Pokemon Essay
(Uh, my footnotes got nommed because on this computer I have to open it from notepad SOOO-)
LINKS, because this format sucks. I'll have to save this all on a PDF at a later date.
Essay | Works Cited | Figure 1
Pokémon Popularity: Appeal Tied to Self Insert Nature
A hobby that I have always held interest in is the huge franchise of Pokémon. While the various spectrums of the franchise are intended for children, I hold the belief that anyone of any age can enjoy Pokémon for various reasons. I first was introduced into the Pokémon franchise by watching the animated show of the same name when I was ten years old at my grandmother’s house. I did not begin by watching the first episode either, I was thrust into the story of this fictional world before anything was explained to me and I was enchanted. I was ten just like the protagonist, Ash; I could go on adventures like him! That Christmas my sister and I each received a GameBoy Color with a copy of Pokémon Blue and Pokémon Red. It nears almost a decade from that Christmas and I am still an avid fan of Pokémon. While when I first got into Pokémon when it was a huge fad, especially with the Trading Card Game, I never lost interest when its popularity faded in the United States. I am a member of various online communities and I have owned and played a game from every generation of the main series.
The Pokémon franchise originally began with the games Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue in which a player assumes the role of a young child who captures animal-like creatures called pokémon, called a trainer. In each generation there is a pair of games whose gameplay mirrors each other with only minor changes. In most of the games, the player uses these different creatures in a series of ruled battles to gain badges from gym leaders, other pokémon users who test the player’s skills, to eventually become a pokémon champion. Along the way the player encounters their rival, sometimes also the protagonist’s childhood friend, who through competition encourages the player to become a better trainer. Also in the mix is a nefarious team who the protagonist must defeat to ensure peace in their home region. This story is the same story told through each generation of Pokémon games, though the details differ and the environments change and evolve. The reason Pokémon holds so much appeal is because of its low qualifications to play, the variety in choices that you as a player gets to choose, and finally the ambiguity of the world in which the user plays, all which allow the user to insert their self into the story.
The Pokémon games introduce any player who picks up a system easily how to play, with the only requirement being that you know how to read. In an interview with Time magazine, Satoshi Taijri, the creator of the Pokémon games, states that the games are designed so a user can pick up the game and play it during short breaks (“The Ultimate Game Freak”. 2). This concept keeps the game controls simple, and with simple controls that means anyone can play Pokémon. Picture a student who saved her game before she went to bed. She becomes incredibly busy through the next week. While waiting for her ride to school she decides she will engage in a quick battle with a trainer so that she can level up her pokémon. Unlike other games, a player might take some time to readjust to the gameplay mechanics or have to remember what they were doing in the story, while in Pokémon it is simply made so that a player can pick up where they left off with ease. A player can be immersed and assume the role of a player quickly, and assume their own identity when the car pulls up just a quick.
To become an official pokémon trainer who can battle the pokémon league the only requirements given inside the game are to be of age and to like the creatures. The ‘of age’ category is actually never stated in most games, but thanks to the anime of the same name, this age is pegged at around ten years old. Even then there are multiple instances in game to which the player comes across preschoolers who own and battle with pokémon! So to play in this world the game expects a player to be at least ten to comprehend the text and not delete the game over and over, but just because someone is younger does not mean they are not allowed to own a pokémon. But what if I’m much older than ten? As preschoolers own pokémon, it is more common to see adults who pokémon as well. There are many adult figures that the player looks up to who make their living as elite pokémon trainers. An age cap is never given in the games and they are formatted so that anyone of any age can enjoy the world of pokémon without feeling that they are out of place. A person can identify themselves and say “I am a pokémon trainer!” without having to worry about questions of are they too old. Recently, the newest additions to the game state that the main protagonists are older than before, possibly to specifically to tell teenagers that playing pokémon is not ‘uncool’ or ‘too childish’.
While most games cast a player into the role of a hero, the Pokémon games instead give the player an ambiguous child for a protagonist who has no magical and fantastic destiny related requirements, like the player. Though, through the course of the game a player become a hero or heroine, they start out as a child with a loving mother from a small town. While each player does not share this specific background they identify with the mundane origins of the player. A person may look up to Superman, but that person can never really identify with an alien from Krypton who has always had and grew up with super natural powers. The protagonist that the player inserts themselves grew up in this land of powerful creatures, but is never treated like that. They are introduced to each new wonderful aspect and explained the uniqueness of each wonder so that they player can fully appreciate what makes the world of pokémon so different and exciting. The player feels no disconnect from the mild-mannered protagonist and can better assume their role.
