An A-Mew-Sing Tale
Some further questionable decisions came to my lineup as I progressed. Jolteon was a good choice, but Rhyhorn (who, in my childish innocence, I named Horny) was terrible, and why I spent hours tracking down a Pinsir in the Safari Zone I honestly don’t know anymore. Pidgeot never left the team, despite only being used to Fly, my first HM slave, and Hitmonchan was always second string to the powerhouse of Phic. I did, however, chuck Pidgeot for a hacked Mew as soon as the now-infamous cloning glitch hit my classroom. A Mew that knew nothing but HMs. Wonderful.
The rest of the game is a bit of a blur for me. I remember getting frustrated with the puzzle in the Seafoam Islands, and I remember going on holiday and haggling (read: bullying) with some kid in a hotel to trade me his Scyther so I could complete my Pokedex. Of course, I’ll never forget Phic being boss and taking down the Elite Four at level 83, because apparently all you need is decent Normal STAB, a Water move, and a couple Ethers.
The Story Continues
Following on from Blue, my mother brought me back Yellow from the US, a full six months before the European release. By that stage, however, I knew what I was doing. My Pikachu, Charizard, Vaporeon, Alakazam, Gengar, and Hitmonlee made short work of the competition. Gold Version came and went, as did Ruby and FireRed, a superior game to the originals in every possible way. I managed to somehow miss Gen 4 until Platinum came out, and I grabbed it and a DSi at the same time. Then came SoulSilver, Black, Black 2, Y, OmegaRuby, Sun, UltraMoon, and now Let’s Go Eevee.
And here we are today, in the wake of another Pokemon-fueled cultural phenomenon, twenty-three years after Red and Green did their thing, and Pokemon is once again a household name. Detective Pikachu is on the front page of newspapers. People look at my Umbreon shirt and grin, and suddenly my Eeveelution tattoos are cool once people decipher what they are. It’s been interesting to see this particular hype train from an old hat’s perspective. GO and Let’s Go have had an interesting time of it, and we’re getting a Direct later today to, hopefully, announce Gen 8.
Fads come and go, sure, but there are plenty of us who never let the flame die.
Lessons Learned
What did I learn from my first time? Lots. Never use a Stone before you have some good moves, Grass starters are terrible, never teach a good Pokemon an HM move, Grass starters are terrible, rare Pokemon are rarely good in battle, and Grass starters are terrible.
So, that’s how I played Pokemon Blue. As convoluted and life-changing as my own experience was, I’m sure you have your own tales to tell as well. Let us know in the comments how you handled your first Pokemon game. We want your earliest memories, and the things that have kept you playing. Did you, like me, use a Clefable? What did you evolve your first Eevee into? Do you, for some bizarre reason, like Bulbasaur?
And, most importantly, have you still gotta catch ‘em all?
