How long were you into Pokemon, and what got you into it?

[Katipunero]

I was about 1 or 2 when pokemon first debuted as an anime on tv but i learned and appreciated it when i was 4 or 5.

 

[The Hideous Birdchild]

I've been around since RBY and the start of the Pokemon anime in the US. *old* I got into it because the idea of going out on an adventure with some mons was and still is really appealing.

 

[Falconx03]

I remember it like it was yesterday. standing in the toy store after red and blue came out. I couldn't decide which version i wanted, so i flipped a coin, heads for red tails for blue. it came out heads and i powered up red for the first time on October 1st, 1998, sometime in the mid-afternoon. even better was November 2nd, 2000 when i got silver for my birthday. i played that game long after the clock said 99:99. after that though i didn't touch another pokemon game for 9 years. looking back i cant remeber why. i guess i had just moved on. then around 5 or 6 months ago i saw that they were remaking gold and silver, so i figured now was better than any time to jump back in and picked up platinum, then soulsilver when it came out. since then i have logged around 250 hours between both versions. It's amazing how incredibly timeless these games are, I grew up and pokemon stayed the same. not much in this world ever does that.

Plus they added a Ghost freaking Dragon, not even the invention of the gameboy surpasses that

My reasoning is just like yours. Minus the waiting in store, flipping the coin, playing on release day.

My brother had the Red version. So my mom bought me Blue version, Squirtle was my favorite. Then, Yellow came out and I played that one over Blue. I made sure to be just like Ash in Yellow, even named my character Ash and the Rival Gary. I only caught the pokemon Ash caught. Few years later, Gold and Silver came out. My brother got Silver and I got Gold. I chose Chikorita, restarted because I kept getting owned by Falkner. I then chose Totodile, favorite since then. After a bit Crystal came out, never got that one but my friend did. After a few years I gave up pokemon for quite some time. I slightly played while a different friend had Ruby/Sapphire. I completely quit until a few months ago(April) when I got Heartgold and of course chose my Totodile. It took me two days(April 13-15) to start and beat the Elite 4, I don't know how long everything else took. I also beat everybody in the game while being completely underleveled. I SR to beat people. For Red, my highest level was 64 Feraligatr and 70 Lugia, the rest were 50 and below.

Since roughly mid-June I have been playing pokemon Emulators on my ipod touch. I started with Yellow and Crystal. Got pretty far in both of them. Never beat them. Then I got access to GBA Emulator so I have several pokemon games. Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Fire Red, Leaf Green and several others. I played Emerald and Leaf Green. Barely played them. Now I'm going to buy my own DS(been using my sisters DSi) and will buy pokemon Platinum.

 

[LillythePiplup]

I got into Pokemon like a year after Diamond and Pearl came out...and that's because my friend kept bugging me about it, and I finally gave up and bought Sapphire version. Now she asks me Pokemon questions and I won a bet when she forgot what type Lugia was (Psychic-Flying, Crystal, not Water-Psychic...)
I have a lot more than Sapphire, but I learned pretty quick about all the Pokemon, their types, and their region. So, I'm pretty glad my friend kept bugging me about Pokemon

 

[wesling123]

It was about 7 years ago when I had my Gameboy Advance SP and saw the game Pokemon Emerald in a mall....The boxart looks interesting and a friend of mine keeps telling me to play Pokemon so I bought it and now I'm here! ;476;

 

[wesling123]

It was about 7 years ago when I had my Gameboy Advance SP and saw the game Pokemon Emerald in a mall....The boxart looks interesting and a friend of mine keeps telling me to play Pokemon so I bought it and now I'm here! ;476;

 

[AstralEon]

I started Pokemon when it first came out; Red and Blue and Kanto series.

I still kept going until we got to Johto region. Wasn't sure if I had Gold or Silver.

I was unable to continue to the Hoenn series due to family matters and forgetting all about Pokemon.

I was able to come back to Pokemon once more and just in time too; Sinnoh was about to be released.

And here I am, about to go 5th gen.

 

[YellowHat's Revenge]

When I was 5 years old, I had been watching the anime for a while now, with full knowledge that there was more out there. My neigbors across the street were both older than me, one by a year and one by half a decade.
They had Pokemon cards, as well as Red and Blue versions, respectively.
One fateful day, my parents FINALLY bought me my own cards, which happened to be the theme deck with Gyarados and Ivysaur (probably the reason Bulbasaur was my favorite Pokemon at the time, and Grass types were my favorite).
AND that Christmas I got a Yellow Gameboy color and Yellow Version to boot, which completed the trio of games in our neighborhood. I trudged all the way across the street (which is probably a good quarter mile, considering we all have long driveways that branch from a cul-de-sac) in 6 or so inches of snow to show off my new games.