While the low qualification for a player allow for a diverse quantity of people to play the game, what really makes the player enjoy the games is the variety of choices that is presented. Once a player has started the game, they come across a choice of 3 different starter pokémon, the first pokémon you do not have to catch, and from then on there are only more choices. Most of the time a synopsis of this series is to catch pokémon. Every pokémon? While the anime’s phrase was once ‘Gotta Catch ‘Em All!’, this catchphrase has not been used since the second generation of games of which there were a total 251 different kinds of pokémon to obtain. In its fifth generation, there are now a total of 649 different pokémon. The synopsis above is incorrect; the objective of this game is not to catch all pokémon, but to compile a team of six pokémon to compete with. The player has to choose six out of 649 different creatures to battle with. But the pikachu you catch in the forest will not be the same as another pikachu in the game, all pokémon vary in their statistics, their nature, and sometimes even their looks! The turtle inspired pokémon, Torterra, can learn strong offensive attack moves such as Wood Hammer, Earthquake, and Leaf Storm, or it can learn more tactical moves such as Absorb, Curse, and Synthesis (“Diamond & Pearl Pokédex” . 209). Variety lets players specialize their teams to be either the most powerful, or sometimes just to have the pokémon they enjoy the most. In this way the player can enjoy the pokémon that they have chose and play as if there were in the world themselves. Even if a player’s team consists of cute and small baby pokémon, all pokémon have the potential to be decent fighters. If that’s what they are going for in the first place.
While the actual gameplay is limited to being a league trainer, the game introduces a variety of different classes that in imagination, a player could take the role of. Some of the classes are just aesthetic indicators such as Lass, Biker, and Scout, but others relay a different role. Ace Trainers are dedicated trainers usually found in gyms, Grunts are the underlings of the antagonistic team of each game, and Breeders are people who take care of, groom, and breed pokémon. Not everyone in this world competes for a championship title, some trainers, referred to as Fans, are just middle age people who carry the pokémon they like the most. The game contains so many different kinds of people that a player can build their own identity along with the pokémon of their choosing. This is most explored in a player’s interactions with other fans. I personally identify as a pokémon breeder, as I breed pokémon with specific traits or statistics that are advantageous for battling, so that I can trade the pokémon to other players who like battling more than I do. A player could also identify themselves a shiny collector or trainer of only certain types of pokémon so express their intensity around the games. The different categories of trainers introduced helps a player identify the role they wish to take in the pokémon world in their imagination. Sometimes these side roles are expanded upon.
Along with the introduction of a variety of different spectrums a player could chose, there are also entirely different games in the franchise that explore these options. The most popular of the spin-off games are Pokémon Ranger and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. In the first the player explores the class of Ranger, a trainer who does not actually capture pokémon, but befriends them with the use of a Capture Styler. With a side game like this a player can choose to lead a different life from battling with pokémon, but instead using their skills to adventure through various landscapes. In the other game, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, the player plays as pokémon themselves! The format is a dungeon crawler in which the player searches for lost pokémon or other missions given to you by a guild. These games expand the variety of choices already present in the main series itself, letting a player explore different spectrums and game styles that they could better identify with.
While the variety of choices let the play create their own identity within the game, the ambiguity of details within the game lets the player overlay their own imagery concepts on to the game without conflict. The game’s casting of the protagonist as a non-speaking character lets the player imprint their own reactions on the protagonist. A term used for the character a user plays is a ‘silent protagonist’. This means that in the game the protagonist never speaks without you, or in a specific way. When a person in the game asks the player a question, if it’s clear the player gets to choose answers, if it is unclear or is a relay of information the game does not show what the protagonist said, and just skips to the person understanding what has been said. The protagonist will never assert their own personality so as it does not conflict with the player’s. The player can make up the specifics of how they talked to a person in game so that it best reflects their own thoughts. Another term for this time of protagonist is an everyman. They react in a realistic way and have no specific personality of their own. Through the course of the newest games, Pokemon Black and White, the player is presented the delicate subject of a pokémon’s role to their trainer. Are they violent slaves or are they competitive friends? The antagonist, a mysterious character named N asks "I... want to see things no one can see. The truths of Pokémon inside Poké Balls. The ideals of how Trainers should be. And a future where Pokémon have become perfect... Do you feel the same?" (Pokemon White). The player then gets to choose yes or no. In other games, the player will choose an answer and then the protagonist will speak in relation to that answer. In Pokémon, the protagonist is silent after the player answers and allows them to make their own reasons why they support one reason or another. I have had experiences where I would agree to a difficult decision in other games, and the protagonist would be completely gung-ho about this decision, while I myself was on the fence and nervous. In that game, you control a character who has their own personality and are on onlooker into their story. In the Pokémon games with the role of silent protagonist, you can pretend that you are actually the character that control and that helps the player fully identify within the game.
