Pokemon, 10 Years

[alec006]

Well its February 27,2006 and old Pikachu is 10 Years Old today.So are the Gameboy RPG's Pokemon Red and Green (Blue in the US)."In Pokémon Red and Blue, the player, a Pokémon Trainer commonly believed to be Ash Ketchum from the anime , can choose Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle as their starter Pokémon from Professor Oak. After that choice, they cannot catch the other two starters or their evolutions in the wild or by trading with in-game NPCs, so, to complete the Pokédex, the player must trade with other players in the real world. The basic story is to become the best trainer in all of Kanto; this is done by raising Pokémon up, defeating gym leaders for badges, and eventually challenging the Elite Four, the greatest trainers in the land."So yea im playing my old Red Version and celebrating a pretty fun game and series. Happy 10th Pocketmonsters.Oh yea you too MissingNO. :P

http://www.playright.dk/covers/pokemonred_gbc_eu.jpg
http://ampharoscodes.homestead.com/files/Pokemon_Red.GIF
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d3/Missingno.jpg

[Mr.FoodMonster]

Wow, it's been that long? This is the first 'oh my god I'm old' relization from me.

[CreamSoda]

Oh man, ten years?!

I love this game(Red/Blue Version), I've spent countless hours on them as a kid on different carts. Mainly my Blue Version.

Most of you will laugh your asses off at me, but I consider Pokemon Blue/Red to be the best GameBoy title(s) ever! And I'm not even a Pokemon fan(I was back then). But these are just great handheld games, with tons of replay value.

Hats off to Pokemon for being an incredible series(before it was the fad). 8-)

Note oculd anyone post a few shots of it for nostalgia? My Blue and Red crats are lost. :(

[tornadostormxl]

Great games love them

[CYRiX]

Proudly will admit I completely finish Red 100%

[Chrome]

Wow, it's been that long? This is the first 'oh my god I'm old' relization from me.

Man, me too, and I'm only 19! I remember EXACTLY where I was when I found out about Pokemon. I was in the backseat of my parents car sitting in my grandparents driveway reading a Nintendo Power. We had just arrived after a 6 hour trip, and I had said "Pokemon?" Later that night, my dad asked me what it was and I explained what little I knew about it to him. He went out and bought it for me sometime later.



Most of you will laugh your asses off at me, but I consider Pokemon Blue/Red to be the best GameBoy title(s) ever! And I'm not even a Pokemon fan(I was back then). But these are just great handheld games, with tons of replay value.

No laughing from me on this one. In fact, I agree whole heartedly. It does have extremely high replay value, especially if your friends have the game too. Man, I remember playing with some friends that I don't even see now...Ahhh the memories....

I love, and still own, the originals and have been meaning to pick up one of the later ones for sometime. I know right now I'll pick up Crystal when it comes out.

Later,
Chrome...

[joshnickerson]

Ten years is pretty good for a so called "fad", eh?

I bought Blue when it launched and I STILL play the games to this day. Though I have declined from "Catch 'Em All!" to "Eh, I'll catch the ones I like, cause I got too much other stuff to do to catch 350+ critters", it's still a ton of fun. I'm looking forward to Pokemon Trozie next month, and those new Pokemon action RPGs later this year.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

In all fairness, Pokemon isn't nearly as successful as it was back when it first came out. In fact, most people would probably just scoff or say something like 'Oh, I remember when that was cool.'

Also, how many Pokemon are there now? I cant seem to get a solid number for such a thing, I stopped caring just around when they added past the 151 'originals'.

[Blitzwing256]

not counting the next generation games its up to 384 (as of emerald)

[nik]

damn, and to think, I never invested in the little bastards... I'd be loaded!

[Haoie]

I'm hoping Diamond/Pearl will be innovative and a fresh take.

[Sailorneorune]

I hope so too... Pokemon just screams "use the Wi-Fi Connection!". Mmmm... online trading... *drool*

Trozei looks like a fun puzzler... gotta love those puzzle games. yes, even you, Puzznic, you sadistic bastard.

I hope we get Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon here, we need more portable RPGs to ease the pain of Lunar Dragon Song.

