It’s hard to believe, but the original Pokemon Red/Blue turn 15 today. With a sixth generation looming on the horizon, let’s take a look back at just how far Pokemon has come.
I was first introduced to it by news reports of the infamous Porygon episode. Then, a year later, I discovered it was coming to the US. But what really piqued my interest was one of the first English ads for Pokemon, found on the very last page of an issue of a magazine I subscribed to back then: a bunch of weird creatures (aka the original 151 Kanto Pokemon) about to be caught in a giant net. One of them, an electric mouse creature, piqued my interest, so i kept the little guy in mind.
The next day at school, I asked a friend just why it was taking the school by storm. He showed me a figurine of the mouse creature, and told me its name was “Pikachu”. Then I saw the bus commercial on TV later that day, and decided I would give the game a go.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Of course I still continued to be a fan long after the craze died down, even if I sometimes had to hide my Poke-pride. The world of Pokemon still had so much to do, and so much that was never explained in any form of canon. And as the generations came and the number of known Pokemon ballooned from 151 to 649 (and soon to be more), each generation brought new things to do and see, and new friends and enemies to meet and battle, which of course made me love the world of Pokemon even more.
On October 12, both hardened veterans and brand new trainers around the world will embark on a new quest in Pokemon X and Pokemon Y. I am excited for that now, if not more, than how excited I was for Red/Blue 15 years ago, and will always be excited for the next major discovery as long as there are new Pokemon and characters to meet and new places to explore. Whether there’s one or two more generations after X and Y, or many more, I cannot say…but this quote from Brock (my favorite character in the show) best sums up my passion for the Pokeworld and my excitement for a new generation:
“Everyone has a dream that fills their heart. A journey they must take. A destiny to fulfill. As close as your imagination exists a magical place, where wondrous creatures with incredible powers help make dreams come true. It’s the world of Pokemon!!”
That world has changed a lot in 15 years, and it probably will change even more in the future. So fasten your seat belts, trainers–Generation 6 is going to be quite the ride.
