How did YOU get into Pokémon?

AmmithakaRuth

Well, I was about 3 and 1/2 when I discovered it.
Not knowing how to use a remote control, and wanting to change channels after watching my favourite show, Pokémon came on.
Mam was taking a shower, I didn't know.
I shouted; "MAM I DON'T LIKE POKÉMON COME AND CHANGE IT!"
And she didn't come down. I watched it for a bit, and then..
I sorta liked it!
Now, I have over 20,000 cards, over 100 figures, some books, and a lot more.
How did ye get into Pokémon?

Angron

It was a popular thing in my school. Really, that about sums it up. However, when everyone else stopped paying attention, my fascination with it continued.

Banjo

I started late, which is Pokemon's fault for not existing when I was 3 1/2.
I was at work... It was lunch time... I had a GB Emulator...
I'm telling you, the game just feels wrong played at normal speed when you're used to 4-8x

Then I got the Stadium game for N64 and the adapter that let you play Blue on your telly at hyperspeed, and I was hooked.

In defense of my piratical beginnings, had I not played that game on that emulator I would never have bought Stadium, Blue, the GB Adapter, 2 GBAs, Fire Red, Leaf Green, Emerald, a DS Phat, Diamond, Pearl, Pokemon Ranch, Ranger (purely for a manaphy egg!), Platinum, a DS Lite, Soul Silver, Heart Gold, Black (jp), White (eu), Black (eu), White (eu) again when my first one got nicked, a 3DS, White 2 and a whole bunch of cards.

And I'm sure I'm not the only one. So really, Ninty should be thanking the emulation community, they're like the Bacon of hand-held gaming.

chopperbyrne

June 10th 1999 with my yellow Game Boy Pocket.

I was sixteen at the time and my mates all thought I was weird for buying a kids game.

I knew better though, the games are awesome.

Angron

chopperbyrne wrote: »

June 10th 1999 with my yellow Game Boy Pocket.

I was sixteen at the time and my mates all thought I was weird for buying a kids game.

I knew better though, the games are awesome.

My first game was getting Red and a GBC for my communion

wobbles

Used to watch it on RTE back in the day. Wouldnt speak to certain people in school about pokemon as they had a sky subsription and were ahead of the rest of us. Played red for a few minutes and a friends Nintendo and got hooked. I didnt have much money growing up, so i didnt have cards or games.

Roll on college and started playing pokemon crater. Got me back into pokemon again so bought a ds lite and diamond when it was released.

Atavan-Halen

I was just the right age at the time when the whole craze started! All the other kids were into it so naturally I was too! Fond memories of going over to my friends house and playing pokemon stadium. He used to always win

Derpington95

1998 i was three years old and my dad brought home the original gameboy with pokemon blue from a business trip. Needless to say i had no clue how the thing worked but picked it up eventually as i was always fascinated with computers as a child I stll have the gameboy to this day

CianRyan

Wow way to make me feel like a dinosaur, OP!
I use I watch Card Captures and various other Anime (then called Japanamation by Sky 1) pretty much every morning, Pokémon eventually turned up on the roster and I was hooked.
I then got Yellow and it was great, I was the best in my school and no one could beat me in yard. Hard as ****.

gnfnrhead

I feel a bit old now. I was 11 or 12 when I got Blue. Can't remember why I got it as I didnt start watching the show until I played the games. After Blue came Red, then Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Sapphire, Ruby, Pearl and finally Platinum. I've only played ROM's since as I never stick with anything other than the older games, mostly Gen I and II but when I finish Crystal (and I will! I have about 220 now) I plan to give Gen III another shot and maybe keep going afterwards.

deathrider

It was kinda by chance fore me, and only back in 2008(ish), and I was in my mid-twenties at the time. I was around in my mate's apartment one day and out of the blue he asked me if I played Pokémon. I said no, but I'd give any game a shot really. He then handed me a loose DS card of Diamond, claiming that he'd found it. He said I could keep it as he had no use for it (he's never really been a gamer). I played the hell out of it that summer, got flattened by the Elite 4 and didn't play it again. I was always meaning to go back and finish it, but I left it so long that I simply lost interest. Febuary last year, I decided I was going to give it another shot. Deleted my old file, started it again from scratch, and I'm still playing it today. Since then, I've really gotten into the franchise. I've been attempting to collect up the older games, and I'm constantly hopping from one game to another. I'd play Diamond for a few weeks, get distracted with LeafGreen for a while, then I'd find something in White that grabs my attention, maybe a week or two of Emerald after that, then Diamond would find it's way back into my DS. It's easily catapulted into my Top 5 gaming franchises of all times.

