Today we say goodbye to another childhood hero of mine. Yesterday Takeshi Shudo was rushed to the hospital after suffering a hemorrhage. He was only 61 years old and when I looked up the type of hemorrhage he had things actually looked like they were in his favor. Unfortunately things don’t always go as planned and it was time for him to go.
I never knew much about Mr. Shudo. As a child, all I knew about him was that he was in some way responsible for my favorite escape from life. Mr. Shudo was the Chief writer for the original Pokemon series and the first three Pokemon films. He didn’t remain as such until the end of his life but he was always involved in the project in some ways and without his original work there would be no Pokemon.
That might not mean much to many people. I myself have not really watched the show for many years but it was from the shows that the video games were made. For many reasons these games will always hold a special place in my heart. They aren’t necessarily the best games ever made. The story line hasn’t changed all that much and sometimes they even get repetitive at times. I could go my whole life never seeing another Zubat but like all things we must make allowances for the bad if we can ever enjoy the good and these games were good. They were there for me when I felt alone and then when I made close friends we were able to play the games together.
There are even certain Pokemon that hold sentimental attachment for me and while that might seem strange I will always love these fictional creatures. They are a part of my life and a part of me. So thank you Takeshi Shudo for your loving gift. You may be gone now but you left us with amazing memories. I will continue to honor you by playing your games and maybe even someday passing them on to my children. Thank you for everything.
Sincerely,
All of the fans you never got to meet
After hearing the news, my daughters and i took an entire day aside to sit with animefreak and watch the first season of pokemon. I have never watched the series before and im happy to say that i enjoyed it quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteMy girls have allows liked watching, playing and being pokemon. Lately they have been asking to get one of the video games but i have heard that some of them are actually a bit difficult. Do you have a suggestion on which ones would be good for a beginner in the gaming world.
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I've been having a crazy few weeks. Without knowing what system your girls currently own it is difficult to say but I will give you a rundown of all of your options.
ReplyDeleteMost likely they have a DS as this is the main home of Pokemon. If that is that case I would recommend getting them a used copy of either Diamond or Pearl.
I understand that these are from the main series and can be quite in depth games but they are designed with the idea in mind that they will be played by all age groups. When I first played the original trilogy I was in elementary school and I had no problems with it. I didn't understand all of the in-depth mechanisms behind the gameplay such as breeding traits but I didn't even notice they were there. It's something you can choose to mess with or leave alone and you will enjoy the game just fine.
Many people might recommend the mystery dungeon series or the ranger series as these are designed for younger players exclusively but I won't for several reasons. First I have never played either because they review terribly. Secondly they have randomly generated dungeons so if there were to be a "hard spot" that your girls couldn't figure out it would be much harder to help them. With the main RPG line you could run to gamefaqs just like for any other game and help them find their next destination even though you aren't currently playing the game yourself.
The reason I say to get it used is because most stores allow a trial period where they can see if they understand how to play. If not then you can usually return it without a problem. Honestly I don't think they will have too much trouble but this provides a fall back plan.
The actual best games for them to play would be Pokemon Stadium 1 & 2 for the N64. Both of these games can be found for around $7 and the system is also cheap if you don't already have one. They don't have a story to get lost in. Rather you just battle the computer or friends with randomly generated Pokemon. It allows for an easy to pick up and fun play game. They are no where as in depth so the number of hours you will get out of them is much less but they are also much easier so that might be a plus.
I hope this helps. Unfortunately its just difficult to buy games for younger kids sometimes. The one line I would recommend avoiding is the GBA group of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. They were a little bit harder to follow and might cause more frustration in your girls than the new titles. Hope this helped!