Okay, so here goes lol.

I wouldn't say I go "crazy" over Pokemon, but I've been playing it ever since the first gameboy version came out around 1999 and usually buy the latest installment when there is one, so yeah, I'll get Black & White. I haven't been fangirl enough to get all the spin-offs on all the consoles (because there's hella lot and some of them are a little childish even for my weird taste), but by now I've accumulated around 20 games of the series.. I guess.

When it first came out the gameplay was quite new and unique and hit the market right after the big "Tamagotchi" craze. The game is basically an RPG in which you catch, train and raise little monsters to do all the battles for you. All of the pokemon have different attributes and spells, and battles work a bit like a very complex rock/paper/scissors system. Especially back then it was always a lot of fun to catch a new Pokemon and level it up, not knowing yet what kind of ferocious beast it would turn into at, let's say, level 30. Pokemons evolve in different stages and keep learning new moves that you can use in battle. There are also extremely rare, legendary Pokemon who are incredibly strong and which you can catch only once in your game.

The evil marketing people of the franchise also came up with another trick - there are always 2 versions released at the same time (red & blue, ruby & sapphire, black & white... ), which are basically the same game with one little difference: you can't catch all of the pokemons in one version only, but you need a friend who has the other version to trade with. And if you're lonely and have no friends you need both versions to complete your collection. Evil! If you do have friends though, you can have your pokemons battle against each other.

The game has evolved quite a bit over the last years as well - nowadays you can carry one pokemon with you on a little device and level it up while you walk (step counter), there are tons of minigames included, you can download new pokemons via Nintendo events (online or in your hometown) and so on and so on. Also, since a few years you can transfer your trained pokemons to the new editions, meaning the training you've done is never lost, but you can take everthing with you once you buy a new game of the series.

Honestly though, I wouldn't say anymore that it's a "great game". Sure, it's fun, but the basic RPG game is always the same for over a decade now. You start as a kid in some town, oooh there's a pokemon professor who gives you a pokemon, ooooh there are some evil guys - let's chase them away over the course of the game, and at the same time level up your pokemon enough to be able to beat 8 arenas and a final battle challenge, wow, you're a hero, yadayada.

What still attracts me to the game is to complete my collection.. yeah.. I'm a hopeless completionist.. the game keeps track of all the pokemon you've seen and caught and you build up a giant library over all the games. It's also quite fun to rediscover an old pokemon you haven't used for years and battle with it again. It can get quite addictive, but as I said, I'm definitely not crazy about it. I just enjoy collecting pokemon and sometimes doing a battle or two with my friends

My daughters are HUGE Pokemon fans. But I have to admit that my husband and I are the ones that got them hooked We got a game for each of us (total of 4 copies 2 of each) The games over all are a lot of fun to play.

My husband is also super sweet and restarts the game multiple times and trades the starters to us so all of us ends up with all of the starter Pokemon at the beginning of the game (He has to restart the game a total of 9 times for everyone to get all of the types).

Even though the premise of the games are all the same they are still fun games to enjoy. We have played all the games since the first ones came out back in the 90's on our Game Boy Colors While I do end up beating the game by becoming champion, I don't think I have ever manage to "catch them all" just too time consuming. I just finish the story.

I still carry my pokewaker with me every day from when I got Pokemon Heart Gold last year. (338 days and 2,960,757 steps later) It is actually the best pedometer I have ever owned because it tracks things so well. It has a lifetime counter and you cannot accidentally erase what you have done. It is also pretty acurate.

^^^ Your husband is REALLY sweet to get and trade all the starters for all of you. I usually do it for myself and know what a hassle it is to do it just for one game, let alone 3. Wow

i have got one for my DS but not the latest one. i loved pokemon red blue and yellow.