33 years old and just discovered Pokemon - Where to Start?

[alienjesus]

Yeah, the GBA is possibly the most commonly bootlegged console out there right now, and the Pokémon games are probably the most commonly faked games for the system due to their popularity. Be careful when buying. There are a ton of ways to detect fakes on GBA, but none beat just buying a triwing screwdriver for a couple of quid and opening the cartridge and looking at the board.

Although pokémon is commonly faked, it's also basically the most popular series on Game Boy hardware, so if you pay attention it shouldnt be hard to find genuine copies either.

[Ziggy]

There are a ton of ways to detect fakes on GBA, but none beat just buying a triwing screwdriver for a couple of quid and opening the cartridge and looking at the board.

+1

And like I said, if in doubt just post pics of it on the forums for others to help identify if it's a fake or not. Pics of the PCB is best.

[MrPopo]

Clearly the best Pokémon game is Stadium 2. Get that N64 action going.

[Tanooki]

Before dropping a lot I'd see if the mechanics and the time commitment involved with the game suits you.

Personally I'd say your best bet would be your choice of FireRed or LeafGreen on the GBA. it's the old GB original RED/BLUE but with the modern 00's mechanics of the GBA titles so you get faster running, berries, and a few other things and I think it has team battles too. Now if you ever watched or liked the anime though, I'd go one step backwards to the Yellow Pikachu edition because in that one you start with him/her? and then unlike the other old red/blue you can get all 3 of the starter (fire, water and grass) pokemon to really get a feel for how it mixes things up.

The thing with Pokemon is, the more it has moved along the more time it will take to get through it I've seen. They keep adding more of them and more base abilities (fire, ground, fly, electric, ghost, etc) and even cross breeds that sit with two of those. You'll always be stuck with just 6 as you walk around, and unless you use the most modern of EXP sharing done on 3DS it's a slow and painful process of individually leveling up each one alone, or putting out a weakling, then swap it for a big one (who gets a free punch in the face for it losing some HP) to mooch that way. If you don't have time to get at least maybe 10 of them raised up to deal with the different base abilities of the things you may get frustrated/bored and quit. I used the XP share on the 3DS game which solved that issue, but I got bored going around and quit around or just before(forget) badge #2 and ended up selling it and then went back to yellow.

That was always my issue. I only ever finished Yellow, did most of Red/FireRed, and I've had the DS version of Silver and X on the 3DS and I've gotten progressively far less distance in each iteration. I still keep Yellow and FireRed around as it scratches the itch when it arises.


EDIT: Forgot to mention, as a bonus FireRed/LeafGreen once you finish the final four (for the ending) it unlocks the entire land of the old sequel to red/blue and all their pokemon so you effectively get twice the areas and twice the pokemon to capture/battle making it big bang for your buck (which should cost you around $20.)

[marlowe221]

If you can only carry 6 Pokemon, how do you "catch them all"?

[Fragems]

If you can only carry 6 Pokemon, how do you "catch them all"?

Every pokecenter has a storage computer where you can hold your extra pokemon. When you have a full party any pokemon you catch gets automatically sent there.

[Tanooki]

Each pokecenter has a PC. All extras go there. If you need one, you have to walk/ride back to switch it out. Whatever sits in the PC will never get XP. You can drop one off at a pokemon day care in the games, and they wll in there at some rate of progress (I have never used it.)

[Anapan]

Congrats - I'd suggest Firered or Leafgreen.
I got into it at around 18 (1998) because my brother was really into it.
A mailing list of all things; He asked me to make some fake Pokemon images for his email buddy since that was a cool prank to play online at the time.
I ended up co-running a site called The Pokemon Factory.
Pokegods - Yeah, I made them all except Doomsday (at least the graphics).

[alienjesus]

If you don't have time to get at least maybe 10 of them raised up to deal with the different base abilities of the things you may get frustrated/bored and quit.

You absolutely don't need to raise 10 at once. If you're trying to train more than 6 during a normal playthrough than it's going to be grindy and boring. You can easily beat the game with less than 6 too. 10 is massive overkill.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, as a bonus FireRed/LeafGreen once you finish the final four (for the ending) it unlocks the entire land of the old sequel to red/blue and all their pokemon so you effectively get twice the areas and twice the pokemon to capture/battle making it big bang for your buck (which should cost you around $20.)

Now you're getting mixed up! This happens in Gold and Silver on GB or HeartGold and SoulSilver on DS. FireRed and Leafgreen DO have a bonus area after the main game, but its much smaller and entirely new.


One last important thing to note for the OP is that the Game Boy pokémon games used battery saves, and they're notorious for needing replaced - ESPECIALLY the second gen games (Gold, Silver & Crystal), due to them having a real-time clock which drained the battery much quicker. If you're gonna go back to the GB games, batteries are a concern. They're not too hard to replace if you can solder though.

[Tanooki]

Ahhh...hmm I guess so. I must have been thinking of the various islands caves and stuff and things like the random legendary after the fact and the national pokedex if you have so many of them registered when you restart and see Oak again.

One thing to note though since he's bringing up those battery killing 2nd gen games due to the real time clock in those on GBC and earlier GBA. Fire Red/Leaf Green have no battery or RTC in them, the save is solid so no fears of lost work on a 15-20 year old battery.


If you could though explain to me why I wouldn't need to raise more than 6 pokemon? I've never quite figured that one. I suppose you could play along for awhile and find something nicer and PC box one of the ones in your party. But, I always thought with the amount of breeds there are with their elemental(etc) class you'd need a few more to be sure you don't fall short and get a pounding. I'd be far more inclined to put a solid effort into my yellow or firered cart again with less work having to be done as it got real boring.

Oh and FYI pokemon came out right about when I got into college. I didn't even get into the game at first. TV was crap at 7am and didn't want to watch news while I ate breakfast and stuff for 30min in the morning. Pokemon aired at that time before the toys and game took off so I got hooked on the original stuff. I'm more happy with the original set then the ever growing stuff that keeps popping up, but the mechanics are still fun.