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[Barf_the_Mog]

In your opinion, at what age is it not alright to play Pokemon? I ask this because...

Story:

I myself am almost 20 years old (7 days away, wish me happy birthday) and was at Half-Priced Books over the weekend with my girlfriend. We were just browsing, so I made my way over to the videogame section. I picked up "Pokemon Emerald" since it was only $10 and my SP hasn't been touched in a couple months. When we met back up again, my girlfriend giggled and asked if it was a joke. I thought, "yeah, yeah. I'm 20 and she's just joshing with me cause it was a craze for younger kids." However, the closer we got to the register, the more agitated she became over my purchasing it. Mind you, this is a store where that hires a lot of people our age and people that we know were working over the weekend. Right before I got to the checkout line, she stopped me and told me not to get it. When I refused, she giggled with the clerk and disassociated herself with my purchase - she was totally embarassed by me. I was both furious and embarassed at the same time. I ended up getting the game, but I can't help but feel ashamed whenever I play it.

So...what's up? Am I really that old to play the game? I know it was a fad about a decade ago, but I didn't think there was an age limit to the series. I don't consider myself an extreme fan of the series. This is my first one, and I play it as if I were playing any other game.

Edit: I gather that this topic had been done before and yes I understand that I am posting this in a gaming forum. I certainly wasn't going to post this on myspace or facebook. I just wanted to see how you, my gaming equals, feel on the matter. Thanks

 

[shattyboombatty]

12

 

[Wollan]

There's no age limit to fun.

Spoiler

ugh

I'm surprised by your girlfriends reaction. Does she accept that you play videogames normally?

 

[davepoobond]

12

.

at least, that's when i got out of it.

 

[Ravidrath]

However old you are when you stop enjoying it?

If the peer pressure/insecurity/whatever keep getting to you, order it online.

 

[Tiktaalik]

video games are for kids

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

How old is too old for video games?

 

[RSP]

I guess it isn't as bad as watching saturday morning cartoons.

 

[Zeed]

Dead.

 

[Archie]

them pokeymans are only for children. go play a real game with guns and killing.

 

[Neo Child]

I dunno, I mean, theres over 30's that love Pokemon for sure. It's just the general unawareness that the game is for everyone not just 6-12 year olds.

Personally I'd buy it online, but I did get Pokemon Emerald in store and had no worries to be honest.

.

at least, that's when i got out of it.

I dont get an answer like that, I mean how can you grow out of a video game that is aimed at everyone? I didn't grow out of Mario and im sure most of you here didn't either. It's just another franchise like any other.

 

[lethial]

Bill Cosby: Now my good man, what do you like to play?
Kid: Pokemon!
Bill Cosby: Pokemon!? Pokemon with the poke and the mon and the thing where the guy comes out of the thing, and he makes a fraaagh fr fra aagh aagh aagh!

 

[brandonh83]

I think Pokemon blows goats but if a girl tried mocking me or something over an item I wanted to buy I would have to smack the bitch. It's just a damn game.

 

[RumFore]

I guess it isn't as bad as watching saturday morning cartoons.

I still watch Saturday morning cartoons and I'am in my 20's though there all turning to crap trying to copy Japanimation so I soon may out grow them.:lol

 

[Chairman Yang]

You should stop playing Pokemon as soon as you're old enough to play something better in the same vein, like Guild Wars or Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne or even crappy MMORPGs like World of Warcraft.

Pokemon is a huge grind with poor graphics, story, writing, and themes, and only gets good at high-level play with other people. The thing is, you can do that high-level play better with any number of other games that have fewer level treadmills and kiddy elements.

That said, you should be able to play whatever you want without your girlfriend getting embarrassed.

 

[maxmars]

I don't know, I don't care about that stuff, or I'd have abandoned gaming years ago.
Personally, I have bought Emerald at age 35 and enjoyed it. Didn't squeal in joy or started sweating for the embarassment when I bought it, just enjoyed it for what it was.

 

[nakedsushi]

Time to get a new gf.

But seriously, I don't think there is a "too old" for Pokemon. If it's fun, who the hell cares? Sure it's marketed to kids, but I had a lot of fun with the GBA versions and I'm 3 years older than you!

