Pokémon Gotta catch 'em all! Poster

It’s hard to believe that we're nearing one whole month since Johto Times officially launched. Time really does HM02, eh? Today, I wish to introduce the first of a series of posts dedicated to my Pokémon journey: The Legacy of Pokémon.

The Legacy of Pokémon is part of a gigantic editorial I wrote last year, in order to preserve my memories and time with the series. If older fans care to reminisce, or younger fans get to see a point of view from a long-time supporter, and find it useful, then it was worth writing about. I've decided to split it into several parts, so it can be enjoyed in a more manageable way. Part one will focus on the origins of how I got into the series, a time before I even picked up my first Pokémon game.

Speaking of preserving memories, I felt it was important to let readers know once again that the Nintendo eShop for Wii U and 3DS will be closing down for good on March 27th 2023. Hundreds of titles, which include many Pokémon games, will no longer be available for legal purchase. Most importantly, Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter will no longer be unavailable after this date, preventing many Pokémon games up to the Nintendo 3DS being transferred to Pokémon HOME and the latest generation. Full details can be found on the Official Nintendo website.

Additionally, Pokémon Day came and went on February 27th with updates on new projects and current games. The most notable announcement was downloadable content for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet titled “The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero”, releasing in two parts this year. The Teal Mask is planned for release in the Autumn, while the Indigo Disk will arrive in the Winter. Brand-new Pokémon were also revealed, which include two new Paradox Pokémon: Walking Wake and Iron Leaves. I was able to catch both of them in raids, but struggled on for a few hours. I hope you all have better luck than I did!

We also got an update on Pokémon Sleep, an application that monitors how well you sleep and provides data every morning. I am not convinced it’s something I will personally use, but I’m willing to give it a try. There’s also a new device called the Pokémon GO Plus+, a peripheral device that will work with Sleep, and is compatible with Pokémon GO. I was surprised to see no mention of classic Pokémon titles coming to Nintendo Switch Online, or any new Mystery Dungeon game, but I suppose the door is still open for those to come in the future. 

The best announcement for me? The reveal of Pokémon TCG Classic, a premium product with a fancy fold-out game board, pre-constructed decks and a toolbox containing accessories to help you play the game. It’s definitely something I have my eye on, providing I can beat the scalpers to it when it releases later this year in the West. If anyone has any thoughts on the Pokémon Presents broadcast that they want to share, feel free to leave a comment below!

Feature: The Legacy of Pokémon

Pokémon Gotta catch 'em all! Poster

For over twenty-three years, the Pokémon franchise has been a constant and welcomed presence in my life. This massively successful series started in 1996 in Japan, with the release of Pokémon Red & Pokémon Green for the Nintendo Game Boy by a company called Game Freak. Its huge financial success and popularity eventually found its way overseas, finally reaching Europe in 1999. It continued to dominate the lives of children and their parents’ wallets with an obscene amount of content and merchandise, such as toys, animation, trading cards, and video games. At twelve years old, it was impossible for me to avoid the craze that had captured the attention and imagination of kids throughout the world. Here, I will attempt to recount my own memories of the Pokémon series, and share highlights from my personal journey through a franchise that means so much to me.

Origins

1999

My earliest memory of the series was during an IT lesson in 1999, where my classmates used the school’s computers to access the official Pokémon and Wizards of the Coast websites, to discover the latest information on the series and its trading card game. They were pretty much the only things my friends and classmates would talk about back then. I recall one kid from my year group named Kevin, who showed me his collection of trading cards inside a miniature folder. It was my first introduction to the game and he told me about the upcoming Pokémon: The First Movie, which was about to release across theatres in the United Kingdom (UK). He wrote down the film’s website URL for me so I could discover more information.

I spent most Saturdays watching the Pokémon anime on television, waking up early in the morning at around 7:30am to catch the broadcast live, or setting up the tape recorder downstairs so I could watch it later. I used the internet at school to keep up with the latest trends, but that was about as far as it went. Back then, my family didn’t have a lot of money and the idea of asking my parents to buy me Pokémon cards and video games was completely out of the question. While I was never ashamed of this fact, it did mean I wasn’t able to enjoy the series to the extent of other kids my age.

Gotta Catch Em’ All Pokémon poster featuring the first one hundred and fifty Pokémon

I think the very first Pokémon item I owned was a Gotta Catch Em’ All Pokémon poster featuring the first one hundred and fifty monsters. I remember my dad collected several tokens from his newspaper, and then we went into town to redeem them. I think the store was WHSmith, or possibly Woolworths. The poster used to be pinned on the wall above my bed. I tried hard to memorise all of them in order, but always struggled after around sixty. I remember going back to challenge myself repeatedly to recite them all in sequence, until one day, I actually managed it! The first merchandise I actually purchased myself were Pokémon stickers that were produced by Topps, and distributed by Merlin, which were far more affordable than the trading cards. I still have them completely unused because I never bought a sticker album to put them in!