I have always been a huge fan of pokemon. No doubt about that. I loved Hoenn.=, both games and anime. Honestly, I didn't know many people still played it around here until my Sophmore year of High School.
I started losing interest in pokemon during the Diamond and Pearl Saga. I loved the games. However, I never even bought Platinum. I sold all my pokemon games and what not. It was until HGSS when I started to regain interest. I learned that a TON of people in my Hight School still played the games, when even compared Poke Walkers. People played the games during school ect. I remember at lunch, there was a whole table of people with PokeWalkers.
When Black and White was announced, my love for pokemon shot through the roof like a rocket again. BW is what saved me from stopping to like pokemon. I loved the anime, even though I missed a lot of episodes because I didn't have a DVR and it came on early when I wasn't up yet. I loved all of the new pokemon in BW, I was so happy that it was all fresh, unlike a lot of people. I did lose slight interest during the end of BW, but then Kalos came.
Kalos was a massive new art style in both games and anime. The anime was just totally badassed and quickly became by far the best season ever of pokemon. XY Anime was the first pokemon anime where I couldn't wait for the new episodes and actually watched the sub versions for a while.
Every single episode was amazing in XY, there was a slow point between the 1st and 2nd gyms, but after that, it became amazing. XYZ Season is by far the best episodes I have ever seen in pokemon. I loved how they had two journeys going on at once with Alain and Ash and then bringing them together.
I really can't wait for Sun and Moon. Especially the anime if the writers stay the same.
I really don't know why I started to lose interest in Pokemon during the 4th generation. It might of been because the anime was coming on 10 times a week with new episodes and suddenly changed it. And it was by far the longest and lasted around 5 years in North America. Platinum was the first ever Pokemon game I passed on. I never bought it. The anime was full of crap fillers, especially between the 7th and 8th gyms. I did start watching it again during Sinnoh League Victores, but that was about it.
As for the TCG, I used to have a massive problem with buying cards everytime I went in a store that sold them. It could be Yugioh, Duel Masters, or Pokemon. But I have never really played. For a VERY LONG time I never even bought cards. Maybe here and there and through out BW I bought maybe 6 packs and a tin. But after that, I was finally able to break my Card Buying Habits. I just recently started buying Pokemon Cards again, mainly the 20th Ann, But I am buying things with Pins, which I really love. After this year though, I don't plan to buy many cards unless there is just a really nice set. I still want to get every 20th Ann Mythical Pokemon this year, Diancie Box, Ash Greninja Box, Pikachu Box, and maybe 1 other box when they come out. But I have made it where I only buy cards once a month, and that is when I buy the 20th Ann boxes, and I will spend up $50 a month on cards. But I try not to go over that.
Look, Game Freak, I know you want to make games that will be popular among little kids and you think the best way of doing this is completely eliminating any trace of difficulty, but they aren't playing your games. Little kids nowadays are burying their faces in smartphones and Minecraft. Most Pokemon players nowadays are in their 20s.
That is totally false. There are still a ton of kids that are interested in Pokemon. Everytime I go into a store, I see kids younger than 12 talking or looking at pokemon stuff. And I have no problem with how easy the games have become.
Not to mention the children of the people who have watched pokemon since the 90s are also getting into pokemon. Kids are still playing the games, your accusation is completely false. Not to mention I have seen almost every single piece of pokemon gear sell out at all stores I have went to. I am usually lucky to get anything. And I know that everyone I know, doesn't buy the merchandise like cards and stuff. So kids are buying it.