My journey started early, maybe like many others, when Pokémon started to be shown on broadcast TV. At that time I still didn’t have much contact with games, so I didn’t even understand that the franchise had its roots in video games.
My interest in the franchise only skyrocketed with time and soon I started looking for products of the franchise, such as toys and cards. Then one day one of my classmates (still in high school) introduced me to the world of emulation, along with some ROMs – from the first to the third generation of Pokémon.
I started with the third one, apparently the name RUBY got a lot of attention from my mini-me. Even though I was not very familiar with the creatures of that generation, I loved the game! After finishing the third generation I started playing the older ones in order, including the remakes.
Later the Nintendo DS was the new fever and after much hoarding, I managed to buy one for myself. I got the end of the fourth generation of Pokémon, but the fifth – Black and White – was the first game I bought originally. And I played it too much!
I have several memories of the franchise, many extremely nostalgic, which doesn’t make me blind to what Pokémon has become.
For now, I’ll leave the older generations aside. They have several flaws (and glitches, by the way), but that’s not the focus. I will focus on the most recent ones, starting with the fifth.
The fifth generation was the first one I followed within the community, so I saw fans complaining about the design of several Pokémons, and every game has very good and very bad visuals! However, the fifth generation brings richness and depth to the franchise that other generations did not have as present, such as a rounded story and a better-crafted villain than the old ones.
This generation, for me, created a huge hype! And made me set my expectations very high for the next generations. So we got to the sixth – X and Y – which had huge potential, good designs, the first game of the franchise in 3D, interesting enough narrative. If I said I played the fifth one a lot…the sixth one I played absurdly a lot. It was the first time I got together with friends to play, we made teams and had frequent battles, exchanged Pokémon between opposing games, and I finished an entire Pokédex for the first time, including the mythical Pokémon, which are quite rare!
I have sweet memories of that generation, however, that doesn’t make the flaws go away. The sixth generation gives the feeling of being unfinished, an open ending where many fans hoped for a sequel, just like it was the last generation, but…it never happened. Pokémon X and Y were totally drowned out by the remake of the third generation – Ruby and Sapphire that was released shortly after. On one hand, it made me very happy, as it was my favorite generation after all, but sad for the way it was crafted in a way that totally killed the main game of the generation.
Well, I left the sixth generation with mixed feelings. Sometimes I feel it was one of the best, and sometimes I feel something was missing, including better management by Gamefreak – the company responsible for the Pokémon franchise.
Now we are in the seventh generation – Sun and Moon, calm down it’s ending, and this generation brings some changes in comparison to the past ones. Again the fans of the franchise still complain about the production, but this doesn’t stop the game from selling as it always does.
The seventh has a very drawn-out start, you feel the game hold your hand for a long time before letting you finally play. After that extended tutorial, the game unfolds well, bringing some deeper themes to the narrative, with a satisfying ending.
The problem comes with the “third game” of the generation – Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon – while the game has many gameplay improvements, the narrative is repetitive but takes away from the best points of the Sun and Moon. This was the first time I felt a very strong burnout from the series, so much so that I didn’t get to finish Ultra Moon, and didn’t enjoy the post-game at all.
When the eighth generation – Sword and Shield – was announced I wasn’t so excited for the release, the announcement that they wouldn’t have all Pokémons in the dex, I was pretty upset. But I still decided to give this generation a chance. Again the beginning was pretty draggy, but that was to be expected, the game itself was ok. This generation brings DLC for the first time, and in my opinion one was bad and the other was good fun. Other than that, I really don’t recommend the DLC, even though it adds more creatures to the dex.
Ok, almost done. I will skip the remake of the fourth generation, since that destroyed the dreams of the fans of that generation, bringing a half-assed remake, without any addition or modernization of the game that was not to transform the old pixel art, which was beautiful, into a 3D….ok. Let’s go straight to Pokémon Arceus.
Pokémon Arceus has narrative and graphics that, honestly, are not one of the best, almost unfinished, but it brings more dynamic mechanics that, in my opinion, give the franchise a new look, and I hope it returns in the next games of the franchise.
The burnout that the seventh generation caused me still has an impact on how I view the release of new games. I’m pretty defensive about the new generation – Scarlet and Violet – at the same time I really want to play with my friends and even want to try competitive play again!
Overall the Pokémon journey has several ups and downs but is filled with memories and nostalgia. A different love-hate story with each generation, with a taste of expectation that the next one will bring the brilliance of past generations.
