Upon becoming an officially fully-functioning adult at the age of twenty-one, nostalgia hit me in the most childish of ways – with a Pokéball and a couple of Rare Candies.

Pokémon; a video game series that has spanned nearly twenty years, six generations, eighteen movies, twenty-five main games, forty-eight gyms, 718 fictional monsters, and approximately nine hundred episodes. You capture the monsters, force them into an enclosed space and battle the fictional fiends against their brothers and sisters – on the surface, it’s pretty morbid.

But the theme music, the Pokémon, the badges, the absolutely unachievable goal of “catching them all!” have motivated almost all of us to play the same re-hashed game over and over again. Entrancing children from the world over, these children have become adults and many of these adults have continued their Pokémon journey into new realms and regions. Nintendo’s most recent reiteration, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, returns to the Hoenn region (based on the Japanese main-island, Kyushu) in a 3D remake of the third generation game from 2002.

But what makes us return to the world of Pokémon?

Is it nostalgia? Is it the mechanics? Is it the absolute desire to “catch them all”? Is it a total lack of decent new games?

On the day of my 21st birthday, my Nintendo 3DS arrived along with my sparkling new copy of Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. It was sent from my family in England with cards and well-wishes for my time abroad. I ripped open the package, drew out the handheld machine, and began my journey once again. This was not the first time I had experienced the Hoenn region; I was bought a copy of both Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire for my birthday back in 2003. When the opening credits roll and the theme music starts, nostalgia kicks it… but it’s different. This is not the same game repeated across generations and consoles – this is new. The 3D visual graphics change the entire perception of the game. In the back of the moving van, I state my name (my real name, for a change; I always had this weird habit of creating the persona of someone else when asked in my youth). I travel into the house to see a Machoke moving-in team putting my things away. Characters have facial expressions and my room actually seems liveable in; I even have a virtual Wii-U to play with (although the mystery of where my mother sleeps is still an enigma). Professor Birch screams from the north and I rush to save him and face the hardest decision of my childhood once again – choosing my starter Pokémon.

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire emerges as the third time that Nintendo has revisited previous instalments in the series and the second time that I have. Aside from catching Pokémon, defeating gym leaders, and saving the world, Pokémon Alpha Sapphire gave a truly unique experience; an experience of nostalgia. In the midst of exams, work, and reality, it just feels so good to capture a Vulpix.