25 Years of Pokemon!

A reflection on the impact of Pokemon on the culture and the world after 25 years

What’s better than 24? *snaps finger and points* 25! Ok, cheesy jokes aside it has been a wonderful 25 years since Pokemon has been part of our lives. Whether you started out, back in 1998 (1996 if you live in Japan) in the Kanto Region or like today’s generation in Galar Region, Pokemon has become an essential part of our culture.

The first time I heard of Pokemon was through the show with Ash and Pikachu as the two had a rocky start from the beginning since Pikachu didn’t respect him at first but eventually came around at the end of the episode to respect him after saving Pikachu’s life while in the process destroying Misty’s bike.

Side note: Did Ash ever pay her back for that? Seriously that looked like a good bike and she was harping on him for years about it while having a secret crush on him.

My first pokemon wasn’t Charmander as many others had chosen at the time, but it was my shell shocker of cool Squirtle. Mainly because I thought playing the Blue version meant I had to play as the turtle Pokemon but also because I was infatuated with Ninja Turtles, hardcore. It wasn’t until I scrapped up a bit of my allowance and getting good grades as promised, that I was able to get Pokemon Red and Yellow. I made a lot of deals with my parents back then to get what I wanted, take notes kids. But I really wanted a Dragonite back then so much I spent probably at most 2 hours in the safari zone struggling my ass off to catch a Dratini to no avail. It wasn’t until the Yellow version I was successful in getting one and training it to a Dragonite and decided to be a dragon type trainer. Even though Dragonite was considered the only one at the time I really just mimicked Lance’s team. Then came the bloody fairies that ruined my whole strategy! But I digress. Like Animal Crossing, Pokemon was also my outlet for when I was stressed with school and needed chill time so it was very beneficial for my mental health as I hope it did for others.

In a nutshell, this series or culture, we as fans have been part of along with the developer have grown together both in good and bad times. But let us not forget that Pokemon is about showing us the fun of going on a journey, interacting, and sharing with each other. The culture throughout the ages has continued to flourish and touch all of us with many more adventures and new Pokemon to come. Hopefully, we will get those missing Eevee Evolutions filled out soon, but most of all it taught us we needed to catch’em all and rub that shiny in our friends’ faces! Check out more at the Pokemon Website

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