A complete Pokédex! Completing Heart Gold

"Gotta catch them all" used to be the catchphrase of the first 150 Pokémon, however recently, catching all the Pokémon has become an incredible chore. After the release of X and Y there are now 718 Pokémon to catch.
When I started playing Pokémon Heart Gold in the end of  2011, I set myself the target to catch them all. For nostalgia's sake. I felt that the goal was obtainable, had I not caught all Pokémon as kid, years ago, on the old retro Game boy?! Oh silly me!

Even though the maximum Pokémon to catch was "only" 493, little did I know how painful that number would be. For example, there are a lot of Pokémon that you cannot catch within the game, or in its counter part "Soul Silver". Which means you need someone with leaf green etc to trade with you, or you will never complete the game. Furthermore, there are so many little specials, stones and evolutions, that it turned out to be a far more time consuming venture than I bargained for. I now understand why most trainers just give up and only collect the Pokémon they like playing with.

Nevertheless, I spend over 100 hours of game time, catching, breeding, leveling up, trading. Now this would have been easier if the world trade would have worked, but my internet and my DSi didn't communicate well, so I didn't have that option either. Only thanks to my generous friends, especially one of them, I managed to finally finally complete the Johto Pokedex.
With shaking fingers I approached Professor Oak to show him my - with pain and suffering - completed Pokédex.

What item would I get?
Well, guess what, in the next sentence he said only "Congratulations, I knew you could do it." Full Stop. The end. NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED!
I think my face in that moment would have been the best pictures. I was like "WTF you send me out to CATCH THEM ALL!!! And I don't get anything?"

It's like a mentor sending you in the jungle to take pictures of 400 rare animals and when you are back with them he gives you a pat on the back and walks off with a tin of cookies for his coffee break. The stingy old man could have spared some cookies, right?
Yes, I do want a cookie for completing a Pokédex! Simply because it's so difficult to do it. At least give me a different ending sequence Game Freak!

Seeing my friend S complete the full Pokédex this summer, it seems like you receive a certificate for completing the game. Yes. That. Is. All.
Wasn't the challenge "Catch them all?!" Well recently the tagline has changed into "Gotta SEE them all" because nowadays only seeing a Pokemon "counts" as entry in your Pokédex. Of all games I had chosen to play the last one that required you to catch them all. I think the "seeing them all" option is only reasonable, since 718 is a huuge number, considering all the clever things it takes to get them together.

Now I will stop whining, I still love the game. It's full of rewards and quirky entertainment and if you love collecting things, and don't have much space in "real" life, it's nice getting them all together. I guess completing a Pokédex and owning "them all" is a thing in which only gamers can pride themselves with. And only true Pokémon lovers will actually understand and acknowlege it as a skill, if you should ever try and boost to your friends. For the others, it will be an eternal waste of time. Well well, but then they won't know the joy either of finding a rare Pokémon in the grass and catching it with a Quick Ball before - ah stop me here, or I will go off on a story!

I think once you have 'caught' them all, you still have a great advantage to others who have not caught them all yet. Simply because you can now transfer your "oldies" to the new game and just catch the additional ones that will be released in the new game. So if you have collected and transferred Pokémon since you were small, this would have been a much easier task!

On that note, I am looking forward to seeing how the Pokémon Bank will work, once it launches next year. I am glad there is finally a method to move full boxes of Pokémon about, I think that was overdue, considering how long it takes to transfer only 6 of them!

That's it for today, I will get back to completing my Pokédex of X and Y!
Next I will be in Berlin for a week, so let's see how I will blog during that time.
Thanks for reading!

Well done Pikachu!
x
Cat

Pokemon center Tokyo - I choose you!

There's nothing quite as exciting for a geek soul as to read the letters "Pokemon Center" on a normal Subway flyer. Indeed, the first time I read about it, it was inside an flyer about famous attractions tourists can reach via the subway system. When I stepped out of the train at the indicated station, I couldn't however find a sign to said delightful destination - I decided to ask the station officer, who sat down in his little booth near the automatic ticket gates. He looked up from under his officer hat, at the gaijin girl approaching him. I took a deep breath and said:
"Excuse me please. Could you please tell me....... how to get to the Pokemon center?"
Just being able to ask those sentences in a real-life conversation felt surreal and made my heart almost jump out of my chest. Without blinking twice, he described me how to walk to reach the Pokémon center. From there I stepped out onto the busy streets, followed his route, went up the escalator, and there it was: The Pokémon Center Tokyo!

Large posters, displaying famous characters on the outside, the Pokémon center still looked rather professional. The first time I went there, the whole area in front of the store was full of people, children, students, office ladies, otakus and other, crouching down with their Ds' in their hands, trading Pokémon and playing the game. I often walk around in Europe, hoping for a trading haven like that. If we had a Pokémon center in Europe, just think how easy it would be to make new friends and trade/battle with them!!

Unfortunately, the Pokémon center has made it pretty clear that you are not allowed to take videos or photographs inside, so if you see them online, they were most definitely taken without permission.
To illustrate: imagine shelves upon shelves stuffed with key chains, plushies, posters, stationary, sweets, collectible figures, badges, towels, tissues, games, cards, lunch boxes and more items, featuring pretty much all Pokémon that have been released so far. It's heaven for Pokémon lovers, unless you have an empty purse - then it's torture!

