Pokémon: Am I a Fan?

I'm sure everyone and their brother has been posting special blogs, videos, tweets, and streams to commemorate Pokémon Day, so I'm sharing my own perspective of the franchise: Am I a fan?

1995

The franchise was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995, and the first pair of games came out in 1996 for the Game Boy. I did not have a Game Boy or anything branded by Nintendo -- that wouldn't change until 2015 when my now-husband gave my my 3DS XL. 1996 was a rough year for me. My parents had gotten divorced the previous year when I was in fifth grade. In sixth grade, I was separated from my usual classmate friends for the first time and had to branch out. As a result, I gained one timid friend and grew apart from the others to a certain degree. They were in the "happier" classroom with the always-smiling female teacher, and I was in the... well, I was the good student thrown in with a bunch of the struggling, always-acting-out students who had the gruff, no-nonsense male teacher. The classroom was drab and distinctly darker with fewer and smaller windows than the other one. It often felt like a dungeon and I don't recall actually learning anything from that teacher -- I only have classroom memories when I was able to switch to the other classroom for specific subjects.

At this point in time, the only gaming I had access to was on my Sega Game Gear (as previously noted in the blog, I was obsessed with the Ecco games). There was also Computer Club after school, and we had educational adventure games to play -- but that was only for one hour once a week. I was really focused on honing my musical skills at the time, having been the youngest member of our school's jazz band to earn the right to a solo in one of our pieces because I was able to sightread it better than the three other saxophone players who were older than myself. Music was one of my escapes from the chaos of my home life and divided family. So were books and art.

I was aware that several of my classmates played video games, and my longtime childhood friend who lived two houses away shared an NES with her older brother. But a few rounds of Duck Hunt was all the exposure I had there -- she was more the sporty type, and that's probably why we grew apart in high school. A younger cousin kept his NES at my grandma's house, and an older cousin had a Sega Genesis. I had limited opportunities to play them, but enjoyed what I could.

I don't think I really became aware of Pokémon until the animated series started showing up on TV, and it just seemed far too childish for me to care about. I was more interested in Digimon -- because the Digimon could actually talk and were far more like friends than pets you kept trapped in balls and sent out to fight. A lot of the kids in the Digimon series didn't want their Digimon partners to fight at all, and that was something I felt made it distinctly better than Pokémon. To this day I still prefer Digimon to Pokémon, but have had very poor game experiences with the Digimon franchise -- most notably Digimon World: Next Order. I didn't understand the point of raising a Digimon for a few days just to have to start all over again. It was frustrating to say the least.

Why Yes, I DO Like Mudkip

My first Pokémon game was Alpha Sapphire in 2016. My husband picked it up along with Omega Ruby so we could both play and trade. It soon became clear that playing the 3DS was a struggle for his large hands, however, and I didn't play for much longer than he did. My starting Pokémon was Mudkip, and I played just long enough for him to become Marshtomp and then Swampert. The game felt tedious and overly formulaic. I hated constantly having to stop and battle trainers, and seeking aimlessly through tall grass to find more Pokémon.

My second Pokémon game was Moon, and again my husband bought both games right after they were released. He played further in Sun than I did in Moon before his hands gave up again. I loved Rowlet and his evolutions, Dartrix and Decidueye. I did not love the silly Z-move gimmick added to the game. That was a deal-breaker for me. While I still have both games if I want to revisit them, I don't feel very inclined to do so.

The next Pokémon game I tried was gifted to me for Christmas 2018. Let's Go, Evee! was something I was eager to try, mostly because of the companion-like relationship that reminded me more of Digimon. And the Pokéball Plus aspect was very intriguing to me. I was moderately disappointed because of how hard it was to use the Pokéball Plus to do anything except catch Pokemon. (Couldn't they have at least had a little card that said what movements/buttons were the equivalent of using a controller? Would that have been so terrible?) I didn't get very far in the game as a result, but the save data at least gave me a freebie in the next Pokémon game I played.

I am, of course, talking about Pokémon Shield. I was given Sword & Shield for Christmas 2019, along with a pretty Guide book (which has been invaluable in helping me find some items and what to expect in various story-important battles). I have been playing it for 2 months now, and I'm currently working on filling up my Pokédex and leveling up a team before I jump into the semi-finals of the Gym Challenge. The Let's Go, Evee! data allowed me to claim a special Eevee from an NPC that has the Gigantamax factor -- so there's that, at least. I also made the smart purchase of the Galar Region Pokédex book (which is somehow heftier than the Guide book!) and have been able to make the most of my teams with that info at my fingertips. I'm looking forward to the Expansion Pass with more areas and Pokémon. I think the part I enjoy most in this title is easily the Wild Area. It changes up the formula of previous games for the better!

So... Am I a Fan?

I guess so, but not a big one. I wouldn't say I feel the need to go out and burn hundreds or thousands of dollars on the Pokémon trading cards or other merchandise. I still enjoy a lot of other game franchises more than Pokémon, and I don't think that's going to change unless they actually put more effort into making Pokémon on par with today's games. They feel nostalgic, but not terribly difficult -- and I know that's because they're marketing to kids. Can you imagine, though, if Pokémon got the amazing graphics and open world elements of Breath of the Wild? That's the kind of thing I'd have expected from a game released on the Switch, but I guess they're going to keep their training wheels until it stops being lucrative.