I guess the best memory to talk about when it comes to Pokémon is how I first got into the series as a whole, and how it got me into role playing games. Now I know I’ve talked about how Super Mario RPG got my foot in the door. And it did! But Pokémon was a bit different than Super Mario RPG. It wasn’t nonlinear, which made things a bit more difficult. While Super Mario RPG was a nice beginner’s course, Pokémon was the intermediate class and helped me learn a number of RPG tropes that would help me in later RPG journeys.

My earliest memory of Pokémon that I remember was reading about it in Nintendo Power. My initial impression was that it was cool, but RPGs were never my thing, so why start now? It wasn’t until the anime started airing in syndication when I realized that I might have to try the game out. I somehow got transfixed into the world of Pokémon every morning at seven. I wanted to be like Ash, but better. After all, Ash was kind of a loser, didn’t have a ton of Pokémon, and mostly whined about being a Pokémon Master when he was nowhere near mastering the art of Pokémon. But if I had Red or Blue, I could certainly be a Pokémon Master!

I remember leaving KB Toys with Pokémon Blue firmly in hand, eager to enter the Kanto region. But sure enough, I found the first few hours confusing as I had gone from the shallow end to the deep end of RPGs without any floaties. I had no idea where to go, what to do, or who to face first. Looking back, the game is very straightforward and there’s no real way to get lost. But this was my first foray into role playing games - Mario RPG was one thing, but a RPG with a nonlinear map was something new to me, as I hadn’t even touched a Final Fantasy before Pokémon. It took me a while to get the hang of things, but once I did tasks such as talking to NPCs and exploring every inch of the map became second nature. Over time I eventually got the idea of where to go and what to do.

But of course, once I got the map thing situated, I had to learn other RPG elements that I wasn’t yet accustomed to. Pokémon fainting in the middle of a long route, for example, taught me that having potions and keeping items in my bag was probably the best strategy for me if I wanted to actually beat this game without throwing a fit. Learning what moves work and what didn’t was also a big challenge. Thunder had a great damage rate, but its accuracy is low. Thunder Shock was probably better. Using one move isn’t going to cut it - having a variety of moves works best.

And then I had to learn about the Pokémon battling system itself! I had no idea what to do when facing Misty. I trounced Brock easily with my Squirtle (I’ve always picked the water starters in each Pokémon game), but of course that wasn’t going to happen here. Starmie’s Bubblebeam was one of the deadliest moves I had ever experienced in a video game up to that point, and I had to find a way to trounce it. I don’t remember the exact solution, but I want to say it involved trading over a Bulbasaur that helped me wipe it out once and for all. Misty was always a tough battle to overcome no matter what starter I chose, but it taught me a valuable lesson - level up your Pokémon. You never know what will happen if you rely on just one Pokémon!

Red and Blue were the games that set the foundation for the rest of the series. By Gold and Silver I was well versed in how to play these games, where to go, what Pokémon to have, and so on. But the most vivid memories of playing Red and Blue were the Wild West appeal to them, at least in my eyes. Not only did I have to learn how to play Pokémon, I had to learn how to play role playing games in general! It was a doubly tough situation for me to clear the game and capture Mewtwo, but once I did, I was happy. I tried something new and it paid off exceedingly well for years to come.