What got y'all started?

[Layback80]

I saw a post earlier were they said the first core pokemon game they played,so it got me wondering what pokemon game or if the show got you into pokemon.For me it was Pokémon sapphire that really got me into pokemon games,I had watched the show from the kanto region and played firered and yellow before playing sapphire but sapphire was what really got me into pokemon games way back when it came out. What about y'all?

Edited May 9, 2018 by Layback80

[Spedy]

I watched pokemon on tv and once I went to my aunt's house and one of my cousins let me play pokemon sapphire in her pc. after sometime, the family bought a new one because that pc was really old and slow and they brought it to my house as a gift. I did play it a lot but the pc died and someone took the memory and IDK what they did with it so my first starter is gone. I also got destroyed by may in route 110 like 20 times xD

[Norman Guy]

My father introduced me to game with Diamond, but I only watched him play it. I got into it soon after when I discovered there were more games to the franchise. The game I first played was Emerald and boy did I love that game.

[seki108]

What started off as a quick retelling turned into a bit of a poorly written   nostalgia trip/ramble for me that veered off from the original topic completely, so feel free to just read the first paragraph (and maybe the first 2 sentences of the second).

 

Spoiler

 

Pokemon Red.   Probably the strangest most coincidental thing.   The one time I asked my parents to a baseball game that the town sponsors(?)......I don't remember those details since they aren't important.    I saw an older girl with some kind game device playing a game that looked interesting enough, with pretty cool effects and music that impressed 5-6 year old me.  I was already into the games I played occasionally when I went to an arcade, but this was handheld!  This Pokemon Blue game seemed amazing at the time and I made sure my parents wrote down the name of the game and device on a napkin.........I don't really remember the details that followed but probably a few weeks later I had begged persuaded my parents to buy me one of those Gameboy Colors  and 2 games, one of them being Pokemon Red   (because Red is cooler than Blue, naturally).

 

Once we got Cartoon Network on our new(?) cable package, I found out there was a cartoon about the series too!  It was certainly different than the game I bought, but it was cool too for 6 year old me and reruns were common enough back then that I could catch up on the series.   When I switched schools I even found the one other person I ever knew that played Pokemon as much as I did.  He even had the other version, so we could trade once we asked one of our parents to get the link cables.   This continued for the first three gens or at least Ruby/Sapphire.

 

 

 

Gold:  I remember finding out the release date and my friend and I getting it the same day and comparing.  The time chamber seemed like the absolute coolest thing at the time.  Plus, so much color now! (I had not played Yellow).      It was a whole new place,  with about the same attitude.........yeah, I was stoked when I heard Johto was getting a cartoon as well, though it switched channels for some time.....or something

 

Crystal:  I remember this game mainly for the circumstances of getting it.  Finding out I had Type 1 diabetes and all the confusing complications at 8 was fairly overwhelming......at least what I understood at the time.  The week in the hospital, learning what life would be like from then on and getting used taking multiple shots everyday............my parents heard a new pokemon game had come out (from somewhere?) and bought it for me to take my mind of things a bit.  It certainly helped.  Even if the game was mostly the same, it was different somehow complete with the first non-generic protagonist model.

 

Ruby:  The first time I was a bit disappointed in the series, even if I can understand the technical limitations in hindsight  with many Pokemon simply not being available.  So much changed that it felt different (music and graphics mainly), but it was still the series I loved......though it was getting a bit.....worn.  While my friend did get Emerald and played with me some, I could tell his love for the series was fading.......or he was hiding his interest because of social pressures like I was starting to.

 

Firered:  After many years of not really touching the series, I bought the game used while on a family vacation, mainly because my younger cousin was playing Mystery Dungeon and I felt it would be a nostalgia trip since I knew it was a remake from the commercials that aired at the time of release.  I even named my character after a character from the Naruto filler arc airing at the time: Ranmaru.  My parents looked at me a bit weird since they firmly associated with childhood and since they dragged me to see the first 3 Pokemon movies.  With no real desire to ask for a DS just for Pokemon, a fear of social derision, and no disposable income, my last embers of Pokemon ferver died.

