Last year (RIP 2016) was the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise. Can you believe it? Pokémon has been around for 20 years! Like many millennials, I grew up playing Pokémon. The default birthday/Christmas/random-holiday gift from my relatives was whatever new game had just come out—I wouldn't be surprised if they competed each year to get the game first, since it was such an easy gift. I used to spend hours playing the game, crafting the best team, and trying to beat everything before my younger brother. He always finished the game first. As 2016 came to a close, I was once again playing the latest Pokémon game. Things have changed a bit since the beginning: I can play with anyone in the world now, which is great when I'm abroad and my friends and family are in the US. The game, like the rest of the world, has globalized. Even so, the general structure is the same. A young child is given a Pokémon by a professor and sent on a mission to catch as many as possible to build up a Pokedex, which is an electronic dictionary of Pokémon. Along the way, the child battles Gyms to earn Badges, and eventually battles the Elite Four and the Champion of their region. There's always a team of villains that the child defeats, and there's always an event involving a legendary Pokémon where the child saves the world. I loved Pokémon growing up, and the games were always there when I needed them. As the 20th anniversary falls away, I wanted to reflect on life with Pokémon, and think about where the games might go in the future.

Pokémon Red and Blue, September '98

The first Pokémon games released in the United States were Red and Blue (different from the Japanese games, which were Red and Green). Red was the first game I owned, although I did get Blue a few months later as well. I remember the first time I played it like it was yesterday: I couldn't really read very well, so I needed a lot of help (thanks, Mom!). As I played the game and got better, it fell into a pattern. I remember the challenge of choosing a first Pokémon: Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur. I chose Bulbasaur, of course! I liked how cute the Pokémon were and how easy the game was to play. I was four or five when I got my first game, and it began a lifelong love of Pokémon.

Pokémon Yellow, October '98

I think, even today, the Yellow Version has always been my favorite Pokémon game. It was a special edition, released a few months after the original games, and it was awesome. The gameplay was exactly the same, the graphics were almost identical, but the best, coolest part was getting a Pikachu as the starter instead of the original three. The story was that Pikachu didn't like being in its Pokeball, so, instead, it followed the main character everywhere. Sometimes, it would make faces! I liked the games for the Pokémon, instead of the battling, so this was the best thing that could possibly happen. Tiny Bethany was thrilled.

Pokémon Gold and Silver, 2000

Two years later, Nintendo released another Pokémon game for the US. This one was new, the graphics were better, and there was a whole new group of Pokémon to collect! Everything was different, and it was very exciting. Honestly, my only clear memory of playing this game when I was a kid was lending one version to my cousin and him beating it before me. I was slow and methodical with my Pokémon playing, and the rest of my family definitely was not.

Pokémon Crystal, 2001

For the first few generations of Pokémon, there was always a pattern for releasing the games: first, two of the same version would be released with different names, and then another, better version would be released a few months later. This was a genius move by the producers, because they could hook kids with one game, and then pull them in again a little later with the same game, only better. I fell prey to this trap every single time. Maybe that's why I keep getting new iPhones now, years later. The new Crystal Version was no exception, especially since they introduced a new group of legendary Pokémon that the player could chase around the world. Once I beat the game, I easily spent another few hours gathering all of the new Pokémon. I was about eight then, and I was definitely getting more invested in the strategy side of the gameplay.

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, 2003

This is where the real fun began. A new type of GameBoy was released, and Pokémon had to keep up with the newest games, Ruby and Sapphire. I was given one of these as a gift when my family and I went on a train ride to Florida (in hindsight, I'm pretty sure my parents did this so my brother and I would stay quiet for the ride. Good work, Mom and Dad!). New Pokémon again, new stories, and the games were finally in color! It was like a whole new world of Pokémon. Everything was better. My brother and I got different versions, so we could share Pokémon with each other. As a pre-teen, this was the peak of awesome gameplay.

Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green, 2004

Fire Red and Leaf Green were the original Throwback Thursday. The Pokémon Company gave gamers the best gift they could: a completely re-mastered version of the original games that we knew and loved. The graphics were better, the Pokémon were cooler, but the gameplay was the same as it had always been. Playing this with my brother reminded me of when we were little kids, playing the first games and catching so many Pidgeys we couldn't continue the game. It was familiar. It was great.

Pokémon Emerald, 2005

This game was so cool. It was the first green-themed, original game released in the US, and green was my favorite color. Even though the gameplay wasn't too different from the Ruby and Sapphire games, I had to have it. There was a new addition to the story, and there were--again--all-new Pokémon to catch and train. By this time, I was thirteen, and I still wasn't too cool for Pokémon. Spoiler: you can never be too cool for Pokémon.

