Earliest memories of Pokémon

[Guest123_x1]

What are your earliest memories that you have concerning the Pokémon franchise? These can include when you first heard about it, when you started with your first game, or when you first started watching the anime, or whatever you remember about it.

My earliest memory of the franchise was when I heard a report on ABC World News Tonight (?) about the seizures in Japan caused by the Porygon episode, although I didn't really know what it was all about.
By mid-1998, I started hearing about Pokémon from some of my classmates, and it increased greatly by the end of the year, and well into 1999.
I had been hearing about the trading card game, the Game Boy games (Red and Blue), and the anime that had just started its English dub run in syndication, followed by the first Movie, which I heard hyped to no end at the time of its US theatrical release.
I didn't want anything to do with all this at the time. However, come Christmas 1999, my aunt (or grandma?) gave me Pokémon Yellow for Christmas, telling me that I would like it. When I first loaded it, needless to say, I got hooked on it almost immediately, and then started watching the anime, which by then moved to Kids! WB. (Incidentially, the Burger King Pokéball recall popped up around this time, and I did get some Pokémon toys from Burger King at that time, and also with the promotion of the 2nd movie.)

 

[TheFattestSnorlax]

I renember playing Pokemon Gold first, with its save state in Ecruteak. Then, I renember that I played Pokemon Yellow version for a while.

 

[PlatinumDude]

My earliest memories of Pokemon were playing with and collecting the cards and watching the show. I didn't play the video games until much later.

 

[Atomic Pirate]

I remember being a wee lad when I came home from school one day. There was a blue box containing "Pokemon: Sapphire Version" sitting on the table. I remember playing that game and being blown away by the RPG elements. That was the first Pokemon game I ever played, and it made a huge impression.

 

[Kirbychu]

My earliest?

Sitting on my parent's bed when I was around four years-old and noticing a commercial for it on TV. Being just a little tyke, I didn't really pay it any mind. Later I watched the first episode with my sister, an anime geek, and liked it. As the original series ran on she was cool enough to tell me whenever Pokemon was on. We also built up a collection of Pokemon videos from the store that I watch frequently. I was simply watching a few episodes here and there, no big deal.

Things changed once my parents bought me a silver Pikachu and Pichu Game Boy Color with my very own copy of Crystal.

 

[Rodeo]

My earliest memories of Pokemon are of me and my mom walking through Wal Mart. She let me pick out a toy to take home, and I chose a Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard three pack. This was before I know anything about Pokemon. Needless to say I freaked out when my dad brought home Pokemon Blue for me. I had no idea there was a game. I freaked out a few months later when I found out there was a show. I've been in love with the series ever since, ahahaha.

 

[BBA_Beyblader_321]

I remember walking into a video rental store. (Yes, everything was in VHS!)
And seeing a pokemon tape, it was Vol. 4 Poke-friends. And i rented that thing over and over until mom bought it for me~

Been hooked ever since!

 

[Rodeo]

I remember walking into a video rental store. (Yes, everything was in VHS!)
And seeing a pokemon tape, it was Vol. 4 Poke-friends. And i rented that thing over and over until mom bought it for me~

Been hooked ever since!

I put my mom through that same thing! It got to the point where whenever the video store clerk saw me coming she would have the Squirtle Squad VHS ready for check out. My mom got so fed up with renting the same VHS over and over again, she bought me the VHS collection where Ash gets Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. I think I still have it somewhere at my parent's house...

 

[pokemonranger109]

i first heard of pokemon through watching animie at 3 or 4 some 8 or 9 years ago ive loved it ever since hope my moms getting me yellow soon...

 

[Brendino]

I don't remember if I first got into the series because of the show or the TCG, but I know it wasn't the games (knew about them, but didn't own my first until a couple years later).

My first memory of the show was watching the episode Battle on the St. Anne. For some reason, I seem to remember this episode being played before the actual first episode, because I remember being confused why Ash didn't know who Misty was later on.

And my earliest memory of the TCG was opening a Booster Pack from the Base Set. I remember exactly where I opened it (in my dad's old car in store a parking lot, which I don't even think is still there). I also remember that my very first card was a Dewgong that knew Aurora Beam.

 

[gunnerpow7]

My earliest memory of Pokemon is when I had a GBA collection game emulator for XBOX. So, I searched for games that I might liked and found Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. At first, I didn't know the controls and it was messed up because the controls weren't configured.

 

[Zephele]

My earliest memory was when I was over at someone else's house (friend? Relative? I honestly don't remember) and we were watching Pokemon on TV. I believe it was one of the first episodes, or even the very first. Then someone else ran into the room, waving their GameBoy around, and he started showing off his Mew. I remember we were arguing whether it was legitimate or not. And that's about it.

Oddly enough, I don't have any sort of memory watching the anime when I was younger outside of that.

 

[Zapperz]

Hmm.. it was when I was just starting school and saw the first episode of pokemon on tv, oh how I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. Didnt quite understood what the show meant but I loved it regardless

 

[Neon Shades]

Seeing a relative breeze through the Elite 4 of GSC (don't know which one '-_-)

 

[Count]

The first thing I remember, even though I know I'd seen pokémon on TV before this happened, is borrowing some kind of ROM thing from a classmate when I was like, 7. It was Pokémon Blue and I played it on my PC...

Later I got pokémon blue for gameboy, and pokémon stadium. Pokémon Gold is where the real craze started though. Good times.

 

[Oryx]

Gonna kick this into the poll section. :3

But I'm unlucky because I really don't remember when I started playing, it just happened...the earliest thing I really remember is being unable to get past the last person before the end of Victory Road because my Pokemon were going to die and I didn't want to go through again and I was so sad so I quit and didn't play Blue again for years haha.

 

[Timbjerr]

I was in Walmart one day with my parents, and I broke away from them to thumb through some gaming magazines, as any eleven-year-old N64 addict does. It was then that I saw an ad for some upcoming game called "Pokemon". The ad featured a bunch of pokemon standing underneath a giant net with the simple caption, "Got you!"

I didn't think much of it then, but I was gonna be addicted to that game within a year's time.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Nintendo Power for me. It was probably late '97 or sometime in '98 (I'm bad with dates) but I first saw it promoted in an issue of my brother's Nintendo Power magazine. Wasn't hooked at first, but seeing the RPG-like gameplay in the magazine's game previews began to spark my interest in the franchise.

 

[RGRDB]

The day care lady that I went to as a kid got all of the boys Pokemon plush toys (I got a Pikachu). She also got us all Pokemon VHS tapes (I got the Poke-Friends tape where Ash caught Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle). My older cousin had a copy of Pokemon Red and I was over there once and watched him and his friend battle each other. I can remember that my cousin was using a Charizard. Then the very first game that I actually owned was Pokemon Gold, and eventually I got Red, Blue and Yellow as well as Silver and eventually Crystal and have played every version since haha

 

[HypnoStealsChildren]

Pokemon Stadium...Man I had fun with that game. Those mini games were beast!