Pokémon X/Y; so excited!

October 17, 2013 ♥ Posted in: Geek Events, Journal, Nerd Topics by Kristina Horner

I was a bit late to the game on grabbing the newest installment in the Pokémon series – when it came out last Friday, I was on an airplane, and then I was much too swamped at NYCC to stop by a game store. Trust me, it was tough collecting street passes all weekend and watching the “what I played most recently” show me Pokémon over and over again. But alas! I got mine last night, only six days late.

I made the arbitrary decision to go with X, based solely on aesthetics. The celestial fairy deer looks cuter than the flame bird, in my opinion. According to a bit of reading that I did, the games are virtually identical, so here’s hoping that holds true.

The most important question of all comes in the first five minutes of the game – not your name and gender, of course – I’m talking about your starter Pokémon. This was a hard decision for me! I was a diehard Squirtle fan growing up (starting at the very beginning with Pokémon Red), and that allegiance has kept me on Team Blue Starter in nearly every subsequent Pokémon game I’ve ever played. But look how cute Fennekin is!

I was really interested in the fire/dark type split he becomes, especially since he literally becomes a fire wizard. He’s got a little wand that sticks out of his tail that he pulls out during battle. It’s adorable. And since my main character in WoW is a fire mage… I couldn’t resist.

The real question is what I’ll pick as my secondary starter. This is new to this version: apparently a bit into the game we get to pick again, between the three classic starters. My gut says to pick Squirtle, obviously – but the smart choice could be Bulbasaur. My opponent will pick Froakie, the advantageous type to my Fennekin, so I should pick grass to combat that. But… Squirtle, though. It’s been a rocky twenty four hours for my morals, guys.

Anyway, I’m not very far into the game, but I am hoping to be able to keep you updated as I collect my gym badges and make my way through this amazing game of out-of-this-world graphics. Playing Pokémon always takes me right back to being 11… my parents got me a Gameboy Color and Pokemon Red for Christmas, and I remember ignoring all the kids at my birthday party (on Dec 27th) because I wanted to play so badly. It was truly innovative, and the first moment I really considered myself to be someone who liked video games.

It’s amazing (and a little emotional-making) to think back to playing the game then, and what it looked like… knowing fourteen years later it can still captivate my attention.. and look like THIS:

When I think about things that have been there with me for my entire life, Pokémon is definitely siting incredibly high on that list. I’m just fortunate so many others feel the same way, and that we can still all enjoy it together.

Did you play Pokémon as a kid? What was your first or favorite version? And have you picked up X/Y yet? Let me know in the comments, so we can all Poké-geek out together.

8 Comments

Justin says:

October 17, 2013 at 10:31 am

I picked up red back in the day. Bulbasaur was my starter, but Growlithe was by far my favorite.

Tammy says:

October 17, 2013 at 10:32 am

YES. I definitely played Pokemon as a kid, all the way back to Red/Blue. I’ve almost always picked the fire starter (but Piplup was pretty cute…whichever version that one was in). My favorite version would probably have to either be Pokemon Y (Pikachu starter! Plus the only version where I recognize 100% of the Pokemon) or Crystal (you could FINALLY be a girl in game).

I did pick up Pokemon X on release day, and chose that version for the same reason you did. Plus, the megaevolution of Charizard on the X version looks way cooler in my opinion.

Michelle says:

October 17, 2013 at 1:42 pm

I have played all the games, but I think Yellow was my first. I have always been in to having the cutest Pokemon, rather than the best team. I was worried X/Y would be another let down like Black and White but so far I love it. My favorites are Yellow, HeartGold, and X (so far). Whether or not X is better than HeartGold is a decision I will have to make in 100 hours or so. I am 24 hours in and just now heading to the third gym!

Emily Hornburg says:

October 18, 2013 at 8:16 am

I was never a Pokemon person, but I remember so many people in my 7th grade class LOVING it! So it makes me smile when I see people are still playing, and kids continue to play. It’s a sign of a good game.

Kari Kristine says:

October 20, 2013 at 11:55 am

I collected the Pokémon TCG cards as a kid. Never understood what they were for, but all the kids at school made up rules. We would flip them in the air and if it was face-up you would win the other’s card etc. 🙂 Still have my collection of 1-151 somewhere!

The first time I played Pokémon it was Pokémon Yellow in Japanese. My family lived in Japan for one and a half years, and when we got there in January 1997, Pokémon had already been around for a year! Pikachu was in every store, and we had no idea who or what it was! So we had to try it out 🙂
I didn’t understand a damn thing, but it was just fun wandering around in the grass battling other Pokémon! Haha 🙂 I learned the game mechanics when I played Pokémon Red/Blue back in Norway. Can’t remember which. Since then I’ve only ever played one other version, which was Pokémon Leafgreen. A remastered version of Pokémon Blue for DS lite.

Since I haven’t had any gameboys since DS lite I haven’t kept buying Pokémon games! 🙁

Kristina Horner says:

October 22, 2013 at 12:49 pm

Wow, I can’t imagine my first time playing being in another language!! That must have been crazy.

Jaime says:

October 22, 2013 at 7:45 am

I played Pokemon Blue on my Gameboy Color when I was a teenager, so it is my first AND favorite version. My sister had Red. We begged my mom for the Gameboy and the game, and we played the heck out of it. I think I even still have the Guide for it somewhere… I would love to see it redone with better graphics for the DS.

The only other Pokemon game I’ve owned is Pokemon HeartGold, which I haven’t beaten, because I just love the classic starter Pokemon so much and I come from a generation where there were only 151 Pokemon. Anything after that just doesn’t seem ‘real’ to me. :/

As for starters, I always picked Charmander. Every. Time.

Paul E. Petty says:

November 1, 2013 at 3:57 pm

Pokemon Blue was my first game. 🙂 I played all of them until Pearl and Diamond. Platinum and beyond are the ones I didn’t ever play. They’re just…not the same anymore. But I was very tempted to get X and Y. I always picked Charmander, although when I was a kid, I think it was Squirtle. I never evolved him any further once I got to Wartortle. Haha.