What I Love Most About Pokemon

Image from the official Pokémon website

Hey there! This blog post is part two of a two-part series focused on Pokémon in light of the upcoming release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Special thanks to those who participated in the Questionnaire, and to my good friend Jon for helping put it together and sharing it.

In case you missed it, you can read part one here!

Now on to the main event!

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Last week’s blog post involved a lot of harsh talk about Pokémon and its recent choices making the games unchallenging and, as a result, uncompelling. While I stand by everything I said, I always intended to balance things out by talking about what it is that keeps me tethered to this franchise.

My first exposure to Pokémon came back in what I must have been 2001-2002 in the form of a VCR with three episodes from the anime titled “Primeape Problems.” From that point, Pokémon was something I enjoyed rather peripherally until I eventually got my hands on my first actual Pokémon RPG, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, which gave me my first, formative taste of the Pokémon experience.

My golden age of Pokémon, though, happened with the release of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, when I got to learn and experience everything that made Pokémon tick. Losing to Gardenia until I realized only leveling my Prinplup was a bad idea, my first and last meeting with the kid who’d give me my first ever trade—my Murkrow for his Aipom—while my sister was practicing cheer, that sense of discovery talking about Darkrai, Shaymin, and Arceus at the lunch table long before any of them were actually announced and the resulting… let’s call them “exploits,” and so much more. At the time, Pokémon was more than a game; it was a social event, an exercise in critical thinking, and most importantly, lots and lots of fun, and ever since, Pokémon’s remained one of my most consistently-enjoyed hobbies, even with all my complaints.

I love a lot about Pokémon, from the competitive scene to being part of a larger community with so many different kinds of people, but I’ve really struggled to put into words what I love the most about it. Still, I may as well give it a shot.

What I love most about Pokémon is the journey. Not in the sense of playing through the story or the traversing of the region itself, exactly. Rather, I’m talking about the experience of watching your team transform from its humble party of one to a team worthy of the League Champion’s mantle.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

It all starts, naturally, with your starter Pokémon which, in addition to being a clever and subtle tutorial device for the game’s overall mechanics, serves as the foundation of everything you’ll accomplish. In the beginning, this Pokémon is fairly weak, at least if you compare it to the majority of Pokémon you’ll be facing off against later on. For now, though, it will suffice for fending off against the wild Pokémon and trainers that you’ll be meeting and battling against in the short term.

With each successful battle, however, that little starter will begin to get stronger and stronger, learning new moves and gaining power as it levels up. Once you have Poké Balls to spare, you’ll begin adding to your collection and further bolstering the strength of your team. Before you know it, you’ve taken out your rival once or twice and maybe even the first Gym Leader or two.

GROWTH AND CHANGE

Sooner or later, your Pokémon will begin to evolve, powering up even further and more clearly establishing the role that each Pokémon has to play. Some may evolve just once, but others may yet have room to grow. To that end, they symbolize the protagonist/player and how even though they’ve cast aside their identity as a novice, the journey is still far from over.

With each new location visited, the Pokémon you encounter—and, as a result, your options—will become increasingly varied. Some people plan out their teams way ahead of time, but I say there’s nothing wrong with improvisation and experimentation. Maybe you finally have access to that one Pokémon you saw another trainer use, or maybe you’re just curious as to what this bizarre new creature you’ve stumbled upon can do. For the most part, you’ll only be as limited as your drive and curiosity allow (within reason, of course).

THE CLIMAX

Eventually, you’ll find those middle-stage Pokémon you’ve been raising finally evolving into their final forms. At long last, after hours of nurturing, dedication, and in some cases, puzzle-solving, your team is finally reaching the pinnacle of what you can accomplish.

Before you know it, you’ve finally reached the home stretch. After defeating every challenge placed before you (and possibly saving the world), you’re finally face to face with the strongest opponents, the last obstacles between you and becoming the Champion. A well-timed switch, a well-placed move, a little elbow grease, a pinch of luck, and before you know it… it’s all over. The credits roll, leaving you with the satisfaction of ultimate victory against the game’s final challenge. Maybe you’ve still got game left to play, but for now, you’ve officially beaten the game.

AND THE BEST PART?

Everything I’ve talked about is only the skeleton of the Pokémon experience. Between all of those points are all the glorious moments that a player can only experience for themselves. The clutch victory off a (random, NON-affection-boosted) dodged attack or critical hit, bonding with a Pokémon you didn’t like or think about using before, the shock and awe of encountering a shiny Pokémon; all that and more is possible, and you get to go through it all with a Pokémon party of your design.

Because of that sense of personalization, the “journey” of Pokémon, even if you are playing with the same Pokémon and going about the same places, are nonetheless your own. You have control of how you run your party, and that factor results in a connection with your team and experiences. Even in games like Colosseum and Gale of Darkness where your options are intentionally designed to be limited compared to other games, your personalization still succeeds in making your playthrough a little more personal and brings into focus one of the franchise’s greatest strengths: the chance for you to follow your own path and make your own story.

What I want from Pokémon involves all the things about the series that can and will change, for better or worse. Even so, I know that what I love about Pokémon will always be there for me to love, no matter what.

Here’s to hoping Pokémon Legends: Arceus and the games that succeed it don’t make me a liar.