First Pokemon Memories: Neo Emolga

[Crossroads Bulletin]

Everybody has memories and musing because of Pokemon. Some of them are good and others are bad. Now that Pokemon is about to celebrate its twentieth anniversary, I thought now would be a great time for everybody to look back at their first Pokemon memories. The good, the bad and the frustrating.
Today we are going to showcase one of those memories shared by our forum Senior Moderator and long time Pokemon fan, Neo Emolga. His story involves Tamagotchis and thinking that Pikachu was a fat hamster. Read below to hear Neo Emolga’s story.

I WILL CONFESS!
I really didn’t like Pokemon when it was first introduced. When it was first shown in Nintendo Power and I heard about it for the first time, I honestly thought it looked a little dumb and reminded me all too much of Tamagotchis when it came to the whole idea of owning virtual pets (and I really don’t have fond memories of Tamagotchis). Even after reading the first comic they stuffed in the magazine, I felt Ash was a dummy and Pikachu was a chubby yellow hamster and I had no interest in continuing after that. But then my brother and his friends talked me into buying it to trade and battle Pokemon and with a lot of skepticism, I shrugged and went along with it and got a copy of Pokemon Blue, really hoping I didn’t just waste my money.
So I started with a Charmander, and I quickly found the game appealing for the fact that you could capture and raise ANY Pokemon you met on the field and make it a permanent member of your team. Plus, if you wanted to change out one Pokemon for a different one that you liked more for whatever reason, it was totally okay! It was different from most other RPGs for the fact that it allowed you to build the team YOU wanted to build and not feel forced to only build up certain characters that you’re stuck with for the entire game. So you could build a team with only the Pokemon you liked and you wanted. I loved that! And no, it was NOT like Tamagotchi at all, because you didn’t HAVE to play with the critters, feed them all the time, put up with their whiny nonsense, or clean up their craps. I then totally believed there was absolutely no relation between Pokemon and Tamagotchi at all.
Shortly after, I then started watching the anime religiously (I got my butt out of bed super early to watch it), NOT because I thought Ash was cool, but it was neat to see the same critters from the game all animated now, doing battle, having a lot more personality, and become so much more alive than just pixels on the screen.
And the rest is history, but I definitely remember those first memories.

Thank you Neo Emolga for sharing your story! If you want to share your story then head over to our First Pokemon Memories thread or post yours in the comments!
The post First Pokemon Memories: Neo Emolga appeared first on Pokémon Crossroads.


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[Neo Emolga]

Oh, man, you had to provide a picture, didn't you!? XD

The one I had was just solid purple and actually looked even more basic than these did (didn't have a background on the LCD screen). It was interesting and cute at first, then it got to be a little pesky, and then it just became flat out annoying. My brother got so fed up with his that he just completely disassembled it to see what the guts were like.

Ah, so glad Pokemon was nothing like that. Great job on the article though, hope someone got a laugh out of reading it.

[Chakramaster]

Yeah there's a lot of Pokemon stories I'm sure each of us could tell. Being the 20th Anniversary what better time right? Either way interesting story there Neo. I know I was "out" of Pokemon for awhile, but luckily I got pulled back in.

Those Tamagotchis were incredibly annoying. I remember I had one (similar, but it was more a Virtual Pet than a "Tamagotchis") and it was irritating. Glad it died and I never fixed it.....but I kinda wanted the Pikachu one and never got it...just like Hey You Pikachu =/

[Chibi Altaria]

Those Tamagotchis were incredibly annoying. I remember I had one (similar, but it was more a Virtual Pet than a "Tamagotchis") and it was irritating. Glad it died and I never fixed it.....but I kinda wanted the Pikachu one and never got it...just like Hey You Pikachu =/

Was I the only person who actually loved tamagotchis? XD Of course I didn't love them so much when they died... But yeah. Oh, I hated the fact that the older they were, the harder it got to take care of them.

I can't really remember, but I think my oldest one lasted for 16 days? That was pretty darn good considering I had school to attend to and all. I remember muting the sound and when I got let out for recess, my poor little tamagotchi had poop all over the screen and was starving. T^T I AM A TERRIBLE MOTHER.

I actually still have one, but the batteries are long dead. Maybe I'll get some and start it up again for nostalgia's sake.

[Neo Emolga]

Was I the only person who actually loved tamagotchis? XD Of course I didn't love them so much when they died... But yeah. Oh, I hated the fact that the older they were, the harder it got to take care of them.

I can't really remember, but I think my oldest one lasted for 16 days? That was pretty darn good considering I had school to attend to and all. I remember muting the sound and when I got let out for recess, my poor little tamagotchi had poop all over the screen and was starving. T^T I AM A TERRIBLE MOTHER.

I actually still have one, but the batteries are long dead. Maybe I'll get some and start it up again for nostalgia's sake.

Oh, they were fun, new, and innovative in the beginning, but yeah, after a while, they just felt pesky in several ways and people would wonder what that beeping sound was when you brought it to public places. Have fun explaining it.

