Your Pokémon Memories

[Rocket Messiah]

This is a thread for the nostalgics.

Tell one of your memories related to Pokémon games,anime or even the Trading Card game.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

Trying to play my copy of Pokémon Silver without my Nyko Worm Light to make the screen brighter

Ahhh!!! The nostalgia is real! The entire GSC era of the franchise is super nostalgic for me in general. Given a chance and I'd probably write a thesis on it.

 

[Insanish Danish]

as a small kid during the days of the Unova anime

Ouch, that makes me feel ancient

I have so many fond memories of Pokemon from across the years. I remember begging my mom for Pokemon cards, and her bringing to me the store to buy my very first booster pack after school on my last day of first grade. I remember being elated when I found out that Pokemon had a TV show and watching it obsessively that summer. I remember going back to school for second grade and my entire grade being obsessed with it. My classmates and I traded the cards, we talked about whatever episode of the anime we had watched before school that morning, we brought in all kinds of memorabilia like books, toys, etc. to show each other...man that was just such an incredible time in my life and it kills me knowing I can never get it back. Hell, I have strong nostalgia from when I got back into Pokemon in 2007 and re-immersed myself in that world, reading and writing Pokemon fanfic, playing all the games I missed, rewatching the old seasons of the anime and catching up on the new ones, joining this site and meeting so many amazing friends including my significant other of the past 12 years...god I'm such a nostalgic sap

Oh I have one memory in particular I just remembered!! This happened over 20 years ago but I still get so mad when I think about it lol (I'm going to put this under a spoiler tag because this is already getting pretty long)

Spoiler

So when I was a kid I went to the day camp that my school offered during the summer, and there was this one girl there who I just could. Not. Stand. At all. She was incredibly stuck-up and was just really nasty to almost everyone, she was awful. So anyway this summer, when Pokemon was really big, my friend (who didn't attend the camp) gave me his Zapdos card to borrow (in hindsight, this was an incredibly bad idea, but we were kids, okay?) and I showed it to my friends at the camp and was like "yeah my other friend let me borrow it, isn't it cool?" Not long after, the aforementioned girl I hated came stomping over and she said, "Ummmm, that's my card and you stole it!" and me and my friends were like, "Um...no?" So this girl yelled "I'M TELLING" and went off to tell one of the camp counselors, who then came over and said, "Dana, [Redacted] told me you stole her Zapdos card. That's not okay, you have to give it back." And I was just, like, so utterly flabbergasted and I was starting to cry because I've always been an angry crier lol. I kept saying over and over that I never even touched this other girl's cards and that my friend had just lent it to me so I couldn't give it to this girl even if I wanted to, and my friends kept backing me up, but it didn't do any good and the counselor FORCIBLY TOOK THE ZAPDOS CARD OUT OF MY CARD BINDER and handed it to the girl who was just standing there smirking the entire time. Now if I had known any better I might have made a bigger stink about it (bad enough if that was my own card, but now I had to tell my friend that his shit had been stolen??), but I was young and I was just so humiliated that I never brought it up again. To my friend's credit, he didn't blame me and was just angry at the stupid girl who made that shit up just because she wanted her own Zapdos card, but this STILL makes me seethe with rage even though I'm much older now.

 

[Norzan]

Idk is 10 years ago so long ago? It's quite strange, even for me. I have lots of nostalgia for unova, despite starting the games with Alpha Sapphire.

Because it's very sobering hearing about people claiming that a specific game is from their childhood and that game came out when a lot of the fans that started playing since Gen 1 were adults. It makes a lot of people, myself included, feel old, even though we are still young,


I vividly remember how i got into pokemon (this was in 2000) because it was literally just me asking for a friend to play something on their Gameboy Color and it was Pokemon Yellow. And i believe i somehow ended up keeping that Yellow copy and it's somewhere in my house (i can't currently find it).

