Interview with Mount Moon
An interview with Mount Moon, a fansite which dates back to 1998, and relaunched in 2020. We speak with its webmaster BlueArticuno about his old website, and recreating it for a modern day audience
Mount Moon (also known as Pokémon Universe and Mount Moon Pokémon Center) is a fansite which dates back to 1998, initially hosted on Angelfire and later with Pokémon Crater. In 2020, BlueArticuno relaunched the website with the intention of recreating it for a modern-day audience. I was fortunate enough to speak to him and learn about his old website.
BlueArticuno, it’s fantastic to be conducting this interview with you. Please introduce yourself to our readers!
BlueArticuno:
Hello, everyone! I’m BlueArticuno—the founder and caretaker of Mount Moon, a Pokémon fansite I first launched way back in 1998. Pokémon coincided with my personal introduction to the internet and it was also my first experience starting a website. I was obsessed with everything Pokémon since the franchise debuted and during the first wave of Pokémania: the games, the TCG, the anime, and all the quirky hardware and collectibles. There was a period where the website went offline and dark and I still kept up with the games and they hold a special place in my heart. Over the years Mount Moon has become my personal tribute to that late-90s/early-2000s golden era of Pokémon.
Your website began under the name “Pokémon Universe” on free hosting website Angelfire and was later renamed Mount Moon Pokémon Center. The website was then hosted by fansite Pokémon Crater and became Mount Moon. What encouraged you to create your website in the first place?
BlueArticuno:
When I first started using the internet in the school computer lab I remember going to some Pokémon fan sites and looking up photos of some of the Pokémon. There were quirky GIFs and low quality JPEGs that took a while to load because of the dial-up internet of that era, though each time the picture loaded I was super excited. I remember even saving some photos from the Japanese coming season of the anime on a 3.5 inch floppy disk.
Eventually this led to me starting a website, and I signed up on Angelfire and recall it teaching me the basics of HTML. Back then websites were a “place” and they felt a lot less professional and corporate compared to the websites today. There was a “homey” vibe to many of the websites and people littered the pages with some personal flourishes.
In 1998, Pokémon was this enormous new phenomenon and yet information was scattered. The excitement of schoolyard rumours about Mew and Pikablu were encapsulated in some of the content you found online. As my content grew—I kept adding more bric-a-brac to this hodgepodge of a website. As we grew I eventually needed to find a better host and was lucky to have been hosted by Pokémon Crater. Though through a mishap the site was lost and it remained lost for decades.
During the pandemic, I realized how many others were looking for the same nostalgic deep dives into the early games, the rare cards, and all those fun little side-projects, and I revived the website.
Mount Moon featured content on the Pokémon TCG, video games, and pages that included a Jukebox, a Pokémon-themed Zodiac, and puzzles. What were your favourite pieces of content from the website?
BlueArticuno:
It’s hard to choose! But I’d say the random fake codes. My first screen name was Pokemon Codemaster and I was obsessed with collecting these fake codes. It was a surreal experience because at certain points even though they didn’t work, I was still obsessed with finding a code that would potentially work. I guess there’s something naive and innocent about that awe and discovery. Thus the codes section is what I am really nostalgic about. Though out of those options you mentioned, I’d say the Jukebox as it featured many of the old MIDI track versions of Pokémon songs from the game. Again, it makes me think of the era where sometimes people would have a MIDI play in the background of their website alongside those quirky GIFs.
What are some of your highlights of working on the website during that early era?
BlueArticuno:
Learning HTML by trial and error—there was nothing like the thrill of seeing your first table render correctly. I remember using frames and also seeing how the site would slowly evolve over time over the years.
Finding cool content and getting to share it—I was genuinely excited to find information on some Japanese websites or some other obscure websites and being able to reshare that excitement with other people.
Collaborating with other fansites—for hosting and link swaps.
Engaging with the community!—there were so many amazing people from the community, and I remember becoming friends with so many of them and chatted with them on AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and ICQ. Even your project reminds me of the type of thing you’d find in that era where you get some genuinely amazing people doing things out of pure passion.
Compared to today, there were a much larger number of Pokémon fansites during the late 90s and early 2000s. Which other websites did you like to visit at the time?
BlueArticuno:
Bulbagarden—remember the old website and glad to see it has transformed itself into such a useful wiki and repository of all Pokémon information even today.
Smogon and Azure Heights—on the competitive battling side I remember spending many hours on Azure Heights’ forums and later on Smogon building many teams. While I didn’t get a chance to battle as much, I really enjoyed building and training the Pokémon. Especially during Sapphire and during Sun & Moon.
Serebii.net—later in the 2000s for exhaustive game guides once Gold & Silver launched. Glad to see they still have the look and feel of that era in their website as well.
Pojo.com—I used to use them for their price guide during the Pokémon TCG era and [am] glad to see they’re still around.
Some sites that are no longer around, though, [that] I miss were Meowth346’s Pokémon Forever site, Psypoke, Pokémon Crater, Pokémon Abode, Universal Pokémon Network and Pokémon Village. I also loved Pokémon Palace on the Palace software and remember spending my new year's countdown to Y2K on there as well. (I was Meowth Trainer on Pokémon Palace in case anyone from that era is still around and reads this.)
