2003

• sapphire: (2003, gba) op sceptile + 5 randos
  • where it all began! various scattered memories include:
    • fighting winona over and over until my lv. 60-something sceptile could break through her final 2 mons that quad-resist leaf blade
    • getting lost on the water routes and thinking that was just how the game goes
    • ko'ing kyogre in the parking lot of tj's because i thought it was evil
    • not finding the master ball in the aqua hideout and then losing it forever
    • being in the basement of my grandparents' while deciphering the regi braille, asking my mom if i could have one try to catch registeel at full health before bed, and promptly catching it in the first ultra ball. this was literally jaw-droppingly astonishing to me but not quite the same to her but she smiled along with me :)
    • regice on the other hand took like 8 billion tries
    • once again getting stuck on lance bc of his mons that resisted leaf blade from a lv 80-something (if not 90-something...) sceptile
    • memories of the berry glitch but not knowing what it was, just that sometimes trainers that used to give items / lilycove lottery / other daily events didn't happen anymore
    • sitting in a hair cuttery (getting my haircut?) while evolving a lairon into aggron
    • navigating my way through granite cave during hurricane isabel
    • ok i swear i have this memory of finding and catching a seedot in sapphire in like my first week of playing except i didn't save and then my mom came and turned the power off on my gameboy. i would later learn that seedot was a ruby exclusive. after learning about cosmic bit flips as an adult and seeing that it was possible for a wurmple to bit-flip into a seedot i had that as my "sure i guess that's what happened" explanation but idk. more likely a false memory but it's what my brain tells me so
    • "I guess you're off to deliver that letter to, who was it now, STEVEN!" and thinking that my delivery target was something i should have remembered and he was just addressing me at the end of the sentence

2004

• crystal: (2004, gbc) op feraligatr + 5 randos
• ruby: (2004?, gba) op swampert + 5 randos
• leafgreen: (2004, gba) venusaur, nidoqueen, snorlax, lapras, flareon, chansey
  • i definitely did not beat leafgreen as a kid bc i only raised my venusaur, and got stuck on the rival battle before victory road bc i kept losing to his charizard and never used the vs seeker to get more money. i fought him again in high school (~2011) and my snorlax got a lucky metronome into leech seed, which combined with thick fat meant i finally could beat him. i caught zapdos before fighting the e4 for an actual second pokemon above like level 40. then finally played through the rest of the sevii islands about 7 years late, oopth. i remember being ok with this game as a kid but it didn't grip me the same way that the hoenn games did.

2005

• silver: (2005, gbc) bayleef + ? (owned this game but lost it while moving houses or something)
• emerald: (2005, gba) op sceptile + 5 randos

2006

2007

• red: (2007?, gb) (owned this game but barely played it. gave it to a younger kid at church when i was in high school)
• diamond: (2007, ds) op torterra + 5 randos

2008

• pearl: (2008, ds) empoleon + ? (i don't think i actually beat it on my first playthrough, just stopped)

2009

• platinum: (2009, ds) infernape, ?

2010

• soulsilver: (2010, ds) meganium, lugia, ?

2011

• ruby(2): (2011?, gba) sceptile, groudon, flygon, aggron, zangoose, sharpedo (nuzlocke)
• white: (2011, ds) serperior, mienshao, krookodile, stoutland, carracosta, lilligant

2012

• emerald(2): (2012?, emu) sceptile, camerupt, gardevoir, swellow, manectric, crawdaunt
• black2: (2012, ds) samurott, magmortar, lucario, gigalith, ampharos, golurk

2013

• firered: (2013, emu) blastoise, raichu, graveler, pidgeot, primeape, dragonite
• x: (2013, 3ds, 89h) chesnaught, doublade, gardevoir, raichu, talonflame, blastoise

2014

• alpha sapphire: (2014, 3ds, 126h) sceptile, aggron, ninetales, xatu, manectric, crawdaunt

2015

• pearl(2): (2015, ds, 36h) empoleon, luxray, staraptor, mismagius, hippowdon, bibarel

2016

• yellow: (2016, 3ds vc, 24h) pikachu, venusaur, blastoise, charizard, snorlax, primeape
  • my first real romp through gen 1 kanto, which i didn't do much as a kid despite owning red. was fun looking up glitches to do (e.g. mew) as well. this team feels pretty standard for yellow, primeape is probably the only "surprise" pick. but i remember enjoying it while i played -- though the lack of postgame means i didn't spend a ton of time in the game afterward.
• soulsilver(2): (2016, ds) feraligatr, alakazam, ampharos, ninetales, ursaring, lugia
• sun: (2016, 3ds, 60h) decidueye, ribombee, salazzle, oricorio, mudsdale, araquanid

2017

• gold: (2017, 3ds vc, 33h) feraligatr, typhlosion, meganium, ampharos, togetic, espeon
• ultra sun: (2017, 3ds, 62h) primarina, raichu-a, noivern, krookodile, ninetales-a, arcanine

2018

• prism: (2018, emu) scyther, tyranitar, froslass, typhlosion, cacturne, metagross
• emerald(3): (2018, emu) blaziken, exploud, altaria, breloom, milotic, claydol
• let's go pikachu: (2018, sw) pikachu, dugtrio, alakazam, dewgong, dodrio, rapidash

2019

• shield: (2019, sw) inteleon, corviknight, toxtricity, appletun, thievul, frosmoth
• crystal clear: (2019, emu) feraligatr, ampharos, moltres, donphan, scizor, kingdra

2020

2021

• crystal(2): (2021, 3ds emu) typhlosion, ampharos, quagsire, donphan, noctowl, weepinbell
• alpha sapphire(2): (2021, 3ds emu) flygon, lanturn, roserade, heracross, metagross, torkoal
• brilliant diamond: (2021, sw) torterra, luxray, gastrodon, togekiss, drapion, toxicroak

2022

• legends arceus: (2022, sw) dewott, luxray, staraptor, rapidash, tangrowth, scizor
• crystal (3): (2022, gbc) feraligatr, typhlosion, meganium, ursaring, crobat, lanturn
• violet: (2022, sw) quaquaval, dachsbun, ceruledge, arboliva, mabostiff, pawmot

2023

• firered(2): (2023, gba) blastoise, primeape, fearow, hypno, arcanine, nidoqueen

2024

• colosseum: (2024, wii emu) altaria, miltank, absol, raikou, entei, suicune
• y(2): (2024, gb, 18h) pikachu (jules), nidoqueen (reggie), dragonair (drake), dugtrio (tristan), ninetales (reynard), starmie (stella)
  • traded a dratini in from crystal knowing ice beam so i could actually use him before fuchsia
  • used the stadium 2 color case to send in a lemonade for the guards right after cerulean, skipped rock tunnel in the process
  • used the pokedoll skip, but got the silph scope after the fact
  • first time not using a pokemon that could learn fly in a while; had one in reserve but largely just walked everywhere.
  • usually i try to do playthroughs with more pokemon i haven't used in the region before, but this time around i prioritized getting my 3 favorite kanto mons on the same team (nidoqueen, dragonair, ninetales).
  • took on the e4 before i had a single level 40 on my team!