Pokéfest - Week 2

Day 12

Ok, so here we are. Pokéfest 2012 enters it's second week and the competition is starting to heat up like a Charmander on curry night.

So far the results that have rolled in have surprised me, completely back to front to what I imagined as they are. To give the statistics:

In the lead we have Jim 'the Brady' Sullivan who has picked himself up 6 badges as well as having 43 Pokémon entries in his Pokédex. Jim has been the real surprise of the first week and has made use of his profession as a 'government sponsored rock climber' (unemployed) to full effect, putting us more experienced (older), professional (employed) gamers to shame. There is still time to set this record straight though and I am personally unconcerned. For now.

I am currently languishing in 3rd place with 2 badges and 19 Pokémon in the Pokédex. Having made a rapid start to my journey I have since become distracted; mainly by trying to catch an Abra which took me two days. That's two days wandering around the same 5x2 patch of grass on Route 25! Still, I am mighty pleased with my catch. I feel he will be of some use later on...

In 2nd place is Ben 'the Fox in the Box' Jefferies. He's rocking 3 badges and 30 Pokémon caught. This high catch to badge ratio suggests to me that Ben may be a particularly thorough trainer, literally out to catch them all. Perhaps a wildly varied team may be unleashed come June.

In 4th place is the Pokéboss Richard. His game only arrived a week ago today (Day 4) and was initially not working but - as if to prove his boss skills - he swapped out the save battery and replaced it. Then, inexplicably, proceeded to put down his Pokémon Red cart onto his bedside table and instead booted up Soul Silver on his DS grinning to himself quite wildly. Jim is calling this a bluff, an attempt to create a false sense of security. I'm not so sure. I'm completely baffled by his actions in fact. But still, he remains my number 1 seed for the tournament. He is a boss after all.

And finally, bah bah bah baaah! Spanish Dave has joined the party. He has borrowed an old Game Boy Pocket from the Pokéboss and is probably completely immersed in his new copy of Blue (it arrived yesterday) as we speak. I say probably as he isn't responding to texts or calls so we can only assume that he is locked in his room trapped in an all too involved battle with Team Rocket. We aren't too worried yet, but if he doesn't re-emerge with some witty rugby related comment soon then we will. Lots. We really hope to have heard from him for next weeks post.

So, as you can see, we've made varying levels of progress through the first week but one thing has been a common point of discussion and that is that, quite simply, these games are brilliant. I thoroughly expected to be awash with nostalgia but I feel that more than that, the games are actually fantastic. Perhaps it is to be expected of me as I am a self proclaimed lover of the retro - but - we are all in unison on this. Pokémon Red/Blue are as fresh today as they were , what?, 14 years ago. Sure they look a bit rubbish and if I'm completely honest Butterfrees' pixelated head makes me feel a bit sick (he kicks ass though) but we don't care. We're all having an awesome time with these games - again - and so should you.

Looking forward to next weeks post! Poké-effing-awesome!