Of all the interests I have gotten over the years, Pokémon is definitely the longest lasting and most consistent (sorry Sonic) of them all. So, a page dedicated all to itself feels only fair.Lets do it this way: this page is going to have me talking about a bunch of Pokémon Games I had experiences with, beginning with the legally obtained ones, then going at a random order about everything else. Got it? Alright. Lets go.

Pokémon White

... and PokéPark 2

Which one comes first. Who knows. I had other Pokémon experiences before this. Like everyone else, I got plenty of Ash Ketchum exposure as well as (non official) Pokémon card. I even had quite a bit of piracy filled adventures through mainline games I don’t think I ever finished. But my first couple legally obtained ones were these two.

Pokémon White was a birthday gift (I wanna say 11 but can’t say for sure). PokéPark 2 was something I got sometime before or after. Together, they ensured my future life would be immensely Unova toned.

White was picked because of White Forest first and foremost and everything else about version differences was meaningless (I was right) (I picked the right one) (I even got Latias later on the sequel never punished) and I. Was so bad at the game. I’m pretty sure I went through 3 saves before I finally focused enough to go all the way through and, on that last save? I figured out how Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection worked and I never stopped trading. I have no idea what I beat the game with, the only Pokémon I remember for sure were in my Elite Four team (though I also remember a Bellossom and Samurott popping up at Some moment) were my Emboar Starter and. an Unevolved Pikachu. That I got from… trading away a Raichu.

It was a mess. But somehow, I did it. I beat the game. I cried to N. I got long dead event victini, darkrai and mewtwo from mystery gift. And Unova has been a special place in my heart ever since.

COMPLIMENTARILY, PokéPark 2 was there, and if one of the two made me an Unova stan, the other guaranteed that love would hit Hard. I got it as a gift from an uncle after I mentioned wanting the first one (PokéPark 2 wasn’t on stores yet) and it was just an incredibly fun and comfortable experience from start to finish. I fondly remember playing through the entirety of its story, its recruits and postgame, and would occasionally pop it up again, not for a second playthrough (though I did begin one I never finished) but just because. It was fun. Yeah.

So. My (official) (legally obtained) (anime and unofficial cards ignoring) Pokémon Introduction lies here. A game I barely remember and a niche spin-off I swear up and down. Sounds about right, right?

Well, in 2026, I finally went back to do the BW second run I failed at doing for so long: the Fire Monotype Black Run, made in honor of my favorite mon ever Tepig and the region I claimed to love so much. I went, fired up MelonDS on a discord call with my boyfriend and…

It was even better than I remembered

Pokémon Black is so honest, so genuine, so somber in its straightforwardness. The game doesn’t really hide any of its twists, you know Ghetsis is evil shortly after his initial appearance, people probably guessed the N king of team plasma deal idk I didn’t but ANYWAY the Unova experience was great. The minute, select team of Fire Types gave me newfound appreciation for them, I got to witness just how perfect Unova’s philosophy-filled writing was For Me, Specifically, I got to cheat code my way into victini events and black city (white forest and opelucid are better) (by the way) I used Yggdrasil the Reshiram and experience what a Box Legendary is like and I just. Yeah.

Unova is good. I’m glad it is My Pokémon region.

Pokémon White 2

TIME FOR THE SEQUEL BABY!

and it is tepig two time too.

White 2 became THE game I played forever. My save was in at least the two hundreds of playtime, if not more, and every single second of it was well spent. White 2 remains my favorite Pokémon Game of all time and favorite game Period, and the memories remain as treasured as always. So. The team:

• Mordecai, my ever reliable starter. With me for the entire game, beat Kyurem, beat the world and first mon to solo the entire league.
• Sheena the Azumarill, Annie the Roserade and Linde the Lucario. My Totally Spies Power Trio, trustworthy heroes of the PWT. Sheena tanked hard, Annie had Toxic Spike Fun Strat, Linde had a silly thing where I planned on having her as a Nasty Plot Sp. Attacker but she was Jolly Nature and I’m sure not looking at that gift horse in the mouth. Aren’t friendship evos fun?
• Nah the Haxorus, actively searched for after the rotating spot of sixth member had me like “I kinda want a dragon type” and the Crobat I previously had for the spot graciously ceded the place for her;
• and last but not least, Sumia, an adorable little Emolga that immediately established as the team mascot and started throwing STAB Acrobatics everywhere. The only other Pokémon that ever soloed the Elite Four. I love Emolgas forever yeah.

Besides the (as far as I remember) perfectly paced Pokémon story, the flawless continuation of the previous game, the new areas and locations- man, Unova is so pretty. I got to set up Memory Link thanks to a classmate (the one other person in town with a DS), fought Best Champ Ever Iris a thousand times like sworn shonen rivals, made a living out of Join Avenue, PWT, PokeStar Studios, YANCY Oh my girl Yancy I miss you so much BW 2 is. Special. I hope I get to experience it again someday.

