Me and my girlfriend like to play video games together. I've got my PC hooked up to the TV, with several emulators installed and a pair of USB gamepads.

We recently finished Breath of the Wild, which we both loved. Mario Odyssey and the old school 2D Kirby games were big hits with her as well. I'm a lifelong Pokemon fan, so I decided to fire up Emerald for her to try out. It's my favorite Pokemon game, and I was excited to watch my girlfriend play Pokemon for the first time.

We got about five minutes in before I realized I had made a terrible mistake.

To a newcomer, these games are boring as shit. Movement locked to a grid. Majority of gameplay consists of navigating menus and watching text scroll. Pressing 'A' over and over and over again. After the colorful excitement of Zelda and Mario, Pokemon felt like a bad joke. I could tell she was bored so we turned it off and played something else.

In truth, I felt a little embarrassed. Watching someone play Pokemon for the first time gave me a totally new perspective: unless you grew up playing them, these games are about as fun as watching paint dry. I still love Pokemon, but man it was weird to suddenly take off the nostalgia glasses and realize how tedious the games really are.

Anyone have a similar experience?