Pokémon

[Berober]

Pokemon Yellow, I had the special Yellow Gameboy Colour and I remember coming home from Toys R Us with it and sitting in the living room playing it.

[Katsuya]

A load of people started talking about it in school, then I came home one day and the Flame Pokémon-athon anime episode was on. I thought it looked cool and then I got my first ever pack of cards (where I got holo Venusaur, hence why Bulbasaur remains my favourite Pokémon of all time) and then Red shortly afterwards.

[King Ellis]

I think I must have seen it randomly one morning on Sky One and just stuck with it from there. I used to dabble in DBZ back then too, though that was on CN at like 4 or 5 or something. Must have been on release day, or more specifically night in my case, that I got my mum to take me to Toys R Us and get Red and Blue. God only knows how I managed to swing that, getting two games at once, let alone one.

And I was never too into the cards, I got the starter deck and actually played it one time. Might have got a few boosters too, can't remember, but I did have a shiny Machamp and I assume that doesn't come with the starter stuff. Then I think I left them in my coat pocket one time and they ended up in the wash. One of my friends at school though got a shiny Charizard and sold it to someone for like £15. Much fun was made of someone paying £2 for a Pikachu, as I recall.

[Berober]

I think I must have seen it randomly one morning on Sky One and just stuck with it from there. I used to dabble in DBZ back then too, though that was on CN at like 4 or 5 or something. Must have been on release day, or more specifically night in my case, that I got my mum to take me to Toys R Us and get Red and Blue. God only knows how I managed to swing that, getting two games at once, let alone one.

And I was never too into the cards, I got the starter deck and actually played it one time. Might have got a few boosters too, can't remember, but I did have a shiny Machamp and I assume that doesn't come with the starter stuff. Then I think I left them in my coat pocket one time and they ended up in the wash. One of my friends at school though got a shiny Charizard and sold it to someone for like £15. Much fun was made of someone paying £2 for a Pikachu, as I recall.

Quite rightly, that was a lot of Freddos back in the day!

[The Mask of Norro]

I was in early Elementary School when Pokemon Cards made it to the US. I can't exactly remember when but, at some point, I and a group of my friends started collecting them like crazy, trading them and battling. I remember it becoming such a big deal that my school imposed restrictions on when you could have your Pokemon cards out, because it was becoming such a distraction-- they'd only allow it during lunch and recess, and after-school of course. I'd also joined a Pokemon club at my local library, and we'd trade cards there and talk about strategies and read the latest Nintendo Power and whatnot.

I remember my friends and I started this big group during summer school that would play the card game and the Gameboy game, we all had link cables and would trade to help each other out. Some of us were into wrestling and we'd write fake wrestling matches between the Pokemon (I realize that I got an early start on the bad fanfiction train, yes), we'd also make up stories about fake glitches and cheats we'd heard about on the internet. One memory I have is of someone mass-glitching Mew into their game and trading the glitched Mew to all of us so we could have it in our Pokedex.

My first Gameboy copy was Red, then I got Blue after. It's funny because as a kid I decided, for the sake of what color I got, that I'd choose Charmander with Red and Squirtle with Blue. I only ever got a Bulbasaur from trade. Ultimately decided my favorite was Blastoise and it became a staple of the majority of the 'teams' that I built. Majority of those teams were 'built' on legendaries-- because I was a kid and holy shit legendaries-- but Blastoise never left my side.

Everything else is pretty much 'history' from there. I have to say that despite my fond memories of Red/Blue, my favorite in the series had to be Gold/Silver. I remember as a kid staying up late and thinking about how much an improvement the second generation was, how I loved the new day/night system and all the new Pokemon. By that point Pokemon had seized my little world and I was completely wrapped up in it.

[Lineker]

A Pokémon anime has been announced for October featuring Red and Blue/Green! Not sure if it's a one-shot, a mini-series, or a full blown show of it's own, but you can watch the trailer here.

I know that I'm late to the party but holy shit that looks awesome.

[Chris2K]

I can honestly say I've never owned a Pokémon Trading Card at any point in my life, they were around when I was at school but were quickly banned due to thefts of them from lockers and bags. The cards never appealed to me in any way, most likely because being an only child in the middle of nowhere made it difficult to play games that need more than one person.

