Pokemon
"I want to be the very best, like no one before me!" At the age of ten, Ash set out with Pikachu to become the best Pokémon trainer ever! He met hundreds of Pokémon, fought countless battles and yet has barely aged.
The drunken blockade?
Remember the grumpy guy from Pokémon Red/Blue, who was blocking the way to Route 2 in the north of Viridian City? You had to bring him a coffee to wake him up enough to start the day. In the Japanese original, the man also needed coffee, but not because he was tired: instead, he was drunk as a skunk! Nintendo toned this aspect down for the western market, and for us it fits better with Pokémon too.
Pokémon Red and Blue: Pure nostalgia
How did a game that came out towards the end of the Game Boy's lifespan, was rather buggy, and had the most basic story become the biggest pop culture brand in the world? Yes, we're talking about Pokémon, which was developed by Satoshi Tajiri's then completely unknown studio Game Freak and launched in Japan in 1996. And today has more sales than Star Wars, Marvel's Cinematic Universe and Grand Theft Auto combined! Well, we are not really going to go into that here. Because you probably already know about Pokémon with its mix of cute pocket monsters that can be caught, trained and used in battles, and the ingenious idea of distributing these very same monsters to different games, then swapping them via a link cable. You probably know all this even if you have never played the games yourself. We only mention all this for the sake of completeness, because now we just want to wallow in nostalgia.
The best childhood memories
No other series of games evokes such positive childhood memories for us today as Pokémon. Just think how quickly we were captivated by the Red and Blue Versions back then! How we had to choose one of three Pokémon right at the start of the game. (And, of course, we chose Squirtle, who has the best odds scientifically proven against Gym Leaders in the whole game and (by the way) is easily the cutest looking too). How we encountered our arch-rival, who we were even allowed to name ourselves, which added immeasurably to the rivalry! Little by little getting to know the world and the way it worked. While the game guided us beautifully through this whole process. To the point where the world suddenly became more open, giving us greater freedom. And we had to learn by sheer trial and error what moves like "Growl", "Scary Face" or "Wrap" actually do to opponents. Or what the hell a "hidden machine" is supposed to be. How we defeated the first Gym Leaders. Met our first Legendary Pokémon. And chatted about all these things with our friends while we moved Pokémon from one module to the other via link cables to complete our Pokédex. And how these same friends had heard rumours about a secret Pokémon called Mew. Which, without today's internet, remained an impenetrable secret for ages, all of which just added to Pokémon's success.
Take a fresh dive into the world of Pokémon
Today, we still enjoy diving into the world of Pokémon, especially those early generations. And it's easier than ever! All you have to do is fire up the old Game Boy and plug in the Blue module. (Players with enough cash might even go for the Analogue Pocket.) Watch a few more episodes of the anime series and accompany Ash, Misty and Brock on their adventures. Turn on Pokérap on YouTube at full volume. Or why not just openly display our love of Pokémon by adding them to our everyday lives. With Pokémon merch! Nothing could be easier than putting on a T-shirt with our favourite (starter) Pokémon. Maybe it will even encourage other fans to come and chat to us! We’ll get embroiled in a long discussion about the coolest Pokémon and become friends for life in the process. Or enemies, as the case may be. Or we might jazz up our sofa with soft toys and our desk with collector's figures to earn envious glances from our visitors. Who we can then delight with home-baked waffles in the shape of a Pokéball. The possibilities in the Pokémon merchandise universe are at least as varied as the Pokémon themselves. And as we all know, there are plenty of Pokémon. With more coming all the time. Sorry, we really have to go! We have just found ourselves a wild Ditto.