What first got you into Pokémon?

[Sheep]

Was it the games, anime, TCG, merch, something else? Did your friends at the time get you into it, etc?

 

[ReKoil]

It started with cards and the original games not long after lol
Pokemon cards were quite the fad when I was back in elementary school =p
The games are the only thing I keep with nowadays though.

Did also briefly watch the anime, but stopped following it.

 

[Devalue]

A sibling. Began with the video game.

 

[XNaut]

It was the anime that got me into Pokemon when I saw my classmates talking about it.

 

[MiamiHeat305]

Red/Blue version. My brother got a copy of Red for the Game Boy at his birthday party when we were extremely young and I threw a massive temper tantrum because I wanted a copy as well. I wish I can go back in time and get myself to not act like that. Pokemon is amazing but they're just video games.

 

[Figure]

I remember being out in the playground in Kindergarten (1999) and saw a buddy of mine with his GameBoy so I went to see what he was playing and it was either Red or Blue, don't remember which. I don't remember a whole lot besides seeing a Dragonite and thinking it was cool. I didn't own a game until I got Yellow but that wasn't until the GBA was out but I was hooked from there on. I got the cards, marbles, watched the anime, and only wanted Pokemon toys.

 

[Fairy]

The TCG, then then games. I was just so mesmerized by the character designs!

 

[Corveone]

Ironically, it was the anime, which I wouldn't watch nowadays even if I'd get paid for it.

I just liked anime in general so I gave Pokémon a try because it was on TV, and while watching the first season I learned that it was based on a video game so I decided to get and play the GB games.

Watched up to half of the Hoenn season, then gave up on it because I was pretty much hating the series at that point and so sick of how repetitive it was, it started feeling like a complete waste of time. It was a totally different story with the games though, which I still like and play nowadays from time to time.

 

[Gardevoir1]

Got a gameboy on my 5th birthday and went with my dad to Toys R Us to see what games they have for it and Pokemon looked cool lol. Picked up Emerald based on the cool dragon on the box design and never looked back

 

[Sheep]

I can't really remember what I started with... I think it was the anime first and games second? Or maybe games first? Either way they were both around the same time and everyone in my class was super addicted, plus helped me learn English since I'd just immigrated to the US in the late 1990s. I begun playing with Blue and watched the anime actively since I was 8-9 or so :3

 

[pkmin3033]

The very first episode of the anime, which aired on SMTV Live. I wasn't expecting much from it but given how it was hyped up to hell and back and how my life revolved around Saturday morning cartoons at that stage in my life I decided to give it a try. Shortly after that my neighbour got some Pokemon figures - a Gengar and a Meowth, and I think a Venusaur too - and a guidebook, then the games happened. Then everyone was into it, so I was too, because Primary School kids don't have all that much in the way of free thought when it comes to crazes and trends, haha.

 

[Elder Trainer]

A Game Boy Color kiosk with Pokémon Yellow. I had become interested in the games not long before then and was looking to replace an original model Game Boy that had been stolen years earlier, so this enabled me to pick up both at once. I've been a fan ever since, though mostly of the games these days.

 

[BoulderSmolder]

A guide for Red and Blue at a friend's house. I was obsessed with that guide!

 

[Bellsprout]

It started with the show. It used to come on when I'd come home from school. Then from there I got into the tcg and then the games. Nowadays I only play the games.

 

[QueenNothing]

One of my earliest memories is me watching an episode of the original anime series and I remember being into it when I was about 5 or so. Pokemon has basically been an integral part of my life since then.

 

[LivelyNature]

It started around 2019 with Pokemon Platinum. I was looking to get some actually good Nintendo DS games when a librarian offered to sell me all his old DS games for $5 each, and with them was Pokemon Platinum. It was a great deal and I've been hooked ever since, so much that I could barely stop playing at first. Just a few years later and I already have so much information stored in my head and the true identity of a Pokemon Superfan.

 

[Caite-chan]

For me it was waaaaaaaaay back in 5th grade when the TCG first came out and everyone was playing it. I had the boys on the playground teach me how to play the game and then it just went from there. I remember them trying to ban Pokemon from school because everyone with acting like gangsters and using the cards as their "drug money" so to speak. xD

 

[colours]

interestingly enough, it was the anime + the tcg! i would watch the anime and play tcg games against my brother at the time so that really introduced me to pokemon as a whole.

also interestingly, i dropped out of the anime and i know nothing about the tcg because i haven't played since i was a kid! kinda sucks that the very things that introduced me to pokemon are things i don't have time/interest to dedicate to. :c

 

[faf]

My Pokemon history is weird.
I've first started Pokemon when I was in the first grade but it was mostly to collect cards and watch the anime but then I've dropped it in second grade because child Faf's mind cannot have multiple interests at all when she got into Digimon before dropping that for Yu-gi-oh. My first real start was picking up the series again in 7th grade and this time I was a bit more interested in the games. Nowadays, my interest in Pokemon is extremely low but I still do like the series despite that.

 

[Geewithabee]

So I had friends who were into the card game. From there I learned there was a gameboy videogame of the card game. Then I learned there was just a videogame, period. I ended up with Pokemon Blue as my first actual game, and I've been playing ever since.