Generation 6: Pokémon Omega Ruby
Delcatty, Aggron, Salamence, Sableye, Camerupt, and Milotic
It’s ORAS time! Since I started with Gen 4, I didn’t think I would be super nostalgic or excited for this game when it was announced, but man, when I first opened the game and saw the intro with Professor Birch, I realized how wrong I was. In my early days with Pokémon, I did play secondhand copies of RSE I got from GameStop, after all, so even though they weren’t my first games I definitely had some childhood memories with them.
And now ORAS is old enough that I’m nostalgic for those games, too. Fall 2014 was a pretty distinct time in my life with a lot of good memories, so when I think about my first experiences with ORAS I’m swept right back to that time.
Of course, how can I talk about ORAS without mentioning YouTuber Shoogles’s 7-hour video on the game? It’s an incredibly well-done video essay, further improved by his video on BDSP. I’ve watched it more times than I can count, especially when I’m sick. His calm narration and talented critique are the perfect distraction when I feel awful. Obviously, the thought and effort that went into the project deserve the most praise, but I can’t discount the emotional benefit it’s had on my life, either.