Have you ever 'dipped out' of Pokémon?

[Houndoom229]

I dropped out of the franchise a little bit mid-gen 5 (I first got into it in 4). I played BW but missed out B2W2, something I attribute partially to almost all my friends growing out of the franchise. I never truly left per se, but I definitely wasn't as keen on it as before, due to having no one to discuss it with. It didn't last too long, and I was back into the franchise in time for XY, and have been a fan ever since.

 

[Gengarzilla]

I did play Gen I when both me and the franchise were young, but I didn't get into them at the time. I stopped playing so quickly (a few weeks) that I don't consider it my entry point. It wasn't until my teenage years when I played a Pokémon game and enjoyed it. The game that finally made me a Pokémon fan was Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team, after which I went into the new Gen IV entries for my real "first main game".

While Pokémon itself has always been an active part of my life since then, I definitely have felt some general fatigue and rising disinterest with the main series games ever since Gen VI, not helped by a slew of decisions from Game Freak that I disapprove of. Ultra Moon remains the latest main game I've bought; I skipped on Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee as well as Sword and Shield, this being the first time I knowingly passed up two entries in a row.
If it hasn't become clear enough, I am a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon fan first and foremost. It was this subseries that actually brought me back and I can say without exaggeration that it's the biggest thing keeping me tethered to the Pokémon train at this point.

 

[Nodqfan]

For both of mine, I attribute the fact that I was young at the time of both happening.

I dipped after Gen 1 for the dumbest reason possible I didn't think that there would be any more games so I missed out on Gens II and III and Diamond/Pearl/Platnium I got back into it when I got Soulsilver for Christmas the year it came out and I was reminded why I love the franchise so much, and I played every game from late Gen IV onward and loved everyone one of them I'm here till the day I die.

For the anime, it was also a dumb reason that made me stop me from watching was the fact that Misty was replaced by May because I was one of those that thought Misty was the greatest female character in Pokemon simply because she was first any replacement is lesser. Now I'm rewatching the anime via Hulu (Only in the Orange Islands arc, as of now so I'll get to see how the later companions compare when I get to them)

 

[Tood]

I don't think I've ever cut ties with the franchise completely, but I suppose the closest I've come to dipping out is from gen 7 to now? I've been following the news and games coming out of the franchise, but I'm most certainly playing the games a lot less than I used to, that's for sure. I do play GO and Masters, but only because they're games I can dip in and out of a lot more easily.

My courses at school have become a lot more intense over the past few years, so I can't really help it. But I'm in my last year of studies, so hopefully I'll have a lot more time once June rolls around.

Discussing the franchise is always something I'm down for though

 

[WyndonCalling]

That's an interesting secondary question, actually:

Has anyone 'dipped out' because of lifestyle changes/a different approach to mainstream gaming?

 

[Aulos]

I mean, I'm pretty sure I went through a phase as a preteen where after being teased about liking Pokemon for so long I convinced myself that I had moved on from it. The preteen phase for me was so bad. (Well, as was the entirety of my teenage years, lets be honest!) Other then that (which coincided with my loss of interest in the games with Ruby), I can't really think of anything like that happening, as in the end the only pair of GF Pokemon games I have never bought an entry from are LGP/E.

 

[CynthiaLover]

I had a brief fade-out during my middle school years, most notably 8th grade, which was probably around Gen 3's time. Granted, the reason for the fade-out was because I was being heavily bullied for even LIKING anything, much less Pokemon, and I was going through quite the psychological nightmare that landed me in the hospital several times. So, as a result of all that, I only played Sapphire in Gen 3 and I only have very vague memories of it. I rejoined midway through DP, just a few months prior to Platinum's reveal, as Diamond helped start rekindling the fire while Platinum drenched it in gasoline.

