Which was your first Pokemon generation? Also share your earliest Pokemon memory.

[srtrestre]

Keep in mind this poll is for the first Pokemon generation you experienced. It's not about your favorite gen, or which gen you think is the best (also note that this will be the last time we'll be able to fit all gens in one poll--unless Era allows for more poll options in the future :P).

The 8th generation is upon us, so I thought it was a great time to have one of these. Gen 1 (Red Version to be specific) was my first. My earliest gen 1 memory was leafing through some random game magazine (can't remember the name) with an article on the "Pocket Monsters" craze that was sweeping Japan at the time. It had two screenshots, one of RED (or BLUE) about to send a Pokemon into battle (so I remember the backpack and cap), and the other a screenshot of one of the towns. I remember thinking, "I can't see why anyone would go crazy over some plain-looking Game Boy RPG."

Oh boy, was I in for a surprise.

NOTE: I didn't include remakes (i.e. ORAS, Let's Go, etc.), but feel free to discuss them.

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

GENWUNNERS

Glad the poll is public so we can finally ban all these heathens.

 

[Glio]

Crystal. My first memory was watching the anime.

 

[Z-Beat]

It was Kanto and me not understanding why Charmander didn't look the way he did in the anime (the fact that I was looking at him from behind hadn't dawned on me because you only see the top of his head and it kinda looks like a hump

 

[Mac_Lane]

First generation here too !

I remember finding out about the game in a French video game magazine. It seemed so fascinating, I was literally begging my father to get the game. I got the Red and my brother got the Blue. We'd make exchanges with our Link cable. Good times.

 

[Birdseeding]

Gen 1, but many years after the fact through a Gameboy emulator.

 

[meph]

Gen 1. Everyone at school was playing the game. I did not own a Game Boy, but had the Super Game Boy, so I was able to play the game at home, but couldn't participate in trades. Didn't know IVs/EVs were a thing, only knew whatever information filtered around.

 

[F8RGE]

Red.

Laying on my playing with my gameboy for far too long. Ended up laying on one arm which caused it to lock up. To this day I dub that "Pokemon Shoulder".

 

[Sincerest]

Gen 1.

 

[Buckle]

I bought Gen One/Pokemon Blue at launch and basically torpedoed through the whole game with mostly Blastoise alone. I never built a real team, just picked up a Zapdos sidekick and low level HM slaves along the way. First gen was pretty unbalanced.

My first exposure to Pokemon at all was a preview in Game Pro magazine. It was the first time I heard of that kind of game and it sounded fascinating. Oh and it was.

First game that ever actually got me going out in the world and finding other gamers as a kid to play with. Toys-R-Us tournaments with that one kind who used nothing but six max level mewtwos. Awww yeaah.

 

[Ryan.]

Games? Gen 3.

But I grew up on watching the anime and collecting cards since gen 1

 

[Palidoozy]

I was a genwunner. I was in... elementary school, I think? When the first games came out. The first I played was red, but the first I bought was blue.

My first memory: my friend lent me the game so I could play around with it, and I had to pick a starter. I took a charmander and because I was a dumb kid, I thought you had to give them a nickname instead of leaving it blank. So because it was my friend's copy, I just hastily named the thing "XYZ."

I wound up getting so attached I named all my charmanders in subsequent games after that one despite it being a very dumb name.

 

[YolkFolk]

Bought the magazine 'CVG - Computer & Video Games' here in the U.K.

I saw that a game called Pocket Monster was top of the Japanese charts and taking the country by storm. I told my friend about it and he laughed at the idea of it.

I bought Blue on release date and imported Gold from the US before it's official release over here.

 

[The Last One]

It was Gen 1 but I started watching the anime first.

 

[Kapote]

Pokemon Blue. A friend from school had a green Game Boy Color and MY GOD how I envied that Game Boy. I would take home his walkthroughs that his father printed on his job's computer and just look at all the pictures, dreaming I had a Game Boy as well (I never did)

 

[kodax_shc]

My first exposure must have been in early 1999 and I would have been nine or so. All of sudden lots of kids were talking about Pokemon cards and I got my first look at them. One of the other kids gave me one of his. A first edition Fire Energy card which I still have to this day. Fast forward a couple weeks later I was walking in to Target to buy Blue Version and my life was forever changed.

