I had known about Pokémon for some time before it debuted in America. The big thing was when an episode of the anime caused viewers to have seizures. That is what led me to want to get a Gameboy and play the game. Of course, I got the Blue version. I didn't have that much history with RPGs, so I had an even steeper learning curve with the game than usual. While I started out okay, I quickly began to flail. After a few tries, I took a break. I bought a guide. Or two. Ultimately three, I believe. The first guide was the official one from Nintendo, with the stickers of all of the Gen I Pokémon. I bough the others to get slightly different views on strategy. It took some time, but I finally beat the game, although I didn't catch them all, as I had no one to trade with. Sigh.
I still liked the game, mostly the cartoon once it started in the US. I got the Gen II game when it game out, again for Christmas. I wanted the Silver version, which was a mistake. Although I might have known, I failed to comprehend that Silver had the same mix of Gen I Pokémon as Blue. This meant that I couldn't even catch the ones I missed in the first game, even if I had a way to trade them. Still, I continued playing, and made it not just to beating the first endgame boss, but also to the final boss. Yes, I had more guides. Even more so than for Gen I, as I also got the remix game, Crystal, when it came out later. (I am of the same opinion as a few others that the remix should have been Platinum, and the Gen IV remix should have been Crystal. Whatever.) I think I liked Crystal more than Silver. Still couldn't catch them all.
When the GBA came out, it meant that I could finally trade with myself, maybe. I know I bought a special connector cable, but I can't remember if the GBA was backwards-compatible. Anyway, I got the Gen III game. Yes, I picked Sapphire. For some reason, I felt this game was harder than it should have been. There were just too many secrets to find. I did beat the game, though. Barely. I don't think I was able to collect everything though. I also picked up the remix, Emerald. I picked up a lot more guides for that one.
Although I lost my Gameboy and GBA in the flood, I didn't lose the Pokémon games. I lost about half the guides though, making getting everything harder. What was fun was getting the updated Gen I game. This time I got Fire Red for Christmas, assuring that I would finally be able to catch as many different Pokémon as possible. I played through the game multiple times just so I could get every single unique Pokémon, and then trade them to Emerald so that I could finally say I caught all the Gen I group that I could. I think I played it through at least five times, including one where I messed up so horribly that I had to play through with the same starter just to collect the special one that I missed.
I guess that I had gamer fatigue, but I just stopped wanting to play. I reached a point in Emerald that I couldn't play through, so I took a break. I never went back.
When the Nintendo Dual Screen (DS) game out with the Gen IV games, I never picked one up. Sure, as I mentioned in another post, I picked up the guide, but I never got the DS and the games. I didn't really have the money for the system, but I had also lost some of the will to play after going through the previous games so much. I continued getting guides for each generation up to Gen VIII. (I also watched the cartoon until it moved over to streaming, just before it got to Gen VII.) With Gen IX, official guides were no longer being published. Sure, I followed along online as much as I could, but I mostly lost interest.
Gen X was recently announced, and it is due out later this year on the current version of the Nintendo Switch portable. As of today, only the starters have been announced, and not their evolutions. Part of me almost wants to finally go back to system gaming, but only a small part. The idea of having to pay more just to make sure I had a physical copy of a game doesn't sit right with me. Also, the Switch is more of a partnership system, made for having multiple people playing. That's something I just don't have.
I still want to connect with the series. I'm just not sure how any more.
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