 

 

It wasn't until Mega evolutions came out and the introduction of a new type that the series really sparked interest in me again, though not enough to pick it up.  Being more entrenched in internet culture now, I was suseptible to memes.....and boy did the gen 6 memes deliver  (especially you Espur, you adorable little psychopath).   It started to reawaken my urges, with the new content seeming genuinely interesting.  While the DS emulator at the time that I used wasn't the best, it at least made me able to play Black 1.  I read that it was supposed to be sort of an attempt at remaking the wonders of the first game (with all new Pokemon only in the main story).........it was just what I needed to fully get back into the swing of things after all those years.  Black

 

 

[Wolfox]

the anime. I didn't know what it was, but I just really liked it as a kid.kept watching till around the gen 5 one, which is where I started playing the games

[DerogatoryTrainer]

Because the Pokemon blue cartridge was blue instead of the usual Gameboy grey

And to a 4 year old that shit is special.

So I stole it off my neighbour and he just thought he lost it somewhere.

[Seal]

My sister introduced me to it around 11 years ago. I only watched her play until I got a ds with Pokemon Heart Gold to play with for myself.

[Alistair]

My first pokémon game was Blue but the first I actually played a lot was Silver. That and the anime got me into Pokémon.

[Nyaagisa The Maid]

The first Pokémon game I played was Emerald, introduced to me by my friend back when I was 15, but stopped when he changed school…

After that Pokémon, both game and anime for me are just another kids thing and I grow tired of it. I got hooked on Reborn when my college mates introduced the game to me, and of course, for me it was just an easy kids game, at first. As I tried to play for fun but got hooked when I met with the difficulties of gym leaders and other Reborn elements. It was Reborn that makes me hooked to Pokémon more than ever. Looking for guides, research for movesets and EV/IV spread, testing strategies, it was Reborn that got me hooked that much.

[JoStarNight]

I have been a Pokemon fan since its inception, all the way back with Pokemon Red and the Original Series of the Pokemon anime...ever since then, the fire never died down.

Edited May 9, 2018 by JoStarNight

[Zarc]

My first pokemon game was pokemon blue when i was around 5 or 6 years old. Then the passion came after. 

[Guest Relinquished]

Pokemon Red, the year it was released in my country. I got a gameboy color for that. Then i got everything up to and Ruby/Sapphire (minus spin-offs).

[Layback80]

17 hours ago, seki108 said:

What started off as a quick retelling turned into a bit of a poorly written   nostalgia trip/ramble for me that veered off from the original topic completely, so feel free to just read the first paragraph (and maybe the first 2 sentences of the second).

 

  Hide contents

 

Pokemon Red.   Probably the strangest most coincidental thing.   The one time I asked my parents to a baseball game that the town sponsors(?)......I don't remember those details since they aren't important.    I saw an older girl with some kind game device playing a game that looked interesting enough, with pretty cool effects and music that impressed 5-6 year old me.  I was already into the games I played occasionally when I went to an arcade, but this was handheld!  This Pokemon Blue game seemed amazing at the time and I made sure my parents wrote down the name of the game and device on a napkin.........I don't really remember the details that followed but probably a few weeks later I had begged persuaded my parents to buy me one of those Gameboy Colors  and 2 games, one of them being Pokemon Red   (because Red is cooler than Blue, naturally).

 

Once we got Cartoon Network on our new(?) cable package, I found out there was a cartoon about the series too!  It was certainly different than the game I bought, but it was cool too for 6 year old me and reruns were common enough back then that I could catch up on the series.   When I switched schools I even found the one other person I ever knew that played Pokemon as much as I did.  He even had the other version, so we could trade once we asked one of our parents to get the link cables.   This continued for the first three gens or at least Ruby/Sapphire.

 

 

 

Gold:  I remember finding out the release date and my friend and I getting it the same day and comparing.  The time chamber seemed like the absolute coolest thing at the time.  Plus, so much color now! (I had not played Yellow).      It was a whole new place,  with about the same attitude.........yeah, I was stoked when I heard Johto was getting a cartoon as well, though it switched channels for some time.....or something

 

Crystal:  I remember this game mainly for the circumstances of getting it.  Finding out I had Type 1 diabetes and all the confusing complications at 8 was fairly overwhelming......at least what I understood at the time.  The week in the hospital, learning what life would be like from then on and getting used taking multiple shots everyday............my parents heard a new pokemon game had come out (from somewhere?) and bought it for me to take my mind of things a bit.  It certainly helped.  Even if the game was mostly the same, it was different somehow complete with the first non-generic protagonist model.

