With
the release of Pokémon X and Y only 2 days away, I can’t help but feel nostalgic for the days when I too wanted to catch 'em all, playing the original Pokémon Red and Blue 14 years ago.
But now that I am 20 years old, 13 years older than the game's target demographic of 7 years old, why do I keep coming back to Pokémon?
When I was young, I lived in a family controlled by my 3 older sisters. To keep me occupied whilst my parents dealt with them, my mother bought me a yellow Nintendo Game Boy Colour and a copy of Pokémon Blue. In that one simple act, I was transported from a world of my annoying, older sisters to the world of Pokémon created by Satoshi Tajiri.
But now that I am 20 years old, 13 years older than the game's target demographic of 7 years old, why do I keep coming back to Pokémon?
When I was young, I lived in a family controlled by my 3 older sisters. To keep me occupied whilst my parents dealt with them, my mother bought me a yellow Nintendo Game Boy Colour and a copy of Pokémon Blue. In that one simple act, I was transported from a world of my annoying, older sisters to the world of Pokémon created by Satoshi Tajiri.
Satoshi
Tajiri
When
he was a kid, Satoshi Tajiri loved nothing more than collecting insects,
hunting for them in ponds, fields and forests, constantly looking for new
insects and coming up with new ways to catch them.
In
the 1990's, after being hired by Nintendo and creating Game Freak, he saw two
kids playing with their Game Boys and a link cable connecting them together. He
imagined bugs crawling up and down the cable and wanted to give future
generations that same experience he had when he was a kid of hunting, catching
and trading creatures.
On
June 10th 1999, Pokémon Red and Blue were released in the UK.
The core concept of the series tasked players with leaving their hometown to journey across the Pokémon World in order to collect every single Pokémon and become a Pokémon Master, learning the art of battling with the monsters categorised by different types, with each Pokémon able to wield a different element such as Fire, Water and Grass.
Kind of like Rock, Paper, Scissors but instead with dragons, large turtles with water cannons in their shells and dinosaurs with plants growing out of their back.
5 series of Pokémon games, a trading card game, merchandise and a hit TV series later, Pokémon X and Y are about to capture the minds of a whole new generation of kids who want to have the honour of saying to their friends that “I caught them all!”.
Kind of like Rock, Paper, Scissors but instead with dragons, large turtles with water cannons in their shells and dinosaurs with plants growing out of their back.
5 series of Pokémon games, a trading card game, merchandise and a hit TV series later, Pokémon X and Y are about to capture the minds of a whole new generation of kids who want to have the honour of saying to their friends that “I caught them all!”.
The Kalos Region of Pokémon X and Y is based
on France. Ou la la!
In X and Y, players start from their
hometown in the new Kalos region, populated with brand new, never-before-seen
Pokémon for them to capture, trade and evolve them into more powerful Pokémon.
Their ultimate team of six Pokémon will then be used to fight against other Pokémon Trainers. But this time, players can unlock a hidden power by using Mega Stones
to Mega Evolve their Pokémon into far more powerful forms.
When I started my copy of Pokémon Blue, I was
given the choice of Bulbasaur, Squritle or Charmander as my starter Pokémon. I
chose Squirtle as it evolved into Blastoise, the Pokémon on the cover for Pokémon
Blue.
Blastoise
and Mega Blastoise
In X and Y, a whole new generation of kids will be able to choose the same
starter I did 14 years ago with new players given not just one, brand new starter Pokémon to choose from, but two by choosing Bulbasaur,
Squirtle or Charmander, whose evolved forms can now Mega Evolve into Mega
Venusaur, Mega Charizard and Mega Blastoise.
Just
like in Red and Blue, X and Y will have you tasked with going to 8 Pokémon Gyms
across the Kalos region to collect 8 Badges, allowing you to face the game's
most powerful Pokémon Trainers to claim the title of a Pokémon Champion.
One of the reasons I keep coming back to Pokémon is to feel that same great sense of accomplishment I had when I was a kid when I became a Pokémon Champion. Spending months on building up my team to be the strongest they can be, capturing every Pokémon I could and battling with my friends to show off my skills with the game, proving I knew more about the game than anyone.
One of the reasons I keep coming back to Pokémon is to feel that same great sense of accomplishment I had when I was a kid when I became a Pokémon Champion. Spending months on building up my team to be the strongest they can be, capturing every Pokémon I could and battling with my friends to show off my skills with the game, proving I knew more about the game than anyone.
Nowadays,
I continue to play Pokémon for the nostalgia factor. To go back and feel the
same emotions and experiences I did when I played Pokémon for the first
time as a kid, experiencing a rich and vibrant world that now thanks to the power of the Nintendo 3DS, can be rendered in 3D
graphics, truly bringing the world of Pokémon to life than ever before.
I
maybe 20 years old, but inside I’m still that little kid wanting to be the best, like no-one
ever was. To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause. I'll travel across the land, searching far and wide. Each
I'll
be picking up a copy of Pokémon X and Y when they release world-wide on October
12th!
I'm
a nerd and this was my rant.
No comments:
Post a Comment