As I sit here writing, the realization that churning out 18 more of these purely for the purposes of increasing an arbitrary number isn't going to be easy, has hit me. Hard.  I'm always meaning to write more though, so I guess this gives me the perfect excuse.
 
So, Pokemon HG and SS hit European shelves two weeks ago. It's the first Pokemon game I've bought since Diamond and Pearl, three years ago. But that doesn't seem like such a long time considering before that, Red and Yellow were my last forays into the world of these wonderful creatures. As a kid I, like millions of other kids around the world, got caught up in PokeMania. The anime, the game, the trading cards, the sticker books and of course, the effortlessly cute and infinetely entertaining talking Pikachu toy. If my copy of Pokemon Red is to be believed, I spent 255 hours questing around Kanto in an attempt to be the greatest like no one ever was. And then of course Yellow came out and while it was essentially the same game, the thought of having Pikachu be at my side while I bested the Elite Four all over again, was one my young self couldn't resist. I'm not really sure what happened after that, the craze just seemed to slowly die out. By the time Gold and Silver were released, I was still invested in the franchise but it seemed like everyone else around me had moved on. It wasn't until I started up Gold and was greeted by the startling revelation that there was an all new set of Pokemon, did I contemplate such a thought . MY BELOVED 150 WERE NOWHERE TO BE SEEN! As a child, I had grown so attached to these characters that the very thought of not being able to interact with them was devastating. So devastating that I didn't revisit the franchise for 8 whole years. Now I know what you're saying. "But you can catch the original Pokemon!", "You can even go back to Kanto, you fucking noob!". But my 8 year old self was in too much of blind rage to actually play the game beyond the first 15 minutes. 
 
Where was I? Oh yes, Soul Silver. It's damn good. Now excuse me while I stick a Gastly on my PokeWalker and go for a jog.

As I sit here writing, the realization that churning out 18 more of these purely for the purposes of increasing an arbitrary number isn't going to be easy, has hit me. Hard.  I'm always meaning to write more though, so I guess this gives me the perfect excuse.
 
So, Pokemon HG and SS hit European shelves two weeks ago. It's the first Pokemon game I've bought since Diamond and Pearl, three years ago. But that doesn't seem like such a long time considering before that, Red and Yellow were my last forays into the world of these wonderful creatures. As a kid I, like millions of other kids around the world, got caught up in PokeMania. The anime, the game, the trading cards, the sticker books and of course, the effortlessly cute and infinetely entertaining talking Pikachu toy. If my copy of Pokemon Red is to be believed, I spent 255 hours questing around Kanto in an attempt to be the greatest like no one ever was. And then of course Yellow came out and while it was essentially the same game, the thought of having Pikachu be at my side while I bested the Elite Four all over again, was one my young self couldn't resist. I'm not really sure what happened after that, the craze just seemed to slowly die out. By the time Gold and Silver were released, I was still invested in the franchise but it seemed like everyone else around me had moved on. It wasn't until I started up Gold and was greeted by the startling revelation that there was an all new set of Pokemon, did I contemplate such a thought . MY BELOVED 150 WERE NOWHERE TO BE SEEN! As a child, I had grown so attached to these characters that the very thought of not being able to interact with them was devastating. So devastating that I didn't revisit the franchise for 8 whole years. Now I know what you're saying. "But you can catch the original Pokemon!", "You can even go back to Kanto, you fucking noob!". But my 8 year old self was in too much of blind rage to actually play the game beyond the first 15 minutes. 
 
Where was I? Oh yes, Soul Silver. It's damn good. Now excuse me while I stick a Gastly on my PokeWalker and go for a jog.