Videogames of my life - Pokémon Generation One
If there's one thing, that only those from my generation will be able to truly understand, is what it meant to be a kid when Pokémon made its first appearance in Europe, and how it completely took over our lives.
Nowadays the series is still the most successful franchise ever, between videogames, animated shows, card games, and truckloads of merchandise of every shape and form. And yet, there doesn't seem to be the same enthusiasm about it. The younger generations seem completely uninterested to me, the few times I hear talking about the card game is more related to scalpers seeking for rare cards to sell, while the climate surrounding the videogames is drowning in constant anger and disappointment, especially from gamers within my age range.
To put this in perspective, the last time I felt we were going back to the same kind of enthusiasm about the franchise, was with the advent of Pokémon GO!
The most positive output I can find for this franchise is within the art community. There's always some new Pokémon or new character that is able to break through their heart, and they always keep that level of innocence that a child has while playing with their favourite little animals.
I realize that my perspective is surely limited, and most of all affected by an internet landscape that tends to favour the negative side of the argument, with the objective to spring a visceral and instinctive reaction, but I don't feel I'm alone in thinking that something broke in our relationship with Pokémon.
It's also for this reason that coinciding with the 30th anniversary, I thought about doing this little trip down memory lane, going back to the time when Pokémon really was everywhere, and when an entire generation got swallowed in this phenomenon, and has never been able to let go ever since.
Pokémon Generation One
It all started with a cartoon
One thing you got pretty much lucky with if you were born in Italy, is that ever since being a child you would've been exposed to a ton of Japanese animation: we had a dedicated slot of a couple of hours in the afternoon, and every day we would gather in front of the TV because that was OUR time. During that block I experienced every genre of anime, it was something special that I needed to cherish every single day. Something that today has been completely lost, thanks to dedicated channels for 24 hours a day.
That was how I was introduced to the Pokémon anime, with our beloved eternal child, Ash Ketchum, who sets off for the adventure from his little Pallet Town, accompanied by his trusty Pikachu, in order to become a champion. An adventure that would've led him to every nook and cranny of the world and meet with every single type of Pokémon ever existed, while also making his own unique team.
Since the beginning I was enthralled by this anime, and it was all thanks to those adorable little creatures. Every episode there was something new to encounter, whether wild or belonging to one of the many trainers Ash will have to face, making every episode a little surprise. Even the introduction of evolutions was something that gave you an ulterior motive to stay tuned, because you may never know when one of Ash's Pokémon would've evolved.
Not that it was the only reason: the first season of Pokémon gave us a lot of very memorable moments. How to forget the epic encounter of Metapod VS Metapod? Or maybe Ash winning his first badge thanks to the sprinklers, Pikachu and Bulbasaur both refusing to evolve to show they're more than worthy in their current form, or maybe Ash sets his Butterfree free! And finally, one of the most absurd things ever happened in the anime, Venusaur and Blastoise, fused together to become Venustoise!
Just scrolling through the episode's list fills me with all kinds of memories. As much as I don't think I'll ever re-watch this anime again as an adult, I cannot deny the huge impact it had on my childhood, and it became the jumping off point to finally ask my parents for the videogames as a gift, coupled with the brand new Game Boy Colour.
Red or Blue?
If there's a thing that distinguishes the Pokémon games, is the fact that it puts you in front of a choice from the get go. Even before choosing your starter, you have to choose the version to play between the Red and Blue. As a kid I had zero clue about the implication of said choice, I just asked for Pokémon Red because I was attracted by the picture of Charizard on the cover.
So it makes perfect that I started my first adventure with Squirtle!
I still remember that I spent the entire day glued to that game, as much as the batteries of my Game Boy Color would allow. I was playing like a kid on a sugar rush: i was trying to reach all the gyms as quickly as possible, collecting all the badges and finally being able to face the Pokémon League.
As I think the vast majority of players at the time did, I mostly used just my starter. Diversified compositions? Taking advantage of weaknesses? These were all alien concepts to my 8 year old mind. It didn't help the fact that the world of JRPGs was still unknown to me.
There were a lot of hurdles during my first run; I got stuck because I didn't understood how HMs worked, I didn't get that whatever drink I would buy from the vending machine would've granted me access to Saffron City, and don't even get me started of the amount of time lost wandering around Silph Co.
I was a kid that severely lacked patience. Not talking with many NPCs made me lose some critical items like the City Map and the Bicycle, all things that once I found out they existed I was like "How the hell did I manage without these?". All these little travel incidents were pretty much a formative experience for all my subsequent runs.
