The Game That Inspired Me
I know this blog is way too long, but this is something I am very passionate about and I may have gotten slightly carried away.
The games that inspired me to study game design in the first place was the original Pokémon Red on the Game Boy Color. My first ever experience with this game when I was but a wee youngster, about 4 or 5 if I had to put an age on it. It was my sister’s game and console - she was about 8 at the time - and she let me run around in her save file one day; nothing to extreme. She probably didn’t trust me enough to battle anyone important (frankly I wouldn’t have either). Being so young at the time, games were just something to play in my eyes. The mechanics behind everything you can and can’t do never crossed my mind once, and just running around in a save that wasn’t mine bored me into submission fast and I stopped playing.
Fast forward a couple of years. I was around 7 or 8. My sister having long forgotten about the dusty game cartridge (I don’t believe she ever beat the Elite 4, either), I decided to pick up and play the game myself. My experience with the game was vastly different. I was personally introduced to the game world, something I didn’t have last time I played. Having my own save file fueled me with creativity. I could play the game how I wanted without the brick wall of possibly ruining someone else’s game file. All of this being said, I was still young and still didn’t put any thought into the mechanics or rules of play that I do now. But I knew something I didn’t know before. This game was different. I didn’t know why, but I could tell this small, obscure game would become something. Something huge. I played through with dangerous levels of enjoyment.
Time shift again. It’s 2011; I was 13. The game industry was exploding, and I was happy to admit I was hugely invested in it. I continued to grow up with the Pokémon games. Pokémon Black and White had just released in Europe and I, keeping with tradition, bought as soon as physically able. I played through White and loved it dearly, it being my favorite in the series so far. I finished the game fast, in a week or two, and had just started work on the arduous but rewarding task of filling this Gen’s Pokédex. About a month later, while school had shut for the summer, I friend of mine asked me if I could help them with Pokémon Blue. Filled with nostalgia from hearing that one color, I obliged without hesitation. They needed help getting past one of the Gym Leaders, Sabrina. They lent me their game for a day and I started to get to work. I beat Sabrina easily, as I’m just so amazing and skilled, and handed the game back. But my lust for some OG Gen 1 had not been sated, no no no. I dug out My own Pokémon Red from the pit of the lost and booted up the dusty Game Boy. I was surprised it still worked. Pokémon Blue was good and all, but it lacked the beautiful, bright ruby hue that Red had (Red is better, fight me). Having played countless games since playing Red last, I was able to naturally see games in a different light, and was by this point very in tune with the production process of games and how they work. And, as impossible as I thought it was, I was even more blown away then before.
It had been years since I had experienced this game, and I was surprised to see how well it held up to this day. There were so many intricate and complicated features and mechanics in this game that I never realized before. Mechanics that I never imagined would have been as consistent in such an early and small cartridge. With a total of 151 Pokémon coded into the game, it offered a ridiculously huge amount of customization (probably way more than any other game at the time) when assembling your ‘Dream Team’, with well over 1000 different possible 6-Pokémon teams. On top of that, there is a move-pool of 165 unique moves that Pokémon can learn from, with each Pokémon being able to learn roughly 40 of those moves between leveling-up and TMs. But each Pokémon can only know 4 moves at a time, upping the customization levels even further. There are 5 stats - HP, Attack, Defense, Speed and Special - that are all different for different species of Pokémon. Even Pokémon of the same species can have different stats thanks the the IV system (called DVs in Gen 1), a system that gives all of a Pokémon’s stats a random number between 0 and 15. This number affects the growth of that particular stat when the Pokémon levels up, with a higher number resulting in better growth. This is a mechanic that I am very familiar with in the newer games, but had no idea the first games were even capable of utilizing with their limited power adaptability. Then there are the 15 different types that all interact with each other in different ways and add that huge level of strategy that not a lot games offered back then. Even the small stuff like: random encounters with wild Pokémon and different encounter rates for different Pokémon - a way of making stronger Pokémon harder to find; battling against AI trainers and Pokémon, trying to predict their moves and counter against them, while the AI will vie to use moves that are super effective.
All of these are things that amazed a 13-year-old me, while an 8-year-old gave no thought about it. Even stuff like the simple but appealing and comfortable to look at graphics astounded me, and actually started me to make pixel art of my own (a hobby that I’ve carried through my life still) that I hoped to use in my own games someday. Even the music was phenomenal giving the limitations the archaic Game Boy Color had in the music department. Pokémon has been a constant presence in my life for as long as I care to remember and pretty much started my love for gaming single-handedly. Pokémon to me is just the perfect RPG with a massive amount of customization capabilities. And that’s why it sparked my interest in the mysteries behind game design and made me want to make my own games so I could leave my own mark in the industry, just as Pokémon did. Pokémon will forever be in the HALL OF FAME !
