The Golden age of Pokemon

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INFERN0

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I can remember clear as day, what I like to call the golden age of Pokemon, back when the only games in the series were Blue and Red, The anime was in its infancy, and there was only one series of the trading card game. I don’t know what the winter of 98 was like in other countries, but in England at least you could not go five minutes without at least a mention of Pokemon. As a kid, it was the only few months where I actually looked forward to going to school, as I looked forward to trading cards, discussing the anime and everything else that went with the craze.
There is no doubt that Pokemon is still fairly popular today, but I don’t think that anything will compare to those early days of the franchise. In this thread I want to discuss that golden era, the 1998-1999 period, and for everyone to share their favourite memories of that time.
 
But now we have the stalwarts, the people who know it's not just a mere fad, but a lasting franchise as much as Mario or Final Fantasy.

Popularity is good too though. I remember thinking that "Pokemons" (at the time I'd only seen Pikachu) looked like a cross between moogles and rabbits.
 
INFERN0 said:
I can remember clear as day, what I like to call the golden age of Pokemon, back when the only games in the series were Blue and Red, The anime was in its infancy, and there was only one series of the trading card game. I don’t know what the winter of 98 was like in other countries, but in England at least you could not go five minutes without at least a mention of Pokemon. As a kid, it was the only few months where I actually looked forward to going to school, as I looked forward to trading cards, discussing the anime and everything else that went with the craze.
There is no doubt that Pokemon is still fairly popular today, but I don’t think that anything will compare to those early days of the franchise. In this thread I want to discuss that golden era, the 1998-1999 period, and for everyone to share their favourite memories of that time.
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For me, that was just because I was a kid. I was less than 10 years old, and I know that many people at that age now are still really into pokemon. On the other hand, a lot of older people at that time seemed to think it was kinda stupid. My friends' (at the time) older brothers all thought it was "kiddy" and lame, or they were into it for a time and then got over it.

Although I looked forward to going to school (elementary school at the time) then too, not only because of Pokemon, but also because of Dragon Warrior Monsters. :p
 
You call it "Golden Ages", I call it Dark Ages. Besides, what's generally refered to as the Golden Age was the Johto generation, and from what I hear, the Anime sucked ass.

Now to explain what I mean. Those days, Pokemon was merely just a fad, people went along with it because it was the popular thing to do. They weren't really fans of the franchise, just for a lack of a better word, posers, who will make fun of you the day after it stops being popular for liking Pokemon, completely ignoring the fact that they likely had the largest collection of Pokemon Cards in the entire school. It was an age of stupid rumours like Pikablu or the Mew under the truck, which unknowing children passed their misinformation onto others. Oh yeah, lets not forget the random contraversy.

Now is what I consider the Golden Age of Pokemon. For the first time ever, we are able to link to fans from across the globe and trade with them. It is no longer a fad, but a long running franchise with loyal fans. It is Nintendo's second best selling franchise, while at the same time is not popular enough for people to claim it is the tool of the devil anymore.

Anyway, my best memory would be getting my Pikachu plushie, and my starter deck of Pokemon cards.
 
One of my funniest memories of the "Golden Age" was seeing the first movie in theaters. There were these two kids sitting behind us that were fighting about which Pokemon was Mewtwo and which Pokemon was Mew. Hahaha, morons.
 
INFERN0 said:
I don’t know what the winter of 98 was like in other countries
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Outside Japan and English-speaking countries, it was pretty much "Poke-what"?

I had actually heard of it, but outside of "it's a game franchise about small monsters, and one of them is named Pikachu", I knew absolutely nothing. I remember video game magazines calling it "Pockemon" before it's US release, too.
 
Bibarr-"L" said:
You call it "Golden Ages", I call it Dark Ages. Besides, what's generally refered to as the Golden Age was the Johto generation, and from what I hear, the Anime sucked ass.
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I hear you, I just really enjoyed that time, I think that while in some ways the franchise has improved, in other ways it's been a little watered down.
 