With all the variety in choices in types of trainers a player could be, the type of pokémon a player could trainer and even what the player can play like, you would think that the protagonist would be so customizable as well? Not actually. The protagonist of pokémon games lets the play choose their gender and nothing else, but the protagonist is designed ambiguously. As said before, the protagonist that a user plays as is of a vague ten or older age. Remembering that the games were first made in Japan, the protagonists are designed to be average in terms of looks. Out of the thirteen different designs for the male and female protagonists, twelve of them have brown or black hair and seven of them have brown or grey eyes. An average person in Japan would have darker hair and darker eyes, so the protagonists reflect this. A special note is given that the newest games draw inspiration from the United States and with that the newest protagonists both have blue eyes. While the protagonist is not customizable, they are meant to be designed where the average person could pick up the game and imprint themselves on the character.
The best and most frustrating part of the Pokémon world is its ambiguity, which leaves a player with their imagination. The world in which a player travels only shows what is important and little else, but leaves room for a person to imagine more. In most of the games the first town a player begins in, your protagonist’s hometown, will contain your home, your childhood friend’s home, and sometimes the region’s professor’s home. It is unfeasible that only three people live in your town, and people outside are also residents of the town even though they have no visible houses. In this way the player is not inundated by too much information; the player only sees what is important. But because the logic is broken (The protagonists’ home will contain your room upstairs, and downstairs a living room and kitchen; your mother doesn’t have her own room!) means that the player can fill in what they think is right. If a city or building does not show a room or correct number of beds, it does not mean it is not there. A player can make up the extraneous content to fit their preference and no one can tell them that they are wrong, just that they might disagree.
The pokémon themselves are very ambiguous and this allows the player to make up their own extra information to better enjoy the designs. The information listed for a pokémon is its species general height, weight, and a small blurb about the creature, which usually sounds mythical. The game leaves mysteries on how the pokémon actually work, so that a player can fill in the blanks themselves. Such as, when surfing across the sea the player is seen on top of a pokémon who knows the move surf, but that pokémon may not be big enough for the player to ride on. Some players complain this is a flaw, but it just shows that the games are meant for the player to insert their own reasoning and theories. A player may just be holding on to a pokémon as they swim, instead of riding on top of them, it is just not shown in the game mechanics. For example, the pokémon Torterra is said to be about seven feet tall (“Diamond & Pearl Pokédex” . 209). Is this the height of the entire pokémon, including the tree, or is it only the height of base body? (Fig. 1) If it is seven feet including the tree its main body height would be about the same height as the protagonist. A nice companion. If it were in fact, like how I want to see it, the height of its main body only, a person could ride on top of its shell and take shade under its tree. An amazing riding companion. The specifics of the pokémon are left up to the player, not because they do not have enough information to show, but so that the player can indulge themselves. Through this self indulgence the player can better build a world that would fit their own personal taste and imagine that they truly live in a pokémon filled world.
Almost a decade ago I started my interest in the vast world of Pokémon, and I believe this is because the format of the Pokémon games allowed me to fully make use of my imagination. It was not hard to get into Pokémon for me at a young age, I didn’t even really have to be good to get anywhere in the game. I had so many different pokémon and things to choose from I never felt like I had to be like my friends, I felt like this was my individual story I was playing. As I got older, I absolutely love making different theories about how I think things should work or how I personally would use a pokémon in daily life, and no one in my Pokémon communities deter that kind of thinking because we all created our own pleasures in the pokémon world. By allowing us to feel fully immersed in this fantasy world, Pokémon has carved its way into the hearts of many of today’s youth and I think will continue doing so for a long time.
Works Cited
Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Pokédex: Prima Official Game Guide Vol. 2. (2007). Roseville, CA: Prima Games.
Pokemon White. March 6, 2011. Nintendo.
“The Ultimate Game Freak”. Time.com. Time, 22 Nov 1999. Web.