 

[oreomunsta]

Gold, baby, gold :D

I watched everyone at school enjoy the first gen, but my family couldn't afford a gameboy.

Things changed by the time Gold and Silver came out, and I was lucky enough to get a teal GBC with Gold for Christmas!

As soon as I saw Totodile, I was in love. Still my favourite Pokemon today

 

[Leo]

Favorite gen is 2, but I love 1 and 3 too.

First memory is I was spending vacation at my cousin's and all the kids there were crazy about this new show on TV. I watched an episode that day (it was the Pikachu goodbye one) and was really confused on why there were many of the same character (many Pikachus). I was later presented to Pokemon Yellow and my mind of blow.

 

[Gilver]

Played Blue on a gameboy color first but I did so when the gameboy advance sp was already out but I still loved the hell out of it regardless even if I played way more Emerald.

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

Pokémon Blue was my first. I should have gotten Red.

 

[Phil32]

Gen 1. Got a Nintendo Power-produced video tape in the mail soon after seeing an article in Nintendo Power about a "Pocket Monster" craze in Japan.

 

[Coinspinner]

I read about Pocket Monsters in a magazine months before the show or game arrived in North America. Then I read news about "Pokémon" on a website. News and pictures delivered through the phone line onto the family computer, how exciting! I bought a blue Gameboy Pocket (and Zelda) in anticipation.

 

[Selphie]

My first game was either Red or Blue, I fogot, I later did get a copy of red, my earliest memory is seeing a Pokemon card of shellder, he has een one of my faves ever since, my favourite gen in gen iv, I loved all the Pokémon in that competitive scene and the physical/special split really made me thank that this was the best change Pokémon could have.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Pokemon Blue. Playing it on my Gameboy while sitting in the backseat and driving with my parents somewhere. That was still one of the greatest feelings.

 

[Lashley]

Gen 1. I remember being so excited about picking my first Pokemon (Squirtle)

 

[Mullet2000]

Saved up Christmas and Birthday money for a Gameboy color and Pokemon Blue when I was 8 or 9. First video game system and video game I ever bought, and first big purchase I ever made.

Played the crap out of blue, beat the game and restarted countless times. I don't think I even bought another game until Gold/Silver came out.

 

[ss_lemonade]

Gen 1 with an OG gameboy a friend lent me. It was awesome

 

[Dany1899]

After watching so many children playing Pokémon on their GameBoy at kindergarten, I wanted to play it too but my parents weren't so keen on spending so much money for games (and they were also right since they were still finishing to pay for the block apartment). However, my father made me to play Pokémon yellow on a PC with Windows Millennium on a emulator (or at least it is what I think it was, I don't know if emulators were already available at the time). I remember that I got stuck on Cinnabar Island because I didn't understand how to enter Blaine's island. Then, after some years, in primary school, they bought me the GameBoy Color Pikachu & Pichu yellow edition with Pokémon Crystal. I played it so much and it is the game which made me love this media.
So, to sum up, I actually started with 1st gen, but the 2nd gen has been one of the most important ones for my videogame hobby.

 

[Glio]

Wow, this forum is old.

 

[BinaryPork]

My first memory is fighting the elite four in red or blue while talking to my mom about the anime and how different it was. I think I was 4 or 5? I remember having only leveled up my Blastoise and I think I had just stumbled through the game to reach that point.

 

[srtrestre]

After watching so many children playing Pokémon on their GameBoy at kindergarten, I wanted to play it too but my parents weren't so keen on spending so much money for games (and they were also right since they were still finishing to pay for the block apartment). However, my father made me to play Pokémon yellow on a PC with Windows Millennium on a emulator (or at least it is what I think it was, I don't know if emulators were already available at the time). I remember that I got stuck on Cinnabar Island because I didn't understand how to enter Blaine's island. Then, after some years, in primary school, they bought me the GameBoy Color Pikachu & Pichu yellow edition with Pokémon Crystal. I played it so much and it is the game which made me love this media.
So, to sum up, I actually started with 1st gen, but the 2nd gen has been one of the most important ones for my videogame hobby.

Click to shrink...

Crystal was a damn good one.

Wow, this forum is old.

Click to shrink...

Who you calling old, sonny?!?!

