Yui Haruhara’s Pokémon Memories
Yui shares their memories of growing up with Pokémon during the early days of the franchise, known as 'Pokémania' along with a Halloween photograph treat from the past!
Growing up in the early era of Pokémon during ‘Pokémania’, which lasted from the late 90s to the early 2000s, was an exciting time for many fans. For this feature, we are sharing some memories from one fan called Yui, who was happy to reminisce about their time playing Pokémon from around the early 2000s, including one from Halloween!
For a little background about my life with Pokémon: I got into Pokémon in [the] summer of 1999 starting with Pokémon Blue and a Game Boy Color because I got good grades in school that year. Life's never quite been the same ever since! I went out on Halloween of 1999 as Ash, but sadly I don't have any pics. Wish I did, though! I made paper badges I coloured with some crayons to show in my vest.
But to tell you about that Halloween... it was 2000, so Pokémon Gold and Silver had just launched a couple weeks prior. I was at the store before Halloween and my mom bought me that Snorlax costume. It had a plastic mask you can see on my head. The body is made of thin foam with room inside to make it look fat (you can see the body is crumpling). The costume also came with gloves. I can't find a pic of the costume online... The one that's currently out is completely different.
That pic was at a neighbour's house and I was with some family and friends. I remember getting asked what the costume was [at] some houses we went to. Pokémon was recent at the time, although [it was] on decline from its "fad" days in 1999.
I do remember getting a LOT of candy, but I also remember we did a lot of walking. The costume was surprisingly comfortable for October weather. My parents loved it, and we still get a kick out of it looking back!
Unfortunately I don't have any other pictures from Halloween of that year... Other Halloween pictures I have are from different years at community events, and I never had another Pokémon Halloween costume since. I stopped trick-or-treating entirely by 2003, only handing out candy at my house and/or going to community events.
We wanted to hear much more about Yui’s other Pokémon memories, why the series meant so much to them and how it continues to do so.
Ohhhhhhh my gosh, I can tell you so many memories of the old days of Pokémon... Pokémon had a perfect hand when it came to America. A set of games, a TV show, toys, and a TCG all ready to go on top of a sequel on the way with preview video and images already out in Japan. I remember being subscribed to Pojo's Pokémon magazine and excitedly looking at upcoming info about Gold and Silver. I played the heck out of Pokémon Blue, Yellow, and Stadium, and basically every spinoff like Snap. I parked my butt in front of the TV after school to watch the anime on UPN, and then Saturday mornings on Kids' WB.
At that time, the internet was the Wild West, so there were no people out there datamining a game the second it came out. Not only that, not everyone had [internet access], so info was limited to playground rumours and stuff you read on random websites. Once you learned about the existence of Missingno., the sky [was] the limit on what's hidden in this game's code, so I heard [of] everything from Togepi to Pokégods to the infamous Mew under the truck. Nowadays you have people getting the game early and dumping the entire contents of the game online to spoil everyone, but back then, your friend's dad that works for Nintendo had the inside scoop about everything.
Gold and Silver were exciting steps forward. They used to be the favourite children of the fanbase, like if you spoke badly about Johto, you were shunned. Nowadays fans poop all over it because of its horrible level curve, but looking back, it's the point where Pokémon started to feel like a living world. On a technical level, Gold and Silver are both impressive, their most notable feature being the internal clock. Yes, it made the game's battery die within 10 years, but you had events that happened at certain days and certain times. Pokémon only available during the day or night. Different music and Trainers depending on when you [were] playing.
The games also felt like proper sequels, given they're a continuation of Red, Blue, and Yellow. I'll never forget my surprise when I was hanging out at my grandma's house and I found out the entirety of Kanto was in Gold/Silver. The fact I could go see how much the region [had] changed three in-universe years later amazed me. Plus you could trade from RBY to GS. Again, looking back, it was super cool.
The Pokémon Blue cartridge is from childhood. I got it in 1999 after the school year because I did well. My Game Boy Color was sold to GameStop during middle school. I'd get various toys and such over time. My love of Pokémon was huge. Those little figures are by Tomy and released in the late 90s. The bigger Geodude was for a battle stadium game. The Jigglypuff and Togepi zip and fold into a Poké Ball and egg respectively.
Looking back throughout the years, we were curious to know what Yui’s overall thoughts were of Pokémon.
I feel lucky I got into Pokémon when I did. I got to see its genesis in America, its rise and fall in popularity, then its rise again, then its ABSOLUTE ASCENSION in recent years. I was there to see when kids were first experiencing the series through the Trading Card Game, the first season of the anime, and Red and Blue. The graphics were primitive, the gameplay was unrefined, but in our imaginations, we were on a grand adventure.
So many people I talk to these days got into Pokémon in Generation IV, so out of the box they got to have online trading and the many quality-of-life improvements to the gameplay like the physical/special split. I feel OLD talking to them and bringing up the headache of using Link Cables, or Pokémon Stadium 1 or 2 if the Transfer Pak was in a good enough mood, but I so fondly reminisce on those early sprites, the beeps-and-boops of the music and sound effects, and every [player] having Psychic, Earthquake, and Thunderbolt to make their teams unstoppable. Gold and Silver felt more refined with better-looking sprites, Game Boy Color-compatible graphics, and the addition of more techniques and the Dark and Steel types. I feel just as nostalgic looking at GS since I only needed to wait until 2000 to play it.
I stopped keeping up with Pokémon when it became "uncool" in Generation III, but I hopped back in when HeartGold and SoulSilver came out in 2010 and haven't looked back.
Yui Haruhara
We want to say thank you to Yui for their time in sharing their memories of Pokémon with us, and hope that they continue to embrace the franchise that means so much to them.