Retro Rendezvous

Pokémon by now is over two decades old. So for some people, to see things that hark back to the early days of Pokémon, this becomes a blast from the past, or even a nostalgic experience. Pokémon came about just before the Nintendo handheld gaming world fully transitioned into living color, so it has a similar legacy that only a few game series or franchises have. Anything that brings back memories and experiences of this legacy can then be considered retro, and this is not a bad thing.

In Pokémon Rumble World, if you encounter Mewtwo, the background music changes to something that resembles the wild Pokémon battle music from the original games. Even as Mewtwo is being shown, the alert sound for the battle is played. In X and Y, Mewtwo is found in a secluded cave, reminiscent of the situation of the Cerulean Cave in the original games. As the one of the first Legendary Pokémon, Mewtwo is emblematic of its generation and is fondly remembered as such, though it is rarely prominently displayed. In duplicating all these experiences, retro becomes the flavor when Mewtwo is involved; the nostalgia is evident and enhances the current experience.

Speaking of duplicating experiences, the first-generation Game Boy games are available as virtual emulated games for play on the 3DS using the Virtual Console. For those who have never owned a Game Boy and the games, no longer own them, or still own them but not in a working state, this is a great way to play the games. I personally welcome this as I fall into the third camp, having little interest in getting my old game stuff to work, and especially welcome that these are slightly enhanced for modern conveniences such as wireless trading and even import into Sun and Moon. It's thus a great way to evoke a retro Pokémon experience.

Even the messaging and social app LINE has gotten into the retro Pokémon vibe. There is a sticker and a theme featuring Pokémon and associated things from the first generation as they appeared then, pixels and all. In addition, the sticker is a sound sticker, which means that on un-silenced phones, it can be tapped to play relevant sound clips from the first games, including the bicycle and Poké Flute themes. I'm interested in obtaining the sticker, though less so with the theme just for practical reasons at the moment. In both cases, they look good and deliver that retro feeling for any fan that seeks it.

When it comes to Pokémon, retro is a natural thing, given how old the series or franchise actually is. Those that long for the feeling when the series or franchise was much simpler can evoke it in various ways, with and within games or otherwise. It's truly a legacy that early players are nostalgic to revive and current players can revel in. This will certainly help to preserve the retro feelings for generations and players to come in later years.