16 days is pretty good, I don't think I got mine to last even nearly as long. As for the old, purple one I used to own, I have no clue what happened to it, but the batteries in it are definitely long-dead. I haven't seen it in years, and I'm not sure if I just tossed it and it's been rotting in a landfill somewhere or if it's buried deep in the recesses of old stuff I have. :P

But if you do start one up again for nostalgia's sake, have fun... and good luck. XD

[Chakramaster]

Was I the only person who actually loved tamagotchis? XD Of course I didn't love them so much when they died... But yeah. Oh, I hated the fact that the older they were, the harder it got to take care of them.

I can't really remember, but I think my oldest one lasted for 16 days? That was pretty darn good considering I had school to attend to and all. I remember muting the sound and when I got let out for recess, my poor little tamagotchi had poop all over the screen and was starving. T^T I AM A TERRIBLE MOTHER.

I actually still have one, but the batteries are long dead. Maybe I'll get some and start it up again for nostalgia's sake.

Oh no when I was younger I loved the virtual pet thing I had. It was some dinosaur like thing...can't really remember. Longest it lasted for me was over summer. It was around a 34 day age (I seriously can't remember exactly how long. All I know is it was around a month long). It died after a single hour that day after it had just matured more. It was right before I went into a party to roller skate. So I remember I gave it to my mom and told her to let me know if it made a beeping sound. Later after I was tired of skating I asked her to let me see it and it died. Yeah I remember that it upset me that day. Never got the urge to ever go back after that lol.

Oh, they were fun, new, and innovative in the beginning, but yeah, after a while, they just felt pesky in several ways and people would wonder what that beeping sound was when you brought it to public places. Have fun explaining it.

16 days is pretty good, I don't think I got mine to last even nearly as long. As for the old, purple one I used to own, I have no clue what happened to it, but the batteries in it are definitely long-dead. I haven't seen it in years, and I'm not sure if I just tossed it and it's been rotting in a landfill somewhere or if it's buried deep in the recesses of old stuff I have. :P

But if you do start one up again for nostalgia's sake, have fun... and good luck. XD

Yeah when I got really invested into something growing up. It REALLY sunk in, especially if it was video game or cartoon related. If I lost, it made me feel upset and I forced myself to get better (if only I could've used that motivation for my school work xD). I don't think I'll ever go back to one of those devices again. The last one I tried was one of those Digimon device things. It broke after I found a cheap way of making steps by just shaking it to progress. It sure made it easier than walking around, stopping and doing the event (battle or w/e), then walking more and repeating.

[MC Elesa]

I know nothing about Tamagotchis so I just got whatever I found when googling.

That said. I had something like Tamagotchis but it was my sister's. I know we had to feed it but that was about it. I think the batteries died and we never bother to replace them.

[Neo Emolga]

Yeah there's a lot of Pokemon stories I'm sure each of us could tell. Being the 20th Anniversary what better time right? Either way interesting story there Neo. I know I was "out" of Pokemon for awhile, but luckily I got pulled back in.

Those Tamagotchis were incredibly annoying. I remember I had one (similar, but it was more a Virtual Pet than a "Tamagotchis") and it was irritating. Glad it died and I never fixed it.....but I kinda wanted the Pikachu one and never got it...just like Hey You Pikachu =/

Around the time we got so tired of them, my brother and I figured out the fastest way to kill a Tamagotchi. When you start up with a new Tamagotchi, wait until the egg hatches. As soon as it does, stuff it with snacks until it gets sick. Heal the sickness. Repeat with the snacks and sickness curing until it croaks (my guess is it exploded from overeating). This was actually more effective than completely ignoring it. :x

I know nothing about Tamagotchis so I just got whatever I found when googling.

That said. I had something like Tamagotchis but it was my sister's. I know we had to feed it but that was about it. I think the batteries died and we never bother to replace them.

They were a pain and as you were raising them, you had to carry it with you at all times and there was no way to turn them "off" (but thankfully you could input the time so it would go to sleep at night and not harass you at 2:40am). You had to watch their hunger meter and then feed them when it got low. Whenever you fed them, you had to play with them (a very boring and repetitive game that was basically a coin flip kind of thing) so it burned the weight off. You also had to watch their happiness meter, which could be filled by playing that coin flip game with them (you had to win together by getting at least 3 out of 5 "coin flips" right, because if you lost, the happiness didn't fill up and you just wasted your time). You could also bump up the happiness meter by giving them snacks if you didn't feel like hassling with the stupid game, but that piled on the pounds. If the hunger or happiness meter got too low, it would start beeping at you.

You also had to clean up its poops and make sure they didn't pile up. Great fun. If it got sick (sometimes happened randomly, sometimes happened if it was living with too much of its own poop), you had to give it medicine quickly. Other times, it would beep to get your attention for no reason. If it did this, you had to discipline it by using a "scold" command.

If you did everything right, eventually the Tamagotchi would grow up to get the better forms and would live longer. If you were negligent or too busy having a life, it would grow up to be ugly (the worst form gave it this weird head and sperm tail thing, which was... bleh) and would die sooner. Usually they lasted around 12-15 days. When they died, the beeping would mimic a heart monitor flat-line and then you'd see them with little angel wings and a halo. Whether that made you depressed or relieved was all in the eyes of the beholder. :P

They were interesting and neat at first, but then they just got annoying, eventually shelved, and forgotten. Typical life of a fad. I'm so happy Pokemon was never anything like this, but you can see why I was VERY wary of it at first.