In which Pikachi Rambles a Bit and Talks About Hindsight. And Pokegods.

WARNING: NOSTALGIA ALERT!!!

There are probably some older members out there who can relate to me. I will be 18 in less than 3 weeks, and I couldn't help but think about how my childhood will "officially" be over. I will legally be an adult. Not that it matters much; if I haven't outgrown Tamagotchis or Pokemon by age 17, I probably never will. I will be a hardcore PokeGeek til the day I die.

This also got me to thinking about how I first learned about Pokemon. I was 5. I was Aspy. And I DESPERATELY wanted a GameBoy. You see, one day I cam home from kindergarten and turned on the TV to see an adorable yellow critter that said "Pika". And it stole my heart. I went crazy about Pokemon. I never did get a GameBoy.

Anyways, today I decided to relive those days to the best of my ability. Which basically means I Googled "pokemon 1999". Turns out, at age 5, I was too young to truly understand the full extent of Pokemon Mania. And I found...

THE POKEGODS. The Pokegods are the result of leaked artwork on the unprepared internet. Pictures of Pokemon featured in the still-under-development-and-therefore-very-very-secret Gold and Silver games escaped their Japanese origins and hit the American web, causing gajillions rumors of fake, ultrapowerful pokemon, called "Pokegods", and the bizarre cheat codes to get them on your Red or Blue games.

Some of you might remember Pikablu. Pikablu was the name given to a picture of Marill before anyone actually know what it was. Supposedly it was a super-secret water evolution of Pikachu. In fact, some of the early Gold/Silver Pokemon cards actually say Pikablu on them. How sad many fans were to find out that the Pikablu in the Pikachu short before Pokemon 2000 was actually just a weak water pokemon. But Pikablu is one of the major factors in starting the Pokegod Phenomenon. Because if Pikachu has a secret water evolution, then how do I get it? And what OTHER secret Pokemon exist in my Red/Blue game? The same goes for Mew. While now known to be an actual Pokemon, it was not obtainable in the original American Red and Blue Pokemon games (unless you use a glitch that was not well known at the time), leading to the same conclusion: What is this ultra-rare Pokemon and how do I get it?

Anyways, anyone else out there remember the Pokegods? And anyone else know of something that, at the time, was THE THING, but in hindsight is really rather silly?

*Moved to '(Non)-TamaTalk - Stuff We Play -Team Rocket's Headquarters'*

I know what you mean.... I think I was 9 or 10 when I first saw that little yellow mouse appear on my TV screen and I've been a huge fan ever since, even converting my wife into one. Pretty much the entire time through school and high school all I ever wanted was my own gameboy and a pokemon game so I could finally get to play it and catch all of my favs...