome and knew how much I had obsessed over Pokémon in the prior months. I will never forget unwrapping a shiny new Game Boy Color along with copies of BOTH the Red and Blue versions. I spent hundreds of hours in those games, catching every single Pokémon and training up a team of six that no one on the schoolyard wanted to battle against.

It didn’t take long for the marketing efforts of Nintendo and the Pokémon Company to pay off. They had a bona fide phenomenon on their hands, and the games, anime, and cards quickly took over many an elementary school, including my own. For a kid who was always too small to be good at sports, and who had attention deficit issues that caused a lot of problems with school, Pokémon was the first thing that was popular at my school that I was actually GOOD at. This deepened my obsession too. I was really good at these games, and the card game, which opened up conversations with other kids who never cared to talk to me before about anything. I became the go-to kid for all things Pokémon. And while this was short-lived, and the phenomenon would cool down eventually, it was a time I’ll never forget because it was the first time that my geeky hobby was shared by a lot of people and I love sharing those experiences with others. It was like a whole new world had been opened up for me, one in which I didn’t feel isolated and weird, but comfortable and in a growing community. I made a lot of new friends at school because of Pokémon that I would probably never have talked to had the games never been made. I’ll always be thankful for that.

Sometime in 1999 I read that sequels to Red and Blue were being made. 100 new Pokémon were being added, including some that had appeared only in the anime so far like Togepi, Marrill, and Ho-Oh. And while Pokémon Gold and Silver didn’t quite impact my life in the way that Red and Blue did, they were fantastic sequels that improved upon nearly every aspect of the originals. The day/night cycle, exploring TWO whole regions, breeding, and the games’ use of color make them, even today, the most improved and impactful entries in the series. Gold and Silver are still my favorite versions because they snuck in while the series was still at its height in popularity, while evolving the formula past its simplistic and admittedly somewhat flawed originals. To this day, Pokémon Silver is my most-played game of all time and I doubt anything will ever beat it.

I’ve continued to be a Pokémon fan since those early days, playing every version and remake that has been released so far. A lot of people back then said that Pokémon was a fad that would go away in a few years, like many had before. I’m glad that they were wrong. While it may not be the cultural phenomenon that it was back then, the series is still incredibly popular today and I know that there are kids like me out there who are making their own Poké Memories. And that is really cool. Happy 20th anniversary, Pokémon!