As you know pokemon games have always been aimed towards pleasing little kids, especially the first and second gen games. When you accomplish something big in the game you get a big praise from most of the people. Like for example when you beat Lt. Surge he tells you, great job you was amazing kid, wow your something special. A lot of kids who are playing those games might not be getting any praise from his/her family no matter how big of a accomplishment they make so the pokemon game can fill a emotional void in their life. You also always get a rival who of course is a bully. In the game your rival is tough but if you work hard enough you can overcome your bully. Most of the time kids can't beat there bullies in real life no matter how hard they try but more often of the time the kids who are being bullied don't even have the courage 2 confront there bully. The pokemon games can give kids much needed self esteem. Some people may not have even realized that pokemon games filled their void because playing the game just feels that natural 2 them. Pokemon games was very unique with their story also and gives a simply amazing experience while playing them. Can one person who has ever liked a pokemon game not wanted 2 play it again after they beat it the first time? Think of how many games you have played and beat once and once beating it was enough. The story in the pokemon games are without question some of the best stories of all time and are also the most successful, the only other game that i can think of who is as successful as the pokemon games are the zelda games. So which drew you in? Was it the story or the game? When i was a kid i liked the pokemon games for the story and the warm fuzzy feelings i got from playing it. 

bloodyb : I liked pretty much everything about all the pokemon games I've ever played except the trading to evolve and the rare pokemon events. Might have seemed fun to some people, but it was just another nuisance to me.

Final Weapon : I agree, trading just 2 evolve was a pain but they most likely did it so kids would socialize with each other. The rare events sucked and especially when they was held no where near you. The only way you was supposed 2 be able 2 get a mew in some of the first gen games was from a rare special event. A programmer obviously didn't like this so he/she put it in secretly. I liked how he/she put it in because who ever did it knew that other kids would be upset and jealous of the kids who was able 2 get a mew. It most likely made the kids who did get the mew from a special event upset because the mew was only supposed 2 go 2 them so it made it less special. 

I love everything about the Pokemon series. I've been a huge fan since the beginning and I still am to this day. I agree with what you said about the rival. It gives kids a self esteem boost when they beat Blue. That was one of the first major accomplishments of my years of gaming.

I guess you could say that they did because I started playing the games when I was really young and I grew up with them. It was one of the things that kept getting bigger and sticking with me as I got older and now there's that awesome feeling of nostalgia whenever I think about it.