Split for Time

Playing two games at once

The Pokémon Pair

I’m embarrassed by my high score (4) but I only tried it like twice and it’s trickier than it seems

Progress report: in 2026 I have rolled credits on 1 game so far. When you consider how long games are, and the fact that this is one of a handful of hobbies, and that I have a wife and pup that I like to spend time with, and that I work a full time job, there’s only so much time in the day for video games. Now, video games are my main hobby, but I do contain multitudes, and the F1 Season is back with lots to keep appraised of there and I can’t play all of either game I’ve been playing with only partial attention, or I would be doing them both a disservice. If you can’t tell by the pictures, the two games I have been playing are both Pokémon titles: FireRed and Pokopia.

These 2D sprites are still gorgeous in 2026

I have been spending my time going between each, with a heavier lean towards Pokopia, since I had a bit of a headstart on FireRed, having not bought Pokopia until a few days after it came out. I am enjoying both for very different reasons.

FireRed

Since I’ve talked about this game a bit before already, we’ll start here. I think that it’s a very fun, nostalgic game. On the Switch 2, the colors really pop on the LCD, and load times are practically non-existent, which is expected for a 22-year-old game. It brings back a lot of memories. Since it’s the original 151 Pokémon, until you beat the Elite 4,I think, I have been trying to use Pokémon I haven’t really used before, not counting my starter.

So much harder than the modern games to keep everyone on equal footing, especially mid-game

This has had mixed results. You see, when I played Yellow, back in the day, I did not have the patience to evenly level my squad. I got a Mankey early on and eventually he learned Seismic Toss, and I power leveled him so he could tank anyone I threw him at, even if he was weak against them. I am not doing that this time. I am trying not to anyway. My Chrizard is currently about 10 levels above everyone else, but it’s not my fault that the grass and poison gym leaders were much easier to flamethrower than anything my other Pokémon had to offer at the time.

Never used Nidoking, Jolteon, or Snorlax in any Pokémon game for more than a battle or two. Hoping to replace Dragonair as well at some point but his shed skin ability is a lifesaver with all the poison in this part of the game

That’s my current team. I’m trying to replace Gyarados, but he’s the only water-type right now that I have that actually has a water-type move. I got Lapras, but it doesn’t know any water-type moves as of yet, so Gyarados will stay there until I can teach Lapras a water move or until I have the patience to level him to the point where he will learn a water move on his own.

Anyway, I’m enjoying it, but it can be a little tedious. I’m only about 8 registered Pokémon in my Pokédex away from being able to claim the Exp. Share. Which will be very useful in getting things balanced in my party. Only three more badges until I can go against the Elite 4 and see the stuff I never experienced as a kid.

Pokopia

This game is so addictive. I, like most gamers in 2020, got Animal Crossing: New Horizons and played quite a bit of it during those isolating days. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I’m sure it was on par with most people. The only thing is, after I put in those hours, I haven’t really thought about it since. I’m sure my island is in disrepair and my companions are mad at me for abandoning them for all this time.

In Pokopia, I don’t think I’ll have that same issue. I’ve only put abut 15 hours into it, and 20 hours in FireRed. But, I have a weekend coming up with a few extra days where my wife will be out of town and I’ll be off from work, and there’s no F1, so I’ll be able to really get my environment scores up. I’m hoping to get to the end-game content where you unlock a whole new world to build up from scratch by then so that I can focus that weekend on doing that.

I really am enjoying the story so far, and likely this will be the focus of next week’s article so I’m not going to go into details here. But this game gives me a lot of joy and has so many “okay I’ll just grab this resource, or wait for this thing to finish building and then I’ll get off and go to bed or go hang out with my wife” and then four hours have passed, my wife’s asleep and it’s 1am - moments. And that’s on a work night!

Until Next Time

A short post this week with the updates. But next week I’ll probably have completed Pokopia’s story, and at least be in the post-Elite 4 content of FireRed.