Pokemon History 1996 thru 1998
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1996 – 1998: Rise in Japan
Release of Red & Green
Nintendo had no high expectations of Pocket Monsters Red and Green, and media largely ignored the game(s). By 1996, the seven-years old Game Boy console was considered yesterday's news and near the end of its life cycle. On the other hand, new Game Boys continued to be manufactured and sold. The console was widespread and, due to its age, affordable to children. Also, the Game Boy had experienced a small revival in Japan in 1995 due to the success of Mario's Picross. Coincidentally, this game was directed by Ishihara, and co-developed by Ape. The popularity of Mario's Picross inspired Nintendo to develop the Game Boy Pocket, a slimmer and improved version of the Game Boy, released in Japan on 21 July 1996. Because of the timing, some were under the impression that the Game Boy Pocket was made to promote Pocket Monsters, but this was in fact a coincidence that would end up benefiting both.
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CoroCoro manga, Mew lottery
Two media channels that would play important roles in the Pokémon franchise were the CoroCoro Comic, released monthly, and its sister magazine Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic, released bi-monthly. Both manga magazines are published by Shogakukan, a long-time business partner of Nintendo, and have featured manga based on Nintendo properties (e.g. Super Mario-kun, Kirby of the Stars, Donkey Kong). At the time
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of Pokémon's release, the main CoroCoro magazine was read by one in four elementary school students. CoroCoro's deputy editor-in-chief was Masakazu Kubo. On Ishihara's suggestion, Kubo commissioned the creation of a Pocket Monsters manga. Written and drawn by Kosaku Anakubo , its first chapter was featured in the March/April issue of Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic, released on 28 February 1996, one day after the release of Red and Green. Shogakukan, which frequently surveys their target groups, determined that the Pocket Monsters manga was well received.
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To further promote Red and Green, the May issue of CoroCoro, released on 15 April 1996, announced the "Legendary Pokémon Offer", centered around a mysterious, secret Pokémon called Mew. Mew was a last-minute addition to Red & Green. It is unobtainable in the game(s) through usual means, and was intended to be used at a later point in some post-launch activity. To participate in the promotion, CoroCoro readers had to send in a postcard, and from the entrants, 20 were selected at random. The winners then had to send in their cartridge so that Mew could be uploaded onto it. The lottery was a success and increased word-of-mouth. By September, sales of Red and Green had surpassed 1 million units.
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Pokemon Blue
After the release of Pokemon Red and Green, Game Freak continued to grow, and a number of new employees were hired. For training purposes, they were ordered to study and make bug fixes to the Source Code of Red & Green, and to create new sprites for it. The upgraded version was dubbed Pokémon Blue. It was originally not meant to be sold. Only a small number of handmade copies were made, intended as a special gift to "20 to 100 people". After Kubo learned of it, he encouraged Tajiri and Ishihara to allow an official release of Blue. President Hiroshi Yamauchi initially rejected this, fearing it would confuse people into believing it was an entirely new Pokémon game. Kawaguchi then suggested an alternative, which Yamauchi agreed with: Blue would not receive a normal retail release but would be made available only through mail order for a limited time as a special offer. It was announced in the November issue of CoroCoro, which explicitly stated that Blue was not a new game, but rather a special, limited edition to celebrate the sale of 1 million copies of Red and Green.The offer was a surprisingly big success: 300,000 units were expected to be sold, but over 600,000 were ordered.
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Trading card game launched
The Pokémon Trading Card Game was one of the first collectible card games (CCGs) developed in Japan. Its creation was influenced by Magic: The Gathering, the first CCG in history. Indeed, the Pokémon Trading Card Game can be considered a simplified version of Magic. First released in the United States in 1993, Magic had gained popularity not just in North-America and Europe, but also in Asia. Ishihara was fond of playing cards, and had contributed to the development of at least three simple card games designed by Shigesato Itoish and released through Ape, Inc. At the time, Ishihara was particularly fascinated with Magic: The Gathering. While developing the Pokémon RPG, he realized that the concept behind it could be adapted into a Magic-like CCG. The Pokémon Card Game was designed by Ishihara, Akihiko Miura, Kōichi Ōyama, and Takumi Akabane.All were former staff members of Ape and had previously worked on Earthbound (1994): Miura was the game's main designer, Ōyama was its art director, and Akabane was one of the game's chief debuggers.
