My life with Nintendo (Part 1: The Game Boy and Pokémon)

This feature, in short, is about my life with Nintendo. I may have started late in the company’s long run of systems, but there’s no denying that Nintendo is a large part of my gaming life, even if it’s not the main focus. Today, I’m going to talk about my time with the Game Boy, and Pokémon – my greatest Nintendo obsession.

My obsession with Pokémon began in 1998 when the original show was airing on Saturdays on WB (now called the CW). This was even before they repeated everything the day after. They stopped doing that a few months later. The first episode I saw was the one where Ash was facing some trainer with a Parasect and Charmeleon refused to obey him and got owned by said Parasect. I don’t recall the name of the episode though (but I’m sure someone knows it).

I was pretty much hooked from there. I started watching the show weekly, eagerly awaiting the episode where they had a really cool Pokémon battle. As we all knew, it took at least three episodes for a battle against a gym leader to take place, yet when it did, it was the coolest thing on earth.

My obsession with the show lasted me through the original series, into the Orange Island series, the Johto series, and the first few movies. After some time, I somewhat outgrew the show and it became pointless to watch.

During my time watching the show, however, I became obsessed with various Pokémon items. The first element was the trading cards. My dad collects baseball cards and he occasionally attended venue shows to pick up cards he needs, boxes for cheap, etc. This year was the premiere year of the Pokémon Trading Card series made by Wizards of the Coast here in the United States.

I started collecting the cards religiously. I still have all my cards to this day as well, in a giant bucket in my room. Foil cards were the coolest thing, but getting the rare/powerful cards was the real deal. As it later turned out, the Pokémon cards were the best way to get sneak peeks at all the new generations of Pokémon. I would attend these venue shows for trading cards and hunt for Japanese cards where the new Pokémon had already been released.

Today I don’t collect the cards anymore. I make use of them occasionally, if a friend challenges me or we feel like “going back in time” and having some fun. Nowadays, my two younger brothers religiously collect the cards.

My biggest and greatest Pokémon obsession started in 1998 for my first communion (don’t ask…). I was given a red Game Boy Pocket and a copy of Pokémon Red Version. I adored it. I thought it great to be able to own Pokémon. Soon my brother received the Blue Version and we started competing and trading. I was in possession of the Yellow version as well, though for it wasn’t nearly as fun as original games, mainly because you couldn’t break it and do the Missingo trick. Then again, having Pikachu as your starting Pokémon was amazing.

A few years later Silver and Gold versions were released. I thought Lugia looked more impressive than Ho-oh, so I bought the Silver version while my brother purchased Gold. Now this game… I was obsessed with: I put in over 200 hours into a single save before starting over. I trained 4 out of my 6 main party Pokémon to level 100 and even received a Celebi through a friend of mine. Hey, does anyone remember the neat cloning trick you could pull with that game?

The sheer amount of content in the game amazed me. The fact that the title didn’t end after defeating the Elite Four and instead had you return to Kanto where you were in Red & Blue was amazing, especially facing all of the old gym leaders. Soon after my purchase, I persuaded a friend in my neighborhood to join in on the fun and another friend of mine bought the game. This friend and I became huge “rivals”, constantly trying to one up each other in battle. It’s something that, due to SoulSilver, had returned.

For me, the Pokémon games were the only reason to own a Game Boy system. Sapphire version was the only reason I payed money for a GBA, and the only reason I’ve been interested in the DS is thanks to SoulSilver. I’m using my sister’s DS at the moment, but getting my own would be awesome. It’s worth noting here that I didn’t own many other Gamy Boy games. I had a Sonic the Hedgehog game, and one or two Yu-Gi-Oh! titles, but Pokemon was the end all be all for me and the Game Boy.

Today, I don’t play SoulSilver as much, but that’s probably due to the fact that it’s my sister’s DS and, well, out of sight out of mind essentially. Although, when the 3DS arrives, I’m going to be all over that. Plus, with the new Black and White versions set to do something new with the franchise, I’ll probably fall right back into my obsession with the series.
In the end, Pokémon has been something that has been with me nearly my entire life. It’s something I cherish deeply and for some reason, will likely never give up. It’s simply too much fun.

What are your favorite memories involving Pokémon?

Before I end today’s post, though, there is one other non-Pokemon game that deserves special mention here: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons. It is fact one of the only other games I’ve really enjoyed for the Game Boy, as well as a Zelda game I actually enjoyed playing (at this time in my life, I wasn’t a huge Nintendo fan)! The combat is easy and the puzzles were fun, not to mention I enjoyed collecting items and discovering new areas. It was all around a fun experience.

What are some of your best memories with the Game Boy?

Next time I’ll be talking about my time with what some believe to be the greatest console of all time… the N64! Stay tuned!