Gotta Catch ‘Em All: The Pokémon that Defined my Childhood - Part 1
TEAGAN SALO
Monument, Colorado
September 2023
Growing up in the 2010s was, arguably, the best time to grow up. I’m biased, I know, but we had it all in those days. YouTube was at its prime, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network released the greatest shows, and Pokémon was as popular as ever.
My love for Pokémon is something that’s been trained into me. Perhaps not by my parents, who just barely missed out on growing up in Poke-mania, but rather by my siblings. I’m the youngest of five, and all of my siblings have been down with the Pocket Monsters at various points in our lives. My sisters were there to join in on all the Pokémon hype as it swept across the U.S., gathering a spattering of Base Set cards, which I still have now. My siblings have all collected the cards, watched the shows, and when it comes to my brother and I, even played the games.
As it turns out, I’ve been hit the hardest by this Pokémon bug. While my siblings influenced my original interest in the franchise, I took it and ran with it to leagues of my own. My childhood was defined by these creatures. I spent long hours during the weekends of my youth sitting on the couch, watching whatever Pokémon episodes were playing on TV. I particularly remember loving the Pokémon: 4Ever movie an unhealthy amount. I thought this movie was the peak of cinema, and I even asked for a second copy of the DVD for a birthday once after the original copy got so scratched it could no longer play the movie. As it turns out, the movie has a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, so perhaps it wasn’t as magical as I believed it was.
The anime wasn’t my only Pokémon love, though. I had an affinity for the cards and games just as much. Even to this day, almost every birthday I celebrate comes with packs of Pokémon cards gifted to me from various friends and family. I also distinctly remember my very first Pokémon game. It was 2010, I was turning 5 and I received a bright pink Nintendo DSi from my parents along with one distinct game: Pokémon Soul Silver. My brother would later get the companion game, Pokémon Heart Gold.
I loved that game, and though I wasn’t very good at it and could never get past the eighth gym (curse you, Clair with no E), it sparked a love for these games unlike any other. I’d go on to collect as many games as I could, playing every new release after that as soon as it came out. It’s a tradition I keep to this day. Now, I boast a collection of all kinds of hard-to-find, expensive copies of Pokémon games, most of which come from my brother and I’s childhood.
So yeah, I’ve done it all when it comes to Pokémon. I’m going on 18 now, and I’ll bet that about 15 of those years were spent head over heels for this franchise. With this love for Pokémon comes the question: who is my favorite Pokémon? There’s 1,015 ‘Mons as of writing this, so which one reigns supreme in my heart? How can you pick after almost a decade and a half devoted to this franchise?
Check back next week and I’ll let you know.
Do you have a guess? Put in the comments – we’ll compare our favorites and start a discussion.