 

Ruby:  The first time I was a bit disappointed in the series, even if I can understand the technical limitations in hindsight  with many Pokemon simply not being available.  So much changed that it felt different (music and graphics mainly), but it was still the series I loved......though it was getting a bit.....worn.  While my friend did get Emerald and played with me some, I could tell his love for the series was fading.......or he was hiding his interest because of social pressures like I was starting to.

 

Firered:  After many years of not really touching the series, I bought the game used while on a family vacation, mainly because my younger cousin was playing Mystery Dungeon and I felt it would be a nostalgia trip since I knew it was a remake from the commercials that aired at the time of release.  I even named my character after a character from the Naruto filler arc airing at the time: Ranmaru.  My parents looked at me a bit weird since they firmly associated with childhood and since they dragged me to see the first 3 Pokemon movies.  With no real desire to ask for a DS just for Pokemon, a fear of social derision, and no disposable income, my last embers of Pokemon ferver died.

 

 

It wasn't until Mega evolutions came out and the introduction of a new type that the series really sparked interest in me again, though not enough to pick it up.  Being more entrenched in internet culture now, I was suseptible to memes.....and boy did the gen 6 memes deliver  (especially you Espur, you adorable little psychopath).   It started to reawaken my urges, with the new content seeming genuinely interesting.  While the DS emulator at the time that I used wasn't the best, it at least made me able to play Black 1.  I read that it was supposed to be sort of an attempt at remaking the wonders of the first game (with all new Pokemon only in the main story).........it was just what I needed to fully get back into the swing of things after all those years.  Black

 

 

(I read the whole thing)I feel you I played blue(HahaI don't like the color red) and yellow missed gen 2 until years later on a emulator and I feel you on sapphire/ruby lacking but I loved the pokemon designs for the starters and I played firered(because it had charizard on it so I chose it over leafgreen,still hate red haha) then I played pearl and platinum then played soul silver(again blue) witch got me to go play gen 2 and I kinda liked them too but I stopped playing for years after that until my nephew came to me one day with his 3ds playing X/Y telling me about mega evos and it sparked my love again so I was looking through the internet 1 day and I found this website and now I've been playing Rejuvenation since right before V7 then right after I downloaded it I found reborn (I couldn't play all the versions because we did't have very much money so I didn't feel like bother to ask for to much) I don't have a 3ds so I haven't played Omega ruby & Alpha Sapphire or sun and moon

 

7 hours ago, Nyaagisa The Maid said:

The first Pokémon game I played was Emerald, introduced to me by my friend back when I was 15, but stopped when he changed school…

After that Pokémon, both game and anime for me are just another kids thing and I grow tired of it. I got hooked on Reborn when my college mates introduced the game to me, and of course, for me it was just an easy kids game, at first. As I tried to play for fun but got hooked when I met with the difficulties of gym leaders and other Reborn elements. It was Reborn that makes me hooked to Pokémon more than ever. Looking for guides, research for movesets and EV/IV spread, testing strategies, it was Reborn that got me hooked that much.

True that I liked it but it got to childish to me I don't even remember how I found it but I found pokemon Rejuvenation before V7 dropped and it sparked my love for it again

Edited May 9, 2018 by Layback80
forgot Soulsilver and heart gold

[Samtale]

I grew up with the show 1st season I didnt really get one of the games till gen 2 crystal was amazing I really loved its color pallet. Though its my favorite gen due to nostalgia of the game being my first owned pokemon game. I never got beyond jhoto into kanto*sigh* Gen3 with Saphire is the only gen I remember my first starter which was mudkips. Gen 3 was the last gen I got legally without Emulating and I think that helps make it tie with gen2 for nostalgia reasons. Both were starts in different ways and will always have a place in my heart ~CrystalxSaphire~

[Maqqy]

Pokemon Gold! It was my very first game. Even now I still remember my team on that game. It was Magneton, Poliwrath, Graveler then Tyranitar, Haunter, Dragonite and ofcourse, Typhlosion.

 

Then came the pinnacle, Pokemon Emerald. To this day it is my favorite Pokemon game and what really got me into Pokemon. I played Emerald so many times for more than I could count. My main team on that game consisted of Swampert, Minun, Gardevoir then Metagross, Salamence, Delcatty (yes it was my fave) and Aggron.

