I last wrote about 37 months ago, and it was on the subject of Pokemon, and how I’d gotten sucked into Pokemon X after a decade and a half hiatus. Well folks, I’m here to report that the obsession is still snowballing, racing downhill while murdering skiiers and smashing children and family winter getaways with it’s fury.

Following my Pokemon X adventure, which lasted a modest 55 hours give or take, I decided to take a long break from anything Pokemon for a while. This break didn’t last long. Not at all, in fact.

I picked up Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon about a month later, never having played a mystery dungeon game in my life, but due to the rave reviews and my.. creeping suspicion that I might really fucking enjoy this game.. I picked it up. What followed was about 40 hours of awesome adventure, completely unlike anything Pokemon I’ve ever played, but boy oh boy was it fun. Fairly challenging as well, although at times it seemed completely random as to why I was getting my ass kicked, only to turn around and dominate the next minute.

I loved the story though, really. All of the plot twists and turns just kinda came out of nowhere, but the game really let you do your thing in all the “between time.” One thing I can definitely bitch about is the learning curve. I swear, I had Google open for the first 8-9 days I played this game. Learning how to use Wands, what the fuck “Pinnacle Island” was for, all that good stuff. To be honest, I still feel like the game has the “Photoshop bug,” which is a term I just invented to describe something that you’ve used forever, but you still only know about 20% of it.

I actually called it quits about 40 hours into playing, having gone through all of the post game and now challenged to partake in some kind of Treasure Hunt. I just couldn’t get into it though, although I do intend on going back to it again. It was at that time that I said I needed to take a break from Pokemon. Again.

Then, it happened. Red, Blue, and Yellow all got re-released on the 3DS. Rejoice! I played the shit out of Red/Blue as a kid, but never got very far into Yellow before the fad died out. So as I sat in Seattle late at night on a business trip, I went ahead and dropped $10 on Yellow and got started.

Nostalgia is my drug of choice, and I’ll be damned in Pokemon Yellow wasn’t some uncut China White.

I’m taking my sweet-ass time in this one. Leveling up slowly (as there wasn’t any EXP Share like in X/Y or beyond, so shit takes a little longer), but having a great time doing it. I realized, playing Yellow, that I really missed this challenge when I played Pokemon X. X was awesome but it was really pretty damn easy. With R/B/Y, you got your shit fucked up if you showed up to a gym under-leveled. I know because I did exactly this. Misty rocked my world 8 goddamn times before I realized I could go North and fight some trainers to level up more.

A few days after picking up Yellow, I learned about Sun and Moon being announced. Well Jesus Christ, here we go again.Now, as I spend my every waking spare moment training up my team in Pokemon Yellow, I eagerly await the release of Sun/Moon. I just can’t get enough Pokemon stuff lately, and there’s no end in sight. Something about enlisting a team of what basically equate to slave animals to battle for you just feels so damn rewarding.

There have been a few more games littered throughout my Pokemon obsession revival, more on those later. Nintendo firmly has my weiner and wallet in their grip. Bravo! I recommend it all.