So with Toys R Us, a store that specialized in toys (and which formed an integral part of millions of people's childhoods) closing yesterday, I've decided to share a memory from that store.
It was around the year 2000, during the second year of Pokemania. Toys R Us was the place to be if you were a Pokemon fanatic thanks to the Pokemon League, a special activity hosted every Saturday where kids could join up and play the Pokemon Trading Card Game. My little brother and I were obsessed with Pokemon, and we both played the TCG. We weren't good at it, though. We were also from a family with a tight budget, so our funds to buy the cards were limited. But we were happy.
One particular Saturday we were playing Pokemon TCG in Toys R Us. The place was PACKED! Every hallway there were kids playing Pokemon TCG, trading cards, battling it out with Pokemon cards. And from the speakers one could listen to the Pokemon anime soundtrack 2 B A Master. It was great.
One November evening of that same year, as we were out shopping at Toys R Us for my little brother's birthday gift, I caught sight of a game. Not just any game, but one I wanted for a while now: Pokemon Gold. I was SHOCKED! I begged my mom to buy it for me, and she obliged. We brought that game home, and I played the SHIT out of it! I remember my first Starter: Totodile. I've played and re-played Pokemon Gold hundreds of times, to the point it's become the second Pokemon game I've replayed the most. For the record, the Pokemon game I've replayed most is Pokemon Red.
And that's my memory.
