When I was 11, I was racing through Mt. Silver’s seemingly endless corridors in *Pokémon Gold & Silver*, trying to reach the end before a family outing. Already dressed, I played while everyone else grabbed their coats, determined to see what awaited me at the peak. The path narrowed. A lone sprite stood at the summit — familiar, but uncanny. I’d spent hours controlling this very figure years earlier in *Pokémon Red & Blue*, yet at that moment I couldn’t quite process it.