I love Pokemon, mainly because my daughter is really enthusiastic about it too. Of course she likes Pokemon that are cute rather than Pokemon that are strong. Explaining to her why she can't take on the Elite Four with her Purrloin and Deerling is kind of difficult but she doesn't like the fact that I need to use big and ugly Seismatoad and Conkeldurr to fight them. She also doesn't want Axew to evolve because Haxorus is ugly. But really, I still love the fact that she loves something that I love, it makes it a thousand times better because she'll see a cool Pokemon that I am battling and want me to get it for her. I feel accomplished because I am giving her something cool and it doesn't cost any money, a great thing when money is as tight as it is.
Despite money being tight, I'm giving generation four another shot. For those that don't remember, my last run in with generation four was not good. I really didn't care for Pokemon Diamond because I didn't relate to the Pokemon in it and there was just too much going on. However I cannot give it too much crap because it did lead me to Pokemon Black which I love. My love for Pokemon Black is compounding lately and has led me to get even more Pokemon which means I have to buy some of the older games.
A run in on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection one night showed me that my selection of Pokemon was far too thin as I got mutilated by hundreds of Pokemon with Japanese names that I had never seen before. My next trip onto the Wi-Fi connection was for trading which resulted in me negociating with Japanese people to get some really cool stuff at really no cost to me as everything I traded I could get again. I was so excited about doing trading that it took me hours to get to sleep that night and I've been preparing to trade again ever since. But I realized that a majority of the junk I had in my PC boxes was not desirable to this Japanese Pokemon Bankers. I needed more capital, so I started breeding everything rare that I got. I've got Bulbasaurs, Torchics, Eevees, Snivys, Oshawotts and Tepigs coming out my ears but I knew that certain things I wanted weren't even going to come into the trade window. For one, Pidgey. He was always my favorite, I called my Pidgeys "Punkin" every single time after my beloved, now passed, lovebird. But these Pokemon Bankers weren't likely to even offer Pidgey because his top evolution doesn't have great peak numbers or moves. Although if any those kids that night would have slapped one up I would have thrown my Reshiram at them and it would have been the trade of their night. The kid that got Cobalion for Bulbasaur probably thought I was an idiot.
People who don't play Pokemon have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Quam quam quam quam quam.
So this weekend I started playing Pokemon SoulSilver. For those that know what I'm talking about you probably think I'm the biggest hypocrite on the planet right now. I said I hated generation two and generation four and now I just bought a generation four remake of a generation two game? What's wrong with me? QUAM, to you. Pidgey is the answer. And Pikachu. You know how many times this weekend I was asked if I caught Pikachu yet? I lost count, but I was asked again this morning before she went to school. Catching Pikachu will make me a god. But more than that, SoulSilver gives me a chance to catch all the generation one Pokemon that I love and transfer them to Black making the game I love even better. I will feel so cool sporting an Articuno and Zapdos in Black. My daughter will be cool sporting a shiny Lugia.
So it seems that the fifth generation has actually caused me to appreciate the previous generations more. Am I bothered by the lack of direction and speed in SoulSilver that Black has? Yes, I am. Fifth generation brought a lot of intensity and speed back into the game. The text is faster, battle animations are quick and feel less forced than fourth generation. But there is something satisfying about being able to catch and use the Pokemon that I learned to love from the first generation. SoulSilver is full of first generation Pokemon because the second generation only added about 100 new Pokemon and 10% of them are "legendary" ones. I actually really like the selection.
So the moral of the story is that SoulSilver has redeemed both the fourth and second generations in my mind. It is a fantasic remake that although it still is lacking the clear direction, speed and extra features of Black has made me forget about many of the failings of Diamond. It really makes me wish that FireRed and LeafGreen were for DS rather than GB Advance. But hey, give it time.
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