Figure 1
LINKS, because this format sucks. I'll have to save this all on a PDF at a later date.
Essay | Works Cited | Figure 1
Pokémon Popularity: Appeal Tied to Self Insert Nature
A hobby that I have always held interest in is the huge franchise of Pokémon. While the various spectrums of the franchise are intended for children, I hold the belief that anyone of any age can enjoy Pokémon for various reasons. I first was introduced into the Pokémon franchise by watching the animated show of the same name when I was ten years old at my grandmother’s house. I did not begin by watching the first episode either, I was thrust into the story of this fictional world before anything was explained to me and I was enchanted. I was ten just like the protagonist, Ash; I could go on adventures like him! That Christmas my sister and I each received a GameBoy Color with a copy of Pokémon Blue and Pokémon Red. It nears almost a decade from that Christmas and I am still an avid fan of Pokémon. While when I first got into Pokémon when it was a huge fad, especially with the Trading Card Game, I never lost interest when its popularity faded in the United States. I am a member of various online communities and I have owned and played a game from every generation of the main series.
The Pokémon franchise originally began with the games Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue in which a player assumes the role of a young child who captures animal-like creatures called pokémon, called a trainer. In each generation there is a pair of games whose gameplay mirrors each other with only minor changes. In most of the games, the player uses these different creatures in a series of ruled battles to gain badges from gym leaders, other pokémon users who test the player’s skills, to eventually become a pokémon champion. Along the way the player encounters their rival, sometimes also the protagonist’s childhood friend, who through competition encourages the player to become a better trainer. Also in the mix is a nefarious team who the protagonist must defeat to ensure peace in their home region. This story is the same story told through each generation of Pokémon games, though the details differ and the environments change and evolve. The reason Pokémon holds so much appeal is because of its low qualifications to play, the variety in choices that you as a player gets to choose, and finally the ambiguity of the world in which the user plays, all which allow the user to insert their self into the story.
The Pokémon games introduce any player who picks up a system easily how to play, with the only requirement being that you know how to read. In an interview with Time magazine, Satoshi Taijri, the creator of the Pokémon games, states that the games are designed so a user can pick up the game and play it during short breaks (“The Ultimate Game Freak”. 2). This concept keeps the game controls simple, and with simple controls that means anyone can play Pokémon. Picture a student who saved her game before she went to bed. She becomes incredibly busy through the next week. While waiting for her ride to school she decides she will engage in a quick battle with a trainer so that she can level up her pokémon. Unlike other games, a player might take some time to readjust to the gameplay mechanics or have to remember what they were doing in the story, while in Pokémon it is simply made so that a player can pick up where they left off with ease. A player can be immersed and assume the role of a player quickly, and assume their own identity when the car pulls up just a quick.
To become an official pokémon trainer who can battle the pokémon league the only requirements given inside the game are to be of age and to like the creatures. The ‘of age’ category is actually never stated in most games, but thanks to the anime of the same name, this age is pegged at around ten years old. Even then there are multiple instances in game to which the player comes across preschoolers who own and battle with pokémon! So to play in this world the game expects a player to be at least ten to comprehend the text and not delete the game over and over, but just because someone is younger does not mean they are not allowed to own a pokémon. But what if I’m much older than ten? As preschoolers own pokémon, it is more common to see adults who pokémon as well. There are many adult figures that the player looks up to who make their living as elite pokémon trainers. An age cap is never given in the games and they are formatted so that anyone of any age can enjoy the world of pokémon without feeling that they are out of place. A person can identify themselves and say “I am a pokémon trainer!” without having to worry about questions of are they too old. Recently, the newest additions to the game state that the main protagonists are older than before, possibly to specifically to tell teenagers that playing pokémon is not ‘uncool’ or ‘too childish’.
While most games cast a player into the role of a hero, the Pokémon games instead give the player an ambiguous child for a protagonist who has no magical and fantastic destiny related requirements, like the player. Though, through the course of the game a player become a hero or heroine, they start out as a child with a loving mother from a small town. While each player does not share this specific background they identify with the mundane origins of the player. A person may look up to Superman, but that person can never really identify with an alien from Krypton who has always had and grew up with super natural powers. The protagonist that the player inserts themselves grew up in this land of powerful creatures, but is never treated like that. They are introduced to each new wonderful aspect and explained the uniqueness of each wonder so that they player can fully appreciate what makes the world of pokémon so different and exciting. The player feels no disconnect from the mild-mannered protagonist and can better assume their role.
