>>37578575I was 7-8 years old when my dad got me a Gameboy and Pokemon Red back in like, 1998. It was my birthday present and I didn't know what it was at the time. He had gone to the store and it was the hot ticket item. I had a Sega at the time so I was a gamer. Anyways, it caught on quick at school. I don't know how, it just... became. People trading pokemon cards and whatnot, playing the game. You were the cool kid if you had the link cable (seriously, there were like 30 people with Game Boys and only 2 link cables).
I remember trading away an entire page of holographics for a 1st Edition Charizard. My mom was pissed, not understanding the value of the trade there. I mean, I sure didn't. But we all instinctively knew. Charizard had the biggest numbers and he was a fucking dragon. And it was 1st edition.
I remember there being this snot-nosed annoying kid who always bragged about having the best pokemon. We found out he used a Gameshark to get them. Not even the best method, but just gave himself master balls and rare candies. They were comparatively shitmon, using stuff like Mew unironically. He talked mad shit, and I remember challenging him to a battle after school with his gameshark on the line. I bet that Charizard of mine. By the time we found one of the kids with a link cable, there was a crowd.
I knew about the Missingno. glitch so I whipped out stuff like Horn Drill Nidoking and absolutely trashed this kid.
The kid was in tears when he lost, and I remember pushing him down and taking his Gameshark. Nobody said a word because they all knew what the stakes were. Eventually, one of the teachers came over and asked if I had stolen his Gameshark. I told him we battled for it and he lost. She tried to make me give it back, but by that time my mom had arrived to pick me up and I left before anything was said about it.
