Pokemon? I Choose...

My Pokemon Ranch on the Wii

Pokemon hit the shores of the USA in 1997, and I have been a loyal junkie, for the most part, ever since then. My love of the series started with the anime, and that lead to the need to buy the cards as soon as they were released. That winter I learned that my little brother and I were getting hand-me-down Game Boy's from a couple of our cousins. So naturally, I bought a copy of Red for my little brother for Christmas. Needless to say, I was the one playing it Christmas morning.

I know, what a dick move to take a seven year olds Christmas gift from them. Don't feel too bad. The little dork got a PlayStation the next year, while I had been asking for a Nintendo system for years and never got one. In the end he didn't get to play Red until I got Blue two months later for my birthday.

Pokemon has taken on many forms, some not as great as others, but one thing usually remains the same - once you find a favorite Pokemon you usually stick with it.


Going back and looking at my old copy of Blue I never collected all 151 Pokemon. I only caught 141 and saw 147. That was the down side of not being about to re-battle NPCs to level and my own short attention span to grinding. The levels of my main team were alright, nothing brag worthy though. The highest ones were in the 60's, except for my level 100 Alakazam, that I used and early cheat method to get. Over all it was a bit pathetic when I compare it to my later teams. Then again my longest played game has just shy of 300 hours while I think in Blue I logged less than 70.

My team was nowhere near balanced at all, and my move sets were generic as hell. I pretty much just added a new move when it was taught without thinking about it at all. I was young and didn't know any better. Still I grew to love water and ice types in the long run. Rapidash was a natural for me since I like horses. Dodrio has become a bit of a while card. It's goofy as hell and I wouldn't have guessed originally, but I love this Pokemon and still keep it in my team when I can.

Yes, these were the graphics in Blue....oh how far we have come. Check out that pudgy Blastoise!

 
Sadly I would not play another Pokemon video game until after I was done with college in 2005. Shannon is my Pokemon enabler, if you will. I loved the series, but didn't have a system to play the newer titles on. Shannon made that happen and got me playing Emerald. I'd been out of the game for a while and these were completely new monsters this go around. I had no clue where to start and frankly I missed my Vaporeon. But, all the same I played and enjoyed the game. I was a little better about balancing my team, making sure I had plenty of elements to combat my foes. I even took a chance and started with a fire type, even though I'm more comfortable with water. I thought Torchic was cute. I once again became obsessed. Despite many years of not buying the cards and toys was, my fire was rekindled by the 3rd generation of Pokemon.

My collection began to grow again, and quite quickly.

My big fails in this game were getting stuck with all of the HM moves you need during travel. I hadn't learned to keep my main team open and teach the junk to second stringers. I also hadn't grasped the idea of keeping my move types more diverse from monster to monster. I mostly just stuck to their own types with no expansion.

Have I mentioned that I detest defensive moves? I hate them, they are a waste of space. Okay, there are a few exceptions, but for the most part I'll stick with attacking head on thank you.

I did however fall in love with a couple more Pokemon. Flygon is the first ground type that I adore, and as a bonus it's also a dragon. I love that it can use fly and dig, two of the most annoying attacks to deal with when you're not the one using them. Another wild car also fell into my lap. Breloom is another oddball that I just find too cute. I don't really like Shroomish but I will make do so I can have my little fighting grass type. I really became attached to Sharpedo but even with the added dark type to water, I still have to go with Vaporeon. It will always be my favorite water type, though the 4th and 5th generation starters are making that a harder choice.

My Emerald team, to the best of my memory....

Smile FireChicken!

In 2007 the Pokemon 10th anniversary tour stopped in Memphis,TN. It was a 3 hour trip for us so naturally I wanted to go. We almost didn't cause I got wishy-washy about it, but Shannon talked me back into the trip and it was a fun time. I downloaded Pokemon, got some collector pins, fed my plushie needs and took lots of pictures.

On a side note I really miss the Pokemon Center having an online store available to us in the USA. I was so sad when they closed up shop. I know there's the Nintendo World store in NY, but I'm in MO so that doesn't help me any....

Another reason I love Shannon.

 Shortly after the event bad luck would strike. Long story short I lost a DS a DS lite and all of my Pokemon games. Gameboy advance and DS alike. Only my original Blue survived because it wasn't compatible, and thus left at home. I lost all of the special event Pokemon I had just got. I was pissed and upset. One because that was alot of money down the drain and two my precious Pokemon were more likely than not going to be deleted and never seen again.

I can't release Pokemon. It's mean. I feel bad. I will keep all of them. The number of Whoopers and Starly's in my Pokemon Ranch can attest to it.

The loss of my games started a new quest for my Pokemon addiction. I had to re-buy my lost games. In the process we just started to get me every Pokemon game there was. By the time Diamond and Pearl came out we had new DS lights and were ready to play again. I couldn't wait to pick Piplup. My love of water types and penguins made it an obvious choice. I also found a new electric type in Luxray and Staraptor was a great flying type pick. I was also impressed with Electivire and Magmortar after I got downloads of them from Battle Revolution.

 After logging over 200 hours in Pearl I started building my dream team. The start came with the best global trade I've ever made. I had put up a LVL 100 Ninetails in hopes of getting a lvl 100 Vaporeon. Simply put I didn't want to grind to get my favorite to LVL 100 from an egg. I got my Vaporeon and as a bonus it was a shiny! Granted there's a good chance who ever put it up was using cheats, but you know what, I don't care! I traded fair and square for it.
 

My team with the most play time. They could still use some work but they've fared well for me.

This team got most of its play time in Pokemon Battle Revolution for the Wii. Their moves could still use some work but for the most part they've worked well for me. Between their types and moves I have most of the bases covered when it comes down to battles.

Black and White haven't made a huge impact on me yet. There are a few I like - Zebstrika or Joltik might be replacing Luxray in the future. I'm also pretty attached to my Sawsbuck, so Breloom may have some competition too since Jump Kick is also a fighting type my deer Pokemon can use. I'll see where things go. After I beat White 2 maybe I'll rethink my main team again.

Be kind to your Pokemon or I'll take them from you Team Rocket style.

Love for Piplup!