Pokemon Blue Version - Game Boy Color
While card games have a long history in Japan, a collectible card game was a relatively new concept there, and at the time not widely known. Because of this, Ishihara had difficulties finding distributors. Sometime in 1995, Ishihara pitched the card game to Nintendo. They agreed to have the cards manufactured, subcontracting an unidentified printing company. However, Nintendo did not want the hassle of having to develop a distribution system from the ground up, i.e. finding retailers willing to sell a CCG. Ishihara was then contacted by Satoshi Kayama, director of a small firm called Media Factory. Like Ishihara, Kayama was a fan of card games. He felt that CCGs would soon rise to prominence in Japan and had been gathering information on the possibility of developing such a game in some form. When Kayama heard that Creatures had developed a CCG, he contacted Ishihara and offered to distribute it, signing the contract near the end of 1995.
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CoroCoro again proved a valuable information channel. The Pokemon card game was first announced in the November issue, the same one that announced Pokemon Blue. The issue came bundled with two promo cards: one of Jigglypuff and one of Pikachu. Surveys showed that they were respectively the most and second-most popular Pokemon at the time. On 20 October 1996, the first card set was released. Booster packs were launched the same day, containing 10 randomly inserted cards. In the West, the booster packs contained 11 cards. The first, main set of the Pokemon card game would be titled the Base Set in English. Many more sets would follow. Despite being ignored by the media, except for the CoroCoro, the cards became an instant success upon release. 87 million Pokemon cards were shipped by the end of March 1997, six months after its launch, and one month before the debut of the next big installment of the franchise: the Pokemon anime series. The success of the TV series would cause the cards' sales figure to explode: by March 1998, a total of 499 million cards had been produced in Japan.
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Anime production launched
By August 1996, Kubo had become convinced of Pokemon's potential, and believed Shogakukan should create a Pokemon anime. Nintendo was hesitant, realizing that if the anime would flop, it would negatively affect the popularity of the game. Ishihara initially opposed the idea, because he thought it would overly hasten the 'consumption' of the property: he feared that if the series would end, people would assume that Pokemon has ended, and move on to the next thing. At the time, Creatures and Game Freak were planning the sequel(s) to Red and Green, Pokémon Gold and Silver, and Ishihara did not want the anime to end before they could release their new game(s). Kubo was ultimately able to resolve the concerns of all parties involved. An important aspect of Kubo's bargaining power was the then-ongoing mini WD craze and its accompanying hit series Bakuso Kyodai, Let's & Go!! Kubo had an important role in the creation of both, which impressed the stakeholders. To appease Ishihara, Kubo promised him that Pokémon would last for at least one and a half year. This was unusually long for a debuting anime, and required a big investment. Kubo's proposal for Pokémon was officially approved on 26 September 1996. For Nintendo of Japan, it was the first time they licensed a TV series. Kubo assigned independent producer Choji Yoshikawato lead the project.
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A production council was formed to produce the Pokémon anime. Different people appeared at different meetings, but four individuals usually present were Ishihara of Creatures, Sugimori of Game Freak, Yuyama of OLM, and independent producer Yoshikawa. Yoshikawa had the final say. The council decided on the anime's worldview, characters, general storyline, and various important details. The early meetings, which were also attended by Tajiri, usually started with a Q&A session in which Tajiri and Ishihara were asked about the Pokémon universe.The council was careful to have the anime be in concordance with the video game. Inevitably, there had to be differences between the two, but all agreed that the overall worldview as envisioned by Tajiri should not be disturbed. At the start of the video game, the player has to choose one of three starter Pokémon: Fushigidane, Hitokage, or Zenigame (Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle). The council didn't want to unfairly popularize any of them, and wanted the protagonist to start out with a different Pokémon. Hatakeyama & Kubo (2000) wrote that, by coincidence, three people independently suggested to the council that a Pikachu should be a main character in the anime: Kubo, Yuyama, and Keisuke Iwata of TV Tokyo's Film Department. In the end, all council members agreed that Pikachu should be one of Pokémon's central icons. They expected Pikachu to appeal to both boys and girls, as well as their mothers. This would expand Pokémon's audience, which was considered a core objective of the anime.
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During the council's very first meeting, Yoshikawa brought up a crucial issue: do the Pokémon in the anime talk? If not, then how can they communicate? In the video game, each Pokémon had a specific cry. In Anakubo's CoroCoro manga, most Pokémon could speak. At first, the council believed there should be a mixture of Pokémon that could talk and Pokémon that could not. However, this idea was eventually discarded: the Pokémon had to make a specific cry. The council agreed that Pokémon were like animals, and while the humans and the Pokémon should be able to understand each other in the series, they should not speak each other's language. It was decided that Pikachu would repeatedly say its own name in various intonations. The role of Pikachu was given to Ikue Otani. During try-outs, Yuyama had Otani voice Pikachu in normal Japanese, as well as in 'Pikachu talk', in which it only said the syllables of its name. Yuyama realized that, even in the latter style of limited communication, Otani was experienced enough to still convey the messages and emotions needed.
