Have you ever taken a break from Pokemon completely?

[Chikara]

I've never taken a break from Pokemon, but I'm definitely getting to that age where you don't even have the energy to finish a game anymore. I finish all of them anyway, but I'm very "bleh" about it.

X/Y changed that however. It was DIFFERENT and kept my interest. I think it's the repetitiveness that killed the appeal for me during Black and White ):

 

[SaniOKh]

I found my reply to a topic like this from a year ago, so I'll just quote it with a few corrections :P. Laziness at it's finest, ladies and gentlemen.

I quit twice, actually :) .

I was introduced to the franchise when I was eleven, with Pokémon Blue. Loved it, played it like crazy, annoyed my parents so that they would buy me the other versions of essentially the game same... then Gen 2 came out and it was on all over again. By the time Gen 3 arrived, my parents had enough and I was stuck playing on the PC.

The first time I quit was after playing some Gen 3 on an emulator. To be honest, at first, I hated it. I've been told back then that Gen 3 couldn't connect with Gen 2, and not knowing anything about Regional and National Dexes, when I saw Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip in the Pokédex where Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle were supposed to be, I was upset. I thought they completely remade the franchise and threw the old Pokémon out for good (thus, my reaction when I saw Zubat was: "THIS is what they kept?"). I thought the game dragged, with routes being so long and everything... but the final straw, and I know this is petty but I was 15 back then, was a Pokémon design... I quit the game with the intention of never playing it again the moment I saw Lunatone.

A few months later, my friend who gave me the ROMs sent me a save file with the complete national dex and my faith in the franchise was restored :) . Gen 3 slowly grew on me over time, but I was stuck playing with the emulator, so I coudn't experience the social part of it.

The second (and longest) time was when Gen 4 came around. The DS emulators available back then were too slow for me to enjoy the game, and by the time they became fast enough, I stopped caring.

Fast forward to a year and a half ago ("2.5 years ago now" - SaniOKh from the present) when I finished college, got a job, and decided to start a retro videogame collection. After buying some old consoles and games, I got a SNES cart with an internal battery (used for saving games back in the day) about to die, and decided to learn how to replace internal batteries. My first test subject was the good old Pokémon Blue. I managed to replace the battery and then decided to try the Mew Glitch. And after that I just kept playing. When I was done, I replaced the batteries in all other Gen 1 and 2 carts. And then, slowly, I started ordering the games I missed online: Gen 3, Gen 4, the remakes, and even managed to score a DS Lite in a great condition. Ultimately, I bought Gen 5 and a 3DS. So here I am, fully equipped and definitely back and definitely excited about Gen 6.

 

[Blueboi22]

Gen V was my break. I didn't like the Unova region at all :/

 

[Yato]

Never taken a break from Pokemon entirely, though there was a period a few years back where I didn't have any motivation to play any of the games. Usually, if I consider playing a Pokemon game I will do it, though I may not get around to finishing it. This case was different because no matter how much I thought about playing one of the games, I just couldn't get it out and play it.

 

[Pepperton]

I've never let Pokemon go entirely since I first became a fan around the age of six, but right after Platinum came out, I didn't really play as much as I used to. Pre-Sinnoh, I played the games non-stop, watched the anime, even toyed around with the TCG, but I was really disappointed with both Diamond and Platinum. In fact, I didn't even plan to buy HGSS despite my love for Johto, but my friend got it for me as a birthday present, and I slowly worked my way back into the franchise. Unova was great, and after BW I was back to being a crazed fan n__n

 

[EthanAG]

I quit Pokemon for about 2 year after Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green to come back at 5th gen to realize what Game Freak already did to Pokemon.. I got back in like Pokemon 24/7 at the X/Y release.

 

[Hikamaru]

No I haven't, in fact Pokemon is something I'm too attached to to ever take a break from. So yeah, I'm all good.

 

[Ultramarine]

After B2W2, I moved on to other hobbies and pokemon just lost it's magic. The video games felt repetitive, the anime stunk, in my opinion, and the TCG began bugging me with the constant cycling out of cards. I'm still "on a break," but I honestly don't know if I'll get back into it.

