Ah the year 2000. what a year. New millennium. new president. new pokemon.



There was a time when the only game in my gameboy color was Pokemon Silver. It was the first game i was able to play along with my younger sister. She had gold so it complemented myself. It was a world that had a clock and days that matched the real world settings. It was mind blowing for me personally. I was only 10 so it was the first game i had that had time and date settings.




When you first got through setting all the date and time and got to explore the world it felt fresh and wonderful. the prospect of new pokemon was enticing and exciting. exploring you encountered some familiar faces and tons of fresh one. The idea of getting calls for rematches from old trainers and updates on swarms of pokemon made it seem like you weren't some heartless thug beating everyone in your way to get them all and get to the end. it gave me a sense of befriending other trainers along the way.


And how certain pokemon were available only at certain times, those gave me a small taste of late night gaming. and early morning gaming for that matter. The splitting of special into 2 stats and adding 2 new types to the mix changed things up a fair bit. not to mention hold items adding another layer to the battling. breeding to teach powerful moves to new fresh pokemon was also pretty cool to add.



And yet this wasn't all the game did. along with this new world. after defeating the elite four and becoming the champion, the most wondrous surprise happens. and you get to go through kanto all over as well. with some trainers with higher level Pokemon than even the elite four had. oh it was a chance to reexperince the first games. yet see how time past since them as well.



The world felt real. all the little touches added up to create one of the best gaming experiences i ever had. The radio shows, the calls about battles and swarms, breeding, real-time clock, and a huge world. It wasnt just a game at times it was a world that played even while you didn't. That's what makes it such a memorable world to me.

However something snapped and they tossed a lot of that out the window for the gameboy advance games. a step back i would say in terms of imersion and fun. 4th gen brought a bit back but still a small world to explore in comparison to what they managed to fit on a gbc cart. Rock on 2nd gen. And long live johto and kanto!