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ShoPro paid half of the production cost of Pokémon. TV Tokyo paid the other half and was granted co-ownership of the anime. The ads during Pokémon's commercial breaks were managed by advertisement agency JR Kikaku, which was in turn paid by sponsors buying advertisement space. In negotiating with TV Tokyo, Kubo managed to secure the 19:00 – 19:30 timeslot on Tuesdays. Pocket Monsters premiered on 1 April 1997. By November, it had become the highest-rated show on TV Tokyo. The anime succeeded in its goal of widening Pokémon's audience. Although the video games and the cards remained mostly of interest to boys, the anime also got more girls interested in the franchise, and girls' purchases of Pokémon products increased. This has been partly credited to Pikachu, who gained widespread popularity among children. The success of this character would later lead to the game Pokémon Pikachu, released in Japan on 12 September 1998 (it would be released in the West as Pokémon Yellow). An adaptation of Pokémon Blue, this 'Pikachu version' was made to resemble the TV series more.
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Copyright counsel formed, merchandising expands
In the early months of the franchise, Nintendo was the contractual representative for Pokemon, and thus the central contact point for all Pokemon-related licensing (the approval of branded products). Around the time that planning of the Pokemon anime begun, licensing requests for Pokemon started to increase, which Nintendo had difficulties handling due to a lack of (experienced) staff. Nintendo consequently granted ShoPro exclusive licensor rights. This was the first time that NoJ (Nintendo of Japan) granted licensor rights to another company, aside from its overseas subsidiaries NoA (Nintendo of America) and NoE (Nintendo of Europe).
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A copyright council was formed, headed by Ishihara. Beginning in April 1997, the council met every Tuesday, in the conference room of Creatures' office, at the Nintendo Kanda Building in Sudacho, Tokyo. Attendees usually included Ishihara and his secretary, representatives of Nintendo, Game Freak, ShoPro, TV Tokyo, and JR Kikaku, as well as head of the anime Yoshikawa. Broadly put, every meeting had three types of agenda items: discussing Pokemon-related events and basic policies in Japan, discussing Shogakukan publication plans, and considering merchandise proposals. For merchandising, the council set the bar high. Fiercely protective of Pokemon's brand equity, Ishihara was unwilling to greenlit an item just because it had a picture of a Pokemon printed on it. To avoid the market being flooded with low-quality goods, Ishihara put very specific demands on the products he evaluated. Furthermore, in most cases, the council opted to contract one company for each product category. Because of this, most merchandise proposals were rejected: of the approximately 7,500 applications submitted in 1997, only about 5% was approved.
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"Dennō Senshi Porygon" incident
The intense stimuli brought about by the episode triggered a variety of adverse health effects in more than 10,000 viewers, primarily irritated eyes, headaches, dizziness, and nausea. A small part suffered a photosensitive epileptic seizure, manifested in loss of conscious and/or convulsions. Hundreds of children were brought to hospitals, although a part of them had recovered enough upon arrival that they did not need to be hospitalized. No one died. Broadcasting of Pokémon was halted. New guidelines were drawn up to help prevent similar events from happening. With the show on hiatus, ShoPro and OLM worked on a feature Pokémon film. By the time the incident occurred, its script was already written, and the movie was in the storyboard stage. In mid-January, the staff resumed creating new episodes. The Pokémon anime series returned on 16 April 1998. The film, titled Pocket Monsters the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back, premiered on 18 July 1998 (it would be released in the West as Pokémon: The First Movie). It became that year's second-highest grossing domestic film, and fourth-highest grossing film overall.
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Ultimately, the incident did not damage the Pokémon franchise – it in fact grew further during and after the anime's hiatus. While video rental tapes were removed from shelves, all other Pokémon products continued to be sold as usual, and customer demand for them remained high. Helping matters was a general understanding among businesses that the Pokémon anime was not cancelled, but rather suspended, and many executives (correctly) expected the show to be resumed after precautions had been taken. Supermarkets and other distribution outlets responded calmly to the crisis, and did not remove the Pokémon products from their sales floors.
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