When the early wave of the "Pokemon" craze hit in 1996, I was nearing the end of high school; my interests were more "Trainspotting" and "Quake" rather than Pikachu and Squirtle. My first "Pokemon" experience was "Pokemon GO," more of an augmented reality sensation than a proper "Pokemon" adventure. When I spoke to Masuda it was before the release of "Let's Go, Pikachu!" and "Let's Go, Eevee!" and a full year before this year's "Sword" and "Shield" entries in the series, games that will assuredly be among the biggest of 2019. Nintendo has already stated that the games sold more than 6 million copies in their first weekend of release.