While the low qualification for a player allow for a diverse quantity of people to play the game, what really makes the player enjoy the games is the variety of choices that is presented. Once a player has started the game, they come across a choice of 3 different starter pokémon, the first pokémon you do not have to catch, and from then on there are only more choices. Most of the time a synopsis of this series is to catch pokémon. Every pokémon? While the anime’s phrase was once ‘Gotta Catch ‘Em All!’, this catchphrase has not been used since the second generation of games of which there were a total 251 different kinds of pokémon to obtain. In its fifth generation, there are now a total of 649 different pokémon. The synopsis above is incorrect; the objective of this game is not to catch all pokémon, but to compile a team of six pokémon to compete with. The player has to choose six out of 649 different creatures to battle with. But the pikachu you catch in the forest will not be the same as another pikachu in the game, all pokémon vary in their statistics, their nature, and sometimes even their looks! The turtle inspired pokémon, Torterra, can learn strong offensive attack moves such as Wood Hammer, Earthquake, and Leaf Storm, or it can learn more tactical moves such as Absorb, Curse, and Synthesis (“Diamond & Pearl Pokédex” . 209). Variety lets players specialize their teams to be either the most powerful, or sometimes just to have the pokémon they enjoy the most. In this way the player can enjoy the pokémon that they have chose and play as if there were in the world themselves. Even if a player’s team consists of cute and small baby pokémon, all pokémon have the potential to be decent fighters. If that’s what they are going for in the first place.
While the actual gameplay is limited to being a league trainer, the game introduces a variety of different classes that in imagination, a player could take the role of. Some of the classes are just aesthetic indicators such as Lass, Biker, and Scout, but others relay a different role. Ace Trainers are dedicated trainers usually found in gyms, Grunts are the underlings of the antagonistic team of each game, and Breeders are people who take care of, groom, and breed pokémon. Not everyone in this world competes for a championship title, some trainers, referred to as Fans, are just middle age people who carry the pokémon they like the most. The game contains so many different kinds of people that a player can build their own identity along with the pokémon of their choosing. This is most explored in a player’s interactions with other fans. I personally identify as a pokémon breeder, as I breed pokémon with specific traits or statistics that are advantageous for battling, so that I can trade the pokémon to other players who like battling more than I do. A player could also identify themselves a shiny collector or trainer of only certain types of pokémon so express their intensity around the games. The different categories of trainers introduced helps a player identify the role they wish to take in the pokémon world in their imagination. Sometimes these side roles are expanded upon.
Along with the introduction of a variety of different spectrums a player could chose, there are also entirely different games in the franchise that explore these options. The most popular of the spin-off games are Pokémon Ranger and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. In the first the player explores the class of Ranger, a trainer who does not actually capture pokémon, but befriends them with the use of a Capture Styler. With a side game like this a player can choose to lead a different life from battling with pokémon, but instead using their skills to adventure through various landscapes. In the other game, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, the player plays as pokémon themselves! The format is a dungeon crawler in which the player searches for lost pokémon or other missions given to you by a guild. These games expand the variety of choices already present in the main series itself, letting a player explore different spectrums and game styles that they could better identify with.
While the variety of choices let the play create their own identity within the game, the ambiguity of details within the game lets the player overlay their own imagery concepts on to the game without conflict. The game’s casting of the protagonist as a non-speaking character lets the player imprint their own reactions on the protagonist. A term used for the character a user plays is a ‘silent protagonist’. This means that in the game the protagonist never speaks without you, or in a specific way. When a person in the game asks the player a question, if it’s clear the player gets to choose answers, if it is unclear or is a relay of information the game does not show what the protagonist said, and just skips to the person understanding what has been said. The protagonist will never assert their own personality so as it does not conflict with the player’s. The player can make up the specifics of how they talked to a person in game so that it best reflects their own thoughts. Another term for this time of protagonist is an everyman. They react in a realistic way and have no specific personality of their own. Through the course of the newest games, Pokemon Black and White, the player is presented the delicate subject of a pokémon’s role to their trainer. Are they violent slaves or are they competitive friends? The antagonist, a mysterious character named N asks "I... want to see things no one can see. The truths of Pokémon inside Poké Balls. The ideals of how Trainers should be. And a future where Pokémon have become perfect... Do you feel the same?" (Pokemon White). The player then gets to choose yes or no. In other games, the player will choose an answer and then the protagonist will speak in relation to that answer. In Pokémon, the protagonist is silent after the player answers and allows them to make their own reasons why they support one reason or another. I have had experiences where I would agree to a difficult decision in other games, and the protagonist would be completely gung-ho about this decision, while I myself was on the fence and nervous. In that game, you control a character who has their own personality and are on onlooker into their story. In the Pokémon games with the role of silent protagonist, you can pretend that you are actually the character that control and that helps the player fully identify within the game.
