How long have you been into Pokemon?

KomodoZero

tkarispe Glad you like hearing all the experiences. It's been very interesting for me to hear these stories too, certainly helps paint a picture of people's history with the series, and even beyond that considering Pokemon is how many of us got into playing games too.

Soaker87

Late 90’s, though I’m not sure exactly. I recall my first exposure to Pokemon was seeing an ad for the Game Boy games in a Disney Adventure magazine. And I didn’t own a Game Boy so didn’t really care, but I noticed Pikachu in the ad (it actually showed a lot of Pokemon and didn’t really highlight Pikachu) but I remember finding it super cute.

Then one day, my Beast Wars obsessed self who tuned in to watch every morning was kinda shocked and disappointed that Beast Wars wasn’t on (they suddenly bumped it back a half hour), but Pokemon was on instead. It was the episode where Ash battled Erika. But I ended up watching it and got addicted. It left me a little confused though because I thought Ash was actually a girl and that it was a nickname for Ashley. Quickly got that cleared up, though. I’d just never known anyone with the name “Ash” before, while I knew a lot of Ashleys.

I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that Pikachu was the franchise mascot. Usually I never like the most important characters, so I lucked out for once.

MissingnoMaster

2000, I remember that well. Pokémon had become the latest craze at my school, and I didn't think much of it at first, figuring it'd just be another short-lived fad. Until it stuck around, anyway. I started to get curious about it when I realized everyone was still into it, and one day after school, I decided to sit down and watch an episode for myself. Half an hour later, I'm watching Ash catch his Muk, and the rest is history. That summer, I got my very first video game system and video games for my 10th birthday- a Game Boy Color and Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, and you could not pry me away from them.

Juno

Oh, I've dug into this, so I have very exact dates actually haha.

It was the spring of 2000, I was 9 years old. The anime started airing on Swedish TV4 on Saturday March 4, but it was on at 8:35 and just I wasn't a morning person so I never really watched the morning cartoons.

Instead it was the cards that got me into it. They must have become really popular after people got into the tv series. I remember Team Rocket being the "new and cool" set, and that was released April 24 in Europe. My mother always kept very precise records of the family's expenses, and on May 6 her notes says "Pokémon 28" - which is what a booster pack cost here at the time. I don't know if that was my very first cards, but certainly some of the earliest. I remember I got a Pikachu in my first pack and I was so happy!

The Pokémon craze must have receded a bit in autumn, but in early 2001 I got to try my best friend's Blue and was hooked. I got a purple GBC and Pokémon Red on January 13 (again, my mother's economy notebooks - it was 1098 SEK btw) and the rest is history ...

KomodoZero

Juno I love how granular this story is, particularly with how you've kept a track thanks to financial records, that's a first that I've heard!

swiftyshq

i'll give an abridged version here since i posted it more fully in the intro thread.

i first got into it when i was a puppy, at six years old! i got my first game (pokemon blue) when i was 8 or 9. i got firered and ruby when they were current, and was fully keeping tabs on new releases via serebii.net by the time diamond and pearl were about to hit japan. i remember memorizing piplup's design so i could draw it without a reference.

you'd think that i'd have more of a tendency to like pokemon rgby since it was my first, and while it does have some novelty, i honestly am not quite as fond of it in comparison to the johto games, be they gen 2 or gen 4. i'm a johto thing at heart!

tkarispe

swiftyshq I'm the same; I was a Gen I kid, and I really enjoy those games, but Gen II is my all-time favorite. It just did so much right and it was amazing how much they were able to fit onto a single Game Boy cartridge. I really want a GSC re-remake in the vein of Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee. I just want more Johto in my life.

MissingnoMaster

tkarispe I would absolutely love another Let's Go game set in Johto. I absolutely adored Let's Go Pikachu. I might think Pikachu gets overhyped a lot, but I can't deny that it's cute, and seeing my character sending it into battle off his shoulder just made me smile so much.

