From the start, it seemed “Gotta Catch “˜em All” was an ambitious tagline, but not only have Pokémon aficionados done so, they are returning to catch them again.
With the release of its first North American installments of the video game franchise, “Pokémon Red” and “Pokémon Blue,” in 1998, The Pokémon Company established itself in the video game industry as a moneymaking powerhouse. Allowing players to battle their trained pets against the computer as well as each other using the already popular Game Boy platform, the now famous pocket monsters crawled their way into our pockets as well as our hearts.
The company found continued success with “Pokémon Yellow”, followed by the near legendary “Pokémon Gold” and “Pokémon Silver” in 2000, which many argue marked the peak of the Poké-franchise. Installments named after other precious gems and metals followed, but none found the success of their gold and silver predecessors.
“Ruby and Sapphire were not all that great,” said fourth-year economics student Susan Yu. “There was too much stuff to do, and some of the stuff you needed to do to complete the game, you could not do, unless you cheated or something.”
Fourth-year computer science student Abraham Roh also found the newer games too challenging.
“The reason people left Pokémon is because it became ridiculous how many there were to catch, and every generation they add another 100,” Roh said.
The goal of each game is to capture and train as many of these pocket monsters, or Pokémon, as one can ““ ideally, all. Roh recalled his early experiences with the art of training.
“I started in elementary school. I did not have a Game Boy, so I played on an emulator,” Roh said, referring to a way to play pirated Game Boy titles on a computer. “I stopped around middle school, when I finally got tired of the game.”
Roh’s sentiments reflected those of the masses, and this Poké-drought continued until this past March, when The Pokémon Company exerted its power yet again, releasing revamped versions of the Gold and Silver games for Nintendo DS titled, “Pokémon HeartGold” and “Pokémon SoulSilver.”
“I got back into it after I came to college,” Roh said. “Some friends got me into it. Everyday, I would play about two hours, until I actually managed to catch them all.”
The new games have triggered nostalgic bones in the bodies of true Poké-hunters, bringing back familiar creatures, familiar grounds on which to battle, as well as a slew of new features including the enhanced graphics and interface that comes with Nintendo’s newer DS handheld, and the Pokéwalker.
“They added little extras to keep the game fresh, like the Pokéwalker, where you can walk your Pokémon in a Tamagochi kind of way,” Yu explained. “It is also a pedometer, and every step you take is supposed to increase your Pokémon by one experience point. I do not know if it encourages you to exercise, but it does encourage me to take the longer way to school.”
Roh elaborated on the benefits of the updates.
“The remake is really focused on the original, and people feel more comfortable coming back to this game,” Roh said. “If you ask them to play another version, they will not recognize most of the Pokémon, but on this remake, they would say, “˜Oh, I remember that one!’ Over half of my friends are playing, and most started recently.”
These reworked versions of well-received originals have rekindled Pokémon video game sales not only in the elementary school to middle school age group of gamers, but Poké-veterans at college age and beyond.
“I heard from a friend who carries a Pokéwalker that the first day of some biology class, she walked in and her professor was wearing one too,” Roh said.
While some may associate stigma with playing video games from their childhood at such an age, many agree that in the right contexts and with the right motivations, Poké-philia is justified.
“There are people who feel like, “˜How old are you?’ But when that happens, I find that there are more people around me who are actually playing Pokémon,” Roh said. “I guess it is like, there is really no game too childish, as long as people find it fun, and can enjoy it with other people, I think it is all good.”
A card game, 13 movies, and a themed Boeing 747 later, Pokémon’s presence in the video game industry has been so great that only Mario and his fraternal franchise have proven more lucrative. With this recent resurgence though, Pokémon crossed the 197 million unit mark, and the world’s favorite bouncy plumber can feel Pikachu breathing down his heroic neck. In fact, Pokémon is so widely respected, many word processing programs autocorrect to ensure ignorant journalists don’t forget the accent on the “e.”
Students who find much of their time, including class time, consumed by the game use solid logic to defend their position.
“I do find myself playing in lecture, sitting in the back,” Roh said. “Considering that I probably would have slept in the class anyway, it does not really hinder me.”
As players grow older, the question of whether or not to pursue the hunt arises. For some, what the future of their relations with Pokémon may hold is a matter of rekindling childhood, for others it’s a matter of loyalty.
“Considering that the next Pokémon game will be for the next generation of handheld consoles ““ and I probably will not get that ““ I will probably stop playing after these games,” Roh said.
Yu saw it differently.
“I think I will keep going depending what the game is about,” Yu said. “Pokémon can get tiring ““ it is different in every game, but with the same basic game structure, so it depends on what new stuff they come up with.”
Whether trainers stand by their Pokémon, or leave their once meticulously cared for pets behind, their impact will remain.
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Charizard’s flame died, only to be rekindled by the wise people of gaming superpower Nintendo. But don’t call it a comeback; they’ve been here for years.