[Plubby]

Just out of interest, what's everyone's first memory of Pokémon?

For me it was watching someone at school catch a Meowth on Blue, then starting my first game on Red and playing it when I should have been watching a play.

From the anime I remember seeing Pinsir for the first time in Challenge of the Samurai and having absolutely no idea what it was but thought it looked awesome.

Reading the preview of it in "Nintendo Magazine System", Australia's now-defunct official Nintendo mag and thinking "this doesn't look that interesting"

Well over 500 Trading Cards (before I "graduated" into magic), Blue/Gold/Emerald/Pearl/LeafGreen/HeartGold/Black versions, 13 seasons on DVD and counting...and countless hours later...oh, how wrong I was.

[TCO]

My first memories were people talking about and playing the game in school and then seeing the first episode of the anime on TV. I got a turquoise Gameboy Color and Pokemon Red for my communion, which would've been May 2000. I picked Bulbasaur and have been in love with the game series ever since. I watched the anime up until the Orange League and had cards but we just traded them, never actually playing the game with them. Lost interest in all forms of Pokemon other than the games but I've played every generation so far except for Black/White 2 due to not having my DS anymore.

I still own Red, Silver, Gold (Pirate copy from Spain, with added swear words in the translation!), Crystal, Ruby, Leaf Green, Black and Heart Gold.

[Katsuya]

Unfortunately it looks more likely that Red-Green is just a one shot. I can but hope that it's enough of a hit that they make a full season though.

In other news, the mysterious game at the end of the retrospective video they put out at the Tokyo Game Show seems to be hinting to be for "Pokénn Fighters". I have a weird feeling we're getting a standalone Pokémon beat-em-up, which could be awesome.

[Katsuya]

HOLY SHIT. Major starter / mega evolution spoilers:

So, your starter Pokemon comes from a friend. The Professor then gives you either BULBASAUR, SQUIRTLE OR CHARMANDER. And Venusaur/Blastoise/Charizard can all mega evolve. Charizard gains Garchomp-like claws on his arms, Blastoise gains a third cannon on his back and Venusaur...seems to get more floral, I guess?

[Benji]

Why not post the actual pictures?

[Katsuya]

I was too busy fanboying

[DoubleX]

While I'm all for some Pokemon becoming better - Mega Charizard getting Drought is interesting - I'm not the only one who thinks this whole Mega Evolution thing is stupid, am I?

[Katsuya]

Mega Venusaur with Thick Fat is going to be a killer. Leaves him weak to Flying (who are so nerfed by Stealth Rock that it probably won't matter) and Psychic, which he can take down anyway.

EDIT: I still like the idea of Mega Evolution. They made it clear that this is something specific to Kalos, and I'd rather have new variations of old Pokémon than a bunch of reject/recycled new ones.

[DoubleX]

Oh hey Mega Lucario gets Adaptability. And Mega Mawile gets Huge Power.

Jesus.

[Chris2K]

This seems like a bit of a ploy to try and get lapsed players back into the game by offering up Pokémon that are far more recognisable like the first starters. I'm still not sure if I'm a fan of Mega Evolutions, I think it's partly because I'm not into changing a winning formula as I've enjoyed every Pokémon game so far, but I can see that refreshing the series for a new console is a good step to take.

All I need now is to find the money to buy a 3DS...

[Katsuya]

Mega Venusaur's Def. and S. Def. both go up too. It look like he becomes the most brutal tank in the game.

[Berober]

My brother just asked why Blastoise is wearing Duel Disks

[thatblindgeye]

I like Mega Evolutions a lot more than giving needless pre-evolutions. The fact that the Mega Evolutions are pretty cool helps, too. I'm still not sure about Mega Ampharos despite loving Ampharos. I'm not sure I understand it becoming Electric/Dragon (as much as I like that typing) with the new look... I'm sure I'll end up liking it, but I'm on the fence with it.

Mawile I'm glad to see with a Mega Evolution. I like Mawile, but I don't think it was ever something I'd use in battle. Mega Mawile will probably change that.

Also, the Pokemon Bank thing? That's a thing, too Will be nice to have a much easier way of transferring stuff from my Black and Black 2 games over to X instead of some silly mini game. Sucks that there'll be an annual fee, but with the ability to store 3,000 Pokemon and a free trial to start with I'll survive.