David Keremes remembers how the Pokémon cartoon led to a big Christmas present.
I can remember it like it was yesterday.
Typically I would wake up at 6:30am on a school day and watch cartoons before getting ready for school, however one day a new cartoon was on instead of the one I used to watch. It was Pokémon, the episode where Ash discovered Clefairy and the Moon Stone. I was immediately hooked and could not stop talking about this new show.
As soon as I heard that a game would be coming out for the Game Boy, I started to pester my parents. I happened to already be a Nintendo addict, so they were used to me going crazy on new games. The Game Boy Color came out the same year as Red and Blue, so I took a chance and asked for all of that for Christmas. “Santa” came through and got me the Game Boy Color and both Red and Blue. It was awesome -- since I had the link cable, I was able to catch them all!
For me, it did not stop at the games. The Pokémon cards pretty much took over my life in middle school. I never played in any competitions, but I was pretty good when playing against my friends. I was also very lucky at the draw. I would say during the craze, I had found at least 10 Charizard cards. Of course, those were going for a lot, so was able to cash them in for more booster packs and decks.
To this day, I still watch the show and play the games. The new Switch Pokémon title that is coming out next year can’t release soon enough; I feel that it will bring on a new era to the franchise.
It’s funny that all these years later, I can’t for the life of me remember the cartoon I used to watch during the same time slot that Pokémon ended up taking over.