Pokémon Center Opening Times and Holiday announcements

Sometimes the Pokémon Centers (there are 8 Pokémon Centers across Japan) have special promotions on, which are usually announced on their webpage. There you can receive rare Pokémon or items when you go to their event space. For Pokémon X and Y there wasn't an event yet, but there should be one soon, around the new year and the xmas holidays. Sometimes those Pokémon can be acquired through the online system for players outside of Japan, in the past though, there have been a couple of Japan-only events.

The Pokémon Center Tokyo shares the building with normal convenience stores, restaurants, companies (such as Berlitz) and other, so it's actually placed in a business environment in a tall building, which was surprising. I wish the staff was cosplaying as nurse joy, but instead they have a uniform. Nevertheless, it's worth the trip out to the Pokémon Center. Even if you should not be an adamant Pokémon fan, you still have to admit: There's nothing quite as cool, as asking in real life where the Pokémon center is, and getting an honest answer.

 3 Tips if you want to go to the Pokémon Center Tokyo
1) If you go there for trading, pick a weekend when there are both workers and students to trade with. That way you get the maximum of potential trainers for trades and battles.
2) Check their event times! You might be lucky and get a free Pokémon. Be aware though that usually those events only involve the newest game release. For the next events, you will need a 3DS and Pokémon X or Y.
3) Bring more money than you think. Don't forget Pokémon is an expensive merchandise brand. If you should see the Pokémon item that you always wanted, you want to make sure you can afford it!

They have an English introduction to the Pokémon Centres HERE

Love
x
Cat

Giveaway of Japanese goodies!

Cute Japanese goodies, Pokémon plushies, Lolita fashion accessories, Anime merchandise and lots of other cute little things I brought back from Japan: The new video is up!

I will now also do giveaway for Xmas and you have the chance to win one of the four prices.
Check out my HAUL video to know more:


I decided to also do a giveaway specifically for my Blog!

I picked a random selection of sweet things that I like, for you to win:
Decorated Tissues, Swimmer CDR, Hello Kitty Lash Case, Kewpie Pen,
2 Erasers, Chocolate comb, Cake reflector, Bear keyring, bracelet

Steps to join the BLOG PRIZE of Cute Japanese Goodies

1) Please be subscribed to my youtube channel of course :)

2) Like my Facebook (Feel free to enter if you don't have Facebook)

3) Follow my Blog via Friend connect
It's easy. Just supply the email address that you use for your youtube, or other services, and you will show up on my friend list

4) Please comment: What do you want for Christmas?

Full details are on my Youtube channel video so please check it out.

I am looking forward to hearing what things you would like to have for Christmas! Is it a hug, a partner, a present, more time, karate skills, magic power? I wonder!

I can tell you what I want, I want a means to travel to different places instantly.

That way I could deliver all packages and Christmas cards like that in person and meet you all!!

Hope you have a lovely end of the weekend and a fun start into next week!

I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Love

x

Cat

☆ 5000 Thanks to 5000 Subscribers ☆

I've spend two nights editing this video, and I swear to you, my heart was beating, and it still is.
For one, I am so happy I've hit the 5.000 subscriber mark and two, I really enjoyed editing this THANK YOU video and I hope that my feelings are somewhat projected out to YOU in this edit.

THANK YOU all so so so much for watching my youtube channel! I am always so happy that people come back on Sundays or the week after to get entertained by my videos.
Please keep coming back, I will continue to work hard to make you smile!!

The video has literally just gone up!Here it is:



Thank you all so much for being a part of this experience!!!
I hope you will like my November Blog challenge and engage with me through this new platform too!

Furthermore, picking the winners for the Pokémon Give Away was probably the hardest thing ever. Here is the further information:

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Pokémon Give Away Winners: Please get in touch via Facebook or Youtube so I can send your prices. I will delete your addresses after sending the parcel for privacy protection

!!! If winners don't get in touch with me within the next 2 days I will have to pick another winner and send it, as I am leaving Japan in 3 days!!!

Here are the winners of the first Pokémon Give Away:

Plushie Prize: skullkazor2

Magazine Price: Toffeeish

Consolation Price:

Because everyone tried so hard, I decided to give out a consolation price to 6 more people!

I will send a pokémon postcard with a message from me, to the following people:

Bartachomy (Because he says it's his birthday)

Justin Guillory (Because he never wins anything)

Timothey Sim (Because he can't afford any merch)

Hinata_Rockni

Celine Gould

andrew_liew

Thanks for everyone's great responses!

If you didn't win, please don't be discouraged, there will be another chance SUPER SOON, next month in December, and I will give out more prices so the chance of getting something is higher :)

Good Luck for the next give away in December!!!

Thanks so so so so so much for joining! Let's have fun playing pokemon!!!

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This was my very first give away EVER, but I will do another one in December and I aim to make it LOTS better :) Please stay tuned for that! 

As always: DO WHAT YOU LOVE! LOVE WHAT YOU DO!!!

xxx
Cat