Today marks the third year Diamond and Pearl have been out in America. I didn't realize this until I looked at this article, and it really made me think back and even feel nostalgic about my first playthrough Pearl. I was so excited; I don't think I have ever been excited for a video game like DP. RS came at me by surprise because I rarely used the internet thanks to being grounded everyday in 2002-2003; I followed DP for years before it even came out. Everytime a Pokemon or screenshot was revealed, I couldn't stop myself, I had to look at it. Other than that though, I had enough self control not to look at videos (having dialup forever helped too <_<) of the gameplay. As excited as I was, I knew it wouldn't have any connectivity with Kanto and Johto and this is what really ruined RS for me. Anyway, back to that day...

I remember I was still in high school and it was a Sunday (4/22/2007). Being a senior I was SUPPOSED to be concentrating on school because I barely had enough credits to graduate. I still blame DP for almost making me flunk English again. <_< Anyway, my mom didn't have to work that day and I wanted to go to the store immediately that morning. Like, 10am was reasonable enough imo and she was still sleeping. So I walked my ass all the way to Walmart and I remember having just enough money. I had $40 + $5 my mom's boyfriend gave me because I knew I was going to get tax raped and come up short. I remember starring at Diamond and Pearl and couldn't decide which one I wanted - Dialga looked cooler but Palkia looked like a retarded pink creature (which is also way cool) and it literally took me 5 minutes of starring to finally decide on Pearl.

I walked all the way back, and by this time #Psypoke was talking about DP. I sat down and started playing. I picked Chimchar and caught my first Pokemon, Shinx. As I played through the first gym, I felt like the game was slightly disappointing, lacking more features than I expected, but I still liked it. It was very strange going from RSEFRLG's GUI to DP's and it felt more colorful than the previous games. One of my best memories playing this game was in study hall fighting Candice and trying to figure out where to go next. I really miss school and wish I could go back to playing Pogeymanz when I'm supposed to be studying, but oh well.

After beating the game on 4/28/2007, I felt sad that the game was OVER. I was so used to it being like older games; where the game just ends and there's nothing left to do. However, I really feel like DP expanded the games to the point where there IS no ending. There was still 14 legendaries to obtain, and wow, you can catch 400+ Pokemon in ONE GAME. For the first time since Silver Version, I could finally complete the Pokedex, and I did. Another thing that really made me keep playing was Pokemon battling. My RSE team just wasn't doing it for me, they had random IVs, EVs, and natures, and were behind on the physical/special split. I finally got into breeding, and bred a whole team of monsters which I still use today (my favorites are Heracross, Dragonite, Slowbro, Slowking, Togekiss, and Aerodactyl.)

The last thing I'm going to comment on are the Pokemon. I think they were satisfying for the most part. I loved all the new Pokemon that appeared early in the game, and had a hard time choosing which ones to train for my final in-game team. Unlike most people, I liked almost all of the new evolutions (even Magmortar/Electivire/Rhyperior/Tangrowth/Lickilicky that everyone hates), leaving only Gallade and Probopass as Pokemon I can say I don't like.

Overall, Diamond and Pearl did not disappoint. All that excitement I had for these games was worth it. They became my favorite set of games (although I never did play Platinum) and my overall favorite Sinnoh Pokemon are , , , , , , , and . HeartGold and SoulSilver were fun, but Diamond and Pearl were still better. Something interesting by the way - here some of the DP players in at Psypoke in 2007 the first few months of the games release (if I forgot someone feel free to complain and I'll add you):

Diamond: Frost, Serpentsounds, Registeel_Rocks, pelligargetic, Flaming_Wuzzle, swift, Bluebabydragon
Pearl: TonberryKing, Krisp, Skull Kid, PixelTwist, Mr. Saturn, FireStarter

Post any nostalgia thoughts and memories about Diamond and Pearl.

For the longest time, I quit playing pokemon because of Generation 3, but then I had heard rumors of a Gen 4, and I freaked out. So I sat on my computer, just as we are now, waiting for the next information to come out. I remember the day Psypoke put up all of the Gen 4 Pokemon, I sat there looking at them for hours. I got my Diamond on My grandmothers birthday and I was so Pumped. I only played it through once, and I hate fmyself for this, but the day I started, my DS calendar said January 22, 2000, so That date is still on my trainer Card. I have been playing My diamond ever since that day, and I have Caught/Seen all 493 Pokemon, and I just hit 423 Hours on it today.

P.S, Krisp, put me down on the list for Pokemon Diamond.