So yeah. Recently I restarted my game in Pokemon White and had just made it past Skyla's gym when I realized something... I've been playing Pokemon games for well over ten years now.

Even before Blue and Red hit America back in 98 I was already scouring the web, which took some time back then I might add *coughdialupcough*, for any info I could find on Pokemon after seeing an article in Nintendo Power. I knew a big thing when I saw it I suppose.

But yeah, from before puberty to after high school I've been a Pokemon trainer, so I figured I'd whip up a quick tribute picture to the series.

The two humans are, of course, myself now and myself back when the original Pokemon games came out. The pokemon are some of my favorites, each one from a different generation.

Down on the bottom there is Squirtle. I wonder just how many kids back then would always wind up with a Blastoise by the end of the game just because Brock was such a headache to fight without one. Mind you they did give Charmander the ability to learn Metal Claw (Steel > Rock) in the GBA remakes but seriously. :P

Representing the GSC series is everyone's favorite eevolution, Espeon. I swear I've seen more porn of that thing on here... >_> Anyways, during the first play through for the old Gameboy Color versions I honestly never managed to get ANY of the friendship-evolution pokemon. Damned if I know why but I think Nintendo must've made it a hell of a lot easier to get them to like you in recent games.

From the Honnen region of RSE we have the PvP headache himself, Shedinja. For those of you who never played Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald he was a rather odd one to get. To get him you had to evolve a Ninjask to Nincadia... but also have at least one pokeball of any type and one empty slot on your pokemon team. Shedinja would enter the pokeball and join your team.
Shedinja is unique in that he's a bug/ghost type with a max HP of only one and you can't raise it via items or EVs. So why the hell do you want him? Two words: Wonder Guard. RSE was the generation that introduced Pokemon Abilities and Shedinja could be a freaking wall if used right. Wonder Guard makes it so if an attack isn't super effective then it does 100% FUCK ALL. There are ways around it (status effects, certain attacks, etc) but he's still a little bastard if you taught him toxic and double team.

From the DPPt series we have Weavile. I was going to do Lucario but I wanted one that wouldn't be too obvious and Lucario, though I love the aura-using fox/wolf/jackal/????, shows up everywhere. I still liked Weavile's design though so I decided to have him hanging around.

Lastly, up by my head is one of the new B&W ones, the bug/electric type Galvantula. He's a nifty little critter with a unique attack called Electro-web (electric damage, lowers speed) which is a holy terror against any flying types. Remember how I mentioned I'd beaten Skyla today? I have this guy on my team and he one-shotted every pokemon on her team. He didn't even take a single hit!

So yeah, thats my little tribute to a series thats kept me company through the rocky years of puberty and my adult life. I know people gripe that the series is going stale or that there's just too many pokemon or that they all look unoriginal and boring now... I don't care. I enjoy it and I'm still going to play it.

Besides, anyone would have to admit that for a game to still be going strong even after being around for over fifteen years (it came out in Japan in 1995 remember) is no small feat.

Pokemon is owned by Nintendo and Game Freak