Pokemon: Old Gen vs. New Gen

I grew up with Pokemon, just like every other human being from my generation. At its peak, it was just about the biggest thing ever. Everybody with a Gameboy played the games, and everybody with hands and feet had a collection of Pokemon cards. It got so ridiculous that by the second year of the craze, my elementary school banned Pokemon cards from school property. Nowadays, most people look back with extremely fond memories of the early days of Pokemon. Then there are people like me, who never lost their childhood spirit and still play the games.

Now, as an adult Pokemon player, there's one thing that never ceases to bug me.
Whenever I mention the new games to someone who doesn't play them anymore, they almost never fail to respond with: "Oh the new games are terrible. Look at these new Pokemon, they look so stupid! The old stuff, now that was the good stuff. It'll never get better than the first gen."

This opinion is almost universal (among older fans); I've hardly ever met anyone who hasn't said something along those lines. But sure, people are allowed to have opinions, right? Well, I don't consider an opinion valid if it's formed under the influence of something powerful and mind-warping. If someone was discussing politics under the influence of alcohol, I wouldn't take them seriously. But these people, they're on something different. They're under the influence of something called Nostalgia. 

How else would they be able to know how bad the new games are without actually playing them. And trust me, this is almost always the case. I mention Platinum or Black & White, and they tell me they hate the new games. Then I ask them, "Have you played them?", to which they respond: "What the heck is Platinum?" Their rose-tinted glasses are causing them to reject whatever they aren't familiar with, which shouldn't be surprising considering it happens all the time in just about every aspect of life. 

Another thing that tells me they're under the influence of nostalgia is the simple fact that the new games are actually great. As games, they continued to improve and improve, adding dozens of new elements and polishing the Pokemon world overall. At this point, it's practically impossible to compare a game like Pokemon Platinum to the original Red & Blue. That would be like comparing a space shuttle to a steam-powered train. 

Don't get me wrong; I still love Red & Blue and I still have fun whenever I play them. But, as a gamer, I've got to admit that they have aged miserably. They're an absolute mess, to be honest. Fortunately, they've been remade into Fire Red and Leaf Green, and those games are amazing. 

Now then, the designs. Ask anyone, and they'll tell you that the newer generations of Pokemon are infinitely uglier than the first generation. This seems like a matter of taste, but it's (once again) a result of intense nostalgia. They'll cite examples like Vanilluxe (an ice cream Pokemon), but seriously, what about the first generation? What was Voltorb, a pokeball with eyes? What about that bundle of eggs we call Exeggcute? And don't even get me started on Jynx.

In truth, every generation has its share of good and bad designs. At the top of my head, I can actually think of better designs from the 4th and 5th generations; the first gen is a bit dull in my opinion. I absolutely guarantee you that if we were introduced to Pokemon through Pokemon Emerald and Red/Blue came later, we would all be complaining about how terrible the Red/Blue Pokemon are. That's just what nostalgia does to you.

People need to either embrace the new games or shut up about them completely. It's not proper to talk about something you have no clue about, after all. There are obviously people who have followed the games for years that don't like the newer generations, and that's fine. It's the people that have never even bothered with the new games that bug me. Face it guy; you're blinded by nostalgia. I know it hurts, but trust me, the things you loved from your childhood...aren't really that great.