The same thing happened to me this weekend when I passed by a Gamestop with the BF. I was excited about Pokemon Mystery dungeon or whatever for the DS and he said, "You're kidding right? You're not five, you know."

 

[Jive Turkey]

Geez if you or your girlfriend are that insecure about what some random counter monkey will think of you just act like you're buying it as a gift or something...Or do the online thing like others have suggested.

 

[C4Lukins]

I don't know about age, but there is definetly a height requirement of under three and a half feet to be eligible to play.

 

[Kawaii]

99E999 Years, ask miyamoto, your never too old to play Nintendo Games,

Spoiler

As long as you feed his wallet

 

[Joe]

i'd say 16+, maybe 17.

 

[Tarazet]

The portable, main installments? No age limit

Console quasi-RPG versions? 15

Pokemon spinoff games? 6

 

[SantaC]

I watch and play whatever I enjoy. Age doesn't matter.

 

[Neo Child]

i'd say 16+, maybe 17.

This isn't a thread for direct-responses.

The portable, main installments? No age limit

Console quasi-RPG versions? 15

Pokemon spinoff games? 6

Never played Trozei/Link, Pinball or Mysterious Dungeon? Totally worth it.

 

[Cosmonaut X]

No shame here about enjoying Pokemon.

I don't see a problem with adults enjoying well-written children's literature & I certainly don't see a problem with adults playing well-made children's games. Of course, if all you read is "Where the Wild Things Are" or all you play is Pokemon Emerald then you might want to consider expanding your horizons a little.

 

[mCACGj]

Pokemon F'n rules. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

 

[Luckett_X]

I played Pokemon back at first release, and it was a good game. I've skipped almost all subsequent releases. I am hoping Nintendo grasps the concept that a MMORPG Pokemon would be an AMAZING game for Wii, and I am not talking about a gimped Stadium title.

It was certainly a massive missed opportunity on N64, a console already lacking a hell of a lot of RPG support. To then be a missed opportunity on Gamecube just seemed... absurd. XD was still too much of a cut down from a proper big Pokemon world.

I'm not sold on the DS iterations either, considering the stuff being put out from Square-Enix (FF3, DQ:Joker) utterly shames it.

 

[GilloD]

There's no age limit to fun.

Spoiler

ugh

I'm surprised by your girlfriends reaction. Does she accept that you play videogames normally?

 

[PantherLotus]

Ridiculous topic. You're on a freaking videogame forum.

 

[Cdammen]

Stop ****ing defining things as mature/kiddy. It's either fun or boring. People are to obsessed with what others think of them.

 

[Neo Child]

The real question is:

How old is too old for a good game?

 

[Barf_the_Mog]

Ridiculous topic. You're on a freaking videogame forum.

True. I'm asking people who probably are unaware of what the term "cool" is. However, there are a lot of normal people here, too. I think of myself as a normal guy with a stronger interest in gaming then most. :-/

 

[Wollan]

http://www.mongobarn.nu/20000122/47-geek.jpg

?

 

[jax (old)]

this old

 

[ShinNL]

That's some image concious girlfriend you have there. The real question here is... how old is she?

Anyway, you're either too young to play the game, but never too old.

It goes like this:
If you're very very young, you won't understand the game, but people won't laugh at you.
If you're old enough to understand the story, superficial people will laugh at you anyway.
If you're old enough to play the game without feeling ashamed, you're qualified to play.

^If you're mature enough, you won't care what people think. Even when playing the game in public (that's pushing it though...).

Spoiler

Don't dare trying to link in public though... if you want to keep your social life.

 

[robo_robo]

Pokemon snap/puzzle/pinball are all good. Mysterious dungeon looks good to.

 

[Zoramon089]

I played Pokemon back at first release, and it was a good game. I've skipped almost all subsequent releases. I am hoping Nintendo grasps the concept that a MMORPG Pokemon would be an AMAZING game for Wii, and I am not talking about a gimped Stadium title.

It was certainly a massive missed opportunity on N64, a console already lacking a hell of a lot of RPG support. To then be a missed opportunity on Gamecube just seemed... absurd. XD was still too much of a cut down from a proper big Pokemon world.

