Yeah - I was hoping that eventually they'd, like, update him to Water/Dragon or something, but OH WELL. I suppose he'd be waaaaaay too powerful with only 1 weakness (that changes in X/Y, though I won't tell you how - wouldn't want to spoil it for you ).

I remember playing Sapphire for the first time and thinking "HOLY CRAP THIS IS AWESOME". I played it multiple times and always enjoyed it. You got the best version in Emerald, though - you're able to see the stories of both Team Aqua and Team Magma.

I never really noticed the parallels before, but yeah, I can see it. I would imagine there's a good amount of influence.

I know I'd buy Mother 3 without any complaints if they released it. I got EarthBound Zero for the Wii U Virtual Console and loved it, though EarthBound definitely improved on it in every aspect. ...Well, except for one. I thoroughly enjoyed that pressing "B" in EarthBound Zero would speed not only you up, but the NPCs as well. That needs to happen in more games.

My favorite has always been Gyarados. He made a big impression on me in Blue and I've enjoyed using him for competitive battles ever since. If I were to pick one based on cuteness, probably Dedenne. I caught a shiny one in X (now transferred to Moon) and I rather enjoy him.

I saw that! I've never really been interested in collecting games just to display them, but I suppose I tend to lean towards practicality.

Almost to the end, then! Let me know if you get stumped on Espeon and Umbreon. I can either give you hints or just tell you outright.

Woo Cyndaquil! I always use the Fire-type starters, ever since Blue (at least for my first playthrough; if I buy another copy or version, I typically try one of the others).

I think my Crystal battery was still in tact as well - I ended up selling it to a friend. So I guess you might be able to find someone with a working Crystal game with a Celebi, though it'll probably still take a while to find one nearby. Conventions might be more likely, though I'm not sure how many people still bring their Gen II games. I know people bring their most recent Pokemon games to trade and battle others, so maybe there are some like-minded people who want to go back to the old Game Boy Color games.