Pokémon In All Forms

I don't know what it is about Pokémon, okay, I will take that back. I know what it is about Pokémon that keeps me coming back for more. I collect Pokémon cards, and I play because it holds a special place in my heart, it is that safe place I go from my childhood. There are a lot of other TCGs out that you could collect instead. But, games like Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh! just seem so generic for me. Nor do the creatures do not mean anything to me.

They're less colorful, imaginative, and charming than Pokémon.

I like how smooth and quickly Pokémon flows.

I like how much access to your deck you have because of all the draw and search. I like how deck composition decisions play out so quickly in terms of performance. I like the basic mechanic of it being a battle between active Pokémon with a little bit of interaction from the bench.

It's simple enough that 10 year old me could pick it up and play a competitive game and yet it is deep enough for me to spend hours a day acting as a strategist now as an adult. There is far more decision making than one would be led to believe if you only looked at it in the context of a "kid's game." There are a lot of different ways/tactics to play which keeps it interesting. And now it is an activity Bae and I can enjoy as a couple.

I tried playing competitively, but ultimately got frustrated with it because of things like turbo Flareon/Empoleon, Toad, the coming Vileplume, Toad, LaserBank, Toad, the coming Giratina, Toad, crushing/enhanced hammers, Toad, etc.

I just walked away frustrated whenever I tried playing seriously.

I started playing rogue decks and it's fun because people are so focused on the meta that they don't expect rogue decks.

One thing that bothers me, and I'm sure that this is the same in other card games as well, is the insane amount of hype cards get while others are hated for no good reason.

Why did you start with Pokémon, and why do you stick with it?

Why physical cards instead of the online TCG?

I like online and the TCG. Which I like most goes up and down.

Online is so smooth with the setup and shuffling done automatically. But there is a wonderful tactile quality about drawing cards, about physically a Pokémon into the active, about revealing the card that will mess up your opponent.

And it's just fun to be physically opposite someone.

Fan Favorite: Black 2 & White 2

The reveal of Black/White Kyurem was done spectacularly. The game made use of the DS' visuals brilliantly here.

As for the gameplay, it's almost the same as the gameplay in Black and White, which is not a bad thing in the slightest since those contributions to the series were excellently done. And at the same time almost everything bad about the first Black and White were improved with these two games.

My favorite new feature was probably the Black Tower/White Treehollow. It was basically the Battle Tower with levels, EXP, and prize money, plus you got a free shiny dragon out of it.

I liked that it had its own final boss, too, Benga wasn't too bad. And in addition to that the evil team actually did something catastrophic and there wasn't a clear-cut happy ending.

Easily the most underrated feature.

There are so many items here. It's a great resource for a lot of items, including rare stones, thanks to the Black Tower/White Treehollow.

Almost all of the available Pokémon appeared in the game, with very few of the monsters being left out, and most of those were starters or legends. Speaking of legends, this game has 'em in spades. Heatran, the Regis, and Lati@s are just a few examples.

I don't care what you say, Ghetsis was gonna kill the player. Even if he only wanted to freeze you, that would have killed you, just a bit more slowly. The rest of the game is smooth sailing from there on out, I guess. The champion reveal is done well, though I feel it could have been someone else, as there was already a Dragon-type leader in the region.

The end credits theme is possibly my favorite in the series to date.

I will probably see Black 2 & White 2 as the perfect Pokémon games until they inevitably top themselves.

Pokémoments

White 2 was the first game I spent hours upon hours upon hours on. My first time getting Pokémon to level 100. It was a great game for me. I had played Leaf Green beforehand, but White 2 was the first game I actually grew invested in the game, even the horrible horrible weeks it took to get a hydreigon and Volcorona, I still remember it all with the fondest of memories.

One of my favorite memories from Pokémon was in Pokémon Black 2, when you fight Ghetsis.

It was his breaking point before going full psycho. It’s one of the most memorable villain fights in the games.

Still if we are talking about Black and White 2 I would have to say that my favorite moment was when I got into the hall of fame. The techno music didn’t hurt.

Another one of my favorite moments from the games was in Silver/Soul Silver, when I climbed up Mt. Silver and fought Red and finally beat him. It was like the culmination of everything I had done throughout the game was building up to that one intense, and difficult, moment. But, all well worth it.

I love the Pokemon franchise and have many favorite moments, but these are a few that solidified my foundation as a Pokemon fan.

I still have some Pokémon games to completely finish because I don't have my Ds or 3DS anymore. I love the Pokémon franchise. It means a lot and it gives me hours of entertainment weekly. I still play Pokémon go when I go out to places.

Fan Picks: Heartgold & Soulsilver

Heartgold and Soulsilver feels like the peak of the series because it has so many cool features like custom safari zones and the Pokeathalon, it has a good system to rematch gym leaders, mystery events like the Celeby, fun side quests like Suicune, and it promotes trade by getting a Hoenn legendary in one game and getting you to trade in order to get Rayquaza.

There is just so much for you to expeience that it is hard to sum it up in one article.

Before Heartgold and Soulsilver

The PWT is awesome and it was the first game to get me into the metagame. Plus all of legendaries to catch throughout that make it worth playing just for that. This is also one of the Pokémon games with the best music. Not only do all of our favorite themes but you have a lot of new music as well.

Plus I feel that they still have the best story of all the games.