The rise and fall of the great legacy; Pokemon

Hmmmm...... oh dear. I really don't even want to talk about this. Well, have you ever got into something way back when you kind of regret now, or thought its really silly how much you obsessed over it? Yea~~~h, pretty much that. You can deny what happened back in the late 90's, but you can never forget how one franchise pretty much took over the world for a few years. And that same one has pretty much worn itself out today, It is responsible for 20+ games and spin-offs, almost 700 episodes including 14 movies, numerous books including game guides, documentaries, and manga, has tens of thousands of trading cards all over the world, and as of June, 2011, has *sigh* 649 different species in the fictional world, compared to the original 151 back in 1995.

If you aren't aware of what I'm even talking about yet, then you clearly aren't from this world. There's only one franchise that can even do that, and God forbid it ever happens again,

My goodness, yes, I am talking about Pokémon (pronounced either poke-e-mon or poke-a-mon) developed by Game Freak, and promoted by Nintendo, debuting on February 27th, 1996. Back then, you were either part of the sensation, or you were hiding in a cave. For me, I was semi-aware of the craze, but it wouldn't be until I took a trip to Spokane to experience it first hand. Almost exactly a month after its U.S.A. debut, I caught an episode on KidsWB (because I was still 10 at the time, I could watch it and not feel perverted.) It was cute and interesting, but still wasn't enough to catch my attention. It wouldn't be until a month later until I saw a game guide labeled "Pokemon Red" caught my attention. For $10 at the time, I picked it up, studied and read it all, 2 weeks later, I had to get on board. And then... it happened.

Soon afterward, I started watching the series. The show began re-running, so I was fortunate enough to catch what I missed. And it was truly obsessive. I collected T-shirts, posters, books, games, and the trading cards weren't even released at that point. When it did, most of my money was invested on those thick cardboard papers. I'm pretty ashamed of what the total came up to, and I don't even have even a rough number, but let's just say it soared beyond $1,000.

During the promotion of the first movie at the time, I was in Disney World at the time, and of course, I had to see it. I'm not sure what a normal size theater looks like, but this was massive. I was one of the lucky few to have caught it on opening day. The best way to even closely describe it is if you went to see Harry Potter on its opening day. It was huge, and everyone loved it. I even got a free trading card out of it, which at the time was one of there first ever promotion cards.

Back around the time I was at my peak of the franchise came the official Pokemon CD. Because you weren't hip unless you owned a CD player back then. If only I had a nickle to watch your mother explain to you what a tape player was. Anyways...  it was grand and all, but there was one song in particular that had me, and probably thousands of others interested. Back in the day I wasn't aware that 4Kids stood against anything Japanese or love related. So, I had no idea back then that that one song was nothing more than just a fat tease. In case your not aware, let me quickly explain this; you had Ash Ketchup--- Ketchum, Misty, and Brock. A bunch of underage children traveling everywhere without supervision. Nifty, huh? Just about the explanation for every anime in the world. When the CD was released, Misty just so happened to have her own song. Which explains she has a love interest for Ash. Now, it is just a massive low blow to me, but back then, I really believed something might happen with them in the future. That would be the grand pedestal that would keep me interested in the show for many years. The fan-fics even kept my hopes up for that very episode.

And yes, I do read fan-fics, get over yourself.

Well, due to some complicated things in my life at the time, the dream, along with the obsession began to die out around when I turned 14. There were times, and even now I get that child like obsession back, and enjoy the nostalgia for awhile, but I stopped playing officially around Pokemon Sapphire for the GBA, though I still pick up and play the newer ones for a good laugh now.

I dropped the trading card game ever since they modified the rules for some of the new cards. I have not thought about collection the new ones today, though I still have high interest for most of the old sets. I still remember once upon a time I was only eight cards away from collecting the entire Team Rocket (U) set. I don't know how many I have now, but if I ever wanted to try again, the sad reality is that it would be harder.

I stopped watching the series after a quarter way into the Johto Journeys saga, popping in and out every so often to see if the show ever gets a twist in there. Then I saw a trailer for one episode that probably literally shook the entire world. I had to participate and watch for myself to see it happen one last time. Ultimately, I stopped watching completely after Misty departed, leaving a lot of people, including myself, shamefully dissapointed. I may have watched six or so episodes into the Advance series, and have not come back ever since. I might have caught less than 10 episodes since then, but still never planning to come back. Especially after 4Kids lost the rights, and new people coming in giving pretty much all the main characters new voices. It hasn't been the same since.

