If you were older...

[Treecko]

Saw this on another forum, but not here so I thought I steal this from there and bring it here.

Say you were older when Pokemon first came out. Say you were 18 or the current age you are now. Would you would be interested in Pokemon or even become a fan yourself? Or would have not gotten into it and overlook it for another franchise or game series?

A lot of us were young when we first got into Pokemon and have been interested in it since the beginning. Most people were between 5-10 and some as old as 13-15 back when we played or watched Pokemon for the first time and that's generally the age group who it appeals too. There are adult or older teens who pick up a Pokemon game for the first time and get hooked, but it's not as common. So that's what raises the question.


Me myself, if I were 21 (my current age) when Pokemon first came here in 1998 (or even if it came out today and was still a new thing.) , then I may or may not have been interested. Even at my age, I can enjoy things intended for children such as MLP or Adventure Time and become a really big fan of them. So I would be surprised that I would get into Pokemon at that age. Of course I might not be into it as much as other things and I wouldn't be as obsessed with it in the future (or now) but I think I would play the games every now and then even when I'm in my late 30s in 2013. ( If I were 21 in 98, I'd be 36 now.Wow.) Though I'd more likely get into it if it were really popular and everyone was talking about it. Then I'd probably look into it, maybe buy a game and try it. If it didn't appeal to me, then I'd not be into it , that's all. As for the anime, probably wouldn't bother watching it since I'd probably see it as too childish. I know that makes no sense but yeah.The games are more appealing to me. How about you guys?

 

[jiminy_jam]

If I was 26 in '98, I think I could honestly say I wouldn't have given it a chance, of my own free will.
If someone made me watch the anime or give the game a go I would have tried it, but I probably wouldn't have had the same reaction.

 

[Aether★]

Well... Being 22 in 1998 in Poland... It depends really on the circumstances. At this time I could be probably busy working, but there is some chance that I could play video game consoles like SNES or N64. I would start playing Pokemon on N64 eventually and If it could get me more interested, then I'd buy a GBC. Watching Anime would be probably out of option at this time.

 

[Kikaito plush]

20 in 1998 I probably not be in pokemon as I would not have the free time to play it.

 

[moon]

I did grow to like MLP, Digimon and other seemingly childish stuff at this age, but that is probably because I already like pokémon and it's easy to find other franchises like that by checking out things that your friends like. I probably wouldn't have been watching anime or even loved Homestuck as much, if at all, if being a pokémon fan on an online forum hadn't opened my eyes to things like that.

If I had been my current age in '98, when the internet almost wasn't a thing yet, I doubt I would have found pokémon interesting at all, as sad as that might sound. I would probably prioritize completely different things in life too, but that mostly because I'd be adult in the 90's xD

If we flip it around and say that pokémon would be a new franchise today, I don't know if I'd get hooked or not. I'd probably think it was a fun thing and even a bit fascinating. A world of monsters you can catch and trade and all is pretty cool, after all. But yeah, no. I don't think I would have become as big a fan as I became now. And I probably would never have gotten myself a GBA!

So we were born late enough to appreciate it / get caught in the fanstorm. Luckily? xD

 

[Powerserge]

Definitely not, with the way I am now. I would have said it was for kids, because the way it was being marketed, and never have paid it any mind.

 

[Brendino]

It would really depend on the other circumstances around it as well. I think if I were a 21 year old plopped back into the late 90s, I'd be much more likely to get into Pokemon than if Pokemon were invented in 2013.

Having a younger sibling and cousins that were right at the prime age for liking Pokemon right around when it first came out would've at least got me exposed to the franchise, and while I might not get into the anime or TCG, I could've really seen myself playing the games. But, if Pokemon's timeline shifted 15 years into the future, I doubt I would've got into it, no matter how popular it became. As it is, I don't pay attention to any of the newer fads that have come around, and using the MLP and Adventure Time examples, I know nothing of them other than the fact they're widely popular.

Either way it happened, though, I don't think I would find myself around these forums, which is a little sad to think about.

 

[Sableye~]

I didn't find Pokemon until 2 years ago haha.
But if I were too much older, I probably wouldn't bother.

 

[Zeffy]

PokéCommunity is basically the foundation of my fondness of the Pokémon franchise. Without it, I wouldn't even have continued showing interest to the franchise itself. Also, given the current state of my interests at the moment, heck even before I discovered PC, I wouldn't have liked Pokémon as much. I'd most probably play it, remember a bit about it but I won't try to discover much about it as I do now.