/throws 2 cents in the jar

-sailorneorune

[tom]

early 1997, I remember standing outside a Chinese gift/games/CD shop in Chinatown, London, looking in the window, were they displayed Red, Blue, and Green, for 45:00 GBP ($79:00) each, in those small Japanese Game Boy boxes.
But having already invested in other gaming stuff, I didn't pick them up.
Few years later Nintendo and Scotland Yard cleaned up Chinatown, and all Nintendo-related import gaming was gone forever (Nintendo doesn't like to see import stuff to be sold in the UK)

[Nesmaster]

wow, Already? I was in grade 5 when the pokemon craze lifted off, first with the cards and soon after the game. Everyone Had either cards, the game, or both. I remember bringing my red gameboy brick to school and linking up with other kids to get the pokemon from the other game, via that copy trick. ahh good memories, for sure :)

[Fighter17]

I remember the Pokemon fad too in school. I think it was the fifth grade about 1999 or so, everybody was hooked on by it. Today these games show how deep a game can get, and that's why I remember the Pokemon games so greatly.

[zerohero]

Wow I remember getting into this in the 7th grade. I used to actually watch the show before, and after school. Mostly due because anime around that time was rare to see , and come by for me except for rentals, and cartoon network/sci fi.

Wow 10 years, I remember getting all excited about the gameboy game. The thought of actually living out the cartoon myself.

Never got into the card collecting though.

[Yamazaki]

wow. i remember me and my friends going to watch the first movie!

[davepesc]

wow. i remember me and my friends going to watch the first movie!

My wife and I went to see the first movie!

We were the only people in the theater without kids LOL

She LOVED Jigglypuff and Togepi. Now, my oldest is getting into Pokemon. The circle is now complete.

[johno590]

It's hard to believe this has been around for 10 years... I never had the actual game until a year or so ago.. but I used to play them on emulators. I had some of the cards, but sold them off.

[Snapple]

I hope so too... Pokemon just screams "use the Wi-Fi Connection!". Mmmm... online trading... *drool*

To Hell with online trading. It needs WiFi for online BATTLING. It's impossible to find people to play against unless you use an IRC bot or something like that. So, it becomes like, "What's the point in spending countless hours breeding and teaching and levelling and planning the perfect team if you can't use it?" You should be able to build your perfect team, then battle test it against other gamers all across the country and across the world.

Pokemon is a franchise that is BEGGING to go online. I'd love to see it happen soon.

But anyway, wow, I can't believe this game is ten years old.

Does this mean that Yu-Gi-Oh is going to be around forever, too? Blech.

[segarocks30]

Well its February 27,2006 and old Pikachu is 10 Years Old today.So are the Gameboy RPG's Pokemon Red and Green (Blue in the US)."In Pokémon Red and Blue, the player, a Pokémon Trainer commonly believed to be Ash Ketchum from the anime , can choose Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle as their starter Pokémon from Professor Oak. After that choice, they cannot catch the other two starters or their evolutions in the wild or by trading with in-game NPCs, so, to complete the Pokédex, the player must trade with other players in the real world. The basic story is to become the best trainer in all of Kanto; this is done by raising Pokémon up, defeating gym leaders for badges, and eventually challenging the Elite Four, the greatest trainers in the land."So yea im playing my old Red Version and celebrating a pretty fun game and series. Happy 10th Pocketmonsters.Oh yea you too MissingNO. :P

http://www.playright.dk/covers/pokemonred_gbc_eu.jpg
http://ampharoscodes.homestead.com/files/Pokemon_Red.GIF
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d3/Missingno.jpg

:puke: Oh God, I used to love Pokemon but Now I absolutly hate it so much. It is a stupid fad. Ever see the funny South Park Spinoff on Pokemon? I remember people buying Charizard cards for $300 freaking dollars! :bullshit: Now those cards sell on Ebay for like $2... :angel: :hmm: I have to admit, those games were kinda fun. Well hey, I got past the Elite League... I can't beleive when I was younger I put my parents through so much torture making them see ALL of the Pokemon movies. I apologize to this day.

[joshnickerson]

Hmm, it took longer than I thought for this thread to get it's first troll...

