Would you have imagined?

[avolonsaber]

I was at Gamestop over the weekend for the Shiny Beast Event(I got one on Platinum and SoulSilver ^_^)and as I was standing there in the store, downloading Raikou, onto this tiny cartridge in my Dsi, I couldn't help but think back to '98 when I was so over joyed with Pokemon Red and my AA battery-powered Gameboy. We have touch screen gaming systems, Pokemon games with 3D graphics, ways to download Pokemon, WIFI for trading and battling, and 649 Pokemon! Did any of you back then think Pokemon would be how it is now? I sure didn't. Lol.

Pokemon has been in my life for so long it doesn't even seem like it was that long ago when I Oak first stopped me from walking into the grass. It was 13 years ago O:

 

[PlatinumDude]

I didn't think Pokemon would become very popular when the original 151 were around. Now that there are 649 Pokemon around and you can trade them over Wi-Fi, it makes me glad that I got into the games whenever I did.

 

[Her]

I got into Pokemon at around '02 when I re-discovered my Gameboy Colour and my Pokémon Red cartridge, so I had yet to discover the Johto league and such. But at only 9, I didn't have the imagination capacity to think of the Johto league, let alone the Pokémon we have today. Overall, no, I could never have concieved the thought of what Pokémon would be like today, for better or worse.

Worse meaning you, Gen 5.

 

[avolonsaber]

Worse meaning you, Gen 5

I think that is one of the best things I have ever quoted on this site. Lol. I don't think I had the imagination capacity back then either. Sure I figured the next game would be better, but I never could have expected all this.

 

[Chamomile13]

My friends and I thought up steel types (or metal types, at least) during playground games long before the second generation hit the US, probably before it was even made, if memory serves. We also made up lava types (of which there were exactly two, whose names I've forgotten and whose appearances were basically "Grimer and Muk but with lava!"), dark and light types, and wood types. The last one was kind of controversial since it was basically the same as grass types, but most of the pokemaniacs (including me) were of the opinion that more types was always better. We also had a Mewthree and a Mewfour. Mewfour never really took off, but I think about four different people had a Mewthree before we all lost interest and started playing something else at recess.

 

[PatJamma]

I honestly thought Pokemon wasn't going to make it passed gen 3 in America. Mainly because I thought R/S sucked

 

[avolonsaber]

I honestly thought Pokemon wasn't going to make it passed gen 3 in America. Mainly because I thought R/S sucked

I don't see why there's so much hate for Hoenn? Lol. I myself never thought it would go past Gen. IV I mean they already invented the "God Pokemon", and to me it seemed stupid to make more Pokemon after you've already showed the one that created them all.

 

[altariaking]

Worse meaning you, Gen 5.

I think this is one of the most laughable things I have ever quoted on this site.

I don't see why there's so much hate for Hoenn?

I think this is one of the best things I have ever quoted on this site.

I actually never really expected it to go past 2nd gen. Although back when I was a kid, I never even knew much about the second gen until I got a book with a Pokemon World magazine with all of the Pokemon in it.

 

[Chamomile13]

Pokemon was definitely in rapid decline when Generation 2 hit America, but that was mostly because of peer pressure (lots of people still liked Pokemon, but didn't want to admit it anymore, including me and almost everyone I knew) and because Pokemon started as such a massive mega-hit. Anyone who was 8+ when Pokemon first hit the United States probably remembers how ubiquitous it was. There were entire sections of stores called PokeMarts which sold exclusively Pokemon-related products. It was at once awesome and ridiculous.

Since then, Pokemon has settled in with games like Mario, HALO, Zelda, and Final Fantasy. It remains one of the most popular game series currently running, and the second biggest video game franchise ever. It's just not ubiquitous anymore.

 

[The Red Chain]

In the easiest way to explain it, not one bit!

I never expected Pokemon to make it as far as it has. I honestly expected Pokemon to stay with those 151 and just make different things up as they went along. I didn't think it would get any more than maybe a couple new Pokemon as time went on.. but I never thought 543 would come into play! It blows my mind to think that 13 years ago I never really expected anything to change as drastically as it did in Pokemon, but yet I was still so happy with it's 8-bit graphics and sounds. Even now I still appreciate the Pokemon I knew 13 years ago, and love it to bits and pieces, but honestly? I'm extremely satisfied with how Pokemon is doing now. It's turned into one interesting series, and I'm happy it's changed. I just hope they don't go too crazy with imagination and lose that lovely touch Pokemon has that no other series can replicate.
​

 

[Ayselipera]

Of course not! I started getting into Pokemon when I was around five and that was when the anime just started and there would forever only be 150. At five it didn't even cross my mind that new Pokemon could be created. To think even beyond that I thought any Pokemon game ever made would be for a GameBoy Color. The concept of upgraded technology didn't exactly click with me at a young age.

