How did you get into pokemon?

[Peachy]

So we all love pokemon here. But I want to know how you got into the addicting series.
My parents bought me Shadows of Almnia to get me to stop fighting to play my Bros games. That lead me to where I am now. So whats your story?

 

[UnovaCastaway]

My neighbors introduced me to their TCG collections back in 1999. Then I saw their Game Boy games.

... Darn you, neighbors! :banana:

 

[Pidgeot]

Well, around 2002, two of my cousins introduced me and my brother to some TCG cards, and then after that we got Pokemon toys, cards, watched the anime, but only started playing the games three years later in 2005.

 

[Joshawott]

Bloody hell we're going back...12 years? xD

I remember when I was younger, my older brother got the Nintendo Official Magazine (As it was called then). After the massive launch the games had in the United States in 1998, Nintendo UK were obviously hoping the same as the advertising for Red/Blue was, if I remember, pretty big. So we asked Mum to get us the games for Christmas (1999 - the year the games launched in the UK) with a Gameboy each. One image that still sticks out for me was a conceptualised drawing of a Primeape in the magazine - that was probably the first Pokémon I ever saw.

It was obviously the "Must-Have" item of the year, as there were news reports showing forklift trucks moving massive stacks of Red and Blue game boxes from warehouses and the only colour Gameboy Colour Mum could still get was the transparent purple (which I'm actually looking at right now). When we went back to school after the Christmas holidays, everyone was talking about it. Then with the release of the anime and the TCG, things took control (I remember there being a huge wait for the TCG to get in stock; obviously, magazines were covering all the items America gets and stuff beforehand).

 

[Space Opera]

My cousin introduced me to the franchise back when I was a child, and my parents got me Red, Blue and Yellow soon afterwards. I remember being a huge fan of the TCG, trading cards with him whenever I could, and it seemed like everywhere I went, people would be playing R/B/Y, so I was happy staying with the series. It's now over a decade later, and I'm still a huge fan. None of my friend still play any more, though.

 

[Enzap]

Back in... 99(?) I was flipping through the channels at my grandma's house and discovered a bright and colorful show (I was only like 4 at the time). I began watching it every Saturday morning and never stopped since.

 

[Opal]

I'm not entirely sure how I knew I wanted the game but aged 4 or so, a couple of months after it came out in the UK, I asked for a Gameboy Color and Pokémon Blue. I know that by then my poor mother really had to shop around to even find one, they were that popular. After that my childhood was full of games, cards and the anime as well as a bedroom full of merch.

 

[GatoRage]

I think it was the TCG.
Then me and my brother got Pokemon Stadium and later a GameBoy Color and Pokemon Blue. I'm pretty sure it's in that order but I might be remembering it wrong since it was so long ago.

 

[Ebail]

Some of my friends were playing R/B in school, and one of them let me try his game and I thought it was pretty fun. Ended up getting Yellow for Christmas that year, and loved it. Been a fan ever since.

 

[Peachy]

I am very new to Pokemon. I was just over a year old when Red and Blue came out. And my parents didn't let me get into video games until I was seven. So I got the tail end of the Game Boy craze. My first main series game was Platinum.

 

[Hazed]

So after reading all of your post I can say that I am very new to Pokemon. I was just over a year old when Red and Blue came out. And my parents didn't let me get into video games until I was seven. So I got the tail end of the Game Boy craze. My first main series game was Platinum.

My first series game was Platinum too! Even though I got to know Pokemon from Crater

 

[Hazed]

I started Pokemon when I was 7...
How 'bout you?

 

[Georgie Pie]

Let's see... when I was four years old, I had the BIGGEST crush on my neighbor's older brother. XD He was really into Pokémon at the time, and I wanted to do stuff he liked. My neighbor and I would make paper doll Pokémon and have battles that her older brother would serve as judge for, and we watched the show all the time.

Eventually, I wanted to play the games as well. My mom told me she wouldn't buy a GameBoy for me, but she let me sell my deluxe doll house to buy one. (Yes, I got enough cash from that house for a GameBoy! Ah, how times have changed...) I have to admit, I was pretty proud of myself for buying a GameBoy all on my own! For Christmas that year my grandmother bought me Blue version, and the rest is history. XD

That was close to 14 years ago now!! D: I feel old... ;_;

 

[The Knights of Wario Land]

I was 15, and I randomly one day decided to blow my $40 on SoulSilver.

My life has never been the same since.

 

[Zspara]

When I was about 4, I obtained a book with Pokémon descriptions. Later I bought Blue, Sliver and Sapphire and quickly became a Pokémon maniac.

 

[Blazing Charmander]

Nintendo Official Magazine

This is exactly what introduced me to Pokemon when the craze hit the UK. :-D Having gotten into video games fairly late into the 90's, I started to collect Nintendo Official Magazine every month; I remember that my very first issue had Mario Party on the cover due to the fact that it was being reviewed in that issue. I must have read that issue to death due to my fascination of Mario Party after having been captivated by Super Mario 64 just months before, and another article that caught my attention due to the presence of Mario was a preview for Super Smash Bros. If I remember correctly, that was also my first ever sighting of anything to do with Pokemon because of Pikachu being a playable character.

The magazine also used to run a feature every month that briefly previewed upcoming games that had been released in Japan. I can't remember if this was also in the same issue as is mentioned above, but there was a preview for a Japanese game going by the name of 'Pikachu Genki Dechu' (which would later be released in American territory only, going by the name of 'Hey You Pikachu'). This game stood out to me because of its unique aspect of implementing a microphone to interact with characters, and most of all because of the presence of a familiar yellow rodent with red cheeks and electric powers. From then on I guess I must have tuned myself in to anything that the magazine offered in the way of news about this Japanese craze known as Pocket Monsters, and the next memory that I have relating to Pokemon is a comic strip of the first episode of the anime that came free with one issue of the magazine, serving as a preview to the then upcoming brand new show. That got me hooked on the show, which later led to me having my first Pokemon games.

 

[Wis]

My god-mother and god-father bought me a GameCube for my birthday and on the back of the box of the GameCube, I saw this weird creature. I was curious and I searched what game had that creature and it happened to be Pokemon Colosseum. I got the game a few weeks later and after that I have been trying to drown myself in everything Pokemon.
Btw the weird creature was Exploud.

 

[chimera]

My friend explained it to me when when I was five or so, and I watched the anime. I didn't really get into it for a while, though.

 

[ルカリオ]

I hated the anime when it first came out, because of that ubiquitous annoying yellow rat. I was pressured by a friend to try the games. So I picked up Blue... the rest, as they say, is history. Twelve years later, and I still hate AYR.

 

[Lifestream]

I've been watching the anime for as long as I can remember. Then I saw there was a Pokemon game: Pokemon Yellow. Got it, and I've been a maniac since. =)