Were closing out Pokemon Week so it’s only fitting to do this top five!

#5 Pokemon Never Gets Old- It’s true. Even after so many years, I still want to go buy a Gameboy Color and play Gold/Silver and Red/Blue.The games are priceless just for sheer memory value(Which I’ll be getting into in a later point). That’s just the game portion of the Pokemon world. Season one is on Netflix and every kid from the 90’s had the pleasure of refalling in love with the beloved show we all grew up on. It’s pretty sweet.

#4- The World Of Pokemon Is Beautiful and Wonderful!- You gotta understand, I love breaking down worlds. I do it every time in Manga Monday and Anime Reviews. The Pokemon world is great. Simple montages of pokemons in their habitats puts a big smile on my face. Coming out of high school, I wanted to become an ecologist. I am sure that explains this part of my love for Pokemon. Heck, day dreaming about pokemons in their habitats might be why I wanted to become an ecologist in the first place. Put shortly, it is real precious to watch pokemons in their daily lives.

#3 The Games Keep Getting Better- Okay, so there is a group of people known as Gen Oners or First Gen Elitist or whatever you want to call them. I’m not saying anything is wrong with Gen one, it was great and some of my best memories of the franchise happened there. BUT… Boy, am I glad it kept going. Johto is my favorite region and I think X&Y have done wonders with the game. It is crazy to reflect on how far it has come, seriously. If you quit playing Pokemon after Red and Blue, you should be upset with yourself. I dare you to play through the 6 gens. You will see they just continually get better. Of course, some Pokemon’s have gotten quite weird, dumb, and just plain silly, but the franchise as a whole is going strong and making awesome updates. I didnt think a pokemon game would ever touch Silver, than Platinum came out. I didnt think a pokemon game would ever touch Platinum. Than X&Y came out. Somehow, they just keep getting better.

#2 The Bond With The Pokemon- Maybe this is number 1 for a lot of people, and rightfully so. Spending hundreds of hours with your pokemon’s, raising their levels, traveling the world, you can’t help but love your pokemon by the time the journey is all over. One thing I thought the show captured so well was the bond between trainer and pokemon(Except with Charizard of course). Watching Pikachu and all the other pokemon’s fight hard for their trainer and how they wanted to train hard and grow stronger was so cool to watch. It definitely was well expressed and I love that about the show.

#1 History- Yeah, there is a lot of it with this franchise. I remember years ago picking out my first Squirtle and traveling Kanto with him by my side, or collecting all the vhs’s and doing the poke rap!, or feeling bad for Ash because he is really bad at pokemon and most of the gym leaders felt bad for him so they just gave him badges, or when Brock Misty and Ash say their goodbyes and your younger self just cant handle the thought of no more new Pokemon. Yeah, I, like almost every pokemon fan, have cherished memories of the card game, anime, manga, and the video games!

This is only scratching the surface, I didnt even mention the friends you make through pokemon, the new interactions theyve added, crushing your rival, playing competitively, capturing legends, filling the pokedex, finding shinies, building a team. The list is never ending.

So why do you play Pokemon? What got you into it? Why’d you stick around for however long? What’s your fondest/earliest memory with the franchise? Leave it in the comment!