It’s my Poke-birthday!

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.

Memory Link of a different kind

So. Casually browsing Huffpost, because it’s my favourite source of bad journalism, when I stroll across this little beauty:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/17/gamer-plays-with-same-pokemon-11-years_n_3291429.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cukt1%7Cdl13%7Csec3_lnk4%26pLid%3D180196_ukt2

It tells the story of a man who has been using the same pokemon for 11 years. Now, having used the same pokemon since Ruby and Sapphire came out (10 years), I was a touch sceptical. Appropriately, it’s a Sceptile.

Reading on the guy’s actual blog, he knows his stuff. He’s certainly not claiming to have the oldest living pokemon, nor is he saying that Fire Red came out in 2002, as Huffpost claim. (This, by the way, is what happens when you don’t pay your writers, Huffpost.)

In fact, it’s just a charming little story about pokemon companionship, the real reason why adult pokefans pity kids today. I grew up with Skeptyleia- Don’t criticise the name, I was eleven years old – and even though he’s not my best pokemon, he is my oldest.

He’s not been quite the star that Cunzy11’s Dactylocer has. He’s not had any children, and he’s only recently cracked level 60, because he’s a grass type and I don’t see the point. Still, I wouldn’t have kept him if I wasn’t attached to him.

For anyone who doesn’t play pokemon, the bond between a player and a bunch of ones and zeros can be a little tricky to understand. I know Skeptyleia isn’t real. I know he’s not a very good pokemon. Still, that doesn’t matter.

I was eleven years old. I had a different name. I used to sit up all night, using a lit screen magnifier to sit playing in the dark without rousing the suspicions of my parents. Skeptyleia may just be a bunch of ones and zeros, but he’s a link to a child I used to be, half a lifetime ago.

Skeptyleia sits calmly at the back of my party, waiting for a water/ground type pokemon to turn up. When electricity fails, it’s his chance to shine.

He’s not the only relic from my younger days. In fact, I’ve kept most of them. A level 92 Swellow called Tialauuenz with preposterously low IVs. Twenty-six Zigzagoons, conceived in one game and hatched in three. Most sentimentally of all, a piece of mail, marked: “Remember me and her. Kai.”

When I got Ruby and Sapphire, I played as a female character called Alex, and a male character called Kai. After completing Sapphire, I made the decision to start again, uprooting Tialauuenz, Skeptyleia, Kombausken, Lynayonooi and his entire family of baby Zigzagoons. But I left myself a reminder- a single piece of mail, brought to Pokemon Pearl via the Pal Park.

Unfortunately, that piece of imaginary paper can travel no further in my games. Transporting items between gen IV and gen V is impossible. I can only hope they never do the same to my Skeptyleia.

Tears of a completist

Every so often, I get utterly bored out of my wits by Pokemon. This is not because of a lack of interest in the storylines or challenges, but mostly because I’ve been playing on the same Pearl cartridge for four years now, and I am just eleven shy of completing the Sinnoh Dex.

Seen 150. Obtained 139.

I saw all the Pokemon three years ago. Since then, I’ve been trying to acquire those last thirty-seven. I think I’ve done alright, considering the mere thought of trying to get those last eleven makes me want to cry.

But I’m too close now to give up. Eleven? That’s nothing. Here they are:

#064 – Ambipom
#066 – Drifblim
#075 – Honchkrow
#108 – Spiritomb
#111 – Garchomp
#116 – Lucario
#128 – Drapion
#130 – Toxicroak
#138 – Feebas
#139 – Milotic
#145 – Weavile

Feebas aside, that’s a fairly tame list. Except I don’t have a Dusk Stone, Razor Claw or enough happiness left in my body to make a Riolu smile.

I understand that the Pokedex is supposed to be a challenge. I really do. But for a 21-year old, gathering the necessary 32 friends needed to summon Spiritomb is a bit of a feat. I can’t even finish a single survey for Passerby Analytics HQ. Because none of my friends are eight any more and they certainly don’t take Pokemon as seriously as I do.

That said, I’m absolutely terrible. Do you want a battle? You’ll definitely win.

For four years, I have miserably inched towards completion of the Sinnoh Dex. I’m not sure why, but I have.

Help me.