27th February marks the anniversary of Pokémon Red and Green in Japan, but this year's event is an extra special one: the Pokémon series is now 30 years old.
In that time, it's evolved from a mere Game Boy monster-catching RPG into the world's biggest media franchise, with generations of gamers catching 'em all over three whole decades. To celebrate, we asked Nintendo Life readers to send in their most treasured Pocket Monster memories, and today we're going to highlight a nice, round 30 of them.
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These memories come in all shapes and sizes, running the emotional gamut, which feels appropriate for a series that's been with us for the ups, downs, and everything else that life throws at you. So many of us have had a Pokémon by our side (or in our pocket) at important life moments since 1996, it's lovely reading these letters and seeing the breadth and depth of interactions this fandom inspires.
Thank you to everyone who wrote in - we've split the selections across three pages, with a bonus section at the end. Some have been lightly edited, some are just a line or two, while others smash through the word limit (but let's not be sticklers!) to tell longer tales. Save data snafus, surprising Shinys, Master Ball blunders, Mew, and maybe a tear or two - we've got them all and more below.
So let's look at just a handful of the Pokémon memories you hold near and dear...
Pokémon at 30 - Three Decades of Pokémemories
"the elusive 1/4092 chance"
Ever since falling in love with the Pokémon franchise in grade school, one of the number one things I'd always wanted to call my own was my own shiny Pokémon— nothing traded to me, nothing guaranteed like Generation 2's red Gyarados— one that I found and caught by my own hand.
Pokémon X was the first game in the franchise where I really made a point to start looking for one. Because I wanted the success of just finding one to feel as worth it as possible, I employed no strategies and just walked around absolutely everywhere. I recall spending hours in bed roaming around in a random route of my choice with nothing (Save for a team-wide level up or ten) to show for it.
One day, I took my 3DS with me to a friend's birthday party. There were like four or five of us in a big SUV, and I was just kind of whittling away time by wandering around in-game. When all of a sudden, I rolled the elusive 1/4092 chance and was met with a shiny wild Quagsire! I'm surprised the noise of shock I made didn't make us go off the road, ha ha.
If I recall— and I spent, like, ten minutes in battle perfectly planning everything— I ended up catching it without resorting to a Master Ball. Before then, Quagsire was such a milquetoast 'mon to me, but it has since earned a place if respect in my heart for being my first shiny, one I wasn't actively looking for.
Julia Vandenburg
"a tiny mention"
My parents come from a small country called Guyana, and as a kid I was a little embarrassed about it because no one seemed to know it was a real country. One day I was exploring the Pokémon Mansion and I discovered a journal that said the legendary Pokémon *Mew* was first found in Guyana! It was such a tiny mention but it left such an impact as a kid. It felt like I had something in common with one of the coolest Pokémon in the series.
Vortexeo
"my still spouse"
My introduction, which I'm guessing was 1997, was when we were visiting my mom's friend, who has just come back from Japan. Her kids were watching Pocket Monsters, and we, my sibling and I, didn't understand any of it, but we were fascinated by it.
We then caught the series pilot on syndicated TV, back in September of 1998. I was so glad when that version of St. Anne was found back in 2016. Rewatched it for nostalgia after it was found.
My dad was a volunteer for our local terrestrial TV carrier, itself a volunteer organization. Our rampant viewing certainly helped him troubleshoot issues with our local Fox repeater signal lmao
We got the games not too long after, from our Toys R Us. I also met one of my best friends in Middle School, who had also come back from Japan, and had a copy of Pocket Monsters Green. That was neat to see in the late 90's!
We also used to visit a site called Pojo waaay back around 1999 and 2000? Went looking, pleasantly surprised to see it's still around in some form or another. We also had the magazine, which ran for a year or so. I'd love to have copies of the included posters, I had quite a few on my bedroom wall.
I also remember the Pokégods, the Mew Truck, and other rumors, back when they were earnest playground rumors. When TRs Rockin posted how to do the RB Mew trick, the legit one involving glitching how battles load, that was a very special day indeed.
