Everyone was into Pokémon back in 2000. The fad did not really start yet over here in Europe in late 1999. The game wasn't released here until fall 1999. I remember seeing it in a toy shop add and wondering what it was. It said you had the possibility to trade different characters via link cable which sounded somewhat interesting. I read about the game in a magazine and did not really understand all of it. But just about two months later, it must have been December or even January 2000, everyone started to learn about the little critters called "Pokémon". Just mere weeks later cards, toys and all that stuff started to pop up at school as well as the video games. I now knew what Pokémon was, so a game in which you could catch and train them for yourself was very appealing when you and your friends were all into it. I played it a bit on a classmates' Game Boy and I loved it instantly. So as soon as I had the money I got a copy and since then I am a fan of the series. Every few months I go back to playing Pokémon games. I'm 21 but since not many people knew about Pokémon in the 90's here in Europe I did not play it as early as that, though.
I got bored of the cartoon quickly and never cared much for the cards and toys and all that, but the games remain fun so I have never been so excited about a video game as when Pokémon Gold and Silver came out a year after I bought Red. I remember how much better everything was. And all those new pokémon which included some of the most memorable ones yet.
I was excited when I saw the Ruby and Sapphire versions. I had just as much fun as with Gold/silver but it didn't feel as much of a gaint leap forward as Gold/Silver was. The changes were, for a big part, more subtle than in Gold/Silver/Crystal. Still, I had great fun with all three Hoenn games and FireRed and LeafGreen proved to be just as much fun as the orignals were in primary school, even more fun because of the many additions.
Then came E3 2006, with no sign of the allready announced pokémon Diamond/Pearl, I felt dissapointed. But what was that? Between all the E3 news there was a scan of a magazine that actually revealed the FIRST D/P screens. I have to admit I was a bit dissapointed about how much it looked like the GBA games, it had 3D effects thrown in, but it was not really 3D like other RPG's on DS such as Final Fantasy. I had hoped for a more three-dimensional approach, but I was still excited about the games.
It proved to be just as solid as always and now I'm eagerly awaiting the new Platinum edition of the game ten years after reading about a little GB game that came in two versions called "Pokémon".
And whatever the next version after that will be, I'm sure to pick up a copy and play it like I've been doing for almost a decade.
And speaking of volleyball, my friend (same guy from the story above) actually lost all his cards to the volleyball coach in a chess game. I think he got them back eventually.
