How do you think your life would change if it weren't for Pokemon?

[colours]

Would it be drastically different, or would not much change for you?

 

[El_]

I wouldn't be on this forum I suppose is the most obvious. But really, the Pokemon series, with all its inspirations for the character designs, lore, biology, culture, has influenced me to an extent as I've enjoyed researching these ideas. In a weird way, Pokemon has made me a better person.

I do believe my life would be very different, but not in a way I can predict far out. My life at the end of the 90s would be FAR different, bc I was very much into Pokemania at its height, so difficult to imagine what that would be like. Possibly, Digimon might be much bigger in a world without Pokemon, so maybe my interest would lie there to fill the void. Maybe even Monster Hunter?

I try my best to remember what it was like pre-1998-1999 for this scenario.

 

[Ebail]

That's a good question.

If I hadn't gotten into Pokemon I don't think my life would have ultimately been too different.

Now naturally I wouldn't have joined the forums for one, and as such I'd have missed out on meeting and making a few good friends here.

But beyond that I'm not sure, any friends I had irl, well we all shared interests we'd get into at the same time. So even if I didn't have Pokemon there I still connected with others via Dragon Ball and Yu-Gi-Oh!

The big thing I really take into account is how would I have spent my free time? I got into Pokemon only about a year after it's US debut so it can be rough to look at how things could be for me. It's always been a series that has caught my interest and keep me having fun even when I tried to get out of liking it.

If it wasn't for Pokemon I probably wouldn't even like rpgs where you explore or have to complete quests as much as growing up I never even thought about that when playing Pokemon, I just wanted to see what Pokemon I could encounter, and what the next gym would be like when I beat one.

So the short version to essentially repeat exactly what I said at the start of this post is, from a full life standpoint, no I don't think my life would be too different aside from meeting a few really great people (yeah you know I'm talking about one of you three if you're reading this)

But from a gaming standpoint I feel my life would be a lot different, and I probably wouldn't even have played video games as actively as I do.

 

[Cinnabar]

I really like the idea of this thread!

Personally, I discovered pokemon through browsing on Netflix one afternoon when I was in bed with a cold, and I instantly liked the entire idea and theme of it, so I decided to make it something that I paid attention to, kinda like a hobby. I don't see my life being any different other than not having any interest in it, or not being able to collect all of the stuff I already have.

I most definitely would not be on this forum, that's for sure!

 

[Tactician Karina]

Eh it wouldn't be different for me I'd say. While I like Pokémon, Fire Emblem is still the top Nintendo game series for me, and really the difference would be that I wouldn't browse/log in on Pokémon forums. I've also been talking about FE for years with my closest friends, similarly with Touken Ranbu after I got into the game and anime in 2016, because the lore and characters are more interesting to me, if I didn't like Pokémon as much it still wouldn't change.

Honestly, I think I'm only into Pokémon because my father got Red version for me for my birthday when I was younger, and it was different from FFIV (the first RPG I've ever played with my father) so the idea of catching cute fantasy creatures appealed to me at the time. Of course I branched out into other RPG's and genres, so while I still played the newer Pokémon games other games just caught more of my attention and itch that I needed scratched, Pokémon is still that fun and cute game series I stay with for the cute critters and occasional human character that catches my eye though.

But yeah my life wouldn't change at all if I wasn't into Pokémon, it'd either be a series I would've gotten around to eventually later in life if I didn't get Red years ago, or I probably would've ignored it because there are still other monster catching/recruiting games to play (and some I actually do like more than this series).

 

[hanecco]

My life would be pretty different, although I suppose there might have been something else to fill the void and push me towards who I am today. I wouldn't have enjoyed the last years of primary school much without Pokemon, that's for sure; it let me make a lot of new friends and gave me something I could truly enjoy.

I wouldn't be interested in Japan and its culture without Pokemon, which means that I wouldn't be learning Japanese, and I wouldn't have developed an interest in anime (although I'm pretty ambivalent towards anime now). Also, I wouldn't have learnt to program so soon: my motivation to start programming was literally so I could make my own Pokemon game, haha.