Heck, these rumors persisted through meeting my still spouse. We met in High School a couple decades ago, and I remember him asking me, who had a Gameshark, if you could really find Togepi by heading south of Cinnabar Island. The answer was no, but it certainly gave us plenty to talk about. He's still big into Smogon and the Pokémon Meta, and we both love the games to this day. His starter was always Bulbasaur, mine was Squirtle.
This series has shaped my life in so many ways, and I have to say, my life wouldn't be the same without it. I've stepped away from the larger fandom, for the most part, but still enjoy the games.
AeonicB
"all you can do is move forward"
It's a weird, minor thing, but something that's always been a defining moment in these games to me is in gen 1 when you have to jump the ridge outside of Mt. Moon to get to Cerulean, keeping you from going back the way you came. Of course it ends up just being an hour or two detour before you can get Cut and go back, but as a kid it always felt like this big significant milestone, like your journey's far enough in where all you can do is move forward.
Lizuka
"accidentally KO-ing it"
I played Pokémon Blue to death (shout out my mate John who had Red!), and Kangaskhan was the last Pokémon left to capture to complete all 150. It could only be found in the Safari Zone, so you could only use the (rubbish) Safari Ball to capture it - and I just remember soo many times playing through that tortuous Safari Zone, and never coming across it, or it running away (sometimes immediately), or accidentally KO-ing it BEFORE it could run away… before I could get it down to that tiny sliver of health needed to get it to stay the ball. When it finally did, it was incredible!
Tom Laverack
"my Igglybuff was green"
Pokémon Crystal changed my life as a kid. The day and night cycle, the new Pokémon at night, egg hatching, everything.
I got a shiny from the daycare on my first play-through. I was too young to understand why my Igglybuff was green and had sparkles near its sprite, and back then, I couldn’t find the answer without buying a guide.
I still have that Crystal cartridge 30 years later. I only learned 5 years ago it was shiny. By then my batteries died, but still to this day, its continued to be a fond memory for me.
Acuphoria
"I didn't speak the language"
I was 8 years old in a family travelling on business in Austria. I didn't speak the language, but a local kid saw I had Pokemon and invited me to trade. He gave me a Mew, which I didn't know existed. And I wanted to give him something valuable, so I traded my starter.
flightsaber
"A once-in-a-lifetime trade offer"
I grew up in the '90s, so I was there when the holographic base-set Charizard first hit the scene. My local card shop had one in the display case for $120. To a 10-year-old, that might as well have been behind bulletproof glass. Everyone talked about it. Everyone wanted it. Nobody I knew actually had one. I lived in a condo complex split from another set of apartments by a deep, man-made creek, and there was a girl on the other side who had a crush on me. One day she shouted across that she had the Charizard… and would give it to me if I did one simple thing: kissed her. A once-in-a-lifetime trade offer, negotiated creek-to-creek like we were negotiating across enemy territory.
And I really did think about it. I was 10. That card was the dream. But even then something in me was like… this isn’t the move. (In hindsight, for numerous reasons, including the fact that I’m not into girls, which would’ve been useful context at the time.) So I declined and never saw her again. To this day I have no idea if she actually had the card, if she would’ve honored the deal, or what kind of condition it would’ve been in. I never got the Charizard, but Pokémon very much stuck. My car’s license plate literally reads POKEDEX, which feels like the more rewarding win than gambling it all on a cross-creek kiss and a maybe-real Charizard!
anubisvel
"a walking Pokédex"
I might be the only person who first saw Pokémon in Smash Bros. It was before the anime series or any merch reached my country, and I saw it in "this fighting game with Mario, Link, and Kirby". The whole concept of Pokémon looked super interesting to me, and I loved the designs, so from the day the phenomenon properly reached Hungary, I was a die-hard fan and basically a walking Pokédex.
Krisi
"you have no idea how much this meant to me"
I still remember going to my first World Championships in London in 2022. After two pandemic delays, it made it all the more worth it. Got to meet Serebii, see the Arceus Chronicles premiere and be around likeminded people.
I'm on the autism spectrum so it's not easy to talk to people about most things except Pokemon so you have no idea how much this meant to me. I've been to EUIC in London every year since, even appearing on Pokémon's social media accounts dressed as Hop where I pulled a full art Snom and participating in both cosplay showcases.
Charlie Painter
Head to page two for more Pokémemories...