I'm 16, so that was nearly 12 years ago. There was a very short period of time between the 3rd and 4th gens where my love of Pokemon started to fade a bit, but I quickly got over it.

So I've owned literally thousands of cards... And I always try to get one main series game from each generation.
Yellow
Gold --- Crystal
Ruby --- Leafgreen (I now own every single GBA title, but these were the first)
Diamond --- Platinum --- HeartGold

 

[neo_senku]

I'll start off by saying I'm 21 and still very much into the games, pkmn special manga. I'm into the anime only a little bit at this point. I was first introduced to it when the summer before i started 5th grade. I received a promotional video from Nintendo for some reason, and on the video it talked about Pokemon and the whole thing was explained by real life actors claiming to be ash's aunt, teacher and Misty's best friend. I've been hooked ever since and am patiently awaiting this fifth gen.

 

[Rage Baron]

I think I became a fan a little before Pokemon 2000 came out, and got Pokemon Ruby as my first Pokemon game a little while after it came out.

I took a break from the games between Battle Revolution and HeartGold & SoulSilver, but got back into the games a few months ago.

 

[jammy3000100]

A friend lent me blue about a month before gold and silver were released. I recieved gold as a birthday present and have been playing the games since.

 

[sweeney123]

Ive been into pokemon ever since the beginning. and im still obsessed thanks to the video games

 

[Rosalhynne]

Maybe 3rd grade (maybe 2005) when my 3rd grade teacher decided to give the entire class pokemon cards. I got hooked and made my mom buy me a sapphire and gameboy adv. I had NO IDEA how it work. Like, "What is save game?" so I kept on making new game (I got to admit, I wasn't so smart when it came to user accounts on computers and gameboys like, Pokemon Sapphire was the first Gameboy game I ever played... So yeah. When it came to Gamecube games? I was a genius.)Then my brother took it, claimed as his and was saving. My mom bought me Ruby afterwards and I found out that making new game doesn't take you to your old file. I never got far anyways. I still have my Ruby
Starting it over because my younger sister made a new game -__-

 

[KeshanAmare]

I Got Mine In 3rd Grade

On the final day of school, in the 3rd Grade, (I was 8, now I'm almost 13) my friend brought his GBA SP to school. He let me play his FireRed for a while. It was awesome. I really liked the game. So I asked my parents to get me one. I got Emerald and a GBA SP. Then I got Ruby and all that. Problem is, they all broke.

 

[Tubey84]

I owned the original Red and Blue on the GameBoy, but never really played it extensively until the TCG hit the schools. Then the TCG was everywhere.

I collected like a maniac but cooled off after a bit. Towards the end I got a shiny Charizard in a booster pack and traded it for an actual GameBoy Color with Pokemon Yellow IIRC... A piece of shiny cardboard for a gaming system. Madness xD

Went off it completely after that until having a quick go on my sisters Pokemon Platinum, which hooked me again. I bought a DS Lite and Pokemon Platinum, had a good run at the game but unfortunately the Distortion World etc. didn't do much for me and I beat the Elite Four and left alone.

Then found HeartGold. I only played Red, Blue and Yellow "back in the day" so HG is completely new for me. Loving it thus far - been playing on and off but enjoying the delights of breeding at the moment and the sheer depth to the game.

 

[Miaquamarine]

I started with the anime show in 1998, when I was somewhere around the age of two.
I still have wonderful memories of me sitting with my dad, watching the very first episode, along with the episode that held Jigglypuff's debut, and the Mt. Moon episode, etc.. on good ol' Kids WB.

I remember my aunt getting me a cute little pink GBA for my birthday at the age of four or five, and my parents getting me Pokemon Silver. After that, my affection for the Pokemon series just grew and grew. My dad and I would play Pokemon Silver forever, nonstop, it would seem. I would do the simple things, my dad would figure out the puzzles, and I would also nickname our Pokemon after characters from various Final Fantasy games I loved at the time (incorrectly spelled, of course XD).

Oh gosh, I also remember going to every Pokemon movie in the theaters, up until Pokemon: Heroes (with Latios and Latias), which is when they stopped airing the movies in public.. I still have my hands on Pokemon 3: The Movie and Pokemon Heroes movie tickets.

