There has been a bit of a gaming lull lately, and while I am still working my way through the Elite Four in Soul Silver, and still striking the earth as often as I can in Dwarf Fortress, I felt the need for a something with a little more… something.

As it so happens, over the last month, I have had the occasion to react in abject horror when two different people told me they never played through Final Fantasy III/VI (I’ll stop doing that now).  Both were people I would generally consider “well versed” gamers, and I viewed such a gap in their gaming history as a mark of shame.  So, after vigorously explaining to them that they just had to play, it seemed like the perfect time to give it another whirl myself. 

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I’ve been quite busy as of late, with a lot of work stress, projects around the house, and other various time-consumers that pop up out of nowhere.  So without further comment (ok, with some comment, but in a foreign language) a few moments from one of my favorite, calming games growing up:

In first person shooters these days, a once universal item seems to be appearing with less and less frequency. Whether it’s the steaming whole chicken-on-plate of Wolfenstein, or the white box with a red cross from Doom, health kits have become an endangered species. Muscling in and out-competing these gentle creatures has been the animal known as ‘regenerating health.’ Featured more prominently in recent games, it has beaten its opponent to the point of it possibly becoming extinct.

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I first played Pokemon Red the autumn of my Junior year in college.  I was traveling abroad to Japan for a semester, and after growing somewhat enamored of the cartoon (as discussed previously), I decided I should give the game itself a try.  It proved to be a wise investment, as I put far more hours into it than any other GBC game I ever bought.

Pokemon is, on the surface, a pretty simple concept:  Collect Pokemon, battle with them, gain experience, and fight your way to the top. The collection aspect, which has always been the core of the game (as well as the core of its marketing) is, by itself, a pretty powerful motivator for a lot of players.  A player could invest hours upon hours in the game tracking down and either capturing or trading for every single Pokemon they can to fill their Pokedex, and that alone would probably garner enough gameplay hours to rival most modern JRPGs.

In my mind, however, the real genius of Pokemon is only revealed once you scratch the surface a little deeper.  While the charming story and addictive collection aspects are solid on their own, where the game really succeeds is in how it creates layers of depth that are accessible to those players that wish to take the time to explore them.

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