However, I may be heading back into a fade-out right now. Unless the DP remakes, if and when they come, can keep me interested, I may finally retire my Poke Ball belt, I'm starting to lose my desire to play Pokemon anymore. The painful shift in the anime after XY certainly didn't help my slowly increasing negativity toward the series. Other series are becoming more inviting, like Digimon and Monster Rancher, especially since they tend to have more mature themes (in Digimon's case, that's intentional, as we all know they've shifted gears from children to adults around the time of Cyber Sleuth, so their themes are getting more interesting to me due to the audience shift). Again, it largely depends on the success of the DP remakes, if and when they come. If they pull it off, then I'll probably rekindle that flame again, at least for the time, but if not, they may be my last hurrah. Seeing how it was DP and especially Platinum that got my fire back up, I do have some hope in that regard, as Pokemon has been a part of me since I was in grade school. It all depends on the upcoming next instalment, be it DP remakes or even Gen 9, whatever it may be may actually determine if I'll stick around or retire, as my Charizard tail flame is slowly but surely petering out.

 

[Emmy]

DP and BW really killed my interest in Pokémon for a while to the point where I only played BW2 & XY after SuMo brought me back on board.

 

[Cinnabar]

I really only lost some interest in the anime at times, but I have always picked it back up again.

 

[Chidamari Sketch]

The closest I've ever felt to straying away from Pokemon was around Generation 6; which, granted, also happened to be in the era where I was... and I'm sad to admit it, losing my edge on video games in general. While my opinions about the Kalos games have relaxed over the years, I still retain the sentiment that the games feel like they're really missing something. It's kinda ironic when I think about it: Gen 6 was the era that remade Hoenn, which is the posterchild region of what was my favorite generation for a long time, and gave the biggest blessings my two most favorite Pokemon of all time (Sableye and Mawile) have been desperately yearning for: Megas.

Kinda related to the topic, I eventually stopped being a frequent lurker of Smogon/Pokemon Showdown sometime after Pokemon Sun and Moon's release; albeit partially owing to a certain... scandal, in there. To be honest, I wasn't really that much into the competitive scheme moreso that my naive self just desperately wanted to be part of a community; I used to be flat-out obsessed with the PS chatroom.

 

[Our Wasted Years]

I played every DS main game and stopped at Ulta Sun and Moon since I dont have a Switch. But since Gen4 my interest in the entire franchise went downhill, I never enjoyed another game as much as I enjoyed the ones Gen 4. It wasn't until I had to quarantine this year that I finally played and finished Alpha Sapphire, Ultra Sun, X, and Black 2. I liked the Gen 3 remakes and the Ultra games, but again not as much fun as compared to Gen4 and those days for me. Unless Gen 9 is good, my interest will be probably gone for good.

 

[Penn251]

I've stayed with the games consistently and gotten at least one of each pair of games on release day since at least HGSS. I've been a consistent fan since at least '98 (that's as far back as I can remember lol).
I did take a long break from the anime, though. I finished Battle Frontier, but wasn't happy with the cast change and skipped most of DP and BW. I didn't watch XY until a few years ago, when it was on Netflix, and only started watching SM a year or so ago (I admit I was one of the ones who dismissed it for its art style, but I ended up liking it and its art a lot), and I'm catching up to Journeys. I'd love to see DP and BW nowadays, but I don't have a way to atm.

 

[RK9]

I haven't really like dipped out but I've had periods where I was like not in a "Pokemon phase" if that makes sense? This was mostly during the period of LGPE and the Gen 7 games. Now with SwSh and Masters my interest has certainly increased again.

Mostly this is because other than the games... there's no media for me. The manga has seen a drop in quality from what it used to be due to the release schedules, the anime, for years, doesn't give me what I seek in a Pokemon anime.

Which is the reason why I absolutely loved Twilight Wings It was a mini-series that delivered on what I like to see in a Pokemon anime. (And about a game I enjoy, no less.) I guess that if there was more media other than just the games, I'd have less of these periods.

 

[Norzan]

Dipped out after Emerald, came back for DPP, didn't stopped buying games up until ORAS, but after that i started to feel fatigue. And honestly that fatigue hasn't gone away and it's been like that for me since 2015.

