The year was 2013.
Twitch was very young and was called a video game version of Justin.tv, PewDiePie was just starting to make it big, and yet there had yet to be any Pokemon videos or streams because there was no way to get a video source from the handheld.
And then Neal "Loopy" Tew came around and was able to offer a solution to this problem and was first to market. The internet rejoiced! FINALLY there was a way to provide video from the handheld! Youtubers and streamers alike rushed to get one but he was only one man but he fulfilled orders as fast as possible.
At that same time in the Pokemon community Video Game tournaments were starting to kick off. The Pokemon Company was able to stream their National and World championships because they had access to Nintendo Developer units but yet the Regional championships happening around the country with 100+ players were left with no way to watch the action.
That is when I found the 3DS capture card that loopy made and I saw that he lived in the same state as me! I emailed him asking if I could save on shipping by dropping it off instead and he agreed. When I gave him the 3DS he was so very kind and said he had very little about knowledge about Pokemon but was happy to help. I get it back soon after dropping it off and I was ecstatic!
The next month was the debut of the capture card at a regional tournament. It also happened to have The Pokemon Company's lead organizer, Dave Schwimmer, present and the look on his face was priceless! He pulled me aside and asked me questions about how it worked, where I got it, and more. He then got onto his cell phone and made calls to the main office in Bellevue, WA for the next couple hours, taking pictures, and saying things like "The players love watching these games being played!" among other things. He then came to me and said "Hey Rob, I need to borrow that for a while. I promise you will get it back."
Now we are 4 years later from that day and look at how big the Pokemon video game community has grown! Youtube channels, twitch streams, and even The Pokemon Company has got on the bandwagon and is producing their own broadcasts!
All this thanks to loopy.
Thank you Neal for all that you done for the Pokemon community and other communities that have been made possible thanks to your work!