30 Years of Pokémon
Posted: 2/27/2026Happy 30th birthday, Pokémon!
This franchise has been one of my strongest and longest-lasting interests, and this occasion makes for a good opportunity to reflect on why it holds that special place in my heart.
I think it's a combination of two things: it presents a vision of a world that really appealed to me, and then it gave me a lot of things that tickled my brain just right.
The setting that Pokémon games usually have is one a lot like ours, with its modern conveniences, but a lot more kind. Aside from the somehow regular occurrence of a villain team plotting to quite literally destroy the world, people you encounter in the games and the show tend to be very supportive of each other's goals and dreams. It's a world that puts a lot of value on self-actualisation, discovering who you truly are and what you want, and doing your best to pursue that. And, honestly, that's something that I've frequently felt lacking in my own life.
On another level, I also really like a lot of the gameplay. I have a bit of a completionist streak, so the long-term goals that are provided are relaxing to chip away at. When I was doing my living Pokédex, it was a nice mix of novelty in obtaining some of the Pokémon I needed, and familiarity in some of the egg-hatching and levelling grinds.
And finally, I had a lot of interest in the games as bits of software, and that was a big influence in my career path. I loved learning about how a lot of the glitches worked. Missingno especially was a huge insight in how computers are, at the end of the day, really fancy calculators that just shuffle numbers around.
These millenary little critters have been a great influence on my life, and I look forward to many more years with them!