With an outstanding roster of over 600 Pokemon, new characters, and new gameplay mechanics, Pokemon, to me, is a failed creation today.  They had a perfect chance to cap it off many of times in the past, but while it was trying to peak again for probably the third time long ago, people from the old fan age got bored and annoyed by it, and moved on to better things.

For me.... yeah, I pretty much agree with them. But, I won't forget the four or so years I had fun with it. I still pretty much remember the old 151 Pokemon roster by heart, even though its not a crush anymore, I believe Misty is still pretty cute, had a blast watching the episode where hundreds of people in Japan all went to the hospital for seizures, never gets old to see Ash is still 10 years old 15 years later, never forget the time where I did catch all 151 Pokemon once and saw Missingno loads of times in the process, and I will never lose my love for it, no matter how stupid it became today.

Dang, pretty shameful I can speak this much on this topic. Meh, what can I say? It's Pokemon. Maybe be retarded today, but back then, it was anything but. Ha, such a guilty pleasure, but again... come on, you enjoyed it too. I'm not done harassing just yet. I'll quickly show you what I had on game, and explain a little. So, here it goes~

Yes, because you choose Ash, your avatar sprite has two hot cheerleaders. Epic, no?

Look at me, I'm a friggen hero. Yes, Red is, and always will be awesome. Anytime I started a new game, I always had to choose Charmander. Why? Because cute is awesome. Pikachu is usually there just because I'm proud to spend anywhere between 5-20 minutes looking for the damn thing. Pikachu was one of the reasons why one of my GameBoy's have a broken screen....WHOOPS. Snorlax is bloody awesome. I have a couple stuffed animals of him, and I still want to jump on a life size version of him~ Kadabra is fun, simply because I love anything psychic related things. Gyarados is only worth keeping because of his bloody Hyper Beam, and raping anything in site. And Mew.... well, Mew is so many words jumbled into something that you can't make a word for, even if you tried.

Who honestly thought having a battery telling time was a good idea in a video game?

Silver is just as awesome.... un~~til the batterry dies in the game, then it sucks. For the very same reason I chose Charmander, Cyndiquil is awesome because its cute. Pichu makes all cuteness in the world look lame, and I just want to cuddle up to it every time. Snorlax, again, how could I pass. Xatu is excellent with its psychic moves and I fancy the Egyptian look. Togepi is chosen because that bloody Pokemon has been unobtainable for years, and it was a must for me. Finally, Lugia.... I saw the movie! How could I not!?

My game is lost, and they are all gone @_@ Fortunately, I have the original Gamecube disc to get Jirachi again~

Sapphire was the thing that made me look at it, and say "ehhhh, no." I never officially completed the game, and that was that. Not saying I won't come back and finish it. but at that point, it felt repetitive, and I had enough. It is epic that my first Pokemon became some viral nonsense years later. And, yes, I do love Mudkip, you can interpret that any way you like. Pelliper was awesome because it was a silly white and blue bird. No real explination behind it.  Umbreon goes back to the original reason I enjoy any psychic related stuff. Wynaut,,,, well, duh, why not? Its cute, and it looks stupid, there you go. Again, Gyrados is used for his physical attacks. As a side note, I used the Red version of him in Silver as well, Jirachi is not only cute, but its wonderful~ Even when the movies started becoming stupid, I actually did somewhat enjoy Pokemon Forever with it in it.

Diamond is cool I guess, but I'm not big into repetition.

So, you might be saying "but, I thought you said you didn't play after Sapphire. True, you also may ask "if you haven't played, how did you get such rare Pokemon?"  While both may be excellent questions, I only have one word to answer it all..... eBay. Yes, yes, its lame and cheating, but for $10, I got a lot of rare Pokemon from that buy without have to play the game fully. And when I say that, I meant I didn't even get my first badge. Heheh, again, whoops.

As for White, my game of choice, I haven't sat down and played it yet. It looks neat, and shows some promising material, but the fact of the matter is; we've been playing the same game for over 15 years! Geeze, at least put something new in it, or at the very least, give those Pokemon names that don't sound like you drew out of a hat chosen by dumbass fans.

In conclusion, Pokemon will always be Pokemon. Its stupid, makes no sense, and some of us are dying to see when they put a cap on this finally.  But, you can't help yourself coming back just to peek at what your missing these days, and even try to get back into it. Game Freak and Nintendo certainly knocked this one out of the park, and it even took control of the world for a short period of time. Love it or hate it, you can't deny what it did for games and the world, and still sits pretty up there as one of the greatest turned base RPG's in the world. Those are my thoughts. Thanks for reading, doods~