[Autumn Zephyr]

Way back when I was a wee one of six or so, my father managed to find time to leave his Air Force base and visit me on my birthday, bringing along a GameBoy Advanced and a copy of Pokemon Blue (yes, it did manage to work, somehow). It took me a good while to actually beat it (significantly in part due to the fact that my youngest brother overwrote my savefile right after I had finally evolved my poliwhirl, which I had been trying to figure out how to do for a week beforehand ), but beat it did with... a pretty dang noobish team. Venasaur, zapdos, and a Lv. 27 kadabra. Whoops! Shortly thereafter, I had a huge falling out with my grandmother, and didn't see the GameBoy again until well over a decade later, and the Pokemon game... never. I dunno what happened to it.

 

Eventually, Dad left the Air Force entirely and my youngest brother and I went to live with him and the lady he was seeing at the time. She found out about the GameBoy at some point and decided that it was time to replace it, and so got my one of those fancy-schmancy Nintendo DS Lites for my eleventh birthday, along with a copy of Pokemon Diamond, and eventually grabbed Emerald and Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time for me over the course of the following year. This naturally turned an attachment to somewhat vague memories to a full-on hook, and boy did I make some solid memories with them (it raining hard when I first made me way to Snowpoint, I beat Cynthia for the first time the same day I first made went to the Hidden Highlands...). Eventually, though, the two of them broke up and she left to live on her own, leaving my father as the only adult in the house. And then I made a single mistake.

 

I brought the DS to school without permission and got caught.

 

Didn't see any of the games or system again until just last year, among a massive slough of highly unreasonable punishments that were decidedly unnecessary and only served to make me bitter towards him. But that's a story for another time.

 

Anyway, losing the ability to play the games for a small bit of time (or so I had thought) wasn't going be enough to douse the fire that was burning inside me at that point. I had recently discovered the internet (still don't understand Dad's logic with that one), and a friend of mine had pointed out the existence of Pokebeach during the one week I didn't have to deal with the paternal problem (thank you, summer camp!), so I was able to keep up with news on Pokemon Black and White in my free time. Then Pokemon Conquest (I remember 'going to bed early' one summer so that i could watch a playthrough of that one unobstructed), and BW2... I had given up hope of ever seeing the DS again by the time X and Y were announced, but I didn't let that stop me. Nor did the many times my internet was shut down completely- rarely was I more than three miles away from the nearest public library, and that stops being a hard walk when you do it enough! 

 

So, uh, I guess pokemon's an integral part of my 'rebellious phase'. Whoops.

 

Thankfully, almost everything was returned to me when I turned 19, and my biological mother caught wind and got me copies of Black and Black 2 as graduation presents, so I'm not quite as far behind the curve now. And even that hadn't been the case, I did recently find out that Pokemon Reborn and Rejuvenation aren't blocked by Dad's anti-download programs for some bizarre reason, so I've been able to play those with impunity as well. And I must say, watching someone play a game and playing the thing yourself are two very different experiences~!  

 

...And goodness gracious, I am quite the blabbermouth, huh?

[Layback80]

6 hours ago, Autumn Zephyr said:

Way back when I was a wee one of six or so, my father managed to find time to leave his Air Force base and visit me on my birthday, bringing along a GameBoy Advanced and a copy of Pokemon Blue (yes, it did manage to work, somehow). It took me a good while to actually beat it (significantly in part due to the fact that my youngest brother overwrote my savefile right after I had finally evolved my poliwhirl, which I had been trying to figure out how to do for a week beforehand ), but beat it did with... a pretty dang noobish team. Venasaur, zapdos, and a Lv. 27 kadabra. Whoops! Shortly thereafter, I had a huge falling out with my grandmother, and didn't see the GameBoy again until well over a decade later, and the Pokemon game... never. I dunno what happened to it.

 

Eventually, Dad left the Air Force entirely and my youngest brother and I went to live with him and the lady he was seeing at the time. She found out about the GameBoy at some point and decided that it was time to replace it, and so got my one of those fancy-schmancy Nintendo DS Lites for my eleventh birthday, along with a copy of Pokemon Diamond, and eventually grabbed Emerald and Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time for me over the course of the following year. This naturally turned an attachment to somewhat vague memories to a full-on hook, and boy did I make some solid memories with them (it raining hard when I first made me way to Snowpoint, I beat Cynthia for the first time the same day I first made went to the Hidden Highlands...). Eventually, though, the two of them broke up and she left to live on her own, leaving my father as the only adult in the house. And then I made a single mistake.