Pokémon X

irc, Kalos was a Christmas gift and one I proceeded to be kinda. Whelmed by. Didn’t feel particularly hyped by, didn’t feel particularly disappointed by, was just “eh, Pokémon, it is good”. My natures felt like they were consistently cursed tho. God what was with that -Speed.

• Greninja and Dumont the Talonflame (yeah I don’t. I don’t remember all their nicknames by now whoops), victims of the -speed nature curse. They still pulled off quite a bit in spite of that. Arguably most importantly, their existence is owed to the next guy
• So. When XY was announced (and I was there on the pre release coverage, watching new Pokémon be revealed and covered on the local official Nintendo Magazine), my planned starter was Chespin. Loved the little guy! A good boy. Then bam. Bulbasaur. Chespin never stood a chance. The eventual Venusaur proceeded to put in work forever, eventually rather anticlimactically one-shotting Diantha’s Gardevoir thanks to the wonders of gen 6 speed mechanics. And, that is why, of course, it is the best.
• Lucario.
• And now, the mascots. First, Da Vinci the Raichu. When I began playing X, I was determined to use Dedenne. Being fresh off the White 2 World’s Strongest Emolga Experience, I was ready to become a Pikaclone guy. I was gonna use them all. That was my life mission, yo! And then I saw a Pikachu on Santalune Forest and caved instantly. But that was not all! Cut to like, around Shalour. Time to evolve it. It is for the best. I did so somewhat worriedly and then when I saw Raichu’s amie’s animations. It was. So. CUTE. Oooough. If I was Raichu neutral before, X made me a Raichu adorer forever, worthy of a spot on my top 6. For bonus, she was a female one! The little chipped tail is forever special now.
• Finally, Mamoru the Sylveon. Honestly, I have more feelings about Da Vinci, but might as well say these two in order. It was XY, everyone was using the damn Sylveon, of course I did it too. Mamoru did the very fun thing of successfully proccing Cute Charm against two Female Hawluchas, which was nothing if not a very fun sight. I love my pretty boy flirt dog that keeps scoring women way buffer than him an inspiration to us all.

So yeah. XY. From what I have said so far, I played it, thought it was okay, and moved on. Then, I played AS, went back to X for fun and WOAH what a PRETTY game. The vibes of just Moving through the region were immaculate, beautiful and enticing. Taking a little break from it was all I needed to really let it sink in.

And, of course, a lot more has been strengthened by myself making the amazing executive decision to set my Pokémon OC Group entirely within Kalos. It has been hard, but good, leading me all the way to an OC Themed X Play in 2026.

Gallade learns so many moves holy shit.
Kalos is a speedy, no breaks game with some of the most beautiful views of the series. Good indeed.

Pokémon Alpha Sapphire

Alongside X, I got this one as a Christmas gift and proceeded to play it after finishing the former and its postgame. Bit funny to think that, so far, this is the only Hoenn game I finished. Alright, lets get that team showcase out of the way!

• My Starter, Sceptile. God did you know you can get Grass Pledge? In Mauvile? You know 80 Base Power Stab Move Grass Pledge? Before the third gym? God what a trip. So good. You remember what its movepool is like in RSE. Lord. Anyway, Sceptile became a competent team member, Mega included, winner of the Master Beauty Contest and first Pokémon of an interesting thing that happened in my team. In fact, lets get to that
• Forena the Flygon. Did you know Flygon is one of my favorite Pokémon ever? Great. I put a LOT of effort into DexNav searches for The Strongest One Possible. And Forena was completely worth it in every way. I wish Flygon got to keep Sheer Force tho…
• Laeticia the Latias. Did you know Latias is my favorite legendary? Yeah she was the main reason I picked Alpha Sapphire (and, retroactively, picking White means the eventual White 2 cemented me as God’s favorite). I’m usually not a Legendary user guy (though that may change in a bit) so she really was a Cool member to have in permanent stand by and, of course, Soar.
• I got a lot of Dragons, huh? Well, here is an honorary fourth one, it is Aggron time baby, SOMEONE gotta keep the fairies at bay and he did the job well! Until the postgame, that is. Battle Maison forced me to level up that there Metagross. Even then, the experience of DexNav Chaining an instant High Level Steel STAB Aron was a trip, and made the line one of my favorite Steel Types
• Gisele the CosplayChu. Yeah I planned on using Minun a bit. Yeah I gave up instantly. CosplayChu entered the team as my Electric Type and designated catcher, inadvertently making me love Raichu even more because Gisele obviously just died to a stray breeze. I eventually just put Thunder Wave on Aggron instead, for Pete’s sake. But still, CosplayChu. Cute and helpful
• Setanta the Mightyena. The Mascot of the run if there was one. I caught the tutorial Poochyena, saw the amie animations, and yup, fell in love with it and suddenly decided I was gonna use it forever. Setanta proceeded to be way more reliable than he had any right to be. Intimidate, Fang, Snarl, etc etc etc. My very very good boy champion of the Tough Master Contest.

