I haven’t written much lately. Looking at this front page, I’ve hardly written anything of substance in the past month! Sorry about that. That’s just like me, saying I’m not going to stop writing and then doing exactly that. In my defense Christina and I have been very busy, she’s been sick and those Blogimations that no one watches are a LOT of work.

Rather than spend another day doing nothing and complaining that I don’t know what to write about, here’s a few quick thoughts on what I’ve been up to.

Hey, Nintendo. Please put Pokémon Red and Blue on the 3DS Virtual Console. Then, add Pokémon Stadium to the Wii’s Virtual Console, and let us link them up just like we were using the Transfer Pak back on the Nintendo 64.

I have extremely fond memories of both games and I’m willing to throw money at you to relive them again.

Your pal, Joe

(Note: I originally published this article on Bits ‘n’ Bytes Gaming on March 10, 2011.)

If you read my article about being a Pokémon Master, you know that I am well-versed in the field of Pocket Monsters. I’ve poured hundreds of hours into each game, catching over 493 monsters, beating thirty-four Gym Leaders, and becoming the Champion of four different regions. I know what I’m talking about when it comes to Pokémon. Therefore, you can take it on good authority when I say that Black and White are by far the best entries in the Pokémon series.

Anyone who immediately brushes these games off as more of the same is sorely mistaken and will be missing out on the biggest leap forward the franchise has taken since it first prompted us to catch ‘em all over fifteen years ago.

So for a long time now I’ve been wanting to get a group of people together to play Pokémon. I’ve missed having a group of people to swap strategies with, discuss different movesets and lineups, and battle with. An informal Facebook and Twitter poll later, and I introduce to you, the PK-Mon League.

(C’mon. You know that title is awesome.)

Taking place on the forums, it’s going to be a way for Pokémon fans to enjoy the finer points of the game with other people who are just as into it. With Black and White a little over a week from release, now is as good a time as any to jump back in!

Sorry for not having any updates last week, everyone. Not only was I extremely busy with wedding stuff, everything finally caught up with me and I got sick for a couple of days. I’m feeling much better now and I’m going to try to post regularly until the wedding and honeymoon. It might still be sporadic, but considering the circumstances, I trust you’ll all forgive me!

Anyway, besides the wedding, something super rad has happened. One of the things I like to do is check my Google referrals and find out what people type to get the blog to come up. I like to Google the same things they did just to see what else comes up, and last week it actually led me to something really super awesome.

(EDIT: Apparently Serebii got a cease and desist letter from Nintendo demanding they take down their images of the new Pokémon, since they admitted to using a ROM to get the images in the first place. Since I thought it was funny to hotlink to Serebii’s images when they disallow right-clicking on their site, I didn’t save them myself. I’m on the hunt for pictures, so until then, this article loses a lot of its appeal. Sorry!)

(EDIT 2: Images are back, including all the new Pokémon in one image at the end of the article!)

Pokémon Black and White are finally out in Japan, and there was much rejoicing. One of my favorite things to do upon the Japanese release of a new Pokémon game is look through the full list of all the new monsters. Initially, I had my hesitations about the designs in this game, but there’s a lot I really like this time around. I’ll show you some of my favorites and why I think they’re rad.

Be warned, though, if you’re trying to avoid spoilers until the North American release, you don’t want to read any further!

Also note that I have not played the game, nor do I have a ROM. I detest game piracy, and I love the Pokémon games so much I don’t want to spoil my first experience with them by playing them in Japanese anyway.

Aside from Super Mario Galaxy 2, which I can’t play until we get our Wii back from Nintendo, there’s really only two games I’ve had any interest in playing lately: Pokémon and World of Warcraft. I’ve been trying to think of WHY these are the only two games to keep my attention, and in the process I’ve come to realize what my motivations are for playing video games at this point.

Right now, I don’t have a lot of free time. I’m an adult with a full-time job, I live with my fiancé, I’m trying to run a blog and I have obligations and errands and things. When I sit down to play a video game, I want to make sure I get something out of it and I’m not just wasting my precious free time. What I’m really looking for now when I sit down to play is a sense of accomplishment.

All kinds of new information on Pokémon Black and White was leaked today! Scans from a leaked copy of CoroCoro magazine revealed the three starters, as well as designs for the new Trainers. I know I’ve been talking a lot about Pokémon lately (not just here, but on the Twitter, Facebook and forums. Sorry!), but in the interest of being current I wanted to talk about it again today.

(Also, Serebii webmaster guy. Disabling right-clicking on your page stopped being cool in like 1997. I stole your pictures anyway out of spite. Deal with it.)

I’ve been training Pokémon since 1998. I’ve caught them all. I’ve had hundreds of battles and traversed five different regions. Next spring, with the release of Pokémon Black and Pokémon White, I’ll be doing it all over again. I’ve done everything there is to do as far as the Pokémon games go, and I’m not tired of them, even at 26 years old. I doubt I ever will.

The Pokémon games are my favorite franchise in video games. Period. More than Final Fantasy, more than Mario, I look forward to a new Pokémon game above all else. I’ve seen the games evolve (pun intended) quite a bit since their humble black-and-white beginnings, and I’ve loved them since the first time I ever picked them up.