After taking a break for a few weeks, I completed Pokemon Omega Ruby today. There's still the Delta Episode to complete, plus several legendaries to scoop up, though.

Omega Ruby is pretty damn good. They've cleaned up a lot of rough edges from Pokemon X, and there's a ton of end game, and side content. WAY more than Pokemon X/Y. I think the only shame is not continuing the character customization from Pokemon X, but that's fine.

Right now, my Pokedex for Pokemon X is at 718*, and Omega Ruby is at 716 out of a (current) possible 719. I need an Aromatisse, and Yveltal for Omega Ruby, and a Meloetta for both games. I'm so close to completing the Pokedex, a challenge that I began 10 years ago with Pokemon Emerald. It's somewhat fitting that I'm so close to completing that goal with the remake.

Also, between Pokemon White, Pokemon X, and Omega Ruby, I have several EV trained and move balanced Pokemon, that I could probably make a decent and competitive league team. So I might start doing that next year.

Nearly 10 years ago, I picked up Pokemon Emerald and played it quite a bit with my girlfriend at the time. We started doing this around the time Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green were released, so after we completed Emerald, I bought Fire Red, and she bought Leaf Green. We ran through both games, and given our position, I suggested we could probably complete the Pokedex between the both of us.

We got close before giving up. At the time, there were a possible 386 pokemon. I think my Emerald pokedex was around 340, or 360, maybe? For event pokemon, we had a Jirachi, but did not have Mew, Celebi, or Deoxys.

Then next time I really played Pokemon was when I studied abroad and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were released in Fall 2006. Later, back in the states, I bought Pokemon Platinum on its release, and went all the way through that game. Throughout this time, I was collecting each event Pokemon upon its availability. Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver came out. I started going through Soul Silver, but got bored.

When Pokemon White and Black were released, I actually had a friend who played and cared about the games, too. I played through White and she played through Black. We both caught all the exclusive Pokemon and traded them back and forth to complete our Pokedexes.

At this point, my dream to complete the Pokedex was rekindled. Starting with Generation III (ruby / sapphire / emerald / leaf green / fire red), you could migrate your Pokemon to the next generation. So all my Pokemon from Emerald could be moved to Platinum, and from Platinum to Pokemon White. With my hefty amount of Pokemon from Emerald, and complete saves on Platinum and White, I was able to fill out the new rosters, and get closer.

I bought some of the older copies of the games to fill out the starters I was missing. And I even bought a new Nintendo DS, so I could trade and transfer Pokemon between the Gen IV and Gen V games.

This was about 4 years ago. After the release of Black and White 2, my Pokedex on Pokemon White was at 647 out of 649. I was missing at Latios, which was available to capture in Pokemon Soul Silver, but I just got so bored playing that game. And I was missing Meloetta, which was an event Pokemon not yet released. Almost complete!

Unfortunately, Meloetta was released after I starting living in Japan, so I had no way of getting it. Maybe I had a chance while in Japan, but I missed that opportunity.

Pokemon X and Y came out last year, bumping the total amount of Pokemon to 718, with an additional 3 event Pokemon yet to be released, announced, or even available in the Pokedex. Pokemon X was rather boring, though. There were very few new Pokemon, and the controls were somewhat rocky especially after playing Zelda. I captured all the Pokemon, though, and during Christmas break, traded back and forth to complete the new set.

At the time, there was also no built-in way to transfer Gen IV Pokemon to the new games. Later, an app was released, Pokemon Bank, that allowed you to do this. I got bored with Pokemon X, so I left it.

But, ramping up to the release of Omega Ruby, and the release of Diancie, the 719th Pokemon, I started getting into Pokemon again. I migrated all my Pokemon forward, and filled in any holes I was missing in my Pokedex. I was now at 717, with only Meloetta and Latios missing.

Playing through Omega Ruby, they basically just give you Latios for free. You don't even need to battle and catch it. It felt somewhat empty to have finally catch this Pokemon without even a fight, but whatever. *My Pokemon X Dex is still at 717, though, because I'm too lazy too transfer it.

I transferred all my Pokemon over to Omega Ruby, but I do not actually have a living "copy" of Aromatisse and Yveltal (from Pokemon X/Y), so my Omega Ruby Dex is at 716.

Continuing the journey from 10 years ago to 4 years ago to today, these are the games and handhelds I have with me in Japan. There are still some Pokemon left to capture and transfer from Soul Silver, so I might start playing that again. My save is just after catching Lugia, and before Victory Road.

Anyway, I'm so close! I'm only missing 3 pokemon, and the additional 2 yet unreleased event pokemon. (Though, #720 Hoppa might be soon.)

After playing the shit out of Pokemon White, I became more interested in some of the meta-game aspects of raising and breeding pokemon. I designed, and started training a balanced EV trained team. I completely trained 3 pokemon out of the 6 I had planned before I got bored, and gave up.

I started playing Pokemon X again right before Omega Ruby's release, and EV trained some more pokemon. EV training is SO easy in Gen VI. I am so thankful for that. I completely trained 2 pokemon in that game.

And with Omega Ruby, I bred and EV trained 4 pokemon in Pokemon X, transferred them to Omega Ruby, and played through all of the game with them.

As mentioned earlier, with these pokemon, I think I'll make a team, and start competing online. Why not, right? With my sole goal of pokemon (finishing the Pokedex) basically complete, I should start getting into the aspect of pokemon that has really kept the franchise alive: battling and competing.

We'll see, though, maybe I'll lose a lot, get bored, and give up.

I'm super interested to see what they have planned next. With the addition of Mega evolutions, I think they've pretty much run out of ideas to keep Pokemon fresh. Pokemon releases are now almost a yearly occurrence.

2007 = Pokemon Diamond + Pearl
2009 = Pokemon Platinum
2010 = Pokemon Heart Gold + Soul Silver
2011 = Pokemon Black + White
2012 = Pokemon Black + White 2
2013 = Pokemon X + Y
2014 = Pokemon Omega Ruby + Alpha Sapphire

I could totally see a Pokemon Z (or whatever) coming out in 2015, too. Maybe that game would bring over all the engine fixes in Omega Ruby, and also correctly bridge the two games. And perhaps have a lot of good end game content, too.

But, they really need to take a break. Pokemon needs some breathing room.

Anyway, that's my story.