 

[Neo Blaze]

Anime:
I remember the very first episode I ever saw, which was "The Bridge Bike Gang", but in general I have fond memories of watching the Original Series, especially on like Sunday mornings. I specifically remember watching "Love, Totodile Style" on one morning right before me and my parents left to go on holiday.

I also have specific memories of when I first started to keep track of what was happening in the anime in the newest episodes in Japan. That was around late AG. I remember reading about the Japanese title of AG117, "With Haruka Delicious, Get Gonbe!!" and speculating about it (I wasn't active in online Pokémon communities yet back then though). I already knew what Pokémon Munchlax was by that point, but the thought of a main character getting a brand new Pokémon from a new region was kind of mindblowing to me.

Other fond memories are related to the Pokémon movies. I wasn't really part of the Mewtwo Strikes Back hype sadly (didn't see it in theaters either), but I owned Spell of the Unown: Entei and Celebi: Voice of the Forest on VHS and I watched both of these over and over, never getting tired of them.

Games:
I sadly never had a GameBoy, so I don't have the same memories or fondness most people of my age would have for it and its Pokémon games. My first Pokémon game was Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness on GameCube so I have a lot of fond memories of that. I remember reading a lot of information about the game on Serebii, and before I owned the game I thought that you would start the game with a Salamence (this was just a simulation cutscene though, sadly). I also have fond memories playing this game with friends, and getting some Pokémon otherwise unobtainable in XD through my friend's GameBoy and Link Cable (I remember I got a Venusaur, a Golem and a Tentacruel. In return I helped this friend fill his PokéDex in FireRed/LeafGreen). I also remember what Pokémon I used. I didn't balance my teams back then, so I just beat most of the game with Zangoose and Houndoom that I both got to lvl. 100. Sadly I lost this game file

My first handheld game was Blue Rescue Team on DS Lite. I have some fond memories of that, although I had a hard time beating the game. My first main series game was Diamond, and I started that game with Turtwig. I specifically remember when Turtwig evolved into Grotle. I also bought an Action Replay at some point, which broke down after only a few months I think (probably for the best). I did hack a Shiny Dragonite that I still have and I've since sent all the way to Sword (nope, I don't use it in online battles). I have tons of fond memories of the Pokémon games after that, but the best memories are related to the pre-game hype, like learning about new Pokémon and new features.

TCG:
I never played the TCG game itself, but I did own a lot of cards. I would trade these with classmates on the schoolyard. I looked forward to this everyday and it was definitely a big motivation to go to school. In one class I even had a really cool (female) teacher who joined in with trading cards. Around that time I really hated going to the dentist (what kid doesn't), so to motivate me, me and my mom would go to the toy store and buy a new pack of Pokémon cards every time I was a good kid at the dentist. I still own an album of all my old Pokémon cards, and a couple of Pokémon cards (Base Set Mewtwo and others) have a permanent place on my nightstand.

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[Daren]

Defeating Brandon in Emerald. Making my way through the Pyramid with Salamence, Starmie, and Slaking. Salamence got defeated on the way up, but I reach the top. Starmie beats Regirock but goes down to Regice, so I send in Slaking.
He has a Choice Band and with Registeel in the wings I have no choice but to use earthquake. I'm not expecting to pull through but Slaking does it. Easily the most memorable battle victory, and I love the fact it was Norman's Ace that pull off the win.

Also playing the original Mystery Dungeon. The game actually caught me off guard with the plot once, which was a nice surprise. I wasn't expecting a Pokémon game to get that dark.

 

[Welkamo]

I've got a lot, but here are some highlights:
- My first time playing a Pokémon game - walking around during the summer, catching my first Pidgey
- Thinking that "Someone's PC" meant "Some stranger in real life's PC" and not "an NPC's PC"
- Getting Butterfrees in my stomach when I so much as read Pokémon fanfiction/the Bulbapedia article for Gracefulshipping
- Becoming a multishipper because of the Steven and Wallace event in Pokémon Masters (I distinctly remember I was at the restaurant at Epcot's Italy pavillion) ("I can ship Wallace with Winona. I can ship Wallace with Steven. Heck, I can ship Wallace with Siebold if I want! I am unstoppable!")
- Watching the Binacle episode of the XY anime
- Playing Ultra Sun over the Thanksgiving break of that year
- Showing my English teacher my fanfiction when I was first getting into Pokémon
- Writing so much angst in the February of 2019
-The EMOTIONS from watching the GOTCHA! music video???? I think I almost started crying. I couldn't stop talking about it.

