Gotta catch 'em all

BY ZEP

"Congratulations, Ratatta was caught!"

These words raced across the screen of my brother's decrepit GameBoy Colour while (triumphant?) computerized music blared from the tiny speaker. I had recently been through my room, filtering out all the junk I didn't need, and found the gaming fix of my childhood: Pokemon (Blue version of course, Red is for suckers). I wasn't able to resist the nostalgia, so I started playing again. It's been two weeks since then.

I'm still playing.

For somewhat reason, I get a guilty pleasure from playing old games or listening to old music. The other day, I pulled out Enema of the State by Blink-182 and listened to it a good four times through. And, despite not having heard the album for a good three years, I remembered every lyrical whine by Tom Delonge.

I thought that after three years I would've grown out of their music, or at least grown out of Pokemon, but something keeps dragging me back. The weirdness wore off after a while, but the first feeling I got was that of uncertainty. Should I really be playing this? Aren't I a bit old (20) for this?

The answer is no, of course. For some reason, we are conditioned into "outgrowing" things that we may have a fondness for. About five months ago, I saw a guy on the bus, playing Pokemon. He looked about 30 at least, and not bothered in the slightest that he was playing Pokemon (I was of course, watching over his shoulder...cause I'm a creep like that). I kinda admired that, in the sense that, yeah, Pokemon is a kids game, but who cares? I'm gonna play it anyway!

Maybe the reason we try to "outgrow" things is because we're afraid other people will ridicule us if we don't. "Why are you playing Pokemon? That game is, like, for five-year-olds." It makes us feel small, childish, and we want to avoid the inherent embarassment. But in reality, there's really nothing to be embarassed about! It's a video game! Playing Pokemon is no more childish than playing Mario Bros., or Call of Duty, or TETRIS...and Tetris is awesome.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and catch a Pikachu.