Feel Good Friday - Gotta Catch 'Em All!

[Amanda Barber]

Today isn't just Friday - it’s Pokémon Day! 🎒✨

On this day in 1996, Pokémon Red and Green launched in Japan, sparking a global phenomenon that turned us all into Trainers. Whether you’ve been around since the Game Boy era or just joined the Pokemon community recently, today is about celebrating the friendships and adventures these "pocket monsters" have brought into our lives.

From the first time you stepped into the tall grass to the thrill of a legendary capture, Pokémon has a way of making the world feel a little more magical.

Who was your very first starter Pokémon, and what is your favorite memory of playing the games?

I'll go first and admit that I never really bought into the hype, but both of my kids have had Pokemon phases. One even went as Ash Ketchum a few years ago for Halloween!

[Dave LIAO]

My first Pokemon game was Pokemon Go! (I even started a Community thread on it five years ago)

Thankfully it's the only game that has taken up my time 😂

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

Of course Pokemon yellow on Gameboy 🤭🤠

[Daria Kulikova_GitProtect_io]

I've never played a Pokémon game - I was a bit young at that time. But I definitely remember the cartoon :) 

[Robert Wen_Cprime_]

I'm only on Pokemon Go, off and on.

My son, though, will play any Pokemon game under the sun!  The last one was Pokemon Legends Z-A and upgrading our family to a Switch 2!

[Jimmy Seddon]

My parents bought me Pokemon Red for Christmas before I had ever seen the cartoon. 

My very first starter was Charmander, and I have been a fan of everything since!  Both of my kids are also huge Pokemon fans now too!

Yes, we also did the Pokemon Halloween costumes:

My son is Ash, my wife is Gengar and my daughter is Pikachu!

Also, my son and I are very excited for the new Pokopia game that comes out next week, since it's a game we will be able to play together!

Happy Pokemon Day Everyone!

[Joe Montibello _he_him_]

Never cared about pokemon until my kids did. had a lot of fun walking around town playing pokemon go with my younger one.

Happy Friday, all!

[Barbara Szczesniak]

Weird, I have the BBC News Hour on in the background, and they started doing a story about a Pokémon theme park opening in Japan as I started to type. Spooky.

2 of my nephews collected the cards. I think I bought them some card packs, and I think I got a stuffed Pikachu for one of them. That is the extent of my Pokémon knowledge.

[Kythera]

Ironically, Pokemon Go was my first Pokemon game! Yes, really. Despite working in the video game industry for over a decade. That said, Charmander has always been my favorite, so you bet it was my starter in Pokemon Go. ^_^

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

Also @Amanda Barber  Badges don't feel here like Pokemons? Catch them all 🤭🤣.

I feel here like Ash Ketchum in Forest of Badges 🤠👈

[Benedetta De Martino]

I love Pokémon! My very first one was Pokémon Pearl on Nintendo DS and my starter was Turtwig!!🥰

[Amanda Barber]

Love it, @Benedetta De Martino! 

[Darryl Lee]

How has @Rodney Nissen _ServiceRocket_ _TJL_ not responded yet? When I met him at the ATL airport he had a dedicated Pokemon Go auto-catcher thingy hanging off of his backpack.

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

@Darryl Lee 

Maybe we should group all and Create Pokemon Go Add-on for Atlassian for Catching a Pokemons from specific Pages?

As Atlassian getting bigger and bigger we have much more possibilities 😅

[Kris Klima _K15t_]

Somehow, the Pokemon craze completely bypassed me and pretty much everyone I know from my generation. And my then location, perhaps.

It did register, though, partially because of the flashing video effects controversy, some church figures taking issue the name (poke demon, duh!....). 

And then... we're having some agile ritual, about 20 people to discuss our mainframe software, and if you ever worked with mainframes, it's a world full of senior distinguished engineers... serious people. 

And then the meeting starts with one of those senior distinguished engineers discussing the latest locations, and talks about a pokemon he found during his lunch break. Suddenly, half of the team is talking about pokemons.

It was surreal but funny :D

[Amanda Barber]

Now that I'm in technology, I try to stay at least somewhat aware of the geeky fads, but I pretty much missed this one. When it was huge here, I do remember being out for a training run for a marathon and seeing people ALL over a very random park. I was glad I at least had some clue of what was happening, haha!