The Emotional Journey of Pokémon

What game do you wish you could forget so that you could play it again for the first time? There are many games where the magic of playing for the first time is unmatched and you never feel quite the same no matter how much time you leave between replays. Unfortunately, you will never capture quite the same magic that you felt on that first play through ever again.

That is why my pick for this question would be, without a doubt, Pokémon Red. This game is perhaps the most memorable one that I have ever played, and when you ask me what a videogame is, screenshots of Pokémon will be the first thing to pop into my head.

Even though the technology behind the game is lacking, the fundamental backbone of trading, collecting and training was masterfully implemented. Back in the days before the internet, Pokémon had just enough room for exploration that allowed fascinating urban legends to evolve around it. How many people surfed across from S.S. Anne to a truck, trying fruitlessly to budge it using Strength in the hope that they would encounter the mysterious legendary Pokémon, Mew? How many people recall first hearing about the MissingNo glitch in the playground, or those mysterious Pokémon versions that one kid at school always claimed to have but never showed?

What made the game so magical for me was experiencing it for the first time. The Red and Blue versions were coming-of-age tales that hit me as I was a young boy, and so stuck with me emotionally. The fact that your Pokémon would grow with you through the journey provided a narrative of you growing up, becoming more powerful, and learning how to take on the world. Your Pokémon grew with you, and your success was so intertwined with these imaginary animals, that every victory was as much theirs as it was yours. You would live and die by your Pokémon because you grew up together. You took this journey and emotionally, they were always by your side.

The fact that Pokémon was so portable helped; for the first time I felt like I was totally immersed in an adventure that I never had to leave. Everywhere I went, my loyal partners followed. The combined effect of having Pokémon grow with you and able to follow you in the most literal sense possible through that Game Boy that you kept in your pocket; it led to an emotional connection to the game that I have never felt in anything since.

It is harder to feel this same way nowadays because of my imagination. As a wide-eyed, lonely child, I found strong, loyal friends in my Pokémon, and in my mind, they were real. I lived by the lessons that I learned on my journey with these partners. The true master-class behind Pokemon Red and Blue was in placing itself as a coming-of-age tale, and in focusing so squarely on the relationship that you develop with the creatures in the game; you felt that you grew emotionally alongside every Pokémon you met along the way.

So I wish I could forget Pokémon, so I could experience that unique, incredible journey again. To learn more about myself, to become the best there ever was and grow with my loyal Pokémon toward one of the most meaningful victories that I had ever achieved in gaming. Beating the Elite Four was the moment I came of age. That is why I wish I could play Pokémon for the first time again.