 

[rom hunter]

I got first introduced to Pokemon when it was first launched as an anime. It was the second episode of the only anime show that I got to watch from the very start. Who knew at that time that it was going to become one of the most popular shows ever. Though I wasn't able to continue with the anime for some reasons. It was a sad parting. I must have watched a few beginning episodes of Indigo League after which it almost seemed like the end of Pokemon world for me until I came across the Pokemon games. Pokemon Red and Blue were the first ones that I played and it was a memorable experience. Since than it was all about games. A few years later I started getting a bit wary of Pokemon games and anime was almost non-existent for me. I must have been in 9th grade at that time. I guess after 2 or 3 years after I found Pokemon Gold and Silver my love for the games was reinvented.

So there have been many lapses especially in my younger days but today I am inseparable from the world of Pokemon whether it is games, hacks or anime I have found interest everywhere where the roots of Pokemon lie. I have followed the games playing every bit of the releases including Black2/White2 (I haven't yet got X and Y). The only ones I have missed are Pokemon Black and White. Also to make up with the anime I started all over from the Indigo League by downloading the episodes and right now I am on Pearl and Diamond Battle Dimensions. I want to finish watching every single episode I missed and until then I won't be moving on to X and Y.

 

[Talon Flare]

I sometimes take a 2 month break.

 

[overlord tyranitar]

I stopped at third gen games wise, I didn't like the look of the fourth gen. Education ate up my free time and I eventually stopped playing altogether.

Decided to pick up X now that I am less busy. It's good to be back and I have quite allot to catch up on like the fact there are 700+ pokemon, plus a new type.

 

[Lunar]

After playing Pokemon for years I eventually stopped (temporarily) after I completed White. Basically my "cool" friends at school found out I played Pokemon (I was 13 at the time) and pretty much bullied me about it, even my mum seemed disappointed that I wanted to play Pokemon and it took a lot of persuading to for me to be able to buy White. After a significant break (about a year or two) some of my friends started playing X and after watching them play I decided to purchase a 3DS and Pokemon X. My love for the series has been rekindled after a long break :)

 

[ThatSlashGuy]

Oh yeah no doubt. When I bred constantly on Black, I got burnt out and stopped playing for a while. I picked it up again a month or two later. Same thing happened with my Y nuzlocke run (which I got bored of), and completed Emerald instead. You have to take breaks sometimes so you don't get bored to constantly.

 

[Aisu]

Midway through the original BW hype, I gave up for an entire year. Pokemon just fell short compared to anime as a whole. Then XY came out and I realized how boss a lot of these guys can become with a Mega Evolution. Besides, now the character can be customized, so I'm good with Pokemon. FOR NOW.

Nope. Still waiting for ORAS like a real nerd.

 

[starseed galaxy auticorn]

I've taken short breaks away from playing, but I'm usually playing constantly. XD There are moments when I have gone weeks without playing though. I usually have other games I can play, like on my PS Vita. Sometimes, my writing gets in the way, or I'm just not in the mood to play at the moment as well.

I don't think I've ever lasted a whole entire month or more without playing pokemon, even if it's just a little at a time. I'm pretty addicted to pokemon and have been for as long as I could remember. I'm usually playing old school ones like Pokemon Soul Silver or something. It's a bit of an addiction I have. If I get tired of playing one pokemon game, I'll end up playing a different version. XD

To be honest, I've played almost every single version since Pokemon Yellow. The only ones I haven't played were Gold/Heart Gold and Crystal. So, I don't think I've ever taken a break from playing in my entire life, at least not as far as versions go.

 

[LeGreyfish]

The only real break I think I have ever had was the break during the year Pokemon Black/White 2 got released. I eventually came back to it but only after completing X/Y.

 

[cheriberry7]

Yeah, after Diamond/Pearl I took a very long break. I just got very bored and moved onto other things. Then I came back and played Pokemon Black, but I didn't finish it because of real life things. Currently playing Black/White 2 and catching up before I buy X/Y.

