Recently I have been playing a lot of portable games. Living in Japan, in a small apartment, means that I need to get out a lot. Bringing my console with me has definitely helped me stay connected with video games, even if I am not staying too current in my choices of games.
I have been playing some of the Phoenix Wright games that I missed, all but the first one. And, more recently, I have been playing Pokemon Blue. I have put in 35 hours in the last three weeks, which is on top of teaching and making tests and lessons for my students. I have regressed back to a different time in my life. A time when I didn't have any responsibility, problems usually boiled down to fighting over girls or forgotten homework, and I could spend most Saturdays loafing out on the couch filling more boxes on Bill's PC.
After looking up the release date on gamefaqs.com, I realized that I was a sophomore in high school when Pokemon came to the States. I remember reading about the Pokemon mania going on in Japan before it came to America. On weekly trips to my Mom's house in the city, I would always try to get to 'a mom and pop game shop' that carried import titles. Staring at the Japanese cover of Pocket Monsters, which I had seen in magazine articles, I remember wanting to buy it and at least try to play this amazing game that I recall reading and re-reading about in Nintendo Power.
After a year or so, Pokemon finally came to the land of burgers and fries. I went to Target on the release day. I remember feeling a little strange because I was a high school student. I was buying this game that I knew young Japanese kids played on the playground together. And, I didn't even have any friends that liked games enough to buy it, let alone, help me 'Catch them all.' I bought it though and I even took the free Game Boy holder that had a picture of Pikachu on the front.
I have a lot of nostalgia for that game. I remember weekends dog-sitting for my sister, watching football in the background, and playing for hours on her couch. Feelings of fall come to my mind when I play Pokemon. Small town Iowa covered in red and orange leaves, corn fields just cleared, pumpkins on peoples porches, and the smell of ditch grass being burned or wood burning stoves on chilly days.
In a country without corn, living in a large city, and summer is quickly becoming hotter than shit, I have been transported back to America. Exploring the cities in the original Pokemon, I have hopped back in time to a season and a place that is tucked away in my memory. It is amazing what brings back past memories. Food, music, and movies: these all seem like normal sensory devices that trigger that part of your brain. Video games are no different in their ability to bring back a flood of events longs since stored away in Bill's PC.