[PDorr3]

I just want to say that the original pokemon games are amoung THE most addictive and fun games I have ever played in my life. Maybe because I was into the pokemon craze at the time, but no matter how much I have grown over that I will NEVER diss on those games.

[AFGiant]

I have so many good memories of Pokemon...I wish I could live another fad out like that...It was such an amazing part of my childhood.
I don't have time to post any specific stories. Let me just let this post make know my admiration for the series and all of its aspects.

[calthaer]

I will go as far as to say that Pokemon games are the best handheld games of all time. They strike the perfect balance of being primarily single-player but really having a strong benefit for people who bring their games together to battle or trade.

The number of Pokemon right now is actually 386, not 384 as was previously stated. The last two are Jirachi and Deoxys, two promo-only Pokemon that can't be caught within the normal game. See the Pokedex at www.pokemon.com.

I actually got into Pokemon when I was 23, probably a good 4-5 years after the games actually came out - and I've been a consistent player ever since. They're very fun, solid games that continue to be intriguing. I have spent more time on one Pokemon game (100+ hours on FireRed, can't remember exactly how much) than on any other single game. Hopefully it will go online with Diamond / Pearl - I want to crush opponents with Pokemon teams of superior stats and breeding.

I can't say that I particularly care for the other parts of the Pokemon franchise, though. I collected cards for a bit because they had e-Reader features, but the puzzle games and all that other crap that doesn't directly interact with the GBA games (and the N64 / GCN games that are ancillary to the GBA games) are worthless to me. It's all about the GBA games and the simple-yet-complex system of rock-paper-scissors gameplay that is so much fun to explore with every new Pokemon caught.

I once thought that they were adding too many with the Ruby / Sapphire games, but they are really just making things even more interesting and balanced by adding new types that were never around before (like Rock / Psychic, Dark / Ghost, etc.)...or by expanding current species with new ones that can be bred from the original...or by having really unique ones like Shedinja, which can only be hit by "super-effective" attacks (but only has 1 HP, so that it will die when it gets hit at all).

Oh, and while I love the GBA games, I hate that insipidly stupid TV show.

[Blitzwing256]

The number of Pokemon right now is actually 386, not 384 as was previously stated. The last two are Jirachi and Deoxys, two promo-only Pokemon that can't be caught within the normal game. See the Pokedex at www.pokemon.com.


doh! you're right, I always forget about deoxys for some reason.

the only ones i still need to catch on my copy are deoxys mew hohou and lugia (too cheap to buy the new colessium to get him)

I spose its technically 387 if you count munchlax

[Gemini-Phoenix]

I never really got into Pokemon until a couple of years ago. I waited for all th ehype to die down, and then decided to see what all the fuss was all about... Since then, I have sought to get all the PAL releases of all the games. I am only missing one to date (Crystal), which seems to be hard to get in factory sealed condition.

And i'm not afraid to say that some of the games I have actually enjoyed! I particularly likes Pokemon Snap (Easy and childish, yes, but great fun!), and some of the mini-games on Pokemon Stadium II are addictive!

I think I preferred it back when there was only 151 Pokemon though. I seem to have found it hard to keep up with the newer ones, after being used to the initial 151 which I virtually memorised from the first batch of games. It is a nightmare remembering things with so many different stats and combinations and evolutions now.

My favourite Pokemon game is ironically the only one I do not own (Crystal) ~ A good story, and plenty of things to do. And before it all got too complicated as well (Ie, Ruby / Sapphire / Emerald Etc)

[NinjaJoey23]

I absolutely loved the red/blue versions. I was in early middle school when I got into it, and I'm 19 now, so it's weird to say "I remember that etc." when I'm not even that old.

My friends and I went to the Trading League at Books-A-Million and traded cards and battled. I remember that we always looked down on the folks who "rock candied" their pokemon to level 100. We bought Pokemon Stadium for the sole purpose of getting the doduo and dodrio modes to increase the game speed on red and blue.

It's interesting that Pokemon Snap was mentioned, b/c a few days ago my girlfriend finished that game. It was her first N64 game actually, and she never had any experience with Pokemon, but she really enjoyed it. It's funny that I also thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I was just watching.