I'm not sold on the DS iterations either, considering the stuff being put out from Square-Enix (FF3, DQ:Joker) utterly shames it.

It seems to me all you care about are the graphics, not the actual games

 

[KINGMOKU]

Stop ****ing defining things as mature/kiddy. It's either fun or boring. People are to obsessed with what others think of them.

WINNA WINNA CHICKEN DINNA!


Seriously. If ANYONE stops doing something becuase they are to old, or others tell them that, one word comes to mind;

pathetic.

 

[Aft Dread Pressure]

There isn't.

 

[Aurora]

If the game is still fun for you, you are not too old.

 

[davepoobond]

I dont get an answer like that, I mean how can you grow out of a video game that is aimed at everyone? I didn't grow out of Mario and im sure most of you here didn't either. It's just another franchise like any other.

well, just one day in like 8th grade or whatever, i had the eiphany that Nintendo wasn't appealing to me anymore in the Pokemon department. It was mostly just my frustration that there wasn't a true, real, Pokemon RPG to come out on the N64 that would let you have the same experience on the Game Boy in full 3d with color.

i bought the same game 5 times. half of my game boy collection is Pokemon games. i was also mainly a console gamer at the time -- always have been...and Pokemon not expanding away from handheld, and only in stupid ways like Pokemon Snap and Pokemon Stadium really discouraged me from following the scene anymore, so i just dropped out of it.

 

[PantherLotus]

True. I'm asking people who probably are unaware of what the term "cool" is. However, there are a lot of normal people here, too. I think of myself as a normal guy with a stronger interest in gaming then most. :-/

Clearly you have no idea what cool is. COOL is not caring what people think, and when confronted about questionable behavior, tellin'em like it is. D00d, you shouldn't even give a **** what other people think. THAT is cool brother.

 

[Tarazet]

Never played Trozei/Link, Pinball or Mysterious Dungeon? Totally worth it.

I played Trozei. Totally not worth it, sorry. Sluggish and really not fun.

 

[Gek54]

I beat a kid up and flushed his ninja turtle in the 4rth grade. He brought it to school and played with it everyday, it was for his own good. I also grabbed fist full of xmen trading cards and threw them out the bus window in 6th grade, Im sure they were thankful later on.

 

[stalker]

One good thing about being a 30 year old gamer is that you can go to the store and buy pokemon and you know that the store employees will assume it's for your kids. Kids? :lol

 

[Koren]

I'm 28, and I intend to buy diamond. Still, this game has an (incorrect) image of a very kiddy game, probably due to the anime/films, and I must say I would feel unconfortable to buy it in places where people have no clues on what it is really and still have a definite opinion on this.

The strange thing is... the only other game with which I feel the same is GTA. For a similar reason, in fact. I don't buy it because I like to turn rampage on everybody. Rather, because games I buy are interesting and fun.

 

[Jacobi]

Drop her.

The games are age unlimited, but IMO they don't change that much with every sequel. So one Pokemon game every 5 years would be OK.

The anime, merchandise and being a fan definitely is for people >14

 

[Neomoto]

I'm 19 and I (still to this day) like the Pokemon RPG's on handhelds. They are excellent games. And besides, your playing a great rpg and not watching some "kiddie cartoon" (if you know what I mean).

 

[EBCubs03]

Pokemon single player blows, that's for certain. But multiplayer with players who know what they're doing more than make up for it. Multiplayer is so much deeper than the crap single player, and if you've never played netbattle or a real multiplayer match then you're missing out on the entire game.

Single player, collecting shit, going through the motions to trade pokemon, just isn't what it's all about. "Rocket Grunt sent out zubats!!!" The very next rocket grunt: "Rocket Grunt sent out 5 zubats and a golbat!!"

Pokemon DOES have a deep combat and stat system, and it IS a good game. It's just that a lot of people never really experience or even learn how to play the game the correct way. Hell, the single player doesn't even teach you a whole lot since it expects itself to be self explanatory when a lot of it isn't.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Honestly? In the real world? By the time you're 10 or 11 you should be growing out of Pokemon. Your girlfriend's reaction is one 80% of people would have.

If you're a gamer and you play it because you appreciate the design & mechanics etc. I guess that's fine, but don't expect people to understand.