Coming back to Pokémon after twenty years

In the Autumn of 1999 the general public were fearing for their lives as the Millennium Bug was right around the corner. This Skynet-like virus was going to shut down all of our electronic devices and see the human race retreat to bomb shelters with tins of chickpeas and John West tuna (if it was on offer, otherwise it’d probably be the decent approximation that Tesco sell). Myself and my friends weren’t too bothered – we had Pokémon. 

The cartoon had been on TV for a couple of years before the Game Boy games were released which meant that we already had our favourites, along with every lunch box, cuddly toy and Ash Ketchum baseball cap that was available in shops. In the twilight of the 20th century these Pocket Monsters from Japan meant the world to us and everything else became redundant, even the impending doom facing our alarm clocks.

At the back of Mrs. Foley’s class we’d all be pretending to perfect our long division while swapping Sandshrews for Scythers and Primeapes for Persians, thanks to the magic of the one link cable that Brendan brought in that day (you’re a legend, Brendan). With this breakthrough in technology we could ensure that everyone caught them all, so to speak, and be just like the gang we watched on telly every day in between episodes of Bernard’s Watch and Biker Mice From Mars. But as the years went by, and the number of species grew, we lost interest. Pokémon’s purity that we all enjoyed in its first incarnation disappeared, plus we discovered Smirnoff Ice and a 20 box of Carroll’s. Lad.

I never thought I’d yearn to jump back in, but then a cultural phenomenon happened this past Summer. Even though it was a terrible video game, Pokémon Go had the world reminiscing and I was no different. Like passing the bouncer in your local after lent, that reassuring feeling upon seeing those old names and faces was an utter joy and I wanted more, which handily coincided with the release of Pokémon Sun and Moon. I haven’t lived under a rock and have seen glimpses of the five other main entries in the series through trailers, screenshots and the like, but booting it up and having it there in front of me was akin to what Ali Dia must’ve thought when Graeme Souness brought him to Southampton – I just couldn’t believe it.

Pokémon Sun wowed me with this vibrant world that’s full of imagination and battle animations I only ever dreamed of as a young fella, with the same moreish element that the original had all those years ago. A lot of it feels familiar, really – Pokémon is like riding a bike because even if this two-wheeler has 15 gears and my old mode of transport had stabilisers, I still remember how to pedal. In my era you had to face off against eight gym leaders and the Elite Four before taking it to Professor Oak’s bastard of a grandson. Pokémon Sun and Moon’s Island Challenge follows a similar pattern where you have to travel to each of the game’s four islands in the Alola Region, completing trials before facing off against each area’s Kahuna, who is basically top dog about town. The main goals stay the same: become the best Pokémon trainer by defeating everyone of note and catch the hundreds of Pokémon available to you. 

I accept that things change and sometimes for the better like the powerful Z-moves, trials that don’t always revolve around Pokémon battles and sometimes even incorporate dance routines. Like the little critters themselves, the series evolves over time and it has to because it’s not 1999 anymore and I’m not 10 years of age. In the 20 years that have passed, however, I think it’s begun to over-complicate things somewhat. Pokémon Refresh, which is basically an updated version of Pokémon Amie from X and Y, sees you petting, feeding and playing with your your band of rodents, dragons and turtles like they’re a group of Tamagotchis by tapping on screen, which increases the rate they gain XP in battle. It’s cute, but the amount of times you have to mollycoddle your six pets is an absolute pain. 

Those tough battles where you’re down to your last Pocket Monster against a skilled foe and still pull a win out of the bag are glorious, as are those moments where you finally snag that Pokémon after lobbing three balls at its face, but when you have to blow-dry their hair, or dust them off after a set-to with a Magikarp is when you start to question if things have passed you by and that elation you felt when defeating Gary in the first game was simply a moment in time. Although, when I’m on the back of a Tauros, galloping up and down Melemele Island, looking for my next victim, it transports me back to a simpler time and I can almost hear the bollocking Mrs. Foley is about to give me.

  

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