 

[ilias_]

Yes, I took some breaks. The first was after Gen 3 because I didn't know they released a new game (Diamond,Pearl) lol I bought Platinum, then I bought SoulSilver when Black was released. But I decided to play SS that summer because I was getting prepared for some important exams the next year... and that was my last break!

 

[Candy]

I once quit from Pokemon back at October 2012. It wasn't really anything about getting bored of Pokemon or such that got me to quit, but more of an emotional scar on me that I really don't feel like talking that much... But hey, might as well say it.

So this Pokemon that I have bonded and brought to all my games since Pearl ended up in a corrupted save file of Black, which got me to a mental shut off from other people and basically crying for at least 2 days straight and not touching anything Pokemon-related for months.

And when I finally overcome it and played Black 2, the save file got corrupted after only 3 months of playing.

So continues the mental shut off from Pokemon 'til I got Pokemon X and Y.

 

[RyanPelley]

I got out of Pokemon almost entirely for 12 years. I was 11 / 12 years old during the original craze. I was pretty obsessed at the time, watching the anime and playing the games every day. Not to mention, collecting every card from Base Set, Jungle and Fossil (with most of the Team Rocket cards).

Then, a couple of things happened that started to hurt my interest in Pokemon. First, two kids in my neighborhood, whom I traded cards with quite a bit, stole all of the holos out of my card binder. I don't even know how they did it. I remember opening my binder and just being heartbroken seeing everything missing. Their dad was an abusive drunk anyway, so it's not like he would have made them give me the cards back. (The cards which I could identify from specific scratches)

I tried replacing all of those cards, but it's kind of hard for a 12 year old with no money to do... It was kind of depressing. After a while, I just gave up basically. Not to mention, I was in 7th grade now, Junior High and it suddenly wasn't "cool" to like Pokemon. All of my friends who were part of the craze as well out of the blue started making fun of anything Pokemon. I gave in to the peer pressure and started to drift away from Pokemon.

Sure, I bought Pokemon Gold on it's release date and played the heck out of it for a very long time (secretly, mind you, so my friends wouldn't know). But I was done collecting cards, because I didn't want my friends to poke fun at me for it. Pretty pathetic, I know.

Even when Neo Genesis came out a couple of months later, I was tempted to start buying them, but I resisted. Still to this day, I've never owned any of the Neo cards. I haven't even seen 90% of the card images.

The whole thing is kind of sad to me. I wish back then, I wouldn't have cared what people said, especially my friends, and continued to collect the cards. I still remember how it was impossible to find cards in stores around this time. Then my mom, bless her heart, found the 'Starter Set' at a random Kohl's store (which is weird that they had it) and surprised me with it. And finally a few weeks later, the local toy store got a large shipment of Base Set cards in.

I remember walking around with a handful of packs, waiting for my mom to get there to buy them, because I didn't want people to come in and buy them all before it was too late. They were $5 a pack at that store and time, so my mom bought me 3 packs. I remember looking through them, so happy to find them and so amazed at what I got. And then, just over a year later, I was getting out of collecting cards. Grrrr.

By the time Gens 3 and 4 were released, I was completely out of Pokemon. I remember seeing the cards in stores and laughing at how ridiculous the newer Pokemon looked (which I still feel that way about most of Gens 3, 4 and 5). I did buy LeafGreen however and absolutely loved it. But still wasn't hooked again.

Sorry for the long rant. I got carried away talking about it! But fast forward to mid 2013, and my daughter (who was 3 at this time) caught a glimpse of Pokemon somewhere and started asking me about it. She kept bringing up someone named "Achu", talking about Pikachu of course. She wanted to know more and more about it. I bought her a couple of packs of cards, and showed her a few old episodes of the anime.

That's when I realized that through my daughter, I was kind of reliving what I went through those years ago. I loved seeing her excitement and interest grow, much like mine had. Because of her falling in love with it herself, I found myself doing the exact same thing, again. A few months later, I bought Pokemon X and then saw that the XY card series would be released soon. Ended up buying a booster box and both trainer boxes.

The enthusiasm, excitement and joy she got from opening all of those was just incredible. It's now something we collect together (and watch the anime together). Truly something that we have further bonded over.