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, 2007

It's 2007. Ten years ago. Pokémon has been out for ten years at this point, and it just keeps getting better and better. The next games were advertised to have all-new Pokémon, all-new villains, and an even better story than the previous versions. The games were made for the Nintendo DS, which had two screens, meaning we could get double the Pokémon gameplay (not really, but I was barely a teenager and didn't understand how the new game worked). By this point in my life, I was in middle school, and I didn't spend as much time on Pokémon as I once did. I think this was the first game that I never truly finished, and it began a long history of my not completing Pokémon games.

Pokémon Platinum, 2009

Two years after the release of Diamond and Pearl, the special edition Pokémon game for that generation was released: Platinum Version. By this point in my life, I was in high school, and I had found friends who weren't afraid to admit their love for Pokémon. We bonded over the games, and played them together, battling and trading until we caught everything. I had friends who tried to complete the new Pokedex, while I just enjoyed having a shared interest with my friends. It was awesome to have friends who loved Pokémon as much as I did.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, 2010

If Fire Red and Leaf Green were any indicator, re-making old games was a successful business venture for the Pokémon Company. Taking a game that was originally for the GameBoy and making it for the DS was just about the coolest thing they could do. The nostalgia factor was already high enough, but they added a ton of new features to the game that made it new and unique, too. This was the first time that I took out the original games in a long, long time, to feel that same rush of excitement that I felt when I was a kid. Again, I was in high school and couldn't play often, but these games helped me through a lot of the awkward teenage years as I bonded with others over the best games around.

Pokémon Black and White, 2011

I'm not going to lie: I never really got into the Black and White versions of the Pokémon games. Yeah, it was exciting, but I was still coming off of the burn from HeartGold and SoulSilver, and I just couldn't get out of those and into these. It didn't help that I was a junior in high school and had a lot of other concerns taking up my life. I played the games, yes, and I enjoyed the new features as much as the next kid, but these games were the ones where my love of Pokémon just stagnated for a bit.

Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, 2012

Okay, confession time: I never actually got one of these games. If my love for Pokémon hit a wall with Black and White, there was no way I was going to get a game that, I thought, was the exact same thing again. Did my brother get this one and love it? Yes. Did I want to dedicate my senior year of high school to a dumb, unexciting, remake of another dumb game? Absolutely not.

Pokémon X and Y, 2013

Two things happened in 2013: I finished my first year of college, and my love of Pokémon came back with the new version. X and Y was unique in that it encouraged building relationships with the Pokémon, something that I had always wanted more of in the games. Remember, my favorite part of the games was having Pikachu follow behind me in Pokémon Yellow. I also loved the introduction of different types of super-powered Pokémon depending on the version. It reminded me of why my brother and I used to be so careful about which Pokémon game we would get--together, we'd be able to gather every single Pokémon available.

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, 2014

The third--and most recent--throwback in the Pokémon franchise was also one of my favorite games, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. It brought together the games that I most vividly remember from my childhood (I'll never forget that train ride playing Pokémon) and the modern benefits of playing with my fellow nerd friends. This game helped me bond with my college friends more than ever, since it provided the same tried-and-true formula that had brought me and my high school friends together. Like with every remake, the game introduced new, awesome developments that allowed us to experience nostalgia for our childhood like never before.

Pokémon Sun and Moon, 2016

Finally. The most recent adaptation of Pokémon. This is the game that I've been playing since coming home for the holidays. This is the game that my friends and I were quick to talk about after it came out. This is the game that has completely re-imagined the Pokémon universe. I'm barely halfway through the game, but it has everything that I used to love about Pokémon, plus tons of new adaptations. We can play with our Pokémon in a caretaking app. There's a separate part of the game for interacting with people from around the world. The game is set in a Hawaii-esq world with a whole new challenge for long-time and brand-new players to work through. New Pokémon games always seem to come out during key parts of my life, and this game has come out during the biggest change I've experienced yet.

It's always nice to know that Pokémon will be with me, throughout my life. As my world has gotten bigger, so has the Pokemon world. With games like Pokémon Go, which you can play on your phone, the world is becoming more and more like the Pokémon world of my dreams. Every time I start up a new Pokémon game, I remember myself when I was a kid, and Pokémon was a new, exciting world. I'm happy that I've been able to stick with the franchise for twenty years, and I look forward to the next twenty.