I remember being 9 years old and reading about updates on Pokemon Red and Blue Rescue team on
Serebii.net. I thought the games were gonna be killer from the moment I saw them, I used to (autistically) draw out my own "dungeons" on graph paper and pretend to play using Charmander and Squirtle Pokemon Cards going through the dungeon and battling random encounters (cards I'd pull from my box)
Red Rescue Team had a special place in my heart, I really enjoyed the Friend Zone mechanic and loved that every pokemon had it's own personal Bio.
I remember watching the Pokemon MD Special on Cartoon Network after soccer practice, and being sad when I realized that it wasn't a new series but just a one off episode (I was 9... didn't know about OVA's!)
I wanted my original team to be Squirtle and partner Charmander, and when I got back from ToysRUs and Pizza Hut (man, what a great day, my family was poor af and while times are better now simply going out to eat was a rarity forget just getting a new game). But as many times I tried the Personality Quiz kept giving me Mudkip, so Mudkip and Charmander became my original team and I always cheat the quiz to first playthrough a MD game as that team.
