Pokemon has been a long time interest for me! Ever since my dad bought me my first pokemon game, when I was about 8-ish years old, I've been a fan! I used to collect the trading cards when I was in elementary school and I have a couple plushies now as well!
Some of my current faves are shown above! Alolan Raichu, Psyduck, Heracross, Dragonite, Slowpoke, and Jirachi! My favorite types are probably Bug and Water... Bug designs are often super super cute (for example, Joltik, Galvantula, Beedrill, Wurmple, etc...) and I have a fondness for water starters in particular because of my long history with them, hahahah!!
This is a space for me to talk a bit about what makes Pokemon special to me and to log my favorite memories with the games! I may add more rambling at a later date! Thank you for looking around! Peaceee!!!
NOTABLE POKEMON!!!
Daddy
was my FIRST pokemon ever. Yes, with the symbols and everything. Though, of course, they were the Pokemon Diamond keyboard's versions, haha! I had a turbulent childhood, but my dad and I were very close. He was also the one who bought the game for me in the first place, so I honored him by naming my Piplup after him... LOL. It's really cute and funny to me now. But, whenever I get a new Pokemon game, I pretty much always pick the water starter and name it after my dad (though, I use his actual name now... HAHAHA).
Daddy was always the most powerful Pokemon in my party. I always, always kept him with me. I leveled him up to Lvl. 100 as early in the game as possible and then tucked him away in the back of my party while I went trained the rest of my Pokemon team... He only ever came out into battle when things were looking particularly trecherous HAHA. Which, in hindsight, was (and still is) very emblematic of our relationship in real life.
My brother and I joke around about Daddy even to this day... He recently said something like... "Imagine being the Pokemon Champion of the region and an 8 year old with an Empoleon named Daddy knocks out all of your Pokemon with one hit." LMAOOO.
Cooly2 was my Stunky, which naturally evolved into Skuntank and was also a very highly leveled team member of mine... Don't ask me who the first Cooly was. I can't remember anymore LOLLLL. Though the origin of this name is exactly what you're probably thinking. I thought he was so cool that I had to call it like I saw it... But "Cool" isn't a name exactly. Or it wasn't enough of a name for my 8 year old self. So, the affectionate nickname "Cooly" was born. As I child, I had a fondness for Pokemon that were large and tough looking... As you'll also see with Toxicroak, over here as well.
Gunky was my Croagunk... Maybe you're starting to notice a pattern here HAHAHA. I can't quite remember the other members of my team. I think Staraptor and Drapion were also there... But these three are the most dear to me, even now. And they hold more sentimental value than the other faves that I listed! Though Pokemon as a whole is pretty special to me because it got me through so much.
FAVORITE GAMES!!!
My very first pokemon game was Pokemon Diamond Version (2006). I got this game for Christmas along with a brand new DS to play it on and I occupied myself with it almost immediately. I remember being enchanted by the opening sequences and the pixel art. After several long minutes of deliberation, I chose Piplup as my starter and thus began a years long tradition of choosing water starters.
My brother got the Pearl version and we frequently played together. We would battle and trade with the excitement of a couple of kids who knew basically nothing about video games or Pokemon up until that point. It was all so new and exciting! We hadn't played many (if any) video games by the time we got our first Pokemon game, so it was extra fun to experience it with someone else.
From the very beginning, I had a specific method of playing which I would maintain throughout pretty much all of the Pokemon games that I ever picked up. I would spend hours and hours battling wild pokemon with my Piplup, leveling him up as much as I could before progressing with the story. As a result, I often breezed through gym leader battles, hahaha. I think this is partially because I was also AFRAID of losing and I wanted to guarantee that I would win. LOL. So I prepared as best as I could in each area before advancing. I would also feel world-crushing guilt if Daddy was ever knocked out. HAHAHA, I know it seems silly, but I wanted to prevent that from ever happening. In fact, I can only think of one or two instances in which that actually DID happen. And both times, I feverishly shut my game off and reloaded. LOLOL.