Because yes, at the time I also didn't catch on to the fact that the game would continue after my victory at the league, which I could face indefinitely, and that only after my first victory I would've been able to capture Mewtwo. Once the league was over, I restarted from the beginning with a new starter! Might feel stupid to some, but I feel this helped understand things that I didn't entirely catch during my first time playing.
Like the fact that the choice of starter was a cleverly masked way to have a sort of difficulty select in the game: Bulbasaur had the most advantages against the majority of gyms, while Charmander would've faced a lot more trouble being often at a disadvantage.
The more I replayed the game, the easier it would get. I knew the game well at this point, and the voyage was smoother: all the problems of the first run were now living in the past. I could get lost more in the exploration, discovering places like the Power Plant, avoiding the abuse of flight for every route, and instead focusing on finding every single trainer and people willing to make in-game trades while exploring.
I started to learn and manage the different types of Pokémon, learning concepts like resistances and weaknesses and slowly but surely putting together teams with more synergy, or just teams of Pokémon I really liked, instead of just relying on only my starter.
My favourites include Charizard and Dragonite (As an 8 year old kid I was legally obliged to love dragons.), I loved the fact that Scyther and Kabutops both had blades for arms, and the fact that one of them was a fossil got me going on the most bizarre theories, I also constantly imagined how cool it would've been surfing over Lapras's back.
And finally one of my favourite overall was Nidoking! I can't even explain what it was, if it was how imposing he looked, the cry he made in the videogame, the fact that he could learn every possible powerful move, I loved him and he would always find a place in my party.
My biggest flaw in these games is that when I find a team that works well, it's hard for me to change it, there are so many first generation Pokémon I never got a chance to bring to the league. One day I would like to make a run in which I try to put up a team with Pokémon I never used.
Kanto was kinda like a second home at this point and I still have fond memories of this world: from the Pewter City Museum, the hours spent going through the Safari Zone to find all the Pokémon, the gloomy Lavender Town that became the source of many horror stories, the very long coastal road through Silence Bridge as alternative to the speedy Cycling Road, and discovering the history of Mewtwo between the ruins of the Pokémon Mansion. For only being the first region, Kanto had quite a lot to offer to a kid.
It didn't took long before I started asking for Pokémon Blue as a gift to my parents. Thanks to the Game Link Cable, I could finally do trades within the confines of my house taking advantage of my Game Boy Pocket, and when I discovered the existence of a third version with Pokémon Yellow, which made you start with Pikachu, and included characters like Jessie and James of Team Rocket…. Needless to say, I needed to have that one as well.
To adventure all together!
Even more than the anime and even more than the videogames, there was one final crucial aspect which contributed to making Pokémon an integral part of my childhood: the social aspect!
I've always had trouble connecting within the school environment, I was often made fun of and that led me to always stay aside, like I didn't really belong. Pokémon managed to make everyone bond together!
Every day we were always talking about the latest episode that aired, imitating the Team Rocket speech, or discuss our favourite Pokémon. When the card game came out, every recess became a little classroom tournament, everyone had his own deck, everyone had his favourite type and we were constantly challenging each other to see who was the best.
And of course, even the videogame had a place within all of this. There was always someone seeking trades, someone wanting to show off their level 100 Pokémon at the Colosseum, and someone that would come out with the latest rumours and urban legends of the time, the most famous always being about Mew.
Trying to find a way to catch Mew was an omnipresent topic. An official method did exist, but at the time I've never heard about Pokémon events where you'll get Legendary as a gift.
It was only thanks to the cloning glitch during trades that I was finally able to get a Mew from one of my classmates… After spending a lot of time trying to convince him, because of course he didn't wanna share the privilege of having a complete Pokédex.
After all, we were kids, and kids are often capable of being very obnoxious jerks.
I remember one time, I made the great mistake of leaving my Game Boy in the hands of someone who, taking advantage of a distraction, erased my game file, once he noticed I was able to catch more Pokémon than him.
In spite of the occasional mishaps, I still remember fondly those last two years. As superficial as those bonds ended up being, there really wasn't anything else that was able to bring everyone together in that classroom like that, outside of maybe Dragon Ball Z and Saint Seiya.
This experience wasn't shared to school only, since, even at home, my older sisters got into the Pokémon hype and started playing the games pretty regularly. We also got to the point were we shared different roles for the game: I was the one tasked with doing the various caves like Rock Tunnel and Seafom Islands, while they preferred spending their time catching the rarest Pokémon from the Safari Zone like Tauros, Scyther, Kangaskhan e Chansey.
