>>26772403Being a shitty kid getting my ass kicked by Red because I had barely touched video games at that point, but being mystified by what seemed like a great challenge.
Finding friends in elementary school with Gold, connecting with other people who are walking the same road as me, discovering the most obvious things and being awed when returning to Kanto and feeling like this was the least linear gameplay ever.
Growing up and developing the attention span to devote entire summer days to Ruby, being too scared to go diving when my friends weren't around while simultaneously starting to realize there's techniques and things to do past playing the game until the credits roll. Strategy guides and fair battles.
Using the games as my only escape when family and friends failed me, staying up late at night alone in the house with nothing but the hum of my IBM and the bgm of Pearl to listen to.
Having a real summer job and marking the beginning of me buying my own games/systems with Soul Silver, when I should have started feeling silly for still playing pokemon I just felt proud that I was functional enough to support my habit myself.
Moving away just months after getting Black, leaving my country behind for better opportunities. First started IV breeding, developing attachments with my pokemon that feel like they go beyond the games; some pokemon in particular I've had since ruby. Getting into playing competent battles and getting reattached with family and friends through them, I feel like I didn't know my brother until I started battling competitively with him.
Being casually obsessed with pokemon, staying functional while building bonds with my pokemon and my friends alike while playing a blind nuzlocke of White 2.
Getting over my social awkwardness and being able to call pokemon a hobby, completing the pokedex for the first time in Y and Omega Ruby and feeling accomplished as fuck, using it to cope through a stressful engineering degree.
Every gen had something.
