How did you feel when you entered the franchise known as Pokemon?

[HolyNova Lucario]

Well my first experience was of intrigue. I started getting into Pokemon when my older brother shown me a Pokemon Red game for the first time, while I was still 5. At that time I didn't acknowledge Pokemon much until I saw the anime for the first time. The colours and Pokemon grabbed my attention so much back then, until I finally got my first Pokemon game, 'Pokemon Emerald'. After that I started buying Pokemon TCG, which I soon grown out of. To this day, I still like Pokémon. Share your experience when you first entered the world of Pokemon.

 

[Ditto B1tch]

I don't remember how I felt, I just know I was a child.

 

[Wolfaotic]

My older brother showed my Pokemon pearl and then I got into it.
My first Pokemon was Piplup and then it was Totodile. I'm also into Pokemon TCG.

 

[DCFCdan]

I recieved pokemon Red for christmas when i was 8 or 9 years old and played it all day christmas day. I am 23 now and still playing pokemon xD .

I then got into watching the anime and collecting the TGC. In my first ever pack of base set cards i pulled the charizard holo. Could not believe my luck.

As ive grown older the obsession i once had has faded but i still make time to play the new games etc. Don't collect the TGC anymore due to how expensive of a hobby it is.

I am amazed at how far pokemon has come and how it is still going strong. Not sure my childhood would have been the same without pokemon so im happy that i could grow up with it.

 

[Steampunk]

Well, I started with a single pokemon card, and obviously, you need more than one to actually be able to play so I was instantly hooked on getting pokemon cards.

 

[SerenaForTheWin]

the time when i get to take a interest in pokemon, i feel i have been living in a pokemon world.

 

[Murder Doll]

I was alright with my blue version but I was down right in love with the franchise when I started watching the anime...now odly enough I don't watch the anime but love the games.

 

[bailey.ga]

My first experience is of me getting a starter pack of the TCG with a shiny Ninetales. You cannot imagine the shame I still feel to this day when I tell you I traded it for a Pikachu card -_-.

I was 6, I think, when that happened.

 

[Quantum1024]

I was really late to the party. I was initially one of the people who thought Pokemon was "too violent", until I studied in a school where most of the classmates are Pokemon players.

I was assigned as a Bidoof (I wasn't very popular) during class jacket design during Secondary 4 (~10th grade for you Americans). And I just got a calculator that could play Gameboy Color games. That was the point where I decided that I should play Pokemon, if only to really get into what my classmates are doing (and hopefully avert the incident mentioned).

Now I have played at least one game from each generation (except Gen 1) ever since.

 

[DarkFeline]

The franchise was very popular at school. Teachers would let us watch video tapes of the anime on rare occasions when it was introduced. (Probably this and the DDR series are the only video games schools would like to talk about despite video games being harmful to studies).

However, it took me seven years to play one Pokemon game seriously (Pokemon Silver). I only ever played the cards. From then on, I became a Pokemon fan.

 

[Talonflame]

I remember one of my friends got Pokemon Emerald, and I used to sit and watch him play over his shoulder for HOURS (I was a weird child) because I was so intrigued by the different Pokemon designs. Then, when the DS lite came out I got my first ever gaming console and game; Pokemon Pearl. It was the best game ever in my opinion, and I have bought every single game since.

 

[Greekboy]

My brother got Sapphire version, so I got Ruby.

 

[Smeargle1987]

I got Red for Christmas when it was released all those years ago,I must have been 9 or 10-possibley even 11. I spent all Christmas day playing it with my cousin and rubbing his nose in it when I caught Pikachu before him!

I remember rushing home from school to watch Pokemon on Sky One-Aww,such simple times!

 

[TheFonz]

I was always into Pokémon since I could remember. I was about 4 years old when Pokémon came out and I have a few early memories. I was just kinda into it, liked the designs and characters and watched the show occasionally. Never forget watching the heck out of the VHS's of "Primeape Goes Bananas" and "Holiday Hi-Jynx". Also had the first three movies on video. One very early
memory was in Kindergarten when a friend got me a pack of Pokémon cards for the Secret Santa Christmas thing we usually had at school and he said he got it because he heard I liked Pokémon.

