Feature: The Legacy of Pokémon

Preface

For over twenty-three years, the Pokémon franchise has been a constant and welcomed presence in my life. This massively successful series started in 1996 in Japan, with the release of Pokémon Red & Pokémon Green for the Nintendo Game Boy by a company called Game Freak. Its huge financial success and popularity eventually found its way overseas, finally reaching Europe in 1999. It continued to dominate the lives of children and their parents’ wallets with an obscene amount of content and merchandise, such as toys, animation, trading cards, and video games. At twelve years old, it was impossible for me to avoid the craze that had captured the attention and imagination of kids throughout the world. Here, I will attempt to recount my own memories of the Pokémon series, and share highlights from my personal journey through a franchise that means so much to me.

Darren

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Darren is a huge Nintendo fan from the days of the Gameboy Color and his copy of Pokémon Blue. Over time, he developed a passion for many Nintendo franchises, including Metroid. His favourite system is the Wii.

Pokémon Presents February 2022 Recap

The Pokémon Company has just aired their latest Pokémon Presents broadcast, detailing new and upcoming announcements.

President and CEO of the Pokémon Company, Tsunekazu Ishirara, opened the presentation to welcome fans, confirming that this year is the 26th anniversary since the birth of Pokémon, which began with Pokémon Red and Green in Japan. Updates for many existing games were highlighted in this stream, plus a few surprises!

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Darren is a huge Nintendo fan from the days of the Gameboy Color and his copy of Pokémon Blue. Over time, he developed a passion for many Nintendo franchises, including Metroid. His favourite system is the Wii.

By |2022-02-27T15:22:17+00:00February 27th, 2022|Nintendo, Nintendo Direct, Pokémon, Pokémon Presents|0 Comments

REVIEW – Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Last month, Pokémon Legends: Arceus was released, and like many other people, I had the opportunity to play the game and experience a different take on the Pokémon formula. Since the phenomenon arrived on the shores of the United Kingdom in 1999, I have been hooked with the Pokémon franchise, and embraced almost everything it has to offer; from collecting trading cards, plush toys and stickers in my youth, to the video game series I continue to enjoy to this day. Last year when I saw the trailer for Pokémon: Legends: Arceus, I was deeply intrigued and excited by the idea of a video game with huge open areas where wild Pokémon roam, and the opportunity to create the first Pokédex for the region. Such a departure from the norm made me compelled to see what this fresh new take was all about.

As a Pokémon fan of over two decades, I hope my thoughts below will help people still on the fence, make an informed decision on whether to buy the game or not. For the purpose of this review, I preferred to play the game on my television, using a Pro Controller.

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Darren is a huge Nintendo fan from the days of the Gameboy Color and his copy of Pokémon Blue. Over time, he developed a passion for many Nintendo franchises, including Metroid. His favourite system is the Wii.

By |2022-02-13T13:23:00+00:00February 13th, 2022|Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Pokémon, Review|0 Comments

REVIEW – Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Back in the days of the mid-2000’s, Pokémon was in a bit of a slump. Pokémania had tapered off after the second generation and was unable to really reach the same highs with the third, so with the release of the Nintendo DS came a new opportunity to strike big. The growing audience for gaming thanks to Nintendo’s push into the “Blue Ocean” gave Pokémon Diamond and Pearl a sporting chance to reach many more newcomers than ever before. But that was 2006/2007, we’re now in an age of unparalleled popularity for the series and the time has come for the remakes of the fourth generation, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, to once again make their mark. Welcome back to the world of Sinnoh, may your adventures begin!

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Long time fan of Nintendo and games in general, I always lean on the quirkier and unique sides of things in particular. It all started when I was lucky enough to get a Gameboy Color and Pokemon Yellow for my tenth birthday and it’s been going strong ever since. I’ve always had a need to get my voice heard and share anything I find interesting with the world.

By |2021-12-10T16:36:57+00:00December 10th, 2021|Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Pokémon, Review|0 Comments

Unite to the Occasion; Pokémon UNITE, One Month Later

It’s been about a month now since Pokémon UNITE hit the Switch, with the mobile release coming up in September, and it’s about time I gathered my thoughts on the title. Pokémon’s take on the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (better known as MOBA) genre certainly has a lot going for it, with hundreds of Pokémon to choose from for potential playable candidates which makes the whole thing very appealing. But through all that, some major problems occur which can make or break the experience with alarming regularity. Join us after the break as we discuss some issues and ways to potentially address them.

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Long time fan of Nintendo and games in general, I always lean on the quirkier and unique sides of things in particular. It all started when I was lucky enough to get a Gameboy Color and Pokemon Yellow for my tenth birthday and it’s been going strong ever since. I’ve always had a need to get my voice heard and share anything I find interesting with the world.

By |2021-08-28T13:48:43+00:00August 28th, 2021|Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Pokémon, Pokémon UNITE|0 Comments

Pokémon Presents (August 2021) Recap

The Pokémon Company have just released a brand new Pokémon Presents presentation, a video broadcast of upcoming products from the company. This broadcast was 28 minutes long, the longest since they first began in 2013. The focus of the presentation was advertised to feature the upcoming Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl titles, which launches for Nintendo Switch on November 19th 2021, and Pokémon Legends Arceus releasing early next year, on January 28th 2022. But were any other exciting announcements made? Here’s a recap of the presentation!

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Darren is a huge Nintendo fan from the days of the Gameboy Color and his copy of Pokémon Blue. Over time, he developed a passion for many Nintendo franchises, including Metroid. His favourite system is the Wii.

By |2021-08-18T16:28:46+00:00August 18th, 2021|Pokémon Presents|0 Comments

REVIEW – New Pokémon Snap

It has been twenty-two years since HAL Laboratory and Pax Softnica developed Pokémon Snap for the Nintendo 64 and, for the longest time, Pokémon fans like myself have wanted to see a new addition to the series. But as the years went on, I began accepting it as a bit of a pipe dream. So when New Pokémon Snap was announced back in June 2020, it came as a bit of a shock! Did they actually do it? Are they really making Pokémon Snap 2?

Please read my review below to find out whether its successor captured my excitement, or was I left feeling a bit negative.

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Darren is a huge Nintendo fan from the days of the Gameboy Color and his copy of Pokémon Blue. Over time, he developed a passion for many Nintendo franchises, including Metroid. His favourite system is the Wii.

By |2021-05-07T13:54:38+00:00May 7th, 2021|Nintendo Switch, Pokémon, Review|0 Comments
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