I remember how addicting the damn trading card game was for me as a child who tended to really "focus" or I guess you could say, be a bit obsessive about things... the slogan "Gotta Catch 'em all" was definitely not wasted on me. Looking back, I can't believe how many cards I collected during those few short years, or how my mom supported my hobby all the way through middle school.

I also remember staying over at a friends house and getting up early and eating cereal while watching the newest episode of pokemon; (The one were Ash meets "The Squirtle Squad"). Good times.

Its funny, as I child I don't actually remember ever hearing about any rumors such as, Pikablu or the Mew under the truck. It was only after I found the internet, was I informed of these things.
 
Back during this time, I had just gotten into Pokemon. I had hated it, and preferred Digimon just because that meant hating Pokemon

Then stuff happened and the next thing I know, I'm sitting in front of the small tv in my room with this huge Pokemon thing on. Dunno what it was about, the first/second movie, but it was big and there was this one guy complaining on stage on how all the adults called the series 'Pokeman'. It'd be interesting to rewatch that.

To this day, I prefer the current than the old days. If you were a Pokemon fan back then, it wasn't special because everyone was and only so many were real fans and not just posers as mentioned above. Now if you say you're a Pokemon fan, it means something; that you still enjoy the series as a true fan and not just some poser.
 
My brother had pokemon cards while I invested in digimon cards, which turned out to be a bigger waste.
 
Bibarr-"L" said:
Now is what I consider the Golden Age of Pokemon. For the first time ever, we are able to link to fans from across the globe and trade with them. It is no longer a fad, but a long running franchise with loyal fans. It is Nintendo's second best selling franchise, while at the same time is not popular enough for people to claim it is the tool of the devil anymore.
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You're completely right. I've loved Pokemon since the beginning too, so to be able to do something like this is amazing to me. And the people who only liked Pokemon for a short while as kids just because everyone else liked it won't understand that.

Although I will say that there was something "golden" about '98 and Pokemon. I used to get so mad at my 2nd grade teachers because they called them "Pokee-mans." I used to go to this little comic store in my town and buy individual Pokemon cards for between $.50 and $3, or to Toys R Us to get the mini packages. I nearly cried when I got the Alakazam card. And the Sefari Zone in Red and Blue was just epic (nothing compares).

That was pretty much my life back then.
 
I used to get so mad at my 2nd grade teachers because they called them "Pokee-mans."
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:p everyone in my family called them "Pikachus".

And while I love some of the new stuff, it really doesn't compare. I still enjoy playing the old red version over any other.

I had Digimon and Pokemon cards, but Digimon cards were waaaay cheaper than Pokemon ones then.

The sheer amount of Pokemon merchandise Wal*mart had back then was astounding.
 
Playing the old versions (R/B/Y) with friends was a huge amount of fun! I remember how everyone was crazy over the franchise: people owned playcards, the games and watched the series every day.
 
Man what a Phenomonom it was (i don't think I spelled it right)... I actually remember HATING Pokemon when it first came out because it was so ridiculously popular. I still think it was, but when I came to understand Pokemon on my own terms I started to love it and still do today and my friends who got me into back then couldn't give a crap about it now.
 
Meh. I see the start of Pokemon as just that. A start.

With that in mind, I kind of enjoyed the times when the series was first brought past the land of the Rising Sun. Pokemon TCG Booster Packs were flying off the shelves, and many times Pokemon games wouldn't be in stock for at least a while. Kids often played the games during recess, or just played with the cards. Since I was a child of just 8 or so, I can't say that I can truly judge how big the series was at its beginning.

I can say though, that it was a stray Pokemon Adventures manga (the last one that had Yellow, and the last that would be released) that I read a couple years later would really get me into liking manga though.

@Versityle - Its spelled 'phenomenon'
 
Back when Marill was called Pikablu...

Good times, good times...

Who knew we'd miss those times so much? I remember watching the bigger part of the Johto saga on television, and watching the fourth movie (also on television).

Just typing that reminds me of the old Johto theme song...

"But you still gotta catch 'em all...to be the best that you can be!"

Man, I miss those times...
 
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