Today we have a blast from the past in video form!
It is amazing how the streaming and commentary scene has changed when it comes to Pokemon. Since 2011, we have had streaming for National and World Championships for the VGC and TCG. The Play! Pokemon tournament structure has had it rough spots but is now a well run organization that knows how to run a tournament structure. Though, it wasn’t always like this and that is why we want to showcase this video!
Welcome to the year 2006! Play! Pokemon was called Pokemon Organized Play and was running the Pokemon tournaments all over America. At the time, Pokemon has been running the tournament circuit for three years after breaking off from Magic. It was now the ten anniversary for Pokemon and they wanted to put on a great show. How do you do this? By putting the battles on the big screen using the best graphics that Pokemon games could muster! And why not bring a big star to help commentate?
Today we are bringing you a video recording from Pokemon 2006 Video Game Nationals from Pokemon: Party of the Decade celebration! This video features the finals battle for the 12-and under division that would eventually be called the Juniors division. In this video you will see Aziz Al-Yamin vs Samin Syed conducting their match using Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. These two young trainers pitted their teams of mostly Legendary Pokemon with two commentators and wrestler Hulk Hogan as a special guest commentator.
The video that you will see below is amazing to watch. Especially when you compare it to how the streaming and commentary is done now by Pokemon. You can see how this tournament was used as the seeds to what will eventually come in 2011 and beyond from the Pokemon competitive scene and streaming/commentary. What I find pretty cool is that they actually got Hulk Hogan to commentate and ask some pretty cool questions. He sounded pretty interested in the match and what they Pokemon were doing. Pokemon had found a good bunch of commentators with a VGC Professor providing information, Hulk Hogan as the normal person and the young cosplayer woman acting as a hype person.
Now to the video!
This video is an even bigger blast from the past because it was recorded by Ryan from Pokemon Elite 2000! Pokemon Crossroads is the spiritual successor to Pokemon Elite 2000. A lot of the staff, including myself, started off on PE2K. Ryan was running the site on his own which also included a YouTube channel. This video was some of his earlier to work when it came to covering the Pokemon fandom. It is amazing to see how Pokemon fans have come a long way.
Have a great day and we hope you enjoy this blast from the past!
