Four years ago today, I bought pokemon pearl and started my first adventure with it. A poor student, I had bought it second-hand (or “pre-loved”). That didn’t matter. Despite issues with the game (primarily, the absence of a real rival), it would become the first game I managed to play half-competently.
And when I say “half”, I mean half.
Four years later, the pokedex is still unfinished. So, rather than celebrating this rather unusual anniversary in an ordinary fashion, by having a quiet smile to myself and not telling anyone at all, I have spent today trying to catch Feebas.
Feebas is incredibly common- to four tiles in Mt Coronet. So, today I drew out a map of the area and am currently checking off squares I have looked in. Still no Feebas, but staying positive. Despite the fact there is a less than 1 per cent chance that the next tile I check will be a Feebas tile.
Still. I have eight pokemon left to go. The promise of a Shiny Charm for completing the entire dex on White 2 is almost too much to bear, and taking that one step closer today would be a lovely poke-birthday present to myself, don’t you think?
I have such a long way to go, and am hampered at every turn by the sheer ridiculous rarity of event pokemon. I’m doing this by the book, too, no hacks. No charity either. It might not even be possible for me. There aren’t a lot of Celebi out there, and they haven’t been released in an event since 2011. Arceus was released the week before I realised what was going on, and I kicked myself for it. Meloetta was just released everywhere but the UK, which was upsetting.
If anyone did manage to get Meloetta in the UK recently, please don’t tell me. It would be kindest not to tell me.
After all, it is my poke-birthday.
Kanto to Unova (and beyond) 