I tried Sun but didn't even finished, didn't bothered with Ultra Sun and Moon, the Let's Go games and Sword and Shield. Honestly, i'm starting to hate how close the release dates have become since like, what, XY? I think it started even earlier. They ironically took a break in 2015, but it's too many games in one decade.

Unless they actually show something that looks amazing in the future, i highly doubt i'm getting out of this fatigue. It feels for now the franchise is on auto-pilot, doing just enough for most people, but not for me. Sword and Shield is the first generation that i told myself: "I actually don't care for that.", which is a shame.

 

[Silktree]

I haven't played SwSh at all (only watched my nephew) or played Masters much in about a year. Anime-wise, this series is unusual for me in that I'm actually watching it, but even that has changed (the Darkest Day arc was a turn-off and the Mewtwo episode was disappointing). I don't know what the future holds, but if the 25th anniversary has little to offer other than New Snap (which I won't buy a Switch for), that's sad.

My avatar proves that fan games can still pull off things Game Freak left to rot, though.

 

[Welkamo]

In the five or so years I've been into Pokémon, I've never "dipped out" of it in the sense that I dipped out of the general franchise. I sometimes "dip out" of playing games (meaning I have a lot of unfinished games), but I've always consistently been into the characters, world, etc.
I've also dipped out of trying to train my Pokémon competitively.

Has anyone 'dipped out' because of lifestyle changes/a different approach to mainstream gaming?

I definitely think dipping out of playing the games has to do with lifestyle changes. I place 50% of the blame on school, 50% of it on the fact that I've started to feel that every waking hour needs to be "productive": I need to learn languages, I need to write something, I need to draw something. Maybe, subconsciously, playing video games is "unproductive" in my book, so I can't possibly waste a whole day on playing video games.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

I lost interest in the games during Gen IV but I quickly got back into them with HGSS and Platinum. The anime however is a different story. I lowkey started to lose interest around the Hoenn Saga when the animation quality weirdly went down around the Kyogre/Groudon arc. I just never really got back into it since. I didn't like the pacing of the Battle Frontier arc and by the time the DP anime started up I was pretty much done with the franchise. However, once the remakes and Platinum release happened, then I started to gradually get invested in Pokémon again. I tried to get back into the anime but it just never stuck. I wasn't a fan of the BW anime too much and, controversially, didn't care for the XY anime either. I did actually watch a chunk of the Sun and Moon series which I found well-written, but I eventually dipped on it too. I think I just kind of grown out of the series, idk

Maybe I should reserve this for the controversial opinions thread, but I kind of miss when Ash had a grass/water/fire core as part of his team. I'm not a fan of a lot of his team-building, but anyways...

 

[Rocket Messiah]

I dipped out during the end of Primary School (11 years), mostly cause I started playing the Zelda Gameboy Games and the Wario Land. Then I started again when I discovered Pokémon Mystery Dungeon and never stoped then. I played everything, official games, hacks... even today. I replay almost every year all generations except 8.

The anime there was one time that I had to dipp out forcefully cause they stoped schedulling it on TV for almost two years. Then It was on and off, I watched it some saturdays. But when Diamond and Pearl started I watched it seriously. Then even now as awfull as it is I always keep an eye cause maybe it will get good.

 

[DawningWinds]

A little bit during early Gen 7. I still liked Pokémon and was interested in basically everything I'd been interested in since I first got into Pokémon (so anything that's not the manga), but I kinda just gave up on trying to keep up with new events for a period of time. Like, I didn't even know what Sun & Moon were called until after they released, and I didn't really care all that much at that time and I didn't even realize USUM existed until I came back, around the time of LGPE (not sure why then, maybe because of the Switch?).

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Yeah... from late 2016 to summer 2019. I still had my plushies but I ditched Pokémon. Its a long and embarrassing story and I was being immature