After Silver, maybe a year later was when I decided to go back and buy Pokemon Red and Yellow. Then when Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire (I got Ruby) came out when I was about six or seven, that's when I grew fond memories of actually playing on my own for the first time. Though I still recall unlocking the secret Regis braille code with my dad. c:

By the time Pokemon Emerald came out, I was definitely playing video games on my own. And then I bought Pokemon FireRed and had fun with that, too. Then, obviously, next is Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.. I think I was in fifth grade at the time. I've got to say, my Diamond game probably has the highest play time, after Silver of course! And you know, yada yada, awesome memories, etc. etc.

When the remake of my favorite generation came out, I had to hold back from having a freak out of nostalgia!srsly. Pokemon SoulSilver has made me sooo happy, it's like, oh I don't know.. Fantastic. 8D

I currently have high hopes for Pokemon Black/White. I hope the super decked-out, overly done 3D effects turn out okay. c:

(And just adding this in - there are definitely some Nintendo64 and GameCube Pokemon games that hold some meaning in my Pokemon career. Trading Cards too ~)​

 

[halloweenghost]

I started with the anime show in 1998, when I was somewhere around the age of two.
I still have wonderful memories of me sitting with my dad, watching the very first episode, along with the episode that held Jigglypuff's debut, and the Mt. Moon episode, etc.. on good ol' Kids WB.

I remember my aunt getting me a cute little pink GBA for my birthday at the age of four or five, and my parents getting me Pokemon Silver. After that, my affection for the Pokemon series just grew and grew. My dad and I would play Pokemon Silver forever, nonstop, it would seem. I would do the simple things, my dad would figure out the puzzles, and I would also nickname our Pokemon after characters from various Final Fantasy games I loved at the time (incorrectly spelled, of course XD).

Oh gosh, I also remember going to every Pokemon movie in the theaters, up until Pokemon: Heroes (with Latios and Latias), which is when they stopped airing the movies in public.. I still have my hands on Pokemon 3: The Movie and Pokemon Heroes movie tickets.

After Silver, maybe a year later was when I decided to go back and buy Pokemon Red and Yellow. Then when Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire (I got Ruby) came out when I was about six or seven, that's when I grew fond memories of actually playing on my own for the first time. Though I still recall unlocking the secret Regis braille code with my dad. c:

By the time Pokemon Emerald came out, I was definitely playing video games on my own. And then I bought Pokemon FireRed and had fun with that, too. Then, obviously, next is Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.. I think I was in fifth grade at the time. I've got to say, my Diamond game probably has the highest play time, after Silver of course! And you know, yada yada, awesome memories, etc. etc.

When the remake of my favorite generation came out, I had to hold back from having a freak out of nostalgia!srsly. Pokemon SoulSilver has made me sooo happy, it's like, oh I don't know.. Fantastic. 8D

I currently have high hopes for Pokemon Black/White. I hope the super decked-out, overly done 3D effects turn out okay. c:

(And just adding this in - there are definitely some Nintendo64 and GameCube Pokemon games that hold some meaning in my Pokemon career. Trading Cards too ~)​

you are about the age where people start to say pokemon is uncool and for babies.. don't let anyone ever change your mind,. play pokemon,.. do what you wanna do..don't let mindless drones who cannot think for themselves tell you what youshould do! trust me.. a few years later these same former fans look back and get back into pokemon again I'll just save you the trouble and just keep playing

 

[The Benmeister]

Oh boy, this must've been a while ago. I must have been about six or seven...or was it eight...who knows. My friend kept going on about the Pokemon anime to everyone he could see, I'd never even heard of it. One morning I just happened to catch an episode to see what all the fuss was about, I believe it was 'Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon!'. To say I was confused at the time was an understatement, nevertheless, it got the ball rolling, and I got hooked on Blue version.

The only difference between me and everyone else was that when the fad died down, I continued playing. I stopped for a few years after the third gen games came out, but it soon made its (perhaps unwanted) return. After I found this site I've barely been away.

 

[Patches-Kun]

I was about 7 or 8 when I got the first 3 episodes on VHS for my birthday.

After I went to go buy more VHS tapes and bought Red and Blue (this was before Yellow came out) and I was hooked. I still am.

 

[Noheart]

10 years ago, when I was just turning four years old, my older sister got me Pokemon Red for my birthday.

I played it, loved it. Soon I started getting cards and watching the anime.

Now I'm 14 and posting on a Pokemon Forum. Yay.