Hey, folks. Sorry, it has been awhile since I last wrote an entry here. I have just been busy with my usual life stuff (Work and binge-watch stuff mostly. XD), so you really didn’t miss anything (My Twitter @BZPJMJ covers most of what you missed, if you are really that curious.).

But anyway, last weekend I decide to start a “new” journey through Pokemon Red (3DS Virtual Console copy) and well, I figure I should bring back this theme of blog entries since I know there are some Pokemon fans here.

Plus, I feel like sharing and keeping track of my progress somewhere since I am attempting to catch all 150 Pokemon in Kanto (Not including Mew obviously because there is no legit way of capturing it. I refuse to use glitches to catch stuff.).

This is going actually be first time that I attempt to 100% a Pokedex, so I thought it would be a cool thing to share my progress on here. And well, if any of you are more experienced with 100%-ing a Pokedex, I would appreciate any tips you might have.

Before anyone mentions yes, I am aware that I will need Pokemon from Pokemon Blue (Such as the other starters, the other fossil Pokemon, the other Fighting “Gym” Pokemon, Trade Only Evolutions, and Version Exclusives) to complete the Pokedex.

I do plan to play Pokemon Blue on my old 3DS at a later point to do that. For now though, I am just focusing on catching and training what is available in Pokemon Red alone since I don’t want to juggle two Pokemon games at once (Although it will mean I won’t have an Alakazam till Post-Elite Four, which stinks since they are my favorite Generation 1 Psychic Pokemon.).

But yeah, that’s my basic game plan for this run through of Kanto, so let’s talk about my progress so far. Really not a whole lot to share since like with most Pokemon games, I move pretty slowly through them as I like to level grind my Pokemon to be close in level to one another.

I would say it is paying off though as I completed two evolution lines (Caterpie & Weedle Families) and I have all Pokemon available in Routes 1, 22, 2, Viridian Forest, and Route 3 (Not including ones from fishing and surfing obviously). Last time I played, I had my first badge and I was working my way through Mt. Moon (Only missing Geodude & Clefairy).

So yeah, while I am not making the best time in the world (I have 23 hours logged and I only at Mt. Moon. This is definitely not a speed run. XD), I think I am doing pretty well at least when it comes to the Pokedex so far.

Here’s what Pokemon I have so far (Along with levels & nicknames):

- Bulbasaur, Level 14 (No Nickname yet, feel free to suggest one. Also this is first time that I have trained a Bulbasaur before.)

- Nidoran [Male], Level 13 (Barney; It is a reference to Barney the Dinosaur from an old children show)

- Nidoran [Female], Level 13 (Sarah; It was supposed be a reference to the Land Before Time character that's a Triceratops, but apparently her name is actually Cera. XD)

- Rattata, Level 13 (Rufus; Kim Possible reference)

- Pidgey, Level 13 (Zoey; It is a reference to the time that Yogscast Zoey was wonder-trading Jigglypuffs in exchange for Pidgeys in Pokemon X. I tried to be one of the people to trade her the Pidgey since I nicknamed a Pidgey, Zoey, in X too. XD).

- Jigglypuff, Level 13 (Puffball; I couldn't come up with anything, so I just went with first name that came to mind. In hindsight, I wish I called them Kirby though. XD)

- Butterfree, Level 10 (Anthony; Ant-Man reference, even though Butterfree isn't an ant.)

- Beedrill, Level 10 (Wasp; It looks like a wasp, so I named it such.)

- Zubat, Level 9 (Batman!; This is reference to the Zubatman short that I saw once on the internet. Although I went with just plain Batman since I didn't want to change it when they evolved.)

- Paras, Level 8 (Toad; Mario reference)

- Spearow, Level 7 (Iago; Aladdin reference)

***

Besides that, I guess I'll share my thoughts on returning to Generation 1 so far. Now when I first heard the news about the Generation 1 games (Red, Blue, and Yellow) being released on Virtual Console, I must admit that I was kind of mixed on it.

This was mostly because I had thought with 20th anniversary, they would maybe remake Kanto (again) in the "new" 3D style in celebration of the anniversary. Instead though, they announced Gen 7's games (Which I am excited for.) and the re-release of Generation 1 in a digital format (Which in hindsight does makes sense, it just caught me off guard as Game Freak had never done that before.).

There's also the fact that compared to the generations that followed, Generation 1 (and 2 really, even though I love Johto) had a lot of glitches and graphics wise some of Pokemon look very strange. It also doesn't have as many of features that I like from the later games (Running Shoes, Better PC layout, Pokemon Centers and Marts together, etc).

Of course, I am not say I hate Generation 1. It's just not up there as my favorite Pokemon game is all. I mean really if I did hate it, I wouldn't of done this with every Pokemon tune I heard in the game, while I played on Saturday. XD

Still though, why did I decide to get Pokemon Red considering I was originally mixed about it? It was kind of combination of things really; the recent news about Sun & Moon and a friend of mines recently beat their first Pokemon game (Pokemon X) kind put me in a Pokemon mood. And while I could return to one of Generation 6 games, I decided that maybe it was about time that I try complete a Pokedex...

And naturally that thought lead to the Generation 1 games as there only 150 Pokemon to collect in those games, so I figure I could start fresh there and use Pokemon Red as my baby steps for doing the National Dex in the future. That's about it really.

Alright, that's enough from me for today. I apologize if this was kind of a boring read. I hope you all have a great day and thank you for taking the time to read this. Oh, and I probably try to do these Pokemon progress update entries once a week, if I can.

But anyway, talk to you later, BZPers.

- JMJ 2016

PS - I should have a blog entry up about the leftover BZP shirts (Which I mention a couple entries back) sometime this weekend. So if you are interest in one of those shirts, be on the lookout for that.