Having two Game Boy and 3 different versions of the game, made completing the Pokédex a hell of a lot easier, although still time consuming. Between the constant repeats of the Pokémon League to make the Pokémon evolve, endless running through the Safari Zone and hours spent chucking zones of Ultra Balls to the Legendary. In due time we succeeded, 151 Pokémon in a single file that probably got erased by time ever since.
Completing the Pokédex is something I've only done once again with Scarlet and Violet on Nintendo Switch, and even this was possible only thanks to the company of my friends. We got the game all together, basically went through it at the same time, and were constantly making trades between versions. It was the first time after many years that I got the same sense of community again, and because of this reason I will always remember fondly my time spent in Paldea.
Everything has its end
Once elementary school was over and we got into middle school, the Pokémon fever had passed for many, at least within my generation. It was seen more as something for kids and we at the height of being 11 year old, wanted to feel like the grown ups!
No one at my school was willing to set sail for Hoenn during the third generation. At the TV, Pokémon slowly got taken over by Digimon, a show that I found much more compelling. The Card games were left behind for Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic the Gathering. Pokémon was still there, but the storm was way beyond us.
Once I got into emulating Game Boy Advance games, I did go back to the Generation One remakes with Fire Red and Leaf Green, but as much as I feel they're wonderful games the social aspect wasn't there! I missed being able to trade with other people, share secrets and rumours, that feeling of playing together is the centre piece of a game like Pokémon.
For as many good memories I have with these games throughout the years, without this feeling of collaboration, it's not the same thing. The Internet can surely help in completing the Pokédex, but cannot really replace that feeling of community when you have a group of friends to play together with and share that adventure.
30 Years Later…
Nowadays when talking about Generation One, the first thing I hear constantly is how the games are held together by duct tape and prayers. The fact that the game is way too skewed towards psychic types, the enemy AI that doesn't know how to behave, bugs that would allow you not only to catch every Pokémon no matter the version, but also teleport directly into the Hall of Fame and thus finish the game without even getting the starter.
Honestly I feel we focus way too much on the problems! Many of these bugs are things that you have to go out of your way to do and very rarely can impact your gaming experience. The truth of the matter is that, if we pay very close attention to the JRPG scene of the time, many of these games were full of issues: try looking up the list of bugs in the Final Fantasy Legend games, you'll soon realize that Pokémon wasn't really an exception.
I'm not saying we should completely ignore the fact these problems exist, especially if you wanna talk about the series with a more critical and analytical viewpoint, but it's very important to keep in mind the time period when these games came out. Especially when many of the mistakes made in these first games came at a very formative period for the series, that soon evolved and learned to avoid them in the future.
For a game of this genre to exist on the Game Boy it's an incredible achievement, there really weren't many other games of the same scope on the console, and I think it's a huge disservice to focus solely on the flaws.
Sure these games are very antiquated now, and for many it’s very hard to go back so far, but if you really want to discover the origin of your favourite Pocket Monsters, I feel you owe to yourself to at least give Generation One a try. Try to experience it lightheartedly, don't go into it trying to break it or looking for problems. Try, if you can, to go back to a mindset where you're a little kid and trying to experience how everything started.
It's been 30 years, and I won't forget where everything got started. I don't consider myself an hardcore fan, there were in fact many years where I never even remotely touched a new Pokémon game. And yet I cannot help but smile whenever a new generation gets announced, see what new Pokémon and what new characters Game Freak will be able to create.
Will there ever be an alternative?
The thing that surprises me the most about Pokémon is that not only has popularized the "Monster Catching" genre for JRPGs, it practically monopolized it. For all the complaints about the lack of care and optimization with the games as of late, there still isn't an alternative that can really stand out.
Yokai Watch has been a colossal success in Japan, but completely ignored over here. Games like Digimon and Monster Hunter Stories have their own niche but it almost feels like they're in a different conversation. More Indie attempts like Coromon, TemTem and Nexomon never really broke through their own little niche. The only game that made a bit of noise was Palworld and even that one is like it vanished from the face of the earth.
Pokémon has this grasp on our lives that seems inescapable. If the new games don't really satisfy you, then you go back to the old ones. You wanna spice up the old games? We have tons of randomizer, hack and fangames that give you thousands of ways to revisit these old worlds with their own little spin.
I believe that in spite of the constant negativity about the various Pokémon games, there will never be an alternative… Because nobody really wants it. What we want is finding that game that can once again make us feel like the first time we played this series.
We just want to feel like children with a team of their favourite little animals, ready to immerse themselves in a fantastical world that can wash away all the worries of the current world, at least until the time when we have to inevitably turn off the console.
Happy Birthday Pokémon and cheers to another 30 years of new generations!
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