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Hello guys! Is everything alright? Hope you’re ready for a brand new quiz! Let’s talk about Pokémon, which translates to Pocket Monsters in Japan. I’m sure you know this topic very well, and if not, you have heard something about it. Pokémons are cute little creatures. They live in the wild, but a man can befriend them and catch them to accompany them on their journey.
Pokémon is a Japanese franchise that has been developed since 1996. The creator of the main series of games is Satoshi Tajiri. It was originally a series of Pocket Monsters Red and Green games and sequels. Later an anime came out, and many other series, movies, and different adaptations. But you may wonder, where did the inspiration to create something like this come from? It is a fascinating story.
The creator, Satoshi Tajiri, collected insects as a child. Unfortunately, urbanization put an end to his hobby because the meadows disappeared. He transferred his interests to games. It was the first time he had thought of a game of catching and collecting creatures. As an adult, Tajiri founded Game Freak magazine, which was dedicated only to electronic games. When creating it, he collaborated with other game enthusiasts, including cartoonist Ken Sugimori. Soon the editorial team decided to create their own games and transformed the publishing house into a company producing computer games.
Tajiri decided to implement the idea from his childhood. He wanted the game to be released on the Nintendo Game Boy console because he liked that the users could communicate. Nintendo agreed to cooperate. Ken Sugimori was responsible for the design of the creatures themselves. The production lasted 6 years, during which Game Freak was often close to bankruptcy. The game was completed. It was, among others, thanks to the other company, Creatures Inc., which decided to subsidize the production in exchange for some rights to profits. The final game was released in two versions, Red and Green. It was a simple RPG game in which the player can control the actions of a trainer who collects little monsters and trains them. One of the goals of the game is to catch all 151 Pokémon. Over time, “Catch them all!” has become the official slogan of the franchise. Some of the creatures were unique to only one version of the game, so collecting every one required swapping between players with different versions. The game quickly gained fans, sold a million copies, and thus became one of Nintendo’s greatest hits.
There are over 120 games related to catching Pokémon. The games in the main series are about young people who travel the world to catch and train Pokémon to fight. Their goal is to capture everyone and become a champion. There are also various spin-offs. The first is Pokémon Snap, which involves taking pictures of Pokémon in their wild environment. Pokémon Stadium focuses on Pokémon fights in the stadium. Another, Pokémon Conquest, is a more complex RPG. An electronic version of the Pokémon Trading Card Game of the same name was also created. In 2016, the phenomenal mobile city game Pokémon Go was released. It gained extraordinary popularity and was played by millions of players worldwide. In this game, catching Pokémon requires you to actually travel with your phone. You can feel like a real Pokémon trainer. You need to collect Pokéballs, fight in arenas, find and learn about different types of Pokémon and climb the ladder of development to achieve mastery. Would you be able to catch them all?
Anime is also worth mentioning, which was one of the franchise’s biggest hits. It has been produced continuously since 1997, and in 1998 it made its debut in the United States. The American version differs in names (for example, the main character in the Japanese version is called Satoshi, and in the American version is called Ash Ketchum). It is more popular in the world and has had a huge impact on the perception of Pokémon.
This series had a huge marketing boost. The great interest in Pokémon among children was taken advantage of by companies producing, for example, food, which included collectibles with their products. Mirinda added caps with images of Pokémon to the drinks. Lay’s chips included tazo discs with images of Pokémon. As part of the Pokémon Go mobile game, a gadget called Pokémon GO Plus was created. Lots of stuffed animals, toys, and other items just inspired by Pokémon are still being made. The idea of creating these cute little creatures has been a huge success because people in the real world also love to collect Pokémon-related stuff.
Do you like Pokémon? I personally love them. This gave me the idea to create a quiz called “what kind of Pokémon are you?”. By answering the twenty questions, you can find out which Pokémon you resemble. Hope you like it! Have fun and see you soon!