[Daltone]

I absolutely loved the red/blue versions. I was in early middle school when I got into it, and I'm 19 now, so it's weird to say "I remember that etc." when I'm not even that old.

I was just thinking that too. I must have been 11 or 10 when it came out. I remember a guy in my class coming in and having it, even though it wasn't out in the UK at that point. As we were going to Canada on a school trip, which meant a huge flight, I decided to shell out my hard-earned cash on a new purple GBC and Pokemon Red.

I had played a little bit of it before. Another friend had given me a (badly) emulated version of it on a floppy disc, but that had a number of showstopping bugs and wasn't in English. It wasn't untill I saw the game on the GBC that I really wanted it.

The GBC turned up a few days before the flight, but I didn't get Pokemon 'till after I was back. When I did get it, well, I played the hell out of it.

[Abman]

The only thing Pokemon that I like is the Game Boy games. I remember playing the first ones a while ago I loved them. They are not as fun as they use to be though mainly because it is the same thing over and over. It's cool that's it's the 10th year since the first Pokemon game came out. Cool thread :) .

[Haoie]

How many Pokemon are too many? We'll never know.

I just know I can't name them all if I tried.

[Cryomancer]

It's not really that hard to know all/most of the pokemon if you play the games. At this point it's divided into three generations and most games keep it in the generation. let me know if any of this is wrong as this is from memory.

red/blue/yellow is all gen 1

gold/silver/crystal is mostly gen2 with some gen1 if i remember right. you can however trade gen1 over to it.

ruby/sapphire (dunno about emerald) is mostly gen3 with a few gen1/gen2 thrown in. If you want more gen2 you need to trade with pokemon colosseum (far as i know anyway). The monochrome/color games aren't compatable with the GBA ones.

fire red/ leaf green are virtually remakes of red/blue so it's mostly the first gen although there's a few others here and there.

and honestly, if you play through the games, you'll learn them. when you have to try and catch pokemon x that's eluding you for days, you'll freakin' remember his name let me tell you. most of them fit into simple patterns, have memorable dumb pun names, or are unique enough to pick out anyway. I don't know 100% all of them perfectly or anything but if i see a picture i can usually name it.

[kainemaxwell]

Wow 10 years. I remember playing Pokemon for a few times via emulator and a friend's GB and enjoyed it quite a bit. the series really has come a long way since then ans I would say still holds up as a decent rpg.

[djbeatmongrel]

wow as many people said, this is a sure fire way to know your are getting older. (only 19 myself) I really liked red and blue, i still have them boxed with all the inserts hehehe. i havent really played the newer ones but i will get the DS ones if they are wi fi enabled. wi fi is where nintendo really needs to go with the series and i am sure it would create some great competition.

[calthaer]

I agree with Cryomancer - knowledge of all the different Pokemon is not that tough if you play through the games. It's no more or less complex than knowing where all the hidden power-ups are in Super Mario Bros. or knowing the entire map and all hidden areas / dungeons in the original Legend of Zelda. It just comes through playing the game.

Of course, what's more complex is knowing what TYPE all those Pokemon are, and then the ultra-level of knowledge would be having a good concept of what moves that particular Pokemon learns / could learn so as to formulate an effective battle strategy.

But usually I just find 20-30 Pokemon and learn everything I can about them to build them into an effective team. Most of them are honestly not worth bothering much with or even raising (if you can catch their later evolutions elsewhere). There are a lot of them that are just plain worthless, ESPECIALLY in that original 151 (like Spearow / Fearow, Ratatta / Raticate, etc.).

It's in the later ones (Gold / Silver and Ruby / Sapphire "generations") that they start to come up with some comboes that do interesting things - like Ground / Flying or Ground / Water (invulnerable to Electricity, which they are normally weak to - but have other weaknesses, i.e. to Grass), etc. And the addition of the Steel and Dark types really starts to spice things up, because let's face it - in the original 151, Psychic ones were way overpowered...and Psy doesn't hit Dark at all, and is weak against Steel.

If you play through the games, you'll eventually learn what those Pokemon are, and how they fit in to the overall grand (very grand) scheme of things.