What was it that got you into the Pokémon franchise?

[Cherrim]

We're all here because of Pokémon, but what got you into the Pokémon fandom in the first place?

For me, it's actually a little bit hard to remember because it was so long ago! I do distinctly remember that the first time I ever saw a Pokémon, it was a Pikachu that someone in my afterschool care had drawn. He drew it on the same page as Mr. Hankey from South Park so I thought Pikachu was from South Park as well, and since the concept of Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo was quite frankly disgusting, especially to an eight-year-old girl, I had no interest in trying to learn more about Pikachu at the time. It wasn't until a little later that Pokémon seriously took off that I started paying attention--it seemed like almost overnight, everyone started collecting Pokémon cards. That got my attention, and I was completely enamoured with the art on all the cards and wanted to see all of them. Because of the area we lived in and the sheer popularity of the series as all the merchandise flew off the shelves, it was quite a while before my parents managed to track down any booster packs (nevermind decks to play with) to give my brother and I.

We didn't have any consoles because at the time, my parents didn't like the idea of video games, but I started watching the anime soon after discovering the cards and it made the wait for owning cards of my own a little more bearable. I started learning to draw more seriously than crappy-kid-drawings just so that I could draw all my favourites (and even had that boy teach me how to draw Pikachu as well as he could!) and when I eventually got cards of my own, I was so thrilled. I was even more thrilled when I was finally able to play the games a while later when my parents caved and got us a Gameboy + Pokémon Red.

So I'm pretty sure it was the cards that looped me into this fandom and here I am today, 15 years later, still posting on a Pokémon forum. I couldn't be happier.

What's your story?

 

[Flushed]

My parents bought my sister Pokemon Yellow and a Gameboy and my siblings kinda all shared it since she wasn't the most interested in it. I got my own GB with Red soon after (prompting me to believe Yellow was released first until I learned otherwise like a decade later), and have been with the series ever since. In the early stages I watched the show and collected the cards, but that kinda petered out even when I continued to play the games.

 

[Hiatus]

Although I no longer follow it, anime was what first got me into Pokémon, if I remember right. Over the years, unfortunately, my interest has been lost, which caused me to stop watching, but there are indeed a lot of favorite episodes of mine, as well as seasons. My most favorite of all would be Advance Generation; in general, I loved Hoenn, and characters that they featured here--such as May, Max, and Drew--were all pretty unique and original in their own way, which made me cling week in and week out just so I could see them do their thing. Not only that, but the plot was also quite intriguing, and I loved how much tie-ins they had made with Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. After DPPt series was introduced, unfortunately, I started to limit myself from watching due to some reasons that I can't recall, and it went downhill from there.

Anime is what got me in, but what kept me sticking would have to be the games. If it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't have been a fan any more, sadly. I love playing them, and still do.

 

[Shiningsuicune]

Well...it was my brothers that got me into the cards... but I just recently started loving all the merchandise after I watched a collection video of Tamashii Hiroka's merch collection.

 

[Ephemeral Euphoria]

Mom got one of the games for me as a birthday present back when I was around 5 or so in an attempt to get me to try something new at the time. I felt rather overwhelmed at first when trying to get adjusted to the in-game environment but after I got my first few badges, I couldn't stop playing when I got back home from school. Gotta love Gen 2.

 

[Firox]

I still remember for me it was the anime in 1998.

I just searched through channels when I came back from school, and found Pokemon. I been a fan ever since (didn't play my first game until 2004)

 

[Zenith95s]

My fandom did start from the anime, but I almost left it half-way until I discovered that Pokémon had a video game.
I still remember the first game of the franchise I ever played, Pokémon Gold. And say what, I was unable to defeat the game. Later I played Leaf Green, which, luckily I could beat until after the Champion of Elite Four.
It wasn't until when Platinum released that I was more interested in completing the games. (Platinum happens to be my favorite game, because I used to fantasize the three dimensions a lot.) From there, it was a downhill, I dreamt Pokémon everyday. I love this franchise a lot. :)

I do not own any Pokémon game nor any Nintendo console :( Forgive me for not supporting the franchise; if I get any chance in the future I plan on buying every game.

