It’s Pokémon Day!

It has been 20 years since Pokémon was released. And boy, what a ride it has been! Here’s what some of the What’s a Geek writers have to say about their great Pokémon experiences!

The first thing I ever got was a teks of Pokémon ; the very first one I had was a holographic Nidoking. It was really cool with all the pointy sharp edges and the poison dripping from the horn. From there, I nagged my parents to get me Pokémon Trading Cards. My brother and I had a set each and used to battle each other without knowing the rules. (I always won because I was older!) Cards evolved to Gameboy games and we used to grind out our versions of Pokémon Blue and Yellow. We played almost all of the versions and joined many forums and chatrooms on Pokémon. AND WE STILL HAVEN’T CAUGHT ÉM ALL!
-RM, Social Media Genius

My first Pokémon memory was of jealousy: My brother had gotten the old gray brick of a GameBoy and with it, a Pokémon Blue cartridge. Ever since, I’ve been backseat gaming with him for the next couple of years. Until, of course, I got my own GameBoy (a Nintendo DS– that’s about three generations later!). I began my own Pokémon journey with HeartGold, 2nd Gen Pokémon being my ultra favorite. I remember defeating the Elite Four after countless of hours grinding my team until they were all at least L80! HeartGold came with a Pokémon Pedometer, which I brought along wherever I went. It’s currently out of battery, and a Clefairy is waiting for me to get it back to the game, but my DS is currently loaned to a friend who is also reliving his Pokémon journey with either LeafGreen or FireRed.

I also played a bit of the Pokémon Trading Card game! I remember high school lunches being devoted to playing against other Pokémon nerds in an all-girl high school. We played it at the gym furthest away from everyone else because we were closeted geeks back then. It was a great experience, haha! And now, we’re getting Pokémon Sun and Moon later this year, and I’ve loaned my 3DS to another friend. There’s still time until the release of the new games, so he can enjoy that for a little while longer. There’s also Pokémon Go to look forward to! Maybe one of these days, I’ll finally get a life-size plush doll of Greninja, too, hehe!
-Rika, Grammar Nazi

Thanks to Nintendo and Gamefreaks for creating one of the most-loved franchises in the world! Can’t wait for the upcoming games!

So for the Pokémon 20th Anniversary, come join us on our walk down Victory Road and see how much our Pokedex has grown!