Its difficult to describe the effectPokemonhad on children in the late 1990s to someone who wasnt there.
Today,Pokemonis the highest-grossing media franchise ever, so ingrained in global culture that its ever-present.
There was beforePokemonand after.
Two boys face off in a game of Pokemon on two Nintendo Gameboy Color handhelds that are interconnected on Wednesday, July 21, 1999, at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in San Diego for the nationwide preview of the new Nintendo 64 game Pokemon Snap.Fred Greaves/AP Images
If thePokemoncrazewas rapidly becoming unstoppable, however, my excitement burned out just as fast.
Peaking with the video games second generation, 2003sGoldandSilver, I was over it.
What would I rediscover?
That was something I wouldnt find out for two decades.
If the internet has removed some of the immediacy from gaming together, its madePokemonmore connected.
To truly catch themall, however, Id need to catch up.
Gone are the days of 151 Pokemon; now there are 1,065 spread over nine generations.
But no matter how much my enthusiasm returned, one of those generations always eluded me.
BlackandWhite, along with their immediate sequels, make upPokemons fifth generation.
Even counterfeits can sell at, or above, the games original retail price.
Normally, deleting this would be a quick fix.
But this player whose playthrough spanned most of 2012 had accumulated 454 Pokemon in their Pokedex.
It felt wrong to wipe it to throw away 304 hours of someone elses experience.
I was also curious.
From then on, Id pick up cheapPokemongames when I found them, just to look inside.
It became a hobby: save-file archaeology.
Some werent as interesting.
A wiped copy ofGoldor aYellowsaved in the starting bedroom and abandoned.
Others, however, told more interesting tales.
Even if it was only the feelings those stories motivated inme.
There was a copy ofSunthat included an almost complete Generation 6 living Pokedex.
Two copies ofPearltold similar, though opposing, stories.
The other included box after box of Chansey and their eggs.
It smacked of a shiny hunt that ran out of steam.
The tragic kicker: When I hatched the remaining eggs, one produced that elusive shiny.
Of course, you dont examine so manyPokemongames without finding cheaters.
Another copy ofWhiteincluded a Level 100 legendary Reshiram impossibly caught in a Master Ball on Route 4.
In no time, I had in my possession a library of other peoples stories.
We were all disparate disconnected and yet joined in ourPokemonexperiences.
What might those old games say about who I once was about who I am?
A study inScarlet(or maybeBlue)
The attic in my family home is an uncomfortable space.
Low-roofed, a maze of plumbing, with cladding hanging from the sloped ceiling like stalactites.
So much of our past is retained here in a room stuck looking back in time.
Its not sentimentality that preserves it, but a lazy devotion to filling space.
I dont know what I expect to find.
Im sure my old games are lost, either hidden under mountains of rubbish or thrown away.
The label has faded, the edges white with chipping, but it works.
Now, Id be more exacting.
With so little time to play, efficiency takes precedence.
Back then, the only limit to my playtime was the number of AA batteries in the house.
Had the owners of all these cartridges done the same?
Have things really changed at all?
After all, Isnt that what all of these are?