 

[Bellum]

For me, it was Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team.
Although the first console I ever had, was a gameboy advance, I never had any pokemon games on it. Well my parents got me my first DS, and the bundle they bought, had Mystery Dungeon Blue with it, at first I wasn't all that interested in it, and continued playing The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, and Super Mario World on my GBA. After a few months, I got bored of playing Zelda on my gba, and playing my various other DS games (I honestly can't remember what any of the others were, it's been so long since I played them), so I thought I would give Mystery Dungeon Blue a try (and I never even opened it, it was still in mint condition). That's when I fell in love with the Pokemon Franchise. Also, that's when I also discovered my love for Mudkip. My character was a Mudkip (which I named Peanut, and have been naming my Mudkip's, Peanut ever since) with Cyndaquil as my Partner.

 

[moon]

The TCG :3 Suddenly everyone at school had cards and traded. Nobody knew how to play the game, haha, we just traded and pretended that our cards were our pokémon teams. Yeeeeah I was young ok. Then someone had a Gameboy and the games but that looked so complicated and was in English so most didn't bother with it when we had the cards xD

The anime also hit me early on. Used to watch it in the mornings before school. I didn't play the games until I was a teenager honestly ^^

 

[Mackened]

The anime. Before it aired on TV, I saw adverts for it in magazines and stuff, then I saw Episode 1, loved it, kept watching it, discovered there were games, I got a Game Boy Color with Blue and Red versions for my 8th birthday and the rest is history.

 

[Beloved]

September 8, 1998, I woke up at 5 in the morning to get ready for school, sat down for my normal early-morning cartoons, and was caught in Pokemon's insidious web. Ever since then, no matter how hard I struggle, Pokemon just won't let me go.

 

[Thomas]

I genuinely can't remember. I'm sure I got the game when it first came out though. Whichever was released first, the anime or the game, that is what got me into the other. I have the vivid memory of being in Toys R Us as a kid in the late 90's with my aunt and my brother. We would always make a b-line straight for the video games section. When she got back there to meet us we obviously begged her for a video game. She bought me Pokemon Blue and bought my younger brother Pokemon Red. To this day Blue version is my most played game. I have probably logged thousands of hours into that game. I've replayed it more time s that I can count. To this day I replay it at least two or three times a year on an emulator. Sadly I don't have my original cart or game boy anymore.

 

[[email protected]]

i still remmember that too Hmmm i was 6 year old

 

[Emboar]

Well, really it started when I downloaded Pokedex 3D in April of 2012. I loved that, especially after my friend gave me entries for everything except Pansage and Simisage. Finally, in November of 2012, I bought Pokemon Black.

 

[SeisEspada]

As a kid I didn't know whether I was coming or going. I got caught up in the anime (probably as a result of my friend Chris). I didn't know how to work the TV and I never understood that X show airs on X channel. I seemed to think Pokemon would be on any channel I wanted it to be on! I relished every second when Pokemon would come on by chance!

 

[Thursday]

One of my friends back in elementary school gave me all of the pokemon cards that she had multiples of. Oddish was the first one I got. After that, my brother got Pokemon Red and I constantly played it.

 

[Bellsprout]

I started with the anime. I would race home from school to watch it because it would air almost right when I walked in the door. Then I began collecting cards and random merchandise for a while until one of my cousins introduced me to the games. After that the games slowly became the only thing Pokemon I used.

 

[moon]

It's interesting how the games were usually not what got us into Pokemon, but now the thing that keeps people into the franchise. Not everyone, but most it seems.

 

[Brendino]

I'm about 98% certain that it was the anime that got me into the Pokemon franchise, as I remember watching the very first sneak peek episode (Battle Aboard the St. Anne) back in the day, even before they aired the first episode of the series. The TCG came around not long after that, and I was pretty much hooked from day one. It wasn't until about two that I first played one of the games, and I didn't have my own copy of Pokemon until I got Gold in early 2002.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

I was given a gameboy colour and Pokemon Yellow for my birthday. A while after that my cousin sent me his Pokemon Blue.

I don't really remember being aware of the anime before that point. As a little kid I watched the Where's Wally cartoons and got the books religiously.

My parents probably just asked the clerk what the big thing for the gameboy was.