Pokemon History 2017 to current
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2017 – present: Generation 7 – 9
Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! were released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch on 16 November 2018. The games are remakes of Pokémon Yellow.
Pokémon Sword and Shield were released on 15 November 2019 for the Switch. Its follow-up, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, followed on 28 January 2022, again for the Switch.
The most recent installments of the franchise's video game series are Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, released for the Switch on 18 November 2022.
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Media
Video games and other software
Pokémon video games have been released in a wide variety of genres. As of June 2023, a total of 122 Pokémon games have been published. According to Pokémon's official website, as of March 2023, over 480 million Pokémon game units have been sold worldwide.
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Core series
The video game series, and the franchise as a whole, began with Pokémon Red and Green (1996), released outside Japan as Pokémon Red and Blue (1998). A special 'Pikachu version', Pokémon Yellow (1998), came next. Generation 2 began with Pokémon Gold and Silver (1999). A special edition, Pokémon Crystal (2000), was released later. This pattern was repeated in Gen 3 and 4: Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (2002) were followed by Pokémon Emerald (2004); and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (2006) were followed by Pokémon Platinum (2008).
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Generation 5 includes Pokémon Black and White (2010) and Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (2012) for the Nintendo DS. Gen 6 began with Pokémon X and Y (2013) for the Nintendo 3DS. Pokémon Sun and Moon (2016) and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (2017), also released for the Nintendo 3DS, are considered the 7th Generation. With the launch of the Nintendo Switch came the Gen 8 games Pokémon Sword and Shield (2019) and Pokémon Legends: Arceus (2022). The most recent core Pokémon RPGs are Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (2022), part of the 9th Generation, for the Switch.
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Throughout the years, a number of remakes of the core games have been released: FireRed and LeafGreen (2004), HeartGold and SoulSilver (2009), Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (2014), Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (2021), and Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! (2018). The latter pair of games are remakes of Pokémon Yellow.
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Side series
Pokemon Stadium (1998) is considered the first Pokémon side game. In Japan, it was followed by Pokemon Stadium 2 (1999), which was later released in the West as Pokémon Stadium (2000). The original Pokemon Stadium has never been released outside Japan. Next came Pokemon Stadium Gold & Silver (2000), which was released in the West as Pokémon Stadium 2 (2001). The games allow players to use a transfer Pak to load their Pokémon from their Game Boy cartridge onto their Nintendo 64 memory card and into the game. None of the Stadium titles feature a storyline like the RPGs: they focus mainly on Pokémon battles.
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Pokémon Colosseum (2003) and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (2005) are full-fledged RPGs for the GameCube, developed by Genius Senority. Pokémon Battle Revolution (2006), released for the Wii, was also made by Genius Sonority. Unlike their previous two games, Battle Revolution has no storyline, only a battle mode. Via Wi-Fi, the game can connect with the Nintendo DS and transfer Pokémon between Battle Revolution and Pokémon DS games.
Spin-offs
Pokémon spin-offgames have been created since the early days of the franchise. Hey You, Pikachu! (1998) is a vurtual pet simulator in which the player can communicate with the titular character through a microphone bundled with the game. In Pokémon Snap (1999), the objective is not to catch Pokémon, but to photograph them. Pokémon Puzzle League (2000) and Pokémon Puzzle Challenge (2000) are based on Tetris Attack. Other early spin-offs include Pokémon Trading Card Game (1998) and Pokémon Pinball (1999). Pokémon Channel (2003) combines elements of the adventure, virtual pet, and simulation genres and is a spiritual successor to Hey You, Pikachu! .
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The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series are roguelike RPGs in which the player controls various Pokémon instead of a human trainer. The series is notable for featuring randomly generated dungeons, making every playthrough unique. The Pokémon Ranger series are action RPGs. It consists of three titles, all released for the Nintendo DS. In the games, the player catches Pokémon by drawing circles around them on the DS's touchscreen, using the stylus. After catching, the Pokémon befriends the player and follows them around, aiding them in catching other Pokémon and solving puzzles. Befriended Pokémon will leave after a while and return to their habitat.
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The Pokémon Rumble series are beat em up games featuring melee battles. PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure (2009) and its sequel PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond (2011) are action-adventure games. The player controls Pikachu and travels through the titular park, engaging in battles, completing minigames, and making friends with the various Pokémon that live there. Detective Pikachu (2018) is an adventure game for the Nintendo 3DS in which Tim Goodman and his Pikachu friend solve various mysteries. The game was adapted into a live- action film that premiered in 2019.
