Over the last few weeks I've been thinking of playing the old Pokémon games again, and I was going to get the old Gameboy out for it, but everything is fairly buried so I haven't been able to.
The closest I got was getting my old DS out, but the battery seems to be dead on it. I'll get it sorted at some stage; but as a quick fix the emulators are the next best thing.
A few years ago I had a decent one on my old phone, but haven't had one since. Yesterday while on the phone with a friend, however, he told me he had one and was playing some old PS1/ Gameboy games. He linked me up and I got it downloaded.
My old nemesis... Gary.
It's so much playing this again, and bopping along to the 8-bit soundtrack, which is so immersive, catchy, and downright nostalgic.
I was looking to download Pokémon Yellow, but decided to go for Red instead, which was one I didn't have. I'm fairly sure I had Yellow, Blue, and Silver for the Gameboy Advanced.
After some thralling around the forest, I picked up a few - shit - Pokémon, and found myself on Brocks turf.
Squirtle, accompanied by Weedle, Pigeoto, and Ratata entered the arena... and got destroyed, so I had to go back outside and grind a bit more.
Then, I discovered that Squirtle's bubble attack was super effective against the rock type Pokémon... okay, I kind of knew that and it's part of the reason I chose him in the first place.
Brock bowed before the might of my Pokémon, and tipped his had to my skill as a trainer, and gifted me with a badge.
After this I went out and done a bit more grinding. But, soon realised that one of the walkways were now clear and I went against the Bug catchers once more as I wondered toward the caves to the East of town.
Through a few tough matches, my Pokémon were evolving and leveling up much faster.
Weekle evolved into Kukuna, and the others just gained some new attacks and a few more levels during the battles.
What I would essentially do is tag the weakest in for a few hits, and then finish with Squirtle. Slowly they gained enough power to hold there own in the following battles.
It didn't take long before Squirtle evolved into Wartortle.
He's a bit stronger, looks angrier, and in general has become a bit of a force to be reckoned with, especially in this starting area.
My goal now is to wander the caves fighting other trainers, leveling my current roster, and also potentially capturing some better Pokémon. I'd like to diversify a bit, and have a good all rounder team for the coming challenges.
I'm really enjoying it so far. I just wish someone would make a Pokémon game for the phones, similar to the old ones in just about every way. We don't need fancy graphics or anything, just some weird looking creatures that we can battle, level up, and evolve.