The moment I saw Pokemon, I liked it pretty much instantly, even though I barely knew the game's controls or even the premise at the time. I don't think it would be different if I only discovered it later in life.

 

[KaylaBaraonda]

I would have distracted myself through other stuff, thus having other fandoms.
Maybe I would have "discovered" the Caucasus earlier, but it would'nt be much different otherwise.

 

[Daenerys]

My life would probably be about the same, except that I wouldn't have spent thousands of dollars on Pokemon merchandise and I wouldn't have spent so much of my free time on forums like this one.

 

[Rainami]

well...pokemon is one of the few things I'm very passionate about. If I didn't have pokemon, I don't know what I would be so passionate about in its place, if anything. I have also met lots of people through pokemon, including various friends who are very dear to me. If I didn't have pokemon, I never would have met them. I'm quite grateful for pokemon.

 

[Max1996]

well...pokemon is one of the few things I'm very passionate about. If I didn't have pokemon, I don't know what I would be so passionate about in its place, if anything. I have also met lots of people through pokemon, including various friends who are very dear to me. If I didn't have pokemon, I never would have met them. I'm quite grateful for pokemon.

Me too.

 

[Aulos]

I don't know for sure. I feel like Pokemon really ramped up my interest in video games, but I don't know how true that really is, as I was obsessed with games like Mario Kart 64 before that point. I know that it for sure got me into handheld gaming. Every Gameboy game I tried before Pokemon Red was too frustrating (like Super Mario Land. Its difficulty and lack of ability to save really drove me away from it), but then with Pokemon Red I was hooked.

How much would it have effected me in general, though? I can't answer that question. Pokemon has been in my life for twenty years, since elementary school. I can't really think of anything major it did in my life, but it's been there for so long removing it is an unknown. Like what if never having played it somehow kept me from getting interested in other series that did effect my life, like Kingdom Hearts? (which, long story short, has a piece of music that led me to discovering a cover of it by an individual who ended up inspiring me to pick up the oboe, which got me back in school and got me to my Bachelor's degree), but it's too hard to make that connection.

 

[Parissong]

I would probably lose my sense of childlike wonder and drive for imagination sooner than later. Besides, it's a community I am a big part of (Bulba's and several others), so I think my life would be pretty different without my lovable pocket monsters.

 

[BackSet]

Well, for me to have never gotten into Pokemon a lot of things would have to be different in the firts place. I might never have made the friend who introduced me to the series. I might have gone to a different school. Heck, I might even have been mentally stable. However, if we keep everything the same up until the event where I bought Pokemon Y, my first Pokemon game, I'd have probably gotten into Pokemon at a later date anyway.

 

[colours]

I suppose it wouldn't be a stretch to say that my entire life would be different if it weren't for Pokemon.

I wouldn't have met my IRL two best friends, for example, who have managed to become a big part of my life in more ways than one. I wouldn't have found online Pokemon forums to talk to other people on. It's... kinda hard to wrap my mind around how different my life would be. I'd imagine I would be worse off, if anything. There's just so many factors that would change if Pokemon never existed in my life that I might've been a slightly different person, in a way.

Crazy how much of an effect these games have had on me to this day...

 

[typewild]

In all honesty, my life would be drastically different if I was never introduced to Pokemon. It was actually my first fandom ever. In third grade, my friend had a huge obsession over it, and drew me in. As we grew older, her interest died down, while mine was still growing. I remember spending hours reading over random Bulbapedia articles just for fun, and to this day I just happen to know a plethora of random Pokemon facts. Later on, Pokemon opened the door to my dozens of other obsessions. Some things that I believe that I will always retain from Pokemon are the sense of adventure it gave me as a kid, the lessons about friendship, and the optimism of the anime protags.

 

[Felly]

Honestly, probably a lot.

I've met so many people and learned so much through Pokemon alone. It's one of the main series that got me into gaming and also sparked interests in writing and art. I joined forums because of Pokemon. I'm not sure I'd have those same passions if it wasn't for Pokemon. I'm not sure where I'd be at, but I don't think it'd be here.