Gotta catch 'em all - { Gaming in the 90's }

All right folks, my laptop is still at the tech (3 weeks already, such a bummer) and my mother’s laptop has gotten into my last nerves with its Blue Screen of the Death every half-hour. The deadline for the contest is nearing, and I’m absolutely not ready- even if I were to get my laptop on Monday, I doubt I could write and finish my post in time. I came up with the conclusion that I wouldn’t be able to participate in this round.

Bold of you to assume I had enough self-restraint.

Initially, I wanted to do a massive, super-flashy entry with my own graphics and everything- still do, but as time and resources are scarce, I felt compelled to borrow my work’s laptop and get to it with nothing, but the power of my special youtube playlist and google drive on my side. I’ll stand my mother’s useless machine for a while longer, as long as I’m able to pull off this post.

So. Grab your pokeball, get out the pokedex and don’t forget your trainer passport! Now outta way because MY TIME HAS COME!

-The Day plays in the background-

Wait, wrong anime.

Who hasn’t heard of Pokémon before?

What once started as a simple, non-ambitious 8-bit game made in 1996 is now an angular piece of the Game Culture, Anime Culture and even Pop Culture (naming a few contributions for the last one: Prepare for trouble and make it Double, Ash the Immortal, Surprised Pikachu, etc).

Of course, it couldn’t have grown so big without the continuous additions and tweaks on each release (Pokemon Breeders, Pokemon Coordinators, Mega Evolutions, to name a few), not only adding world-building but appealing to the young generations as well.

With its odd yet original premise, non-stop releases and multiples depictions on media, Pokémon does catch ‘em all.

As for me? I couldn’t afford a nintendo as a kid. My father could, once we reached middle-class status, but didn’t want to buy me one simply because I’m the middle child and people either think of me as granted, or don’t think of me at all, period. -Turns off the Daddy Issues switch-

I had to wait till 2014 to get a hold of my first, and only, nintendo console. And a few years more to get a hold of my first Pokémon game: Pokémon Sun & Moon. However, I had been exposed to the Pokémon phenomenon ages ago, thanks to the anime.

Before internet was a thing, TV was my only way of entertaining- I wasn’t allowed to leave the house often. I couldn’t go to my friend’s houses, I missed lots of hang outs to the point they stopped inviting me, so I found solace in cartoons, but mostly anime because there were many anime available back in the day. Heck, there was a whole TV channel dedicated to anime.

Pokémon was one of the first anime I saw. Not the first and undoubtedly not the one I enjoyed the most, but it was one of them.

As many children, I followed Satoshi’s (Ash Ketchum to the fam) adventures through Kanto, the Orange Isles, Johto, Hoenn and part of Sinnoh (as well as all the movies up to the one introducing Lucario). I then got too old for animes with 100+ chapters, didn’t stick around for the following seasons and graduated myself from the anime.

However, in a world where anime has been exploited to the point seasons from 12 to 25 chapters are the norm, the fact that Pokémon continues to release anime seasons with over one thousands of chapters without getting cancelled, speaks of its popularity. Not even worldwide favorites in the anime community like Magi: the Labyrinth of Magic, Boku no Hero Academia, Nanatsu no Taizai, Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV Anime), Shokugeki no Soma or Ao no Exorcist (to name a few) get to have seasons that last longer than 25 chapters.

It just doesn’t happens anymore with series that aren’t: a) shonen, and b) that don’t have a massive fanbase. And guess what? Pokémon has all that. Not even its main competitor, Digimon (which I personally like more anime-wise, since it hasn’t the same damn protagonist every season, but that’s just me) can pull that off.

Remember how crazy the world went with releases like Pokémon Go? Hoenn’s remake? And more recently, Detective Pikachu? To think that’s just a fraction of how big this fandom is… terrifying, I know.

One of my favorite artists (Surfaçage) became popular thanks to his contributions to the Pokémon Go fandom with his webcomic “And the World will turn to Ashes”. Not only that, but multiples singers have done their renditions and parodies in the past and present day- NattleWantsToBattle, in particular, is very known for his early Pokémon parodies.

I’ll like to share my favorite, and most awesome, Pokémon covers (that I haven’t used as soundtrack for this post, anyways):

Training Hard
Hoenn’s Out
Viridian City
Pokémon Johto
Pokémon Theme

The Music on this post came to you thanks to the talented souls of: AmaLee, Jonathan Young & NateWantsToBattle.

As stated before, never did I have the opportunity to experience the blooming age of gaming; not even after obtaining my Nintendo DS, was able to experience it right away. Thankfully, I didn’t bore to death thanks to the R4, however it didn’t last long- I accidentally updated the DS, which rendered the R4 useless.

After this mishap, as I didn’t even know where I could get my hands on a new R4, my console served for the sole purpose of reading fanfics and, later on, listening to music on youtube.

When 2017 came by, so did my first game: Pokémon Sun & Moon.

It was the first game I ever bought, thus I went all-out and got myself the limited pack with the two games and an special case included. Ironically, it arrived near christmas eve and was very happy, because it meant I could spend basically a month off and focus only in playing.

When it comes to Legendaries’ design, I liked Solgaleo’s better, but chose to play the game with Lunala (Moon) first due more personal tastes that got in the middle, haha.

I loved the game.

Sure, it was frustrating that the repellent didn’t seem to work, and that people kept challenging me every three minutes, and yes, I screwed my only chance of catching Necrozma. But I absolutely enjoyed the game. Then again, I didn’t lose a single challenge until I had to face the Elite Four, and caught Lunala in my first try with only a RapidBall, so my opinion may be a little biased.

The only thing I’m still. not. over. with, is that a Cutiefly nearly twenty levels below my starter, did a better job than the Captains themselves and whipped the floor with my entire party. These tiny shits ain’t joking around.

Of course, this was way back when I was still clearing Melemele. I had limited options for Pokémon partners then, but still... yikes.

Fortunately, my party came forth. Occasionally, I switched Tsareena/Lunala with Salazzle or Alolan Meowth, but I overall stuck to Primarina, Lunala, Sylveon, Mimikyu and Vulpix.

Team Skull was meh, but gotta say their grunts’ design were nicer than the usual.

The plot of the game was interesting enough, most of the cast were likeable, I enjoyed goofing around with Hau and Lillie- I liked Lillie’s character development, I felt proud seeing her go from a runaway scaredy-cat, to someone able to stand up to her abusive mother. And I totally sobbed when I saw that Gladio showed up to the party in the final cutscene, even if it wasn’t for a long time.

Also, they nailed the soundtrack for the non-battles scenes.

So, if you want a fun ride with (mostly) likeable rivals and allies, LOTS of legendaries to catch, an easygoing professor who does lucha libre on his free time and is named after an Venezuelan liquor (I kid you not), the smuggest-looking Meowths, a meme-worthy and kawaii’d space cloud and talking Rotom, I suggest you check this title out.

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As I’m unable to make and show my own art (among other things) for this round, I’ll just wrap it up here. If I get lucky enough and my laptop is back by next week, I’ll try to add on all the other things I wished. For now, I bid you farewell with this epic rendition to the Pokémon Theme (with the original singer!)