Not really a huge memory but another one within that time was seeing some kind of Pokémon backpack or activity book or something like that at a corner store near me. I was so excited when I got it haha. It was full of pictures and stickers and I loved it. I also remember getting a Snorlax toy(which I still have!) and an Articuno toy at Burger King when Pokémon 2000 was out. Haha my sister got Zapdos and I remember thinking Articuno was so much cooler(pun intended).

Anyways 1998-2000ish was when I was casually into it but I got sucked into the franchise more as time passed. I watched the anime much more closely around 2001-2002 then on, I rememer loving the Johto League and watching older episodes like crazy on Cartoon Network when they started showing reruns. I was more into the Yu-Gi-Oh! craze at the time, but always watched Pokémon Advanced, Advanced Challenge, and Advanced Battle. Always enjoyed it

Then 4Kids lost the rights and I didn't really like the show much anymore. Although I vividly remember seeing key episodes like Ash's battles against most of the Frontier Brains, Grovyle evolving, and even a few early episodes of DP.

I feel like I didn't truely become a full fledged fan until August 2008 when I was 14. I'll never forget my re-introduction to the franchise. My DS had broke because I dropped it on concrete and the hinge broke. I played Yu-Gi-Oh! games on my DS all the time, so I was disappointed. Until I could afford a new one, I figured, hey why not look for some old GBA games that I never played? Which led me to Pokémon on Wikipedia, and then YouTube.

I never knew how important the games were in the franchise. I had figured that the anime was the main source and I never picked up any games when I was younger because I figured the anime was better and the games wouldn't be any good. How wrong I was...

I rewatched the first episode of Pokémon and it brought back loads of memories. I instantly wanted to start my journey in the World of Pokémon. I even looked up online the order of the games so I could kinda copy the anime. So luckily the Toys R Us near me was selling new copies of Gen III(remember it was 2008, they probably had an old stock they never sold). I remember wanting to start in Kanto with Charmander and catch Caterpie and Pikachu ASAP. Eventually I bought Emerald, then a DS with Diamond and Pearl...

Then here I am today over 5 years later with a big collection of games and hundreds of hours poured into them. I will never forget Pokémon and I will be a fan for life. Sorry for the long post haha

 

[Lost Lore]

I recall watching the anime when I was younger vaguely, but... it all started with a cartridge of Gold that I got for my birthday, along with one of those special edition Game Boy Colors. I think I might have been 9 or 10 at the time, not sure...?

Initially I had no clue what I was doing, of course. Despite that, I quickly fell in love with the game... and here I am now, oh so many years later. And even more of a Poke-nerd now than I was back then. Ah, memories~

 

[TheOriginalOne]

Pokémon wasn't relevant to me until Diamond and Pearl came out. Those games became so popular in my school that, in 4th grade, I started to look at the other ones playing it. My interest on the games made me lose counsciousness of what was around me, but I didn't play until 2 years later, when I received Pearl on my birthday. Meanwhile, most of the people from my age had lost interest. But I didn't care. I started to play it, and was a bit confused at the beginning (I remember having given up on the first day just because I couldn't find the path leading to Sandgem Town. 4 days later, I returned to normal playing, and found it). Unfortunately, that game suffered many consequences of my ignorance (for example, I ran away from Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf). But I didn't stop, and not only that's the game where I concentrate my efforts of completing the dex, as I later bought Pt/SS/B/W2/Y.

Overall: I started late, but now I'm one of the few. One that began as a naive child that wanted to see the others playing, just not to get bored.

 

[AquaMilotic]

In 1999, when I was 5, I saw the episode "Challenge of the Samurai", which got me into Pokemon. I was immediately hooked. My parents quickly bought me plushies and a sticker book that helped me to learn all 151 Gen 1 Pokemon quickly. And so, I became a PokeManiac, and still am one today. Anyways, when I was about 9, I started with the games. Colosseum, Crystal, LeafGreen and Emerald are games I feel nostalgic about. And now, I write fics and do fanart, and have a huge collection of kid figures. I also used to be hooked on the cards for a long time, including trading in elementary school, but those days are over now, I don't buy new ones anymore, but still like keeping them for nostalgic value. Pokemon is my life.

