Why? (Welcome)

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." - 1 Corinthians 13:11

I have always struggled with that concept. Putting childish things away has never been a strong suit of mine. In a week I turn 29 years old so I have legally been a man for at least a few years now, but it also means I have been a fan of Pokémon for 21 years. No need to fret had Pokémon existed or been in the US by then I would have been a fan for the first 8 years of my life too. I have played games from every Pokémon generation and beaten many of them... but I have not played and beaten all of the mainline Pokémon games. A while back I decided if I was ever going to put Pokémon behind me I would have to play it out of my system. And since I recently completed my collection of Pokémon games, I have challenged myself to beat all mainline Pokémon games within one year beginning the day after I turn 29. In other words my due date is September 28, 2020 when I turn 30.

At this point there are 28 mainline Pokémon games, 30 if you count the "Let's Go" games for the Nintendo Switch (these two games are sometimes not considered "mainline" games by fans). There will be 32 by the time I turn 30 with "Pokémon Sword" and "Pokémon Shield" coming out later this year. There are also 2 side series spin-off titles with mechanics comparable to the mainline games, "Pokémon Colosseum" and "Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness". My primary goal is to play the 30 (including the "Let's Go" games) mainline games within a year. I also have two stretch goals, the first being completing "Pokémon Sword" and "Pokémon Shield" and the second to also complete the two aforementioned spin-off titles time permitting. So the games I will play are as follows: Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow; Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal; Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald; Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum; Pokémon Black, White, Black 2, and White 2; Pokémon X and Y; Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon; and all remake games: Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green; Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver; Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire; Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee; and stretch goal one: the unreleased Pokémon Sword and Shield; and stretch goal two: spin-offs Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness.

What do I intend to count as beating each game? For most games I will consider a game that I have become the champion in as beaten, but for one game in each set (as listed above) I will require myself to complete the story of the post-game as well. According to How Long to Beat this is an approximated 1,385 hours of playtime (not including the unreleased titles) or just under 4 hours a day. I have a full time job, a family, and I am in the process of applying for grad school; I definitely do not have 4 hours in my day to devote to playing Pokémon. Instead I will play what I can each day and will briefly blog about what I accomplish each day (perhaps some days I will just record an audio blog piece for efficiency). Ideally my total playtime will end up being closer to only 400 hours over the year. I will also blog my thoughts on each game as I go through, rank the games, rank the generations, decide whether or not the "Let's Go" games should be considered mainline or not, etc.

Okay so what are the (self imposed) rules? Follow this link to see. Beyond what is there I intend to play through one game per set first and than go through select games in canonical Pokémon order and finally ply through the remainder.

As I go I will make the occasional blog page talking about my experience or my views on things Pokémon and probably the going-ons of my life as well. But I want this project to be more than that. I also want to have others share in the experience with me as I go. I would love to have other participate partially in playing alongside me and even writing about their experiences for me to post here as well! Consider this your invitation to join along an follow this link to let me know how to coordinate with you!

If successful in this challenge will I put this childish thing away when I turn 30? Probably not, at least not forever. After all...

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” - George Bernard Shaw