Nostalgia Strikes Once Again

Nostalgia likes striking me at the most inconvenient of times. My ex-roommate Todd decided to point out that a leaked version of Pokémon Platinum was released as a ROM. Supposedly, this game is due for release on U.S. soil on March 22, 2009, but, hey, I will not question how the game was leaked and converted to a ROM. For those who don't know, I own the R4 cartridge for the Nintendo DS, which simply lets me download and play pretty much any DS game I want. Yes, it's 100% illegal, shh.

English box art

Yeah!

Well, there goes several hours out of my day getting sucked back into these pointless, but highly addicting games. I know for a fact that many, many more hours will disappear from my life from now until I grow the brain to realize that I am wasting my time. However, in the meantime, I will enjoy this game.

It's great, but it's bad for me. Chances are that I will not drain 350 hours out of my life like I did with my "legal" copy of Pokémon Diamond, but still, it's a clear cut fact that when you become victimized by nostalgic memories of your elementary school years, sitting at recess playing with good ol' Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow on that Gameboy Pocket or Gameboy Color, trying to get that last Gym Badge, linking cables with other Gameboys, battling and trading with friends and classmates... geez, it's overwhelming.

Hell, I remember getting struck by the same nostalgia during senior year in high school. Rehan and I had our Gameboy Advances equipped with Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire doing the same thing third graders did about a decade ago. Anyone remember Frankie Conway taking the time to buy a new Nintendo DS just so he could get his hands on the newly released Pokémon Diamond and Pearl in 2007? Call us immature, call us childlike, but if you've experienced the rush and adrenaline that we did back in third grade, it's unforgetable.

So here's my Pokémon Platinum locked in my Nintendo DS: newest installation of this cursed franchise that promotes animal violence and false dreams of becoming the mythical Pokémon Master. I love it.