With all the variety in choices in types of trainers a player could be, the type of pokémon a player could trainer and even what the player can play like, you would think that the protagonist would be so customizable as well? Not actually. The protagonist of pokémon games lets the play choose their gender and nothing else, but the protagonist is designed ambiguously. As said before, the protagonist that a user plays as is of a vague ten or older age. Remembering that the games were first made in Japan, the protagonists are designed to be average in terms of looks. Out of the thirteen different designs for the male and female protagonists, twelve of them have brown or black hair and seven of them have brown or grey eyes. An average person in Japan would have darker hair and darker eyes, so the protagonists reflect this. A special note is given that the newest games draw inspiration from the United States and with that the newest protagonists both have blue eyes. While the protagonist is not customizable, they are meant to be designed where the average person could pick up the game and imprint themselves on the character.
The best and most frustrating part of the Pokémon world is its ambiguity, which leaves a player with their imagination. The world in which a player travels only shows what is important and little else, but leaves room for a person to imagine more. In most of the games the first town a player begins in, your protagonist’s hometown, will contain your home, your childhood friend’s home, and sometimes the region’s professor’s home. It is unfeasible that only three people live in your town, and people outside are also residents of the town even though they have no visible houses. In this way the player is not inundated by too much information; the player only sees what is important. But because the logic is broken (The protagonists’ home will contain your room upstairs, and downstairs a living room and kitchen; your mother doesn’t have her own room!) means that the player can fill in what they think is right. If a city or building does not show a room or correct number of beds, it does not mean it is not there. A player can make up the extraneous content to fit their preference and no one can tell them that they are wrong, just that they might disagree.
The pokémon themselves are very ambiguous and this allows the player to make up their own extra information to better enjoy the designs. The information listed for a pokémon is its species general height, weight, and a small blurb about the creature, which usually sounds mythical. The game leaves mysteries on how the pokémon actually work, so that a player can fill in the blanks themselves. Such as, when surfing across the sea the player is seen on top of a pokémon who knows the move surf, but that pokémon may not be big enough for the player to ride on. Some players complain this is a flaw, but it just shows that the games are meant for the player to insert their own reasoning and theories. A player may just be holding on to a pokémon as they swim, instead of riding on top of them, it is just not shown in the game mechanics. For example, the pokémon Torterra is said to be about seven feet tall (“Diamond & Pearl Pokédex” . 209). Is this the height of the entire pokémon, including the tree, or is it only the height of base body? (Fig. 1) If it is seven feet including the tree its main body height would be about the same height as the protagonist. A nice companion. If it were in fact, like how I want to see it, the height of its main body only, a person could ride on top of its shell and take shade under its tree. An amazing riding companion. The specifics of the pokémon are left up to the player, not because they do not have enough information to show, but so that the player can indulge themselves. Through this self indulgence the player can better build a world that would fit their own personal taste and imagine that they truly live in a pokémon filled world.
Almost a decade ago I started my interest in the vast world of Pokémon, and I believe this is because the format of the Pokémon games allowed me to fully make use of my imagination. It was not hard to get into Pokémon for me at a young age, I didn’t even really have to be good to get anywhere in the game. I had so many different pokémon and things to choose from I never felt like I had to be like my friends, I felt like this was my individual story I was playing. As I got older, I absolutely love making different theories about how I think things should work or how I personally would use a pokémon in daily life, and no one in my Pokémon communities deter that kind of thinking because we all created our own pleasures in the pokémon world. By allowing us to feel fully immersed in this fantasy world, Pokémon has carved its way into the hearts of many of today’s youth and I think will continue doing so for a long time.
Works Cited
Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Pokédex: Prima Official Game Guide Vol. 2. (2007). Roseville, CA: Prima Games.
Pokemon White. March 6, 2011. Nintendo.
“The Ultimate Game Freak”. Time.com. Time, 22 Nov 1999. Web.
Figure 1