 

I brought the DS to school without permission and got caught.

 

Didn't see any of the games or system again until just last year, among a massive slough of highly unreasonable punishments that were decidedly unnecessary and only served to make me bitter towards him. But that's a story for another time.

 

Anyway, losing the ability to play the games for a small bit of time (or so I had thought) wasn't going be enough to douse the fire that was burning inside me at that point. I had recently discovered the internet (still don't understand Dad's logic with that one), and a friend of mine had pointed out the existence of Pokebeach during the one week I didn't have to deal with the paternal problem (thank you, summer camp!), so I was able to keep up with news on Pokemon Black and White in my free time. Then Pokemon Conquest (I remember 'going to bed early' one summer so that i could watch a playthrough of that one unobstructed), and BW2... I had given up hope of ever seeing the DS again by the time X and Y were announced, but I didn't let that stop me. Nor did the many times my internet was shut down completely- rarely was I more than three miles away from the nearest public library, and that stops being a hard walk when you do it enough! 

 

So, uh, I guess pokemon's an integral part of my 'rebellious phase'. Whoops.

 

Thankfully, almost everything was returned to me when I turned 19, and my biological mother caught wind and got me copies of Black and Black 2 as graduation presents, so I'm not quite as far behind the curve now. And even that hadn't been the case, I did recently find out that Pokemon Reborn and Rejuvenation aren't blocked by Dad's anti-download programs for some bizarre reason, so I've been able to play those with impunity as well. And I must say, watching someone play a game and playing the thing yourself are two very different experiences~!  

 

...And goodness gracious, I am quite the blabbermouth, huh?

I made the the mistake once of bringing my ds to school once....it got stolen....haven't gotten a new portable system since hence the internet lol ssooo I'm lacking in the 3ds games department,only reason I discovered/played X/Y was because my nephew came to me one day asking a bunch of questions because his mom/my sister told him to ask me questions and I was introduced to Mega evolutionsHe had both so he would let me play X while he played Y and wasn't playing

Edited May 10, 2018 by Layback80
Its ok if your a blabbermouth I wanted to get to know everyone

[Sayia]

My first pokemon game was Pokemon Yellow. I still remember how much I wanted my Pikachu to evolve :') 

 

[LemonJones]

Had the starter trio - blue, red and yellow. Yellow became my main game due to sprites, it changed colors when you entered another area and it had an option of getting all 3 starters! In my mind starter pokemon were one of the best because they were so rare. My level 30 Pikachu ended up forgotten in a box. 

[CodeCass]

I started when I was 10 years old with Red version when the games and show were both brand new in NA. The only reason I can remember that I was 10 was that in the first episode of anime, Ash mentions that he's 10 and can finally get his Pokémon license. This always seemed cool to me as kid since I was 10 and was going on my first journey as well. I became obsessed and have loved the series ever since. I remember my mother saying "you don't want to be 30 and still playing Pokémon, do you?"

 

...well I'm 29 now...so I guess that joke's on her. Haha! At least I've got a wife that plays as well and fully supports the hobby! It's just about time to see about passing that love for the game on to a new generation!  

[mar_mar]

Well, I would say that I started with Pokemon Fire Red when I was nine but my favourite Pokemon games were Emerald and Crystal. I kinda loved Espeon a bit too much

[EternalJinn]

My oldest brother introduced me to the game and my first was firered. Venusaur became my best starter when it helped me beat Blaine

[andracass]

Ruby! My starter was a mudkip.

I couldn't figure out how to get out of Slateport and after that I learned the absolute horror that is a Grovyle with absorb

*shudders

[Dedenne1]

Pokemon Leafgreen!

My friend had a copy and was playing it and let me borrow it, I got so hooked and then I bought trading cards where we would battle.

I really loved the story and how many cool mons you could catch. The thing that really made me want to try more games was the postgame where the Sevii Islands had pokemon of different types and looks that I never saw. I wanted to see new ones so I asked for Sapphire. Probably took a break for awhile and then got hooked again with Diamond!