SamIAmNot

I was seven at the time I got into Pokémon, and it was all because of Sega. My brother and I used to share our Sega Mega Drive between us and we kept getting into fights over who's turn it was.

So one day when we were over in Blanchardstown Shopping Center my parents decided to get a Gameboy Colour for us, so that way while one of us played the Sega the other could play the Gameboy. It was the man in the shop that recommend Pokémon Red for us along with some other games (think Camelot was one). I still remember my mam setting it up for us and accidentally naming the avatar AAAAAAAAAAA.

Since then we picked up all the others between us up till the Black and White series. My brother deiced he had enough of the DS and wasn't interested in it any more. He got more and more into Playstation over the years and less and less into Nintendo.

Urizen

I got Blue for Christmas the year it came out. And never stopped. I was what, 11? Awesome.

GTR63

Ah the old Pokemania phenomenon in the late 90`s is when I hopped on that & Wrestling were HUGE in my national school. :cool:
Remember the stickers were a huge thing back then for me(I knew my parents couldn`t afford a gb so I used to never ask until I saved up for a pocket and swapped a pair of shin guards to get Pokemon Silver). I vividly remember sticking a sticker album in with my Dads Farmers Journal and Connacht Tribune to get him to buy me one.

FiachDubh

This forum has a pokemon section! I'm home
I got into it off a cousin, she gave me her pokemon yellow when i was like 6 because she said it was the most boring game ever made.
The reason she found it boring is because she never realised there was a "save" mechanic and so despite spending quiet a while playing it she never got further than Veridian (is that how you spell it?) Forest.
Anyway it sparked a bit of an obsession with me and now i'm eagerly waiting for X and Y
also i'm looking for a squirtle for my white 2.. if anyone wants to sort out a trade

Angron

FiachDubh wrote: »

This forum has a pokemon section! I'm home
I got into it off a cousin, she gave me her pokemon yellow when i was like 6 because she said it was the most boring game ever made.
The reason she found it boring is because she never realised there was a "save" mechanic and so despite spending quiet a while playing it she never got further than Veridian (is that how you spell it?) Forest.
Anyway it sparked a bit of an obsession with me and now i'm eagerly waiting for X and Y
also i'm looking for a squirtle for my white 2.. if anyone wants to sort out a trade

I'll be free around 5 or so this evening, I can breed one and trade it to you. If you want any of the other starters from the other games too, gimmie a shout and I can rustle some up.

Mr.Saturn

I won a bet with my dad when I was 10, with a £25 stake. Red and Blue were the only things on the shelf that jumped out, and boom! I went with Red, and spent the next 2 hours invalidating my right to thumbs by not being able to find my way out of Red's bedroom. Somehow, that top-righthand tile -THAT LOOKED DIFFERENT TO EVERY OTHER ONE IN THE ROOM- didn't stand out to my younger, fertile noggin.

Though, I have felt quite clever every gen since due to not getting stumped on the first scene. There's a lesson somewhere in there about growing up with low expectations.

gnfnrhead

Mr.Saturn wrote: »

I won a bet with my dad when I was 10, with a £25 stake. Red and Blue were the only things on the shelf that jumped out, and boom! I went with Red, and spent the next 2 hours invalidating my right to thumbs by not being able to find my way out of Red's bedroom. Somehow, that top-righthand tile -THAT LOOKED DIFFERENT TO EVERY OTHER ONE IN THE ROOM- didn't stand out to my younger, fertile noggin.

Though, I have felt quite clever every gen since due to not getting stumped on the first scene. There's a lesson somewhere in there about growing up with low expectations.

Took me about 20 minutes (nowhere near as bad as your two hours!!) to get out of the house first time. Couldnt figure out why standing in front of the door didnt work the same as the stairs.

Rendeva

Ah, I believe I was over at a friends house eating lunch when we switched the telly over to the den, the cartoon that was on featured a small yellow thing fighting a huge rock snake, the fad hit pretty fast, and my older sister got herself a Gameboy Colour and Pokemon Red. (My reaction was along the lines of oh cool, a pokemon game!) I wasn't allowed play on her file or save my own game due to single save files, but I played through the start without saving like three times, getting no further than mount moon. That Christmas, my parents got me a game boy colour and blue, under my sisters recomendation (So she could easily trade with someone.) I've been a big fan ever since, was a dedicated competetive battler in 4th gen, and have an almost complete 5th gen Pokedex, plus a few tin fulls of cards