So, whatever happened to my idea of travelling from Kanto to Unova (now Kalos)?
I’ll tell you what. Turn-of-the-century tech, that’s what.
Part of my aim is to complete the Kanto pokedex for the very first time, and for this, I have to rely on a highly tempramental link connection. Just balancing two GBA SP’s on my knee doesn’t really work, as I learned to my cost.
It duplicated my Bulbasaur, Saure, which is all very well and good (he has very high IV’s) but it sacrificed my Charmander, effectively meaning that I could no longer complete the game. Had it taken out Pidgey or Rattata, I might have moved on, but it killed off my Charmander.
I had several options. Firstly, to find another Charmander on another gen III game. Unfortunately, the majority of my gen III games have been emptied in the seemingly never-ending pursuit of Mew, and I have no spare Charmanders lying around. Secondly, to accept the fact that I was restarting “Yellow”, and move on. Thirdly, and as you will see, this is the option I chose, I could sulk.
The pros of sulking meant that I could devote my time wholeheartedly to the mind-numbing pursuit of pseudo-random number generator manipulation. I spent hours on Route 210 just to catch a shiny Machoke, and from there do a whole lot of incredibly geeky calculations in order not really to get anywhere, and certainly not acquire any of the pokemon I actually set out to get.
I descended the downward spiral of anally retentive pokefanning, gradually coming to hate these creatures and their coding.
But then gen VI came, with its buckets of nostalgia and almost no new pokemon. What do I care for new pokemon? I have a Blastoise called Stoisey and a level 60 Pikachu who I am NOT going to evolve, because then she won’t make proper noises any more. I’m also running around with a Blaziken- not my original Blaziken, who is one of my two oldest pokemon, but just another Blaziken. Still, it reminds me of that Blaziken.
And gradually, the dwindling flame of an embittered pokefan grew back into life.
I’m moving on, starting again, finding a new Pikachu and hopefully, not making that mistake again.
(Ey says).
If you would like to try your hand against a level 60 Pikachu, set in a team that hasn’t actually considered the existence of Fairy types yet (denial), my friend code is 2122-6131-6500.
Kanto to Unova (and beyond) 