With Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, the game’s community began working together to help each other build their libraries. For the first time, players could head online and exchange Pokemon or battle with total strangers.Ĭompleting a Pokédex by discovering every Pokemon on your path was once a lonesome task. These new systems served to better connect players to their friends, but also introduced players to the global Pokemon community. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were the first two games in the Pokemon franchise to take advantage of the console’s Wi-Fi capability, using the feature to implement a new Global Trade System (GTS), internet battles, and a nifty multiplayer area known as The Underground. Image: The Pokemon Company International / Nintendo It wasn’t until the Nintendo DS era where connectivity via the internet was native and accessible - and it opened up a whole world of possibilities for players. The Game Boy and Game Boy Advance both had ‘link cable’ accessories that would help players battle and trade their Pokemon, but this required an additional purchase that many young players couldn’t spring for. The Pokemongames had always been popular, but the nature of the late 1990s handheld titles meant it was difficult to share your little monsters with friends. For the Pokemon franchise in particular, it wound up being essential for connecting players and creating new, shared experiences. In the world of games, the internet was a transformative tool. Sure, it had existed in decades prior, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s boom that it really entered the homes of kids and invaded their day-to-day lives.įor many, it meant hours spent on Neopets or Habbo Hotel on PC, trawling the internet for fun games and friends to chat to. It’s hard to fathom there was a time before the internet, now that it’s consumed so much of our lives - but in the early 2000s, a generation of kids was slowly coming to terms with what the internet really was.
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