 

[Kutie Pie]

Considering I was only six and thought nothing much on it as a franchise at the time, I was really into the anime. I mean come on, every kid on the school playground was talking about it, everyone was hyped and loved it. I thought it was the best thing ever as a kid before I got my hands on the games--I still consider my eighth birthday the best birthday I've ever had. And to give Pokémon some credit, I haven't felt like that since. I get happy and excited when I enter other franchises, but it has of yet to have been like how I feel with Pokémon. While I may love other franchises, I tend to go in and out of them a lot, but I've always stayed put with Pokémon. I can't think of a time where I was ever sick of Pokémon, even when I boycotted Gen V for a year and I lost interest in the anime after Advanced Battle (though chances are had I've always had cable, I probably would've still watched it even if I don't care for the voices).

 

[PokemonNation2000]

I was always into Pokémon since I could remember. I was about 4 years old when Pokémon came out and I have a few early memories. I was just kinda into it, liked the designs and characters and watched the show occasionally. Never forget watching the heck out of the VHS's of "Primeape Goes Bananas" and "Holiday Hi-Jynx". Also had the first three movies on video. One very early
memory was in Kindergarten when a friend got me a pack of Pokémon cards for the Secret Santa Christmas thing we usually had at school and he said he got it because he heard I liked Pokémon.

Not really a huge memory but another one within that time was seeing some kind of Pokémon backpack or activity book or something like that at a corner store near me. I was so excited when I got it haha. It was full of pictures and stickers and I loved it. I also remember getting a Snorlax toy(which I still have!) and an Articuno toy at Burger King when Pokémon 2000 was out. Haha my sister got Zapdos and I remember thinking Articuno was so much cooler(pun intended).

Anyways 1998-2000ish was when I was casually into it but I got sucked into the franchise more as time passed. I watched the anime much more closely around 2001-2002 then on, I rememer loving the Johto League and watching older episodes like crazy on Cartoon Network when they started showing reruns. I was more into the Yu-Gi-Oh! craze at the time, but always watched Pokémon Advanced, Advanced Challenge, and Advanced Battle. Always enjoyed it

Then 4Kids lost the rights and I didn't really like the show much anymore. Although I vividly remember seeing key episodes like Ash's battles against most of the Frontier Brains, Grovyle evolving, and even a few early episodes of DP.

I feel like I didn't truely become a full fledged fan until August 2008 when I was 14. I'll never forget my re-introduction to the franchise. My DS had broke because I dropped it on concrete and the hinge broke. I played Yu-Gi-Oh! games on my DS all the time, so I was disappointed. Until I could afford a new one, I figured, hey why not look for some old GBA games that I never played? Which led me to Pokémon on Wikipedia, and then YouTube.

I never knew how important the games were in the franchise. I had figured that the anime was the main source and I never picked up any games when I was younger because I figured the anime was better and the games wouldn't be any good. How wrong I was...

I rewatched the first episode of Pokémon and it brought back loads of memories. I instantly wanted to start my journey in the World of Pokémon. I even looked up online the order of the games so I could kinda copy the anime. So luckily the Toys R Us near me was selling new copies of Gen III(remember it was 2008, they probably had an old stock they never sold). I remember wanting to start in Kanto with Charmander and catch Caterpie and Pikachu ASAP. Eventually I bought Emerald, then a DS with Diamond and Pearl...

Then here I am today over 5 years later with a big collection of games and hundreds of hours poured into them. I will never forget Pokémon and I will be a fan for life. Sorry for the long post haha

LMAO because I have so much in common with you, man: pretty much the same case here on the anime.

As for the games, I started with GSC and have played all of the games released since then, but went back and played RBY too.

 

[Alola Adventurer]

Had heard about it when I was little, but then became a fan of the franchise and anime on October 18th, 2003,
after seeing Gotta Catch Ya Later and onward.

Became a fan of the games in Generation V.