 

[McSoda]

Played a bit of green when my cousin got it from a flea market.
Got both pokemon Red and Blue, then got yellow when it came out.
Messed up my first run through pokemon blue by only leveling up bulbasaur - venusaur instead of the also levelin up the other pokemon lol

 

[Bard]

GENWUNNERS

Glad the poll is public so we can finally ban all these heathens.

Click to shrink...

I know this post isn't serious, but it's also dumb to assume that everybody that started with gen 1 still likes it the most.

To answer the thread, I started with Yellow but my favorite gen is still the second even after all these years of playing through all the mainline games. I remember that I saw a friend playing the games at school and they let me play it for a bit. Went home later and asked my parents if they could buy it for me, my parents got me the purple transparent gbc with pokemon yellow and later on I got gold as well.

 

[Metalgus]

I remember reading an article about Pocket Monsters before it came to the West. Then there was the marketing for Red and Blue in the Nintendo Power and such. To this day, the only mainline Pokémon game I actually played and finished is Red (though I did finish Let's Go last year). Me and my son are hyped for Sword and Shield

 

[Dany1899]

Crystal was a damn good one.

Click to shrink...

For a child, I think that it was a terrific experience. Finding out that there was a second region had been amazing. Then, when I found Red by chance, my team was brutally defeated and I had to level up all my Pokémon to propertly fight him. The final victory was so rewarding.

 

[Deleted member 2791]

Wow, this forum is old.

Click to shrink...

I'm 21 and my first one was Yellow. I'm saying it just so i don't get mixed with the boomers here

 

[Tambini]

Pokemon Red but I didn't play it till around 2002-2003 when I was about 7, on my GBA. The kid of my childminder had all the games and let me borrow them. I remember playing through rock tunnel under a big lamp in our living room because I didn't have flash.

 

[Deleted member 401]

Took interest in the anime and card game with Gen I, started playing the games in Gen III.

 

[Deleted member 36578]

Started with red and blue. My brother and I looked at those games and grabbed our toys r us tickets to the pick up area. We made our choice for the rest of our lives right then and there. Fire starters for life.

 

[Papertoonz]

Gen 2 but my only memory of it was walking around with a feraligatr

Gen 3 is what really started my interest in the series

 

[Deleted member 24021]

Gen 1 is my first generation, I didn't truly love the series until gen 4 which is still my favorite generation. My earliest memory is catching Mewtwo and showing it off to all my friends the next day after school.

 

[Deleted member 18966]

Gen 1, remember clearly when my charmeleon evolved into Charizard, also the music from lavender town, and missigno

 

[Deleted member 11008]

Pokémon Edicion Roja

I remember the save was not working, because, for a long time, I never past Lavender Town.

 

[AllChan7]

First Pokemon game I played was Gen 3 but I watched the cartoons religiously as a kid. My earliest memory was going to a WalMart and trying out Sapphire and I instantly fell in love with the series as soon as the first Pokemon popped up on screen.

 

[Deleted member 7883]

Pokémon Blue... I think. It was definitely during Gen 2 when I got into playing and I got Silver shortly after so it's a bit of a blur.

 

[Unicorn]

First saw sprites in Gameboy Camera. Then read about the craze in Japan in a comic and toy news magazine. Then saw a friend playing red on a Gameboy.

 

[Richietto]

I still have my beat up copy of Red. Earliest memory that sticks out is finding Moltres in Victory Road. That then led me to spend hours searching the rest of the game for the other birds and eventually Mewtwo. My fondest memory is when Ruby and Sapphire released. Me and my 2 childhood friends would sit there in an empty carport and just play, trade, and battle for hours.

 

[Dad]

 

[cdm00]

My earliest memory is playing Fire Red with my uncle and going around Vermillion City near the unconstructed tower with the Machop, I think I had a Charmeleon?

 

[killertofu]

I was living in New Zealand, I was probably 7 years old and getting ready for school and just happened to catch the first episode of the anime. I was hooked. We were too poor for a Gameboy so I figured out how to use ROMs to play it on the computer.

Moved to the US when I was 8, a kid in my class had a birthday party where he got Pokemon Red. He became my best friend and is still my best friend 20 years later.

I also remember downloading the Japanese version of Gold and using a walkthrough to translate the game.