I still live off the high of my Dragon Lorekeeper Brendan with 3 Dragon Types (Mega Sceptile included) it is RIGHT. It is RIGHT. I power level my headcanon Brendan to hell and back forever and I’ll NEVER stop you hear me? You hear me?!? Good.

I really gotta beat Emerald someday exclusively so I can live up to my remake hater tendencies. But even afterwards, Alpha Sapphire is and shall always be my Hoenn

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team and Explorers of Sky

We now enter full piracy zone! Lets begin with the games I play all time. Everyone has those games they play every other year or so at least, and those two are some of those for me. I cried the first 3 or so times I finished each of them and it is great.

I’m one of those people who thinks Mystery Dungeon’s gameplay consistency is a plus instead of a negative and I’ll never get tired of it. Recruiting a Zigzagoon with its bizarrely fast level up needs in Rescue and a Butterfree with its insanely strong ranged expert movepool in Sky is always good. Sky Peak is my favorite storyline in the subseries and one of my favorite video game locations periods, single-handedly responsible for making Shaymin one of my favorite mythicals. The special episodes are so, so good too.

Haven’t gotten to playing Gates and Super yet, though I have watched them. I don’t think I need to explain Mystery Dungeon more, we all know it.

Pokémon Sword

I haven’t finished Sword (I ended up taking a like two month break when I was about to begin the endgame and when I came back the save was lost yippee) but it is extremely important for being the responsible for my Pokémon Fic writing Existing, period. I began writing Pokémon Fics, and headcanon and OC verses thanks to MasaHop hyping me up on launch, and then from me thinking Sonia’s writing was kinda flawed and not ideal (why does she get no individual opportunities to be smart and every cool discovery is A Coincidence and led by the player instead of her gwaaaaa). Sword has had some of the biggest consequences on like, my existence as a Pokémon Player and I’m like, SO thankful for it.

Also the game looks good. It looks REAL good. I don’t care what anyone says, Pokémon Sword is a game that looks GOOD I will FIGHT on this hill-

Favorite Pokémon: my top 6

Honestly, I can probably talk about every game in this franchise forever, but I think we’ve had enough of that. Lets skip to everyone’s favorite question: who is/are your favorite Pokémon?

Believe it or not, the Tepig love wasn’t instantaneous, with Snivy and Oshawott taking the lead at first, but the Anime and PokéPark’s depiction of the little piggy endeared me so much to it it is now my favorite Pokémon and Line of all time, period. I’ll proudly defend it forever.

As for the others, I am pretty sure Flygon and Latias are both consequences of my ye old Smogon baby moments. My experience there began on the gen 4 to 5 era, where Flygon was The Cool Hit And Run Dragon Type Who Wasn’t As Strong As The Others and Latias was Game’s Best Kyogre Counter and the cause for championing them was decided. Raichu’s story was already told in the X section, and Mimikyu is simply explained by that one Mimikyu song posted just before Sun and Moon release, precious little baby.

This does leave Glaceon as a weirdly unknown case here. Mayhaps inspired by the Icy Stone Pilgrimage? One way or another, it is there on the top 3.

And, of course, here are a couple bonuses:

• Diancie: the Diancie movie sniped me hard. She is my favorite Mythical now. Hits you with a Diamond Storm
• Poliwrath: ok so my Sun team was bad. Like really bad. Decidueye was -Speed. I had a Butterfree because I also love Butterfree and was stubborn. Lycanroc was running ragged carrying the team. Cue Whirly the Trade Poliwhirl, who soonly evolved and proceeded to carry my team alongside Lycanroc through the rest of the game. The experience made me love the mon so much I dedicated myself to also using it in Crystal, where I lucked enough to get a PokéGear Water Stone. What a king
• Squirtle: this one actually isn't like, A Fav the way the others are, but it is fun how many moments I had with it. Squirtle was the first Pokémon Card I ever had, a previous boss gave me a vinyl figure of it I still have, I finished a Pokémon Blue Playthrough and at least one Mystery Dungeon run with it. We keep running into each other again, as it happens.
• Chespin, Fennekin, Dedenne, Banette…: you would not believe how much having an OC affects your perception of a Pokémon

So yeah, Pokémon is a long love and there are plenty of stories I haven’t told here because this list is already long enough. And I just know, as I grow and age, I’ll get a lot more!