So recently I’ve been having a strong bout of childhood nostalgia. Maybe it has something to do with my graduation date looming menacingly on the horizon or maybe it’s my inner adult trying desperately to win against my dogged reluctance to admit I am an adult (if that makes sense?)
Nothing hits me in the childhood like Pokémon, as you can no doubt tell I LOVE Pokémon. Pokémon Crystal was my first game ever. I still remember unwrapping my brand new Electric Purple Gameboy Color, bright and early on that rainy Christmas morning, that seems like a lifetime ago. I’m grinning as I write this, it was such a momentous occasion back then, definitely on par with opening a PS4/ Xbox One. Then I remember turning to the slightly smaller box, the excitement and anticipation raised to a fever pitch as my small shaking fingers unwrapped the game that sparked my love of games: Pokémon Crystal.
Unlike most of my peers, I didn’t start my Pokémon journey in Kanto, no I started in Johto. It wasn’t until a few years later that I discovered Red, Blue, and Yellow version. But in that moment I didn’t care that there was a First generation, I was too busy falling in love with the beauty and splendor that was Johto.
While “First Genners” armed themselves with either a Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander, I was agonizing over whether I would pick a Chikorita, Totodile, or Cyndaquil.
For me my first love was a Cyndaquil, nicknamed Tracy. I have no idea where the name came from. I guess I knew someone named “Tracy”, but somehow the name stuck. Cyndaquil was my road dog, my ride or die…I loved him…Hell I still love him! (To this day I still name all my Cynadquils “Tracy” in honor of the first one!) From the cute little Cyndaquil in New Bark to Fierce Typhlosion standing proudly by my side at Mt. Silver, Tracy was there by my side through all the blood, sweat and tears that paved every step of my journey, he was my anchor. To this day Typhloshion is still my favorite Pokémon ever! I don’t care that he isn’t a meta game power house, I don’t care that he isn’t the most powerful Pokémon, he’ll always be a winner to me. I know this is getting redundant, but Typhlosion is hands down my absolute favorite Pokémon!
So this all started as an attempt to assuage my childhood nostalgia, but now it seems to have become a full blown post (sorry)!
The Pokémon franchise is the embodiment of childhood, the creator Satoshi Tajiri, even admitted that the idea for Pokémon grew from his childhood hobby of collecting bugs, he would search the fields, forests, and ponds in a seemingly never ending quest to catch them all. Even after he’d grown up and out of his buggy hobby, and the fields and ponds were paved over to make way for shopping malls and apartment complexes, Tajiri never forgot the wonder and excitement from his childhood. And you can feel it when you play a Pokémon game, behind all the complex plots and the expansive cast of NPCs and ever evolving species of Pokémon, is a 10 year old travelling side by side with his/her companions/friends. That is what makes Pokémon so nostalgic for me, and that’s what keeps me coming back generation after generation, the heart of the game. That and this gif that hit me in the feels so hard!
I’m a first genner and since watching an Episode in Season 1 of the anime I know Sandshrew would always be the best (though perhaps not in any form of metagame, ever). The tragedy was that I had Red version, not Blue so we weren’t to be united for a long time…
The first and only pokemon card I ever had was a Sandshrew! Game exclusive mon always broke my heart a little…
Pokemon is probably my favorite game series of all time. I started with Pokemon Blue and have always picked the fire starter every generation. Having said that, Johto is by far my favorite generation, and I have extremely fond memories of sitting in my dining room and playing Silver while I waited for my mom to make dinner, with the sun setting outside and in game. Every time I hear the National Park music I just want to cry from nostalgia.
Do you know about the Pokemon reorchestrated soundtracks? They’ll hit you right in the feels. Here’s the Ecruteak City rendition from Johto, though I love all of it ^_^.
Same here! The only time I didn’t pick a fire starter was in gen 3 (mudkip was just too adorable, and swampert is a beast!) I LOVE the reochestrated music! Thanks for the link, Ecruteak was the best town, with an epic history and Morty was smokin’ hot!
My first pokemon game was the original silver on the game boy color. My favorite starter pokemon is chikorita. She’s adorable! This was a great Ode. I’m feeling nostalgic now lol.
Thank you for the comment! Pokemon always make me nostalgic….
The new ones aren’t the same anymore. Black and white were the last good ones, i think. Although the graphics and multi player is better, everything else is downgraded.
I liked X and Y (maybe not all of the new pokemon) but I do agree the story for black an white was amazing!
The hype was huge when XY came out. But personally, XY was disappointing and ORAS was said to be in the same format so I didn’t care for it as much.
I also started my Pokémon journey in Johto. Though, instead of Cyndaquil, I preferred Totodile. Reptiles were my thing as a kid.
Cute post.
Thank you for reading!
Totodile is definitely a cool Pokémon and Feraligatr is an absolute beast! I’ve always been partial to fire types though
Same here, for the most part. Squirtle, Totodile, Mudkip, Oshawott, etc.
Oh my gosh. This makes me so nostalgic, too! My first Pokemon game was Gold. I played it with the ancient Gameboy Color and then graduated to Advanced and so forth. I don’t play Pokemon games anymore, but when given enough free time, I think I’ll try to play it again. Pokemon has been a huge part of my childhood and I’ll never forget about it. I’m not too impressed with the newer additions of Pokemon, but I’m glad to see that it’s still alive and kicking even after so many years.
lol, Pokemon does that too me too! No matter how old I get I always find myself going back to it time and time again! The newer games have their own charm, i especially like the plot of Black and White, it was a good deal darker than the other games, but great nonetheless.
I am so glad to know that you enjoyed my post and I hope you can make time for Pokemon in the future!
My siblings have Black and White. I stopped at Sapphire, though. Didn’t have time to invest in the other ones anymore, but I watch my siblings sometimes when they play their Pokemon games.
Ahaha. We’ll see about that. Playing a Pokemon game is such a big investment for me, time-wise, but we’ll see. Perhaps one of these days. Cheers!
Great stuff! I started as a First Genner myself, but my mind was totally blown by Gold in a way no other Pokemon game has done since, I remember being so excited to hear about HeartGold/SoulSilver coming out after I found my old GBC cart’s battery had died. I may have started in Gen 1, but in my heart I’ll always be a Gen 2 child!
It is always awesome when people share the same Pokemon origins as me! Johto is definitely a place of wonderful childhood memories, and I was also really excited about the HGSS reboot!
Thanks for stopping by and reading!
Ooh, actually you’ve reminded me that I was replaying HG… Too bad I’m in the midst of a Nuzlocke run on LeafGreen; I’d love to get back to Johto!
Oh wow, good luck with the Nuzlocke challenge! I have never tried any of the challenges, but I know they can be difficult!
Thanks! So far it’s kind of teaching me how to play Pokemon properly! I’ve never been a great trainer ^^;; I try to post an update on my progress every weekend if I can, so keep an eye out!
absolutely! I will definitely keep an eye out for more of your posts!
It can be nice to look back on things like this. I can clearly see that you love Pokemon and reading about your time with it was enjoyable 🙂 Thank you very much for the showcase submission.