As a kid, I was awfully obsessed with Pokemon. I'd call myself a proud fan, but man, that series ate away at me as a kid, lmao. Fond memories include browsing the bleached white walls of Target, always on the lookout for if some new release to surprise me.

To be honest, I was a super picky back then. I think I specifcially missed out on games like The World Ends With You at first because I remember reading the description on the back of the box and being all like, "Oh, a game that only happens in a week?! That'll be over so soon! Boring!" Putting it down, only to get it years later, lmao. Which, to be fair, probably was a much better time in my life to play it. But Pokemon? Dude, I couldn't get my eyes off every game on the shelf. I was at least smart enough not to buy into the whole the dual-release gimmick the mainline games have, but I found myself equally as interested in the side games too just to have that fix, haha. And it was that strong fixation that soon led me to Pokemon Ranger.

Pokemon Ranger is a real odd trio of games to me. I wouldn't go out of my way to say they're unheard of by today's standards, unlike Conquest, which I feel like nobody mentions anymore despite it being way too interesting and cool, man- but they aren't necessarily too vocally appreciated much either, y'know? Jaiden Animations did bring the series some much needed love with her video about Shadows of Almia, so I'm really thankful of her for that. But since then, though, I haven't quite heard many people mention it outside of hearing Team Dim Sun's theme become more and more prominent as background music for Youtubers I enjoy, lol.

Shadows of Almia remains my personal favorite out of the two Ranger games I own. I still don't own the original Ranger game, as that tends to fly on and off my bucket list after constantly hearing how much the sequels improved upon the original formula to where it's a little daunting for me to even imagine playing a game that may not be as worth my time, which may be that oddly specific picky side leftover in me. ^^; And while Guardian Signs is honestly a fuzzy memory in my head, I don't necessarily remember having a bad time with it at all? _{That's probably a sign I should revisit that one, lol... (baddumtss...)}

For those who aren't aware, Pokemon Ranger follows a different way of capturing Pokemon. Instead of fighting them to capture, you use your DS stylus to run circles around them. Your captured Pokemon are still useful, as they can be used either as Poke Assists - moves in battle that temporarily transform your styler's functions to help you capture an enemy which changes depending on their Type, or Field assists - specific moves like Crush, Tackle, Cut, etc. That can demolish obstacles or create pathways.

However, as the game progresses these obstacles grow bigger, therefore requiring you to capture stronger Pokemon. It's honestly a lot looking back on it. Like, Your Styler has its own menu with a browser to help reference whose strong enough for what obstacles with their Types listed, a Glossary for all the Ranger terms, Field terms, assists, Maps, oh man...All this stuff completely flew over my head back when I was younger, but really, all bias aside I think it's a way too thought out system for a sidegame, lmao. There's obviously nothing wrong with that! But it's just really interesting to see how much love and care was put in to something like this. I dunno. Maybe you just don't know what you have until you realize it's gone, haha. :">

Shadows of Almia, over the years, has become a big comfort game to me. My first impressions giving the game another go from the start this time around is just being hit with that ol' high-quality DS pixel art. I dunno if there's a name for it in specific, but many of the more light-hearted pixel games on the DS had this more cheery spritework that I adored. Funnily enough, another series of sidegames, Mario and Luigi, has this similar aesthetic, to name more games that do it. And SoA has this down real well; although that could just be my bias talking, LMAO. Like, I was honestly kinda blown away when I saw those Field Animations in the Ranger School. As a kid, obviously I didn't think too much of it,but looking back the animation in this game is just really good.

One of my favorite bits in terms of visuals is how every named Ranger you meet has their own little animation for when they take on/clear a mission, including your player character, which changes depending on whether you play a boy or girl. I had this thing when I was little of just replaying my games over and over, exhausting gender options if possible and in general just seeing if I could discover any slight variations for the hell of it. I hadn't realized that was what saves could be used were for, but with games like Almia where you only got one at least it made a little bit of sense here? Considering this was Pokemon though, I'm surprised I never realized how in HG/SS the catching tutorial is infinitely shorter if you're a girl with Ethan compared to Lyra, but I definitely wasn't a perceptive kid, if anything.

Speaking of things that just flew over my head, that's also why I'm surprised at how good the humor is here. It's nothing knee-slapping, sure, but it's good humor? And yeah, NPC dialogue is short and usually nothing special, but when you start going on the main story path, that's when things get interesting. The character interactions and atmosphere veers between campy and just casually grounded in its writing, making it real easy to slip yourself into the region of Almia around you.

As of where I'm at right now (right after the getting some Doduo after having little issue with the Ramparados boss that gave me so much headache as kid), I'm really glad I picked it back up. I keep on thinking that me revisting the games in which I often replayed the beginnings of often would lead to me getting bored at how much I remember, but instead whenever I do it I'm pleasantly shocked at the things that went over my head as a kid, and in me growing older, how much more I'm able to appreciate the work the developers did to make these games worth their money.