Granted, I somehow doubt we'd get the exact ones I'd love to see for a Johto Let's Go pair- Let's Go Dunsparce and Let's Go Qwilfish don't exactly come off as what they'd see as particularly marketable- but I'd still love them to do something there. Maybe Let's Go Pichu and Let's Go Togepi.

Darren

MissingnoMaster Let's Go Pineco and Let's Go Missing.No, sound amazing though, they should go with that 😝

tkarispe

MissingnoMaster I would totally play Let's Go Dunsparce. 🙂 I really enjoyed the gameplay style of Let's Go and it's something I'd like to see Game Freak reuse. I can see it being its own little offshoot series like the Legends games. Gen V remakes centering around the elemental monkeys would be... interesting, but if it means a completely amazing pair of remakes like HGSS were, I will gladly start my Unova journey with a Panpour.

MissingnoMaster

Darren LMAO I would love a Let's Go Missingno., as much as I know we'll never get it. Similarly, Let's Go Wynaut would rule for Hoenn, but realistically I know it'd probably be Let's Go Plusle and Let's Go Minun. Which... I also wouldn't mind, actually. I like Minun a lot, and all those Colosseum playthroughs have greatly endeared Plusle to me.

But my spiciest take of all would be for potential Gen 5 remakes; Let's Go Pansage, Let's Go Pansear, and Let's Go Panpour.

n_o_s_a

Since 2000, as a small child. When the anime came out in my country, everyone and their uncle wanted pikachu plushies, collectible metal coins were in every bag of chips, and we all exchanged pokemon stickers and stamps with each other. Bootleg pokemon cards were everywhere (the actual cards were more expensive so were more rare, up to the point that the only legal cards I ever got were stolen from me... And I had a holo foil Alakazam.... ) It was hard to avoid being a fan in that short period of time haha. I think still have some of those silly toys from that era. I later got Crystal and a gameboy color during my semester long stay in the US... and when I came back, the local Pokemon boom was over! Suddenly Pokemon became passe. Curious how that works.

Darren

MissingnoMaster Spicy? That's a boiling hot take! No thank you! 😛

TheSludgeKing

I got into the series around the time of Diamond and Pearl. I believe my first game was Diamond, but I put way more time into Emerald and Leafgreen (because they were green). I played so much in the car to and from the public pool that I still associate the smell of chlorine with Pokémon. Some of my fondest childhood memories involve eating soggy sandwiches and exchanging rumors with kids at the pool.

My younger sister was actually the one who introduced me to it when we were both really young, and we started with the anime on Cartoon Network. I remember asking for the games because I saw ads on TV, and my dad warned me it probably wasn't like the series. Here we are decades later and I still play the games but don't watch the anime.

Darren

TheSludgeKing It's great to hear more about your start with Pokémon! Thanks for sharing them with us here 🙂

ValyceNegative

It's been 25 years... xD
Not much to say I think. I was 10! And it really was 25 years ago. I got introduced to Pokemon with the anime as I caught just the ending scenes of the first episode on TV, mistaking Pikachu for yet another one of those animal mascots common in majokko stories. What really got me into the fandom was the sticker album which I subsequently used as a Pokedex for my Blue version playthrough and then as reference material for drawing. As much as I like to remember me being into the fandom just for the games, it's interesting to notice that I got ushered into it by a different media.

Darren

ValyceNegative Was it these stickers? They were my entry point into the series, outside of the anime and learning about the TCG from classmates at school.

n_o_s_a

Darren wow these stickers look nostalgic. Never had ones exactly like those but pretty sure I had something similar too

macronemsis

Probably since I was 5. I was very much into the anime and I loved pikachu. Still do. I first game I had was Pokemon Crystal on a teal game boy color for my 6th birthday in 2001. I would check the pokemon website, I would try to get all the games initially (even though the different version had little difference). This would calm down a bit by the 4th generation, but I would try to get my brother into it. He didn't get into the series until like sword and shield.
I've sort of settled down a bit as a fan, but I've gotten a game every main release so far, and I still love the series and fans are doing cool things all the time.

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