My first exposure to Pokemon? It was the anime series. I started watching Pokemon on CDs when I was around 9 or 10 with my cousins. That was when I first fell in love with Bulbasaur, when I watched episode 10 "Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village". And Bulbasaur has been my favourite Pokemon ever since. He's always my #001!
Best Pokemon ever.
During those times, there wasn't strong internet connection for us to stream videos seamlessly like now. Plus, where in the world would you find sites like kissanime.ru back then? The only one I remembered from my younger days was Crunchyroll. Even so, that was much later on and I somehow recall having to pay to watch anime on that site.
A few years later, my brother got his GBA as his birthday gift, along with Pokemon Ruby awhile after it was released. That GBA was also the first ever handheld console we had in our family. My brother started playing Ruby, and having no GBA myself and the inability to create 2 separate saves, I watched. Once in awhile, I would borrow his game and play a little without saving. I never finished Ruby, obviously. In fact, I don't think I ever got past the 2nd gym cause I can't be hogging someone else's game right? A little later on when Emerald was released, we got it too and he was nice enough to let me create a save on that as he was still on Ruby.
*We might have had Sapphire too, I can't remember. But my brother said he remembered having all 3rd gen titles and I played Sapphire for awhile before switching to Emerald.
So I guess I'd say that my first Pokemon game was Emerald, also the title that left me the deepest impression. (Not including Ruby cause I only watched, mostly. And not including Sapphire because, why don't I remember playing it? ^^") And no, we both didn't know back then that Emerald was the director's cut of Ruby and Sapphire.
We've had a bootleg title in our possession too. Chaos Black, anyone? XD Somehow I don't remember playing it ever, and I think my brother didn't play it for long too. But yes, we didn't know it was bootleg back then when we bought it. A few years later, my brother got his PSP and stopped playing the GBA. It was old and dying, and it was cracked till we could see the components inside if we bend it enough. But I wanted to keep it so we went to a shop and changed the shell and I took over the console. Started off playing Pokemon Ruby, stopped very early in the story and switched to Emerald once again. Then the GBA died.
I was playing many different games so it wasn't an immediate crave or need for a new console. I guess you could say I didn't bother because I was busy with PC games (like Maple Story owo) and PS games then, LOL. Plus, all my peers weren't into Pokemon games.. so I stopped playing Pokemon games when the GBA died.
Though through the years, we continued watching Pokemon movies, but discontinued on following the series. (Though I was still pretty much a Pokemon fan throughout so I still follow up on new Pokemon and characters by stalking other people's fan art.) Later on I got my own PSP. I played a lot of Tekken, everyday. (I play it on my PSP, I play it on our PS2, and I play it in the arcade. I've made a guy in the arcade upset too, because he lost to me lol.) I then somehow started reminiscing the old games I used to play, and so got my PSP hacked and installed PS1 and GBA emulators on it.
Do you recognize this town? :D
It was also during those times that I started playing PokeMMO with my cousins. We were super casual and my only wish was to have a team made up of Pokemon I liked, regardless of their typing coverage or how well they fared competitively. And mostly, I just wanted to have Bulbasaur (Venusaur later) by my side at all times (they had an update where you could use HeartGold/SoulSilver roms to make Pokemon trail behind you).
The moment when my life is complete.
Speaking of casual, in all my past Pokemon games, I have never played competitively. For one, when I finally started understanding shit, I couldn't (with my hacked PSP and game being pirated and all lolol), and also, I didn't know how. It was only towards later stage of me playing PokeMMO with my best friend (now boyfriend ❤) that I started having proper knowledge about natures, IVs and EVs. Even then, I did not really read much into details. All I knew was how natures affected each stat, the need for perfect IVs, perfect IV = 31, and how fighting certain Pokemon gave different EVs.
After stopping PokeMMO, I returned to my hacked PSP and played Emerald again (now you see why this title has the longest lasting impression on me LOL). This time, I knew more, and started doing what almost every non-casual player does: spam reset for a good starter. XD I started building a team with more knowledge in mind on type coverage and effectiveness. Since I couldn't trade or battle with anyone, it was still extremely limited on the things I could accomplish. After many times of playing the same title, I finally started using the daycare for breeding. Though, it was all casual because I never get Pokemon with nice stats (pfft) and I had no access to trading. :| So I never did try hard on this. Only did it cause it was cute to have an egg and well, most pre-evolves are cute af.
Then, hiatus again.
Fast forward, my boyfriend got himself back into Pokemon TCG. I started collecting with him. I grew fond of Pokemon once again, feeling nostalgic and all. So I played a bit of the Pokemon titles I had on my PSP once again, feeling somewhat imcomplete like something was missing. Boyfriend was playing Pokemon X on his sister's 3DS so I watched. The urge to get a 3DS for myself began. I played a little of Pokemon X using his save to try out the feel of playing legit Pokemon game on a legit device. I realised I need a 3DS. Boyfriend told me to wait it out and see if I really want it before spending any money because I have the tendency to get distracted by different games on different platforms all the time (somewhat true.. to a certain extend).
And then came the hype on Pokemon GO. To be honest, I no longer play it actively. I hardly log in anymore after the Halloween event ended last year. Still, it brought so much Pokemon hype and memories back, somehow. It reminded me of my childhood dream of going on adventures and capturing Pokemon!
Then came the announcement of Pokemon Sun and Moon launch. Looking at the starters, the trailers, etc., I decided that I really, absolutely need to play it. I actually bought Pokemon Sun first, and borrowed my boyfriend's sister's 3DS to play it on, while I continued contemplating, researching and sourcing for my own 3DS. Finally, I came across someone selling his less-than-a-week old New Nintendo 3DS XL at RM200 cheaper than retail price. So I bought it almost immediately. No, wait. I bought it immediately.
Been playing extremely a lot since. Finished the game end of last year and started actively trading and breeding. Caught my first shiny too! I've also been studying all the technical stuff and I am now building my team for competitive play! Following the VGC scene bit by bit and learning new things everyday. I will be sharing some tips and guides very soon too! (As usual when I am extremely hooked on a certain game.. previous example: Don't Starve :P)
Oh, I am also currently playing Omega Ruby. Feeling very nostalgic while playing it too since it's actually a remake of Ruby. ♡ And I am now tempted to purchase one of the Gen 1 titles to play, since I've only seen videos of it and have never actually watch someone play it or play it myself IRL. Currently considering Pokemon Yellow where I can get all the other 3 Gen 1 starters later on in the game. :D
I'm now truly on the way to achieving my dream...
★ I will catch 'em all, and one day I will be, the very best. ★