Pokemon HeartGold Version (2009). Oh, my beloved HeartGold... This might just be my favorite Pokemon game... Maybe I'm letting nostalgia cloud my view, but I adored this game and the fact that your Pokemon could FOLLOW you around was life changing... To put it hyperbolically LOL! This game also has my FAVORITE POKEMON STARTER: Totodile!!
When I was a kid, I had a major fascination with Crocodiles and Alligators. They were my favorite animals for the majority of my childhood growing up. I had a giant stuffed alligator named Snappy and a smaller, plastic(?) Crocodile who was also... Named Snappy. LMAO! If I hadn't already decided on naming all of my starters after my very first one, then I'm sure I would have named my Totodile that as well. But anyway! Tangent aside, this game has beautiful art and gorgeous atmosphere from what I can remember about it! HeartGold, you will always be a star to me...
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Explorers of Sky (2009). This is the only Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game that I ever got to play... And I'm sorry to keep using the same words over and over, but I truly did love this game. HAHAHA. The characters were interesting and the quiz at the beginning was super fun... In fact, I think the in-game quiz in this game started my craze for doing personality quizzes in general. I used to spend my day on Quotev, completing quiz after quiz for fun... HAHA, But I digress...
I think I remember being diagnosed as a Vulpix by the end of the quiz and being ecstatic about it... I did play the game multiple times, so I might have gotten another one of the starters at a separate time. Though I can't remember anymore who it could have been... Hmm... Regardless, this game made me teary on multiple occasions, so it holds a special place in my heart, even today!
Pokemon Ranger, Shadows of Almia (2008). Okay, I have a confession to make... I do not remember a whole lot about this game. HAHAHA. But it makes the list anyway because I have fond (yet somewhat vague) memories attached to playing it!
Pokemon Ranger was unlike any Pokemon game that I had played previously. I remember enjoying the different game mechanics... If I remember correctly, you had to sort of "lasso" Pokemon with your stylus to catch them. For some reason, I struggled with this when I first started playing and would put the game down in frustration before revisiting it and trying again. Thankfully, I eventually got the hang of it. HAHA.
PokePark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure (2009). This game. Is one of my ultimate favorites!!!! I definitely have some of the most fond memories with this game in particular. I remember playing it at every opportunity I got. Sometimes I just liked to explore the environments without completing any objectives or missions or anything. In fact, the environments are one of the most memorable parts of this game for me! I loved the icey areas and the beaches the most.
I also loved having the opportunity to play little mini games with other pokemon. It was just so so fun and I would go back and play it over and over no matter how many times I had already seen everything. And I specifically remember the music in this game having quite an impact on me. It might be some of my favorite music from any pokemon game ever just because of how cozy and nostalgic it is! HAHA! One of my favorite tracks is definitely the loading screen music, but I think I can safely say that I enjoy all of the music from this one!
Pokemon Black Version (2010). The most notable thing to me about this game... Or one of the most notable things, at least, was it's art style. I LOVED and continue to LOVE the art style that they chose to use for this game. The sprite animations were unique! I really liked the style, keeping the pixel artwork but adding idle animations for the pokemon was a great decision, in my opinion!
My brother and I would semi-frequently use the Entralink feature. It made playing more interactive than before, so we could visit each other's worlds and such! I remember spending a lot of time doing this! Plus, I love the legendary! Reshiram has such a cool design!
Pokemon Rumble Blast (2011). This game was sooo cute! The little wind-up toy versions of Pokemon were so silly and charming and the gameplay was consistently fun for me! Despite the game being relatively simple, it was a great game for me to pick up when I was bored.
I think I liked it so much because it felt very low-stakes in comparison to the other pokemon games that I played. I wasn't as afraid of losing or messing up in this game as I was in other, more traditional Pokemon games. I have good, but rather unremarkable, memories with it!
