HELP! Introducing girl to Pokemon...where do I start?

[ThaWinnerGON]

O forever knowledgeable, always entertaining, and endlessly generous users of PokéCommunity...here my plea. I am in dire need of your wisdom.

My girlfriend is a bit of a lost soul. Oh yes, she's heard of Pokémon. But oh no, throughout her life she has continuously disregarded it as something to be left to boys to spazz out about...something 'lame' and uninteresting...just something to disassociate herself with generally. This girl is a sheep without a flock, and I call upon the shepherds of Pokéfandom across the interweb to help me bring her safely home.

I feel that the best way to get her interested would be the anime and games. The anime is easy - I just direct her to a watch TV website and instruct her to watch it from season one. But for the videogames, I just have no idea where to start her off. As a girl who likes things neat and tidy, I feel that the newer games would be the best way to familiarize it to her - and by that I mean Gen III and on. So do I use FR/LG? R/S/E? Or Diamond and Pearl? Or HG/SS? Or even - Black and White (though I'm do not really feel that Black and White is the best option)?

Please, help.

 

[Skitty1]

I would suggest you go with Emerald it has the most Pokemon and the most features. The story is decent and the game is challenging. Or if you want to go for Gen 4 I would say either HG/SS. Any one of those 3 would be a great place to start. Black and White is ok but I think that she should play one of the 3 I listed first (Emerald (gen III), HG/SS (gen IV))

Please reply if you want more info. :)

 

[ShinyUmbreon189]

Id go with HG/SS but you can always give her a hack to play.

 

[Asuf]

I would recommend Firered/Leafgreen since they are remakes of the first ever games to come out. They are more simple than the others and offer a fun experience. Then you can move on to Emerald, HG/SS, etc.

 

[Skitty1]

^^Hacks are a lot of fun but I think that for her first time she would be better off with one of the vanilla games (if you don't know what a vanilla game is click here).

 

[ThaWinnerGON]

The thing that I'm afraid of is that I'll throw too much in her face and scare her off from it >_<

I want it to be an accessible game to her, so a 'vanilla' game as Skitty1 suggested I think would be best; don't get me wrong though, i love mez the pants out ofz a good hack. Hacks are only really appreciated by those who know the games well though, I think.

 

[Prof Oak]

I would go with either Diamond, Pearl or Platinum (preferably Platinum, as it enhances the Sinnoh experience). It's very easy to get lost during the Kanto games on your first time through and can be frustrating, due to the shortage of good Pokemon early on. The Johto games are fairly simple and quite fantastic, although I wouldn't recommend them as an intro to the series. They're fantastic games, but super easy. Getting to visit a second region in the post-game might set expectations for the rest of the series that can't be met. The Hoenn games were superb, but again, the game does a fairly poor job of explaining where to go. The Unova games were great, my favourite, in fact. There is one flaw that stands out to me. I find after long bouts of Pokemon Black, I'm disappointed by the non-moving battle sprites of the previous instalments. The Sinnoh games were spectacular. The pokemon were bright and fun and the gyms were challenging, but easy enough for beginners. The game did a fantastic job of leading the player to the right areas and the difficulty curve was great. Diamond was my first legitimate copy of a Pokemon game, though, so you might consider my opinion biased. However, I strongly recommend Platinum. It was the game that got my girlfriend into the series.

 

[pikakitten]

RSE Indefinitely

I would say that she should play a Gen 3 game, Emerald preferably. It's not too hard to figure out and she won't have to pick between Groudon and Kyogre. It's fairly challenging, has a good storyline and it's one of the older games. Firered could work if you want longer gameplay since it has the post-game storyline with the sevii islands. Depends on your girl's personality.

 

[blue]

Just show her all the cute Pokémon! Nah there's not much you can do other than try to get her into it by showing her the games, letting her play them and if she likes it then mission acomplished! If not then it's just something that she's not in too.
If you're looking for a starting point go for Yellow, then work your way up through the generations, it's best that way IMO.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Personally I think you should stick with LG/FR since they're remakes of the original games. (Seeing how I would have said that you should pick the first gen games to start her off with, but I read your OP... :V)That way she can start off in Pallet Town, pretty much where the whole series started off at. Since you're going to show her the first season of the anime, it'd make more sense to me at least. :V

 

[Meowthison]

As for games, I think Generation IV would be a good place to start. For me, it's the most simple yet complex in a way that makes it enjoyable. It's also pretty up to date, so she won't feel like she's playing a dinosaur. Gen IV was my starting point, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so my suggestion is Diamond/Pearl or Platinum.

 

[Lt. Col. Fantastic]

Give her a sinnoh game. The story line is the easiest to follow, and you don't have to figure much out on your own. The next easiest, as some have suggested, would be Emerald, however the finding of the teams secret bases could be a turn off, as it gets frustrating if you dont already know where they are (or if you forgot where the aqua one was, like me)

Black And White are easy to follow, but the new pokemon and story can be overwhelming. (cnat spel that wurd)

If easiness isn't a problem, go with FireRed, it has a lot of stuff in it, and isn't too overwhelming (still cnat spel)

 

[Oryx]

Give her a sinnoh game. The story line is the easiest to follow, and you don't have to figure much out on your own. The next easiest, as some have suggested, would be Emerald, however the finding of the teams secret bases could be a turn off, as it gets frustrating if you dont already know where they are (or if you forgot where the aqua one was, like me)

Black And White are easy to follow, but the new pokemon and story can be overwhelming. (cnat spel that wurd)

If easiness isn't a problem, go with FireRed, it has a lot of stuff in it, and isn't too overwhelming (still cnat spel)

She's never played a Pokemon game before. All Pokemon are "new Pokemon". Unova Pokemon wouldn't be any more overwhelming than Kanto, Johto, etc etc. Same with the story, while it's more than what we're used to, since she has no experience with the games she'll probably want more story. We like the lack of overarching complex story in the other games but most people that aren't Pokemon fans would find it boring and uninteresting.