At some point in 2003, your website closed down. While it was the fate for many fansites, I am curious to learn why it was the case for you. What can you share?
BlueArticuno:
A few things converged: I was busy with school. My Pokémon Crater backup got accidentally wiped. Pokémon itself kept evolving—and I lacked the time and hosting resources to keep pace. So Mount Moon quietly went offline around 2003. While I still bought the mainline games each time they released even during college I didn’t get a chance to spend as many hours as I used to in high school and middle school playing Pokémon. I wouldn’t say I grew out of Pokémon, though the website went down and figuring out how to get back online with modern programming and technology seemed a bit overwhelming.
On May 1st, 2020, you relaunched Mount Moon with the addition of new sections such as toys and collectibles and a section referencing the old website. What encouraged you to return to Mount Moon?
BlueArticuno:
Nostalgia struck hard in early 2020! I guess alongside everyone during the pandemic, [I] was thinking about the past. While sorting through some old backups, I rediscovered my original Angelfire files. I realized modern web tools could help me rebuild everything better than before (especially with Wordpress), and there’s such a thriving retro-Pokémon community now. It felt like the perfect time to revive Mount Moon for fans new and old.
We are now in 2025, and I am curious to know what is next for Mount Moon. What do you believe is the future for the website?
BlueArticuno:
I’m working on:
I’m hoping to collect more interesting niche links. There’s so much content hidden away on websites and social media that are such a wealth of information about niche Pokémon topics. I would love to be able to get a Yahoo-style directory of some of these various links, and just like Yahoo before the search engine, it would be great to be able to have users submit interesting links that they’ve found, too.
Deep-dives on obscure peripherals (like the Pokémon Z-Ring).
Possibly a small online store for curated reproduction merch and hard-to-find collectibles.
I want Mount Moon to remain a hub for that late-’90s Pokémon nostalgia—while also embracing what the fandom has become today. I love seeing people collect such obscure merchandise and I’m not surprised to hear that Pokémon is the world’s biggest media franchise.
You were one of the many kids who grew up with Pokémon from the very beginning, when it launched internationally back in 1998. What are some of your earliest memories of the franchise?
BlueArticuno:
The awe of turning on Pokémon Red for the first time and hearing that startup jingle. I loved the classic Sugimori art and the GB Games and the sprite art from that era as well.
Trading my first Mew to other kids at school that I managed to hack into the game using my Game Genie.
Saving up to buy my first pack of Base Set cards and desperately hoping for a Charizard and that being one of my first “businesses” when I would sell some of the rare pulls to fund my purchase of more cards. I remember how hard it was to get a pack of cards back then and playing the TCG with friends at school.
What are some of the cool Pokémon items and merchandise that you have which mean something to you?
BlueArticuno:
My original giant gray Game Boy—I still have my original first Game Boy and it holds a really dear place in my heart. I spent hundreds of hours on that unit and Pokémon Red. I later got a Game Boy Color and that is also my second most cherished piece in my collection.
My Base set Chansey—it was one of my favourite Pokémon and I still have the childhood copy. It wouldn’t grade very high for PSA, though that doesn’t matter because it reminds me of that era. Alongside it I still have some of my original trading cards and my binder from that era as well. I also love my original Chansey TCG Coin as well.
My original games—I haven’t been able to find my Pokémon Red, though I still have all of my other games, and the special highlights include Pokémon Gold, Sapphire and Sun and Moon. These were some of the games I played the most, and I’m also so proud to still have all of the Pokémon from then as well, including my first shiny, a Banette from Sapphire.
On your website, you claim that you continue to be a fan of Pokémon. I am interested to hear your thoughts on how far Pokémon has come since you first created your website back in 1998!
BlueArticuno:
It’s been an incredible journey—from 151 sprites on a tiny pea green screen to fully 3D worlds in Scarlet & Violet, from simple battles to massive real life Pokémania after Pokémon Go first launched in 2016. The TCG is stronger than ever, and streaming communities bring fans together in ways we couldn’t have imagined. I’m quite excited about the upcoming Pokémon Champions.
Yet that core “monster-catching” magic of Red & Blue is still there, and that continuity is something I truly cherish.
It has been fantastic to speak with you, BlueArticuno! I am happy to see that Pokémon still means so much to you all these years later. Do you have any closing comments you would like to make to our readers and anyone out there that may have visited your website in the past?
BlueArticuno:
Thank you so much for all the support—past, present, and future! If you ever browsed Mount Moon in the old days, I hope this relaunch sparks memories and inspires you to reconnect. If you were someone who enjoyed the site back then or were one of my many collaborators or friends, I’d love to reconnect with you. Please stop by mtmoon any time, and if you’d like to help out in any way, I’d love to have you. We’re here to celebrate that timeless joy of Pokémon—just as we were in 1998, and just as we will be in 2026 (the 30th anniversary of Pokémon) and beyond. Happy adventuring, trainers!
Massive thanks to BlueArticuno for taking the time to talk about his website. It’s rare to see an old website resurrected and brought back many years later, so we fully support and wish BlueArticuno the very best of luck with Mount Moon in the years ahead!
Interview conducted on: June 30th, 2025
Interview published on: August 28th, 2025