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Prior to their 2016 re-release on Nintendo 3DS, I had viewed the original Game Boy games as nostalgic but vestigial remnants of the original continuity owing to their absence from the chain linking each generation. This was a huge deal since the original Game Boy games had been severed from the mainline releases starting with Ruby and Sapphire. Not only did it make the originals available to a wide audience after being locked on older platforms for years, it connected them to the newer generations through Pokémon Home. This was especially apparent the last time the originals were revived, when Game Freak released Pokémon Red and Blue on the Nintendo 3DS in what was a watershed moment for the series. If there’s anything that can remove the bad taste left by Scarlet and Violet’s technical issues, it’s a link to the original games, which retain a powerful hold on the popular imagination. I found myself reflecting again on that pleasant morning after this week's Pokémon Direct, which fans hoped would include the original Game Boy games but mostly kept the focus on Scarlet and Violet's expected expansions (and Pokémon Sleep, which has been something of a meme since its original announcement in 2019). Pokémon Ultra Sun, 2017, which felt like a letdown at the time but as the last game to feature every single Pokémon now feels like the last vestige of the classic experience.

Pokémon Platinum, 2008, one of the first games I ever covered as a member of the media. Pokémon Emerald, 2005, a period when I was just out of college and fully invested in the competitive scene. They were like miniature time capsules filled with artifacts that transported me to a particular time and place in my life.

Spreading a handful of GBA, DS, and 3DS games on a table, I was filled with an invigorating sense of nostalgia as I plugged them in one after the other and reunited with my old friends.