As for D/P/Pt, if you decide to choose one of those choose Platinum, for the love of all that's good. Diamond and Pearl are ridiculously slow and annoying and unenjoyable for even the majority of the Pokemon fanbase, that are used to Pokemon games. They have a rightful place as some of the worst main games made. Platinum is a million times better. Although I would recommend you start her with B/W if you really want her interested, because if she enjoys it, she'll have the sequel of B2W2 coming out soon as well.

 

[droomph]

Start out how I started out. Bother her. Surround her with Pokemon. Constantly talk about Pokemon to her. She'll be annoyed at first, but she'll get used to it, and eventually love it.

But honestly, if she hates it as an instinct, then there's no getting her back. I hated Pokemon when I was younger because I thought it was boring and/or childish. I hated TCGs, so that was another reason. But once a group of friends shoved Pokemon into my face, I realized that it was a wonderful game series, and I've never gone back to hating it, though I've stayed dormant once or twice for a couple years.

Seriously though, just show her the game and franchise for all it is, and pray that she'll see the beauty of Pokemon. :3

The thing that I'm afraid of is that I'll throw too much in her face and scare her off from it >_<

I want it to be an accessible game to her, so a 'vanilla' game as Skitty1 suggested I think would be best; don't get me wrong though, i love mez the pants out ofz a good hack. Hacks are only really appreciated by those who know the games well though, I think.

From what I can tell, she just hasn't seen Pokemon yet. So I firmly believe that you won't scare her off. Though don't be too agressive about it - just nonchalantly bring Pokemon into conversations and she'll see the beauty of it in no time, and we'll have another Toujours in the Pokecommunity forums :3 Though I find that having two friends talking about Pokemon helps a lot, because it reduces the awkwardness factor.

 

[Dalek_Kabu]

id start her off with yellow version and season 1 of the anime. im sure she would love it otherwise go with crystal. smaller dexs so less overwhelming.

 

[Lt. Col. Fantastic]

She's never played a Pokemon game before. All Pokemon are "new Pokemon". Unova Pokemon wouldn't be any more overwhelming than Kanto, Johto, etc etc. Same with the story, while it's more than what we're used to, since she has no experience with the games she'll probably want more story. We like the lack of overarching complex story in the other games but most people that aren't Pokemon fans would find it boring and uninteresting.

As for D/P/Pt, if you decide to choose one of those choose Platinum, for the love of all that's good. Diamond and Pearl are ridiculously slow and annoying and unenjoyable for even the majority of the Pokemon fanbase, that are used to Pokemon games. They have a rightful place as some of the worst main games made. Platinum is a million times better. Although I would recommend you start her with B/W if you really want her interested, because if she enjoys it, she'll have the sequel of B2W2 coming out soon as well.

I was going with the designs of the pokemon being overwhelming, and the story being very outlandish. But yeah, maybe more story is a good thing. But some of the pokemon designs are really...active. I was thinking stuff like Gigalith being more to take in than Luxray, since Gigalith (and a lot of Unova pokemon, really) have a lot going on in their design.

 

[droomph]

I was going with the designs of the pokemon being overwhelming, and the story being very outlandish. But yeah, maybe more story is a good thing. But some of the pokemon designs are really...active. I was thinking stuff like Gigalith being more to take in than Luxray, since Gigalith (and a lot of Unova pokemon, really) have a lot going on in their design.

That's just like saying Mario from Super Mario Bros. is a lot more to take in than Mario from Super Mario Galaxy - it's because of memory limitations that forced earlier Pokémon to be simple. So if you consider it, if she can take Black and White's graphics, she can take the Pokémon.

 

[Pokemon Trainer UV]

Hah, I got my best friend into Pokemon by talking to him about it, making him play a bit of Competitive Battling on Pokemon Showdown (He got it quick), and eventually forcing him to try Pokemon Fire Red.

Anyways, although I believe that it's best to start with Emerald through Black or White as most people here are saying; Fire Red is a pretty good start too. It's simpler than the other games, easiest to understand, and it still retains the same formula that we all love.

 

[Jacinth]

If I were you, I would go with FR/LG; that game was practically made for beginners with the whole tutorial thing in the beginning. I wouldn't go with any of the games you can't play as a female in, because I don't know about anyone else, but when I got into Pokemon it really annoyed me when I had to play as a guy. (Then again, I was about seven at the point..) So, I think FR/LG would be your best bet, and if not that, HG/SS. Nothing like the classics.

And if she's a bit reluctant to get or play any of the games, perhaps get her a plushie of a cute pokemon, like eevee or pikachu, to get her into it.

 

[coolcatkim22]

I always consider lg/fr a great place to start for anybody. There are a lot places where thing get explain such as the teachy tv and the help guide that pops up if you press the left or right buttons.

Also, as they are remakes of the first game she wouldn't get lost by references to the other games. Also, it's an improvement from just giving her the first games as the remakes have better graphics as well as the ability to play as a female character.