Overall I'm happy with the direction Pokemon went. While there have been times where I was disappointed, (IV generation) most of the new editions and the upgraded technology has been wholeheartedly accepted by myself. I'd still like to see the cooling off of new generations after the V generation comes out and the focus being put on making new regions, but using the 649 Pokemon we already have. I like to believe more isn't always better.

 

[Aquacorde]

I started getting into Pokemon by way of the anime. I started watching when the first episode premiered in the US and I had thought it would end with Ash winning the Indigo League. xD I would watch my cousin play... Red, I think it was, and I totally didn't get it or feel like playing any Pokemon. But then I got Emerald and I loved it, and by then it was known that Pokemon would be advancing even further.
I never expected this much out of Pokemon, and I don't think I expected to still love it after all these years.

 

[Kenshin5]

I saw that it would last awhile by how popular it was back in the late 90s. Also most all the guys at school, day care, and summer day care played pokemon games, cards, watched the anime and so on. It was really popular were I lived so I was expecting it to last for quite some time. What I did not envision was the advances in pokemon like the mechanics and all the new gadgets. It is indeed amazing to see where it came from and where it is now.

 

[blue]

I've always loved Pokémon, I never seen it becoming this advanced.

 

[2nd-Thanatos]

I guess the large increase in the number of Pokémon wasn't unexpected, but it seems like I just accepted every change the franchise incorporated (except, initially, for the Generation III incompatibility with Generation I/II). It's too hard to say if I expected or didn't expect the changes that would make Pokémon what it is today.

Actually, I think it was.

There are rumors that say they have more than 1000 Pokemon ready, but, anyway.

If you read the Pokemon Adventures, there's a part were Green tells Silver that Rhydon have an evolution, but he still doesn't know which Item it has to hold while trading in order to evolve. I know Pokemon Adventures is not the game, but this was published in 1999, I think. And there, almost 10 years before the release of Gen IV, they were already talking about Rhyperior.


Some of the extra evolutions and new pokemons were ready from before, I'm quite sure.

 

[Amore]

I first got into Pokémon in '05, and no, I definitely couldn't have imagined it coming this far...then again, all I had was Pokémon Emerald The Pokémon Annual 200(something, it was the one with the summary of the first movie), as well as loads of cards...and I couldn't understand why the annual didn't have Mudkip in, and why the game didn't have Bulbasaur and Charizard in...

 

[Imperator161]

I thought Pokemon would likely die out after GSC. By that point in time, it was no longer "cool" where I lived, and the craze had died down. I figured it would be a little like the Beanie Babies craze that came slightly before in the sense that everyone had wanted Pokemon products, etc, for a few years, but then Pokemon would become more of a niche market and eventually taper off. While Pokemon is not as popular as it once was, though, it does seem to have reached out beyond its niche and targeted a younger audience again. Generation 3, both the games and the TV show, seemed to be an attempt to start over and build a new fan base, as the TV show repeated the whole "start of the journey with just Pikachu" thing (unlike with the start of the Johto series), and R/S completely removed themselves from the previous regions of Kanto and Johto (which later returned in remakes, probably also designed for the younger audience, although fans of the original games like myself and most of you were perfectly eager to play them). I suppose I never expected there to be this many Pokemon, though I had heard rumors that many of the designs existed back in the R/B days and though I always hoped there would be more Pokemon, but I think what surprises me the most is the vast range of Pokemon gamers today. I never thought that the series would continue to capture the attention of adults and teenagers the way it drew enthusiasm from younger kids more than a decade ago, and I didn't expect the things that interested elementary schoolers 10+ years ago to attract attention from younger kids today.

 

[BlueShadow V 2.0]

I thought that pokemon would eventually reach 5th generation but I thought that I was going to be faster. I admit that I never imagined about all future features that these newer games have now.

 

[Demigod]

I'm glad to see peoples sit back and realize how crazy this has become. However no gen will been better then the first two for me :3

 

[Chamomile13]

There are rumors that say they have more than 1000 Pokemon ready, but, anyway.

This isn't really related to anything, but why is it that Pokemon rumors seem much more exciting than rumors about other things, even when I like them as much as Pokemon, or sometimes even more? It's curious.

If you read the Pokemon Adventures, there's a part were Green tells Silver that Rhydon have an evolution, but he still doesn't know which Item it has to hold while trading in order to evolve. I know Pokemon Adventures is not the game, but this was published in 1999, I think. And there, almost 10 years before the release of Gen IV, they were already talking about Rhyperior.

You don't actually have to have future Pokemon planned to do things like this. You can just hint at things like new Pokemon or evolutions every now and again, even if you have no idea what they would be, then go back and fill in the blanks later.

There probably were a few evolutions and new Pokemon that the Game Freak guys had been thinking about but didn't have the time to actually add to the game, though. As an example, maybe they did have a general idea about Rhyperior back in '99, but didn't get around to pinning down the details until much later, which is why he didn't get released for ten years (or so).