Pokemon Celebrates It’s 20th Anniversary!

All I wanted was to be the very best, like no one ever was. To catch them all was my real test, to train was my cause. I would travel across the land, searching far and wide. Each Pokemon to understand the power that’s inside. This wasn’t just an expression, this was a constitution to live by! I had dreams of marrying nurse Joy; travelling the world together, getting into misadventures. Man I would’ve “squirtled” her “Cloister!” Like many of you I traversed the varied regions of Kanto and Johto, battling gym leaders, thwarting the complaisant operations of local terrorist organisations and catching as many Pokemon into cramped prison balls before the RSPCA were ever aware. Yes Pokemon was my natural habitat to the point that I had totally convinced myself that I would leave home to pursue my dream of becoming the world’s foremost Pokemon trainer. I spent weekends levelling up my Zapdos, MewTwo and Charizard to level 100. Every couple of months or so, when the game had become tedious I’d just start all over again. I remember the glorious satisfaction of defeating my loyal, yet best friend in battle. He hated me for weeks after that. In fact, I’m not sure he ever truly came to terms with that humiliation. Alas like many of you I grew up, unable to emancipate myself legally from my family and not privileged to live in a fictional world where parents were encouraged to be irresponsible and allow their 10 year old children to wander the wilderness alone, attracting the attention of far older strangers. In time my interest in the series waned, largely influenced by myriad of unimaginative editions and the bloated retinue of additional creatures that made the basic premise of “catch them all” an almost impossible task. It never felt like something I’d ever return too either, especially considering the lack of innovation applied to the series in almost 20 years. That is until Nintendo announced it would celebrate the 20th anniversary of Pokemon with remastered versions of the original Red, Blue and Yellow games.

I had dreams of marrying nurse Joy; travelling the world together, getting into misadventures. Man I would’ve “squirtled” her “Cloister!”

“Nurse Joy: Hoping you’ll injure your Pokemon.”

Available to download on the 3DS eShop, it’s February 27th release date coincides with the 20th anniversary of the original release on the GameBoy. 20 years?! Damn I’ve wasted my life. It’s important to note however that these are remastered versions, not remakes, which I’m mildly disappointed about, at least until nostalgia hits. What I’m really looking forward to though is Pokemon Go. Only available on mobile devices and costing Nintendo in excess of $30 million, Pokemon Go enables gamers to capture Pokemon in real world environments with the use of augmented reality. The game identifies your location to generate Pokemon specific to your area, encouraging players to participate by actually getting off your Snorlax sized butt to find and capture different kinds of Pokemon. For instance if you’re near a river Poliwags and Magikarps should be plentiful. Scouring woodlands should unearth Caterpies and Weedles. Hopefully you won’t be required to visit active volcanoes or power-plants to capture fire and electric types though. It’s such an exciting prospect ripe with possibilities. Imagine if regional limitations were applied that meant you could only encounter certain Pokemon if you lived in a specific part of the country. You could have an organically progressive community of trainers dedicated to trading across different states, districts or indeed countries trying to get that one allusive rarity into their Pokedex. Imagine if you had to stand in the middle of a field to encounter a Ponyta or even scale Mount Everest to capture MewTwo! Perhaps that’s taking it a little far but it would be cool to have unique Pokemon indigenous to you’re back garden. Perhaps ambient temperatures and environmental conditions could have adverse effect on how frequent specific creatures appear, with some appearances dependant on climate or whether they’re nocturnal.

“There’s also new 3DS console pre-installed with Pokemon Red and Blue.”

Whatever happens, I’m sold. The one thing that I’ve always said could tempt me back to the series, other than a full fledged console version of the games, was the idea of making me believe I “AM” a Pokemon trainer. And though rumours persist that in game purchases may consist of being able to purchase Master balls or rare Pokemon for actual money–neither would surprise me considering that Nintendo will need to profit from a freely available game in some lucrative fashion, just as long as objectives, specifically the attainment of every Pokemon can be obtained without monetised incentives. Once released I’m probably not going to care. This game could be the most important development for the series since its inception. Presumably because there will be an increase in the number of residents being arrested for trespassing.

Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow are expected to be released on February 27th, with “Pokemon Go” estimated between late February and December 31st. Basically, no one knows!