Pokemon, I choose you!

Last week I finally broke down and bought “Pokémon White.” As I was checking out, I was amazed that the clerk, who looked like he was in his 20s, was into the game. It made me wonder if somehow Pokémon had become cool again.

When I was younger I got really into Pokémon. I played the games through “Ruby” and “Sapphire” and also got into the anime, trading card game, toys and even a board game. If something had Pokémon on it, I probably had it. As I got older, specifically during middle school, Pokémon stopped being cool. It became less than cool; it was for kids, and if you liked it, you were a kid. At this point I began to keep my interest in it secret.

High school was even scarier than middle school. In middle school, a casual mention of Pokémon might have gotten a few laughs, but it would die off quickly. In high school, the gossip mill would grab it and never leave the student body consciousness. It was a secret kept from everyone. Friends and girlfriends could never know my dark secret, that I spent my nights training my Tyranitar and battling for badges.

When I got to college, I quit playing Pokémon, mostly because I didn’t have a DS at the time. That brings me to today, when I have fallen back in. Now I don’t feel compelled to hide the fact that I like Pokémon. I am putting it out there with my name and picture next to it. I’m not the only one either; at some point it became okay to like Pokémon again.

The nostalgia value certainly helps. Retro and the 1990s are in right now. Wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt is cool and Pokémon is the same way. It was a cultural phenomenon that directly targeted our generation. Anyone my age can recognize Pikachu and probably many more of the original 151. The first generation of the series was as much a part of our childhood as the Power Rangers or Super Mario.

Really, though, I think I just don’t care anymore. College breaks the tight social network of high school. If someone in the Union sees me playing Pokémon, there is a good chance neither of us knows each other and we may never see each other again. Sure, they may laugh or make a joke to themselves, but it isn’t like all of my peers will know by tomorrow.

It is also easy to like Pokémon when I look at the other entertainment my generation enjoys. I mean, Pokémon has to be at least of the quality of “Jersey Shore.” On the video game side of things, it has to be about the same as “Call of Duty,” considering that neither of them has changed much in the last decade.

If this was middle or high school I would never let this get published. Instead, all of us Pokémon players would simply play in secret. Now we can come out of hiding and into the light, which is a good thing because I need some people to trade with.