I could go on and on and on

 

[Rocket Messiah]

I will start with how I played Pokemon Diamond for the first time:

I remember how I went to see the Simpsons Movie to the cinema and then I remember how I say "Hey let's go to the video rental store" and then I saw it "Pokémon Diamond" I rented it for 3 days and I remember how there was already a save file that was saved in Iron Island and they an Infernape and Luxray among others. So I started a new game and I remember choosing Empoleon and in my team I had Luxray and Kricketune (I wonder why?). I had real fun and I reach Galactic HQ. But then I had to return it. I was so sad.

Thankfully two weeks later I bought it and I never stoped playing it. (Until Platinum arrived of course.)

Next time How I lied to play Pokémon Fire Red for free.

 

[Welkamo]

Next time How I lied to play Pokémon Fire Red for free.

 

[wanderist]

Picking up Soulsilver again after years of not caring about Pokemon and getting sucked back in more than I was before during a rough summer break just before high school.

Battling Red on a whim not expecting to win and somehow pulling it off.

Getting through Black/White and loving it after hearing all kinds of negative things about them. Not realizing how much I loved N until he left.

Playing XY the night of release with my best friend at the time who I met through our love for the games and staying over at her house after a release cycle of hyping each other up and speculating together.

Getting way more attached to Lillie than I ever expected to.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Watching XY at a friend's house on Netflix. Actually, watching XY on Netlfix before I dropped it. Ah, nostalgia.

 

[Welkamo]

That's brave to show your english teacher your fic! I'd never do that, mostly because I'm a guy, so I feel like it's not expected of me to write cheesy shipping stuff, and I'd be embarrased I suppose.

Granted, I didn't show her the cheesy shipping stuff (it was a journey fic), but I wrote a lot of "angsty shipping stuff". Also I was a very brave kid back then.

My Japanese teacher showed us the GOTCHA! video. I had seen it before, but whenever I see it it really just....motivates me, somehow. Like a feeling of 自分の「ポケモンマスター」になれるよ！

That's so cool! It's such an uplifting video, and it makes me want to jump up and go on an adventure.

 

[Aulos]

I remember learning about Pokemon while talking to some kid from another campsite in the summer of 1999. I got Pokemon Red shortly thereafter. I had no idea what I was coming into. I hadn't really ever been able to enjoy a Gameboy game before that point. But then I became addicted, and the rest is history. Lol.

I remember being obsessed with the Pokemon anime in the first generation. I remember early on that episode where Ash is attacked by Spearows and Pikachu sacrifices himself or something just absolutely destroying me back then. LOL. I don't even remember the details and if I got it right recalling it. I haven't seen that episode since.

I remember the hype leading up to Gold/Silver being incredible. I remember visiting websites (one of the first times I remember ever being able to use the internet) and seeing the full Pokedex for G/S in a school computer lab. LOL. I remember finding a strategy guide for G/S made by an English individual who played through G/S in Japanese. I remember reading the entire thing obsessively and still enjoying Gold when I got it to the fullest even still. And then Crystal came out and I finally got to play as my own gender! Neat.

Then many years later (nearly a decade) I remember getting Diamond (yes, I did play Ruby... Several years before. I don't have too many memories with it) and playing it during the summer after my freshman year of college. It's very nostalgic to me, because it was a summer where I got to spend a lot of time with friends. I remember I listened to a radio station back then that played older music (70s mainly) and they played ELO's Telephone Line on occasion and that song reminds me of that time and Diamond because of the Route music that has a very similar melody (Route 204 IIRC?). lol.

