Pokemon White: that’ll do Tepig

Call in the intervention squad. I’m starting to get hooked.

Actually, maybe ‘hooked’ is too strong a word. I can’t say I am going to keep playing this game the way I’ve kept playing, say, League of Legends. Since wrapping up that joint game diary with Kelly and Tom I have to say I’ve played that game fairly regularly. Or as regularly as possible. I cannot imagine that is going to happen with this game unless my kid somehow gets interested in it. We will see about that in the next few days. If I’m just considering myself alone, I don’t see it happening. It’s ugly and the learning curve looks too weird. Easy easy, la la la. Followed by, “That’s your team? Suck it!” From here it looks too much like the rocket ramp from When Worlds Collide.

Right now, though, the learning curve feels good. Right now, I’m picking up speed. I’m kicking serious Pokemon a–

After the jump, spamageddon

Or rather, maybe what I should have said is, spamachu.

I am going to share a little secret with you…this is not my first Pokemon rodeo. I’m an old hand at this stuff. Had you fooled, didn’t I? Sorry about that. Don’t worry, this is a reveal that won’t make you feel betrayed. You see, I didn’t know. I didn’t know that playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl at my buddy’s house meant that I was now technically conversant with the Pokemon world. I had no idea while we were playing all those tournaments where my friend kept playing that weird pink marshmallow that sucks people into his mouth then later cooks them that this was Pokemon related. I just didn’t know. To make matter worse, Pikachu is my go-to when playing this game.

I know this is like saying you go as Luke Skywalker every Halloween but don’t know he’s a part of the Star Wars universe. I know that now. But I didn’t know that then. Then I just thought Pikachu was an awesome dude with a totally awesome lightning power that I could constantly activate and for some inexplicable reason defeat guys who were supposedly much better than I was at the game. I’d don that sweet green trucker hat and go to town on dudes who should know better just by lightning-bolting them over and over and over again. Ha! You like that?

The answer was no, they didn’t like that. And what’s more, they slapped an ugly, processed meat label on me. “Great, Dingus took Pikachu,” they’d say. “Get ready for the spam.”

I don’t know. I heard the derision in the tone. I picked up on that. But spam is delicious. And I was kicking ass.

Tepig was my first Pokemon. The first one I selected when I started playing Pokemon White. I kind of wonder if I was supposed to give him up by this point. Is he an early game device designed to teach me some lessons and then let go on his way? Should I have matured beyond him by now? I don’t know. And I don’t care. He’s been with me from the get, and I feel like we have a bond. Plus, since he’s been on point for my team this whole time, he’s my highest level dude. If I’m in a jam, I call him to the front and it’s game over. No doubt. I’m barely competent with him, and still he makes me look good. I can’t tell you how many battles I fought where I tried to use Tail Whip as an attack. Yet he was so patient with me. Letting me learn. Leveling up. Until today.

Flame Charge Day.

Ha! I’ve faced a hundred patrats and I still don’t know what ‘Bide’ is, but I do know that my Tepig bided his time with me. He was patient. Now he has Flame Charge. And now, at last, I have something akin to that lightning bolt thingy I so dominated my friends with while playing Pikachu.

Now I’ve got my spam power. Watch out, because I’m leveling up my team behind it.

It may not last forever. But for now…it is mine.

Next: laughter and forgetting
Click here for the previous Pokemon White game diary.