Flashback to the late 1990's. What was one fad that was everywhere in America? Pokemon.
Yes, this is an entry about that craze that swept the nation, and even included people like me.
Specifically, this is an entry about how I got involved in the Pokemon craze.
I was 10 years old when the video games of Pokemon Red and Blue came out on the Gameboy in September of '98. My best friend Max, and some of his friends bought the game after hearing about it in the Nintendo Power magazine.This was all before the phenomenon of the Pokemon Cards, which released later that year in December. Now, I actually can't recall if I was aware that the Pokemon games existed at this point. My first memory of anything Pokemon was at the end of December 1998. I went to Max's birthday party, and most of the kids there were playing Pokemon on their Gameboys. I remember a giant poster on the wall of all 150 pokemon, minus their names. One party game we played was to see who could name the most Pokemon without using a book or their game (Yep, no readily available internet back then, without tying up the phone line). Max did pretty well at this game, and so did his friends. I was oblivious to anything Pokemon at this point. Winter break continued on for us fifth graders…
We returned to school after the Holidays, and the Pokemon craze was in full effect. At some point after Christmas, I remember getting Pokemon Blue for my Game Boy Pocket. However, something even more popular had begun. The school was littered with kids playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game, which is possibly the most remembered phenomenon of that time. My first venture into the trading card games came from a classmate TJ. At this point in time, Pokemon cards were sold out everywhere. TJ sold me an unopened "booster pack." I finally got my hands on Pokemon cards, but I needed an actual set to play the game. I need to stress to anyone not aware of what was going on in early 1999. Pokemon cards were IMPOSSIBLE to find. My parents were awesome. They brought me to multiple stores in search of a set of the cards. I probably would never do this for my kids, but they really did love me. We eventually found a "Starter Deck" set of cards at a Toys R' Us. Finally, I was able to play with my friends. Well, most of us know how the story of the cards went. It swept pretty much every kid in the nation. The only thing to come close to this popularity was Furby and Beanie Babies. However, Pokemon was something every kid could like. The card game's popularity eventually faded at the end of 2000. It was fun while it lasted. I could remember recess being dominated by kids playing Pokemon cards. We heard of schools that began to ban the cards, but luckily our school never did.
I really wished that the actual Pokemon video games got more attention back then. Looking back, I think I liked them more. Pokemon Gold and Silver, the sequels to the original games, released to Japan in 1999. I remember getting a Japanese version of Pokemon Silver for Christmas of '99. Yes, it was all in Japanese. Yes, I did not understand one bit of it. However, I was so much into the Pokemon games that I sort of knew what I was doing. One advantage here was the help of walkthroughs on the Internet. I eventually bought the American version of Pokemon Gold when it came out in October 2000. Pokemon then faded into obscurity shortly after that. I ended up buying Pokemon Ruby, which was the sequel to Gold/Silver when it came out in March of 2003. However, the feeling was not the same as the old games. Perhaps, I craved nostalgia. The last Pokemon game I ever played was Pokemon Fire Red, which came out in 2004. I really enjoyed it, because it was a remake of the original 1998 games.
No comments:
Post a Comment