This has come to my blogs a few times...obviously, being a 22-year-old (in 2013) makes me an adult in all legal forms/ways/ and etc. Not only am I adult, but since 1997 when Red and Blue Versions were released in the United States (making me 6-years-old back then) I have been playing Pokemon.
Now...I do not think there is anything wrong with adults that play Pokemon, but there is still a huge part of the poulation that likes to point their fingers, make faces, and ,laugh because someone likes something that they claim is a "Children's Game".
CORRECTION: Pokemon is NOT a children's game!
While it may stand true that the Pokemon universe has been simplified enough that a child can play it and still beat the game, the world of Pokemon as we know it today is made for the older group of people that have stuck with the franchise since it first began. Look at it this way...Red and Blue versions held no challenge to them. Typing was simple, so all you had to do to win the game was have a balanced team of Pokemon or even a really tough Starter to get you through. Even in Yellow version you eventually acquired all 3 starters PLUS the Pikachu you were given which put you at an obvious advantage from the very start.
Anyways...there were only a few types, and elemental damage was fairly simple. Electric was weak to rock, Rock was weak to Grass, Grass was weak to Fire, Fire was weak to Water...and etc etc etc. The only hard types the game had to work with were the Psychic and Ghost minority within the game. Plus the world was made to be 'fluffy' by saying that Pokemon 'fainted' rather than die, and you never got a Game-Over when you lost a battle, you merely 'blacked-out' ( which later became 'whited-out' for some odd reason ).
But even with thse fluffy elements in the game, you were introduced to underage gambling wo win Pokemon as prizes, you were introduced to Lavender Town which still haunts people with its melody even to this day! Through Lavender Town we saw the graves of Pokemon that had passed, we learned how Team Rocket had murdered Cubone's Mother in an attempt to create a brand-new Pokemon. These darker levels of this world were not meant for children, and children would not even understand the complex and deep storyline as they played // so who was this aimed at? Oooooh...that's right: older people // teenagers and adults.
Even now in the newer Generations of Pokemon, the storylines keep getting deeper and deeper. In Gold and Silver you had the complex history of the dualing birds, the burnt tower and 3 Legendary dogs. Then you also had the Legend of the Forest Guardian (Celebi), and again, Team Rocket was chopping off the tails of Slowpoke to be sold as food! (Gross)
In Ruby and Sapphire (later Emerald) they introduced the first-ever Pokemon to be considered Dieties. The God of Land (Groudon) and the God of the Sea (Kyogre) which were ruled by the God of the Sky (Rayquaza). These concepts and etc could not even begin to be understood by 6 year-olds and would barely interest 10-year-olds so WHY would they put in all the effort to make something so deep, complicated, and make it something to really pull at your heart-strings? Oh...that's right: because adults play these games too.
My best friend made a good point...she said that with every new version that comes out, it is someone's first generation of gaming, it is someone's introduction to the world of Pokemon. Hell, there was someone I saw online not to long ago that had just started playing Pokemon and started with Diamond or Pearl. Not only are those games in the past, but this person was nearly my age, and it was their FIRST Pokemon game, EVER! So while there are newbies coming into themix whenever they release a generation, most of the time, those who owned the versions back in 1997 still play Pokemon today.
Now whether that be re-playing the classics via ROM or whether that means playing hacks, or whether that is being a serious collector like me (who replays old games to get better teams and really drink up the story I missed out on as a kid) it still comes down to one thing: "You are never too old to play Pokemon".
I have tried to explain it to my friend (Taz) a million times: Pokemon stories are complex, but the battle systems are even harder! You have to understand things like type advantages, the use of held items, EV training, IV training, as well as the different moves a Pokemon can learn. You have to know that Growl lowers attack while Leer lowers Defense. This is another thing that kids do not really understand...that's why when we were playing Red version every kid on the playground had a Charizard that knew Ember, Fireblast, Flamethrower, and Scratch just because those moves sounded cool. Occasionally someone taught it 'Fissure' because a One-Hit-KO was too cool to pass up (even though its chance of hitting was a mere 5% ).
Are you starting to see my point now? Hell...look it up on Facebook. The Pokemon facebook-page (official) is mostly adults. Then you have the CreepyPasta pages (again...adults), funny pages like "RED the Original Trainer", "Mother of Mewtwo", and "Mother of Mew". All of those people are adults with the occasional Tween thrown into the mix.
Same with GaiaOnline and the Pokemon Forum // it's mostly adults or Teens ranging from 16-and-up challenging the home-made Leagues, looking for online battles, online trades, requesting advice for certain things like a Dream-team, how to breed shinies, or where to find something in-game. All big kids...all adults who never outgrew Pokemon but embraced it as something they enjoyed.
So before you go wagging your finger and making fun of them because Pokemon isn't 'cool' enough for you and is just for kids, note that there are probably bigger things you could be concerning yourself with than another person's hobby. Go make your duck-faces somewhere else...and while I am catching 'em all, you will be catching STD's, and while I am raising Pokemon at the Daycare, you will be raising babies. So yeah.
End of rant...for now.