Detective Pikachu - Nintendo 3DS
Three cross over games with Pokémon have been released: Pokémon Conquest (2012) is a tactical RPG crossover with Nobunaga's Ambition; Pokkén Tournament (2016) and Pokkén Tournament DX (2017) are fighting game crossovers with Tekken.
The Pokémon Company first entered the mobile phone game market in 2011 with Pokémon Say Tap?, a Japan-only, rhythm-based game for iOS and Android. Since then, a large number of Pokémon mobile games have been released, most notably Pokémon Go (2016), an augmented reality game developed by Niantic that spawned a worldwide craze in the summer of 2016. Pokémon Duel (2016) is a discontinued digital table-top game based on the Pokémon Trading Figure Game. Pokémon Quest (2018) is an action- adventure game with a Minecraft-esque graphical design. Pokémon Café Mix (2020), later renamed Pokémon Café ReMix, is a puzzle game in which players needs to swipe and match various icons within a time limit. Pokémon Unite (2021) is a multiplayer online battle arena game.
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Trading card game
The Pokémon Trading Card Game (PTCG) was one of the first collectable card games (CCGs) in Japan. It was inspired by Magic: The Gathering. As with all CCGs, Pokémon players need a deck – in this case, a stack of 60 cards. Players can build their own deck, or use a pre-made one. There are various types of cards, including basic Pokémon, evolved Pokémon, energies, and trainer cards. The player who wins a coin toss begins by drawing 7 cards from their shuffled deck. From the 7 cards in their hand, the player has to put one basic Pokémon (i.e. an unevolved Pokémon) on the field. This is the active Pokémon, which the player will attack with. If the player didn't drew a basic Pokémon, they need to reshuffle their deck and draw 7 cards again ("taking a mulligan"). Aside from placing a basic Pokémon on the field, players can also place dormant basic Pokémon on the table. These form the bench. When the active Pokémon is defeated, the player puts a new Pokémon from their bench on the field. For each subsequent turn, the player draws 1 new card from their deck.
The Pokémon Trading Card Game was designed by Creatures, which continues to develop new cards and card sets to this day. According to the official website of The Pokémon Company, 43.2 billion cards have been produced as of March 2022. As of June 2023, the fansite Bulbapedia documents 96 main card sets, 13 special editions, and 36 promotional sets.
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Anime
A total of 23 anime films have been released, the most recent being Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle (2020). A live-action film titled Detective Pikachu have been released.
Aside from the main anime series, a number of spin-off series have been produced. The Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station (Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku), also known as Hōsō, aired on TV Tokyo from 2002 to 2004. Its episodes focus on various characters from the main series. Hōsō was released in English as Pokémon Chronicles. Three television specials have aired: Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns, The Legend of Thunder, and Pokémon: The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon. Several Pikachu shorts based on Pikachu and other Pokémon have been released.
Pokémon Origins (2013), Pokémon Generations (2016), Pokémon Twilight Wings (2020), Pokétoon (2020), Pokémon Evolutions (2021), and Pokémon Hisuian Snow (2022) are spin-off miniseries. They are based on the main Pokémon RPGs, but are completely separate from the main series.
An upcoming stop-motion series, titled Pokémon Concierge, is scheduled for a 2023 release on Netflix.
Reception
1999 – 2000
In 1999 and 2000, Pokémon was an unprecedented, ubiquitous craze in the Western world. Time magazine described it as "a multimedia and interactive barrage like no other before it". The franchise, which is primarily aimed at children, elicited mixed responses from parents and teachers, some of them critical. Yano (2004) even claimed that the reactions at one point constituted a moral panic.
The bulk of the criticism on Pokémon was directed at the trading cards, in particular the booster packs, sealed packages of 11 randomly inserted cards that were sold separately from the main sets. The cards are of varying scarcity, the most valuable being the "holofoil cards" (also called "holographic" or "foil cards"), in which the pictures of the Pokémon have a shiny overlay effect. The rare cards can only be found in booster packs, and the rarest ones are very infrequently included. Tobin (2004) notes that rarity in this case is "artificially created", and "effectively a form of gambling" in which children need to repeatedly purchase booster packs to get more rare cards. Brougère (2004) described a cynicism among adults that corporations could apparently, "out of thin air", ascribe value to cards which they saw as valueless, thereby "deceiving vulnerable young consumers and garnering excessive profits".
