09.25.07
Poketoberfest!
Guten Abend! Ja, ist time for der festivalenfunfaire du pocketmonstersgebattlin. Das ist Poketoberfest!
…all right, so I’m barely 1/8th German. Irrelevant. I made a post on Netjak a few months back about how certain times of the year always make me want to play certain games. I get a drive to play Rez around the beginning of spring; I often take a run through a Wild ARMs game in the late fall and early winter (I am, in fact, saving WA Vth Vanguard for the end of November); and in the fall, I have the undeniable urge to Catch ‘Em All. And while I would love to say it’s inexplicable, I know exactly how it started and why I do it. No, it’s not just to spite everyone else playing teh haloz.
I bought Pokemon Blue in the early part of my sophomore year at college– I’d venture to pinpoint it to September or October of ‘99. I’d just picked up the Game Boy Color after having used the old black-and-white ‘Brick’ machine for ten years. In any event, I played the game with a certain amount of dedication during that time; the cooling weather, coupled with the new style of play (new to me, at the time) made a pretty big impression on me. I didn’t actually bother to finish the game until after March and April of 2000, when Gold and Silver had their release dates announced. Once again, in October of 2000, the cool of the fall and the scent in the air just connected so permanently to the game. It didn’t help that I re-affirmed the connection by playing through FireRed in the fall of 2004, in Erie, when my interest in Pokemon was rekindled.
I suppose it’s funny, though, that this time of year is so indelibly connected to the game. There were plenty of other games I played in the fall in between those releases: prime among them, Kingdom Hearts (2002), FF Tactics Advance (2003), Radiata Stories and City of Heroes (2005), and Xenosaga Ep. 3 (2006). (I knew that this “diary” thing was a good idea.) Few made that big of an impression on me– certainly not enough to overwrite the memory of tossin’ Pokeballs into a leaf pile.
So, I’m embracing it this year, rather than resisting it. I never actually finished any of the Hoenn games, so I’m going to settle myself down for a speedrun through Emerald. The rules are again quite simple: I’m starting the run on September 30th (this coming Sunday), and I can’t transfer to Diamond until I beat the Elite 4. If I manage to complete the game prior to October 19th, that will be the fastest completion of a Pokemon game on record (for me) at exactly 20 days. I have to leave a serviceable team on the cartridge in case I need to do some further capturing. Finally, a new twist: if the Elite 4 are not defeated before October 31st, then I have to transfer all of the Pokemon over and delete my save data (so that I don’t cut into NaNo at all).
As always, I’m just tossing this out there; I know RJ just finished his run through LeafGreen, so I’m not sure if he would be willing to take on the challenge again so soon. But, it would be a neat idea to coordinate the starting and all that, to see who can clear first and so forth. A little bit of friendly, remote competition, as it were. Don’t sweat it if you can’t do it just yet, or don’t care to; though, if you are willing to join in, please let me know.
In any event, that’s the plan. I’m sure I’ll be able to take care of it before Tabula Rasa hits on the 22nd of next month, but here’s hoping. I have one more starter left to transfer over (once I get a trainer ID number ending in 3– technically I have two, but I can just breed out the Torchic from my previous aborted run), but once October hits– we’re off. It’s amazing that what started as an atrocious pun is now a personal mission, and a fantastic timesink. Ah well. Catch you all tomorrow.