I remember getting X the moment it came out, since I worked at a grocery store and my break was at midnight. Lol. Pokemon X reminds me of that fall, but not a lot of memories are actually related to it. Not to put it down, I like X/Y a lot more than many members on this forum and I think they are the strongest games post Gen V.

I remember when Pokemon GO took over everywhere in 2016. Even my workplace. Nearly everyone was playing it at work and it was so hilarious to watch. Especially watching adults much older than me playing it, who you know just hopped on the bandwagon with no experience in Pokemon before.

I'm no fan of Sun/Moon, but I have memories leading up to them. 2016 was a major memorable year for me since I transitioned out of my depressing night job and back into college. I remember I had just moved out and didn't have internet in my apartment yet so I was keeping up with all of the news on my phone for a while there. I remember when Alolan Marowak was revealed and I had to see that on my phone and thus couldn't really comment here IIRC, but I was still so excited.

Then I remember when Pokemon Sword/Shield came out. It was when I was recovering from a surgery on my foot. By the point the games came out I was "allowed" to walk and out of my cast, but, boy... I couldn't do it for a few days even still. I remember trying to stand up and keep balance right after being on my couch playing the game. I know the memories not related to the game itself, but oh well. Still a strong memory for me there.

 

[ToxicWhiskers]

I remember when Colosseum came out and Nintendo were hosting these little preview events at cinemas up and down the country so people could try it out on the big screens. I went with my brother and one of his friends and it was fun. We got goodie bags with free figurines and cards and other bits.

Also, when Detective Pikachu came out, we went to see it at our local IMAX (my brother's idea) and there were two staff members, one of whom was in a Pikachu mascot suit going around for photo opportunities. Before we went in, we saw them with this one family where a little girl in a Pikachu onesie was having her picture taken and she thanked the person in the suit by hugging them. It was one of the cutest things we'd seen in ages.

 

[colours]

i miss pokemon battle revolution. no really, i do. i suppose the price might've been a bit steep even for its time; it was like, $40 or some such for what was essentially a whole extra battle frontier of a game. it didn't have a story to speak of, so all it had was battling. which was fine with me, because that was really all i cared about, and man, was it super fun! i remember how happy i felt transferring my gen 4 team over and seeing them on the big screen. kinda wild to think that's kind of a thing you can do casually today.

there's a lot more, but i think that stuck out at the very moment out of most of my memories.

 

[Mickaeldbs]

When I was able to go buy Pokemon Emerald in a video game store, the first game I bought was Pokemon

 

[Steel_Justice]

Gen 1: Beating gym leader castle in stadium. Elementary school me found it pretty tough since I wanted to challenge myself by not using Mewtwo or any other legendary Pokemon. Was gonna call quits after beating the rival but when I saw you can get extra starters among other things I just had to do it again. Before I knew it I had half a dozen of nearly every one of those prizes stashed in the N64 battery.

Gen 2: Beating Whitney with my Graveler. Whitney was and probably still is infamous for her Miltank bullying everyone with rollout. Friends of mine were scratching their heads on how to beat it. When I got there I just self-destructed my Graveler on it for a OHKO and laughed all the way to the next gym. Guess picking Chikorita does have benefits I probably wouldn't have been running Graveler otherwise. Then again Chikorita hardly did anything for most of the game.

 

[Rocket Messiah]

i miss pokemon battle revolution. no really, i do. i suppose the price might've been a bit steep even for its time; it was like, $40 or some such for what was essentially a whole extra battle frontier of a game. it didn't have a story to speak of, so all it had was battling. which was fine with me, because that was really all i cared about, and man, was it super fun! i remember how happy i felt transferring my gen 4 team over and seeing them on the big screen. kinda wild to think that's kind of a thing you can do casually today.

there's a lot more, but i think that stuck out at the very moment out of most of my memories.

That game was amazing ,sending your Pokémon from DP with the ones from Saphire and Leafgren to there and see them in 3D was so amazing.

The stargazer Colosseum was nightmarish. Double battles at his best.