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As the franchise's popularity grew, children began taking their Pokémon cards to school for trading and playing. Soon, the cards were alleged to be "disrupting learning, poisoning playground friendships and causing such distraction that some children forget their homework, tune out in class and even miss school buses as they scramble to acquire one more card" The craze "turn[ed] the playground into a black market", with card swaps sometimes inciting conflicts. Certain children engaged in "aggressive trading", tricking other (often younger) kids into unfair deals, forcing teachers to arbitrate. Some parents expressed their concerns about the craze, but feared that their children would be ostracized if they were to deny them Pokémon products. In the US, the Pokémon cards ended up "almost universally banned" from school grounds. Similar bans occurred in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and European countries. In September 1999, US-based law firm Milberg filed a class-action lawsuit against Nintendo of America, Wizards of the Coast, and 4Kids. The suit claimed that the booster packs constitute a form of lottery and promote gambling in kids. Susan Estrich noted that similar lawsuits had been filed against trading-card makers in the US, without success. The Pokémon card suit is not known to have gone to court, and is believed to have been settled.
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The Pokémon anime series was criticized by some as "cheap Japanese animation" that is "violent" and has "little educational value". Michelle Orecklin of Time dismissed the TV series as "less a cartoon than a half-hour exercise in Pokémon product placement". Allison (2006) wrote that even those within Pokémon's US marketing team agreed that the anime's visuals were "not especially sophisticated" compared to Disney cartoons. Pokémon: The First Movie premiered in the United States on 12 November 1999, and in European countries in February 2000. While a huge box-office hit, The First Movie was received poorly by several Western film critics. The Guardian decried it as a "contemptuously cheap animated cash-in on the monster kids' craze". On 3 November 1999, Pokémon was satirized by the American adult cartoon South Park. In the episode, a franchise called "Chinpokomon" is portrayed as a low-quality line of products that is part of an evil plan by the Japanese government to take over America. South Park co-creator Matt Stone commented that, at the time, Pokémon was "scary huge".
Aside from the negative reactions, many media also cited alleged beneficial effects of Pokémon. It was noted that the video games and the cards require children to read, memorize, calculate, and plan out a strategy. Both encourage socialization, and trading Pokémon requires negotiating skills. Stephanie Strom wrote in The New York Times that the Pokémon anime taught children "traditional Japanese values -- responsibility, empathy, cooperation, obedience, respect for elders, humility". Anne Allison interviewed various American parents during Pokémania. She found that while most of them were "utterly mystified" about Pokémon, few were overly worried about it, instead meeting the craze with "befuddled acceptance".
The surprise success of Pokémon was "an undeniable breakthrough in the homeland of Disney" that "changed preexisting assumptions about the US marketplace at the same time that it was constantly resisted for deviating from them". Pokémon was a welcomed boon to Japan's faltering economy, and positively influenced the country's soft power. Kamo (2000) interviewed various American children and found that kids who thought Pokémon was cool, were more likely to believe that Japan was a cool nation. Allison (2003) gave a similar finding: all the children she interviewed knew where Pokémon originated, and "many said that, as a result of Pokémon and other 'cool' Japanese goods, they have developed an interest in Japan. A number said that they now wanted to study Japanese and travel there one day".
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In the 20st century, Japanese animation found some relatively small-scale popularity in North-America and Europe in series (Astro Boy, Kimba the white lion, Speed Racer) and films (Akira, Ghost in the Shell). The Pokémon TV series and movies marked a breakthrough for anime, contributing to the growing worldwide success of 'Japanimation' at the turn of the 21st century. For some children, Pokémon was their introduction to anime, serving as a "gateway" to other anime, manga, and Japanese culture in general. Pokémon: The First Movie became one of the most successful Japanese animated movies in history. After Princess Mononoke, The First Movie became the second anime film to open at mainstream cinemas in the West, as opposed to the usual art house venues. Pioneering anime importer John Ledford noted that Pokémon "underscored the commercial potential of anime", thus making it interesting from a business perspective.
The success of Pokémon encouraged companies to look for other popular Japanese properties that might be localized for Western markets. The importing of three other 'monster' franchises were confirmed by business executives to have been (partly) inspired by Pokémon: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, and Monster Rancher. The import of Cardcaptors might also have been prompted by Pokémon.
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