174-518: The second generation (generation II) of the Pokémon franchise features 100 fictional species of creatures introduced to the core video game series in the 1999 Game Boy Color games Pokémon Gold and Silver , set in the Johto region. Some Pokémon in this generation were introduced in animated adaptations of the franchise before Gold and Silver , such as Ho-Oh in the first episode of
348-610: A doujinshi magazine titled Game Freak . The title was inspired by the 1932 film Freaks , which Tajiri was fascinated with at the time. He self-published the first issue of the magazine in March 1983, at the age of 17. At the time, magazines specializing in video games did not yet exist in Japan, allowing Game Freak to fill a gap in the market . Sometime later, Tajiri was contacted by aspiring manga artist Ken Sugimori , who became Game Freak' s illustrator. Game Freak folded in
522-486: A role-playing game (RPG) for the Famicom ( NES ). The game features randomly appearing items of varying rarity, including an extremely rare item called Mysterious Hat. Tajiri did not encounter any, while Ken Sugimori, who was also playing the game, encountered two. Upon recalling this experience, Tajiri realized that the cable now made it possible to transfer things from one cartridge to another. He noted that, until then,
696-466: A CCG, he contacted Ishihara and offered to distribute it, signing the contract near the end of 1995. CoroCoro again proved a valuable information channel. The Trading 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 Purin ( Jigglypuff ) and one of Pikachu . Surveys showed that they were respectively
870-608: A Q&A session in which Tajiri and Ishihara were asked about the Pokemon 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 Pokemon: Fushigidane, Hitokage, or Zenigame ( Bulbasaur , Charmander , or Squirtle ). The council didn't want to unfairly popularize any of them, and wanted
1044-673: A beginning trainer and aspiring Pokémon Coordinator, and her younger brother Max . Throughout their journey, May collects five ribbons to participate in the Hoenn Grand Festival, but she loses to her rival Drew in the quarter-finals, placing her in the Top 8, and Robert takes the Ribbon Cup. Ash defeats all eight Hoenn gym leaders and participates in the Hoenn League, but he loses to Tyson, in the quarterfinals, placing him in
1218-597: A child. The series' titular character owns a number of capsules containing miniaturized kaiju (monsters), which come out and return to their original sizes when the capsule is thrown into mid-air. Kaiju media in general were an important influence on Pokemon , as many Game Freak staff members had grown up with them. Other influences that have been cited by Tajiri include: gashapon , capsules with toy figures in them that can be drawn from vending machines; collectible cards , such as baseball cards , Ultraman cards and menko ; The Final Fantasy Legend (1989),
1392-520: A fact he tries his best to hide. Ash also reunites with Serena , a girl from Vaniville Town and an aspiring Pokémon Performer, whom Ash had met in his childhood. Serena earns three keys to participate in the Pokémon Showcase, but Serena loses to Aria in the finals, placing her runner-up. After defeating all eight Kalos gym leaders, Ash competes and advances all the way to the finals, where he loses to Alain, placing him runner-up and Alain becomes
1566-622: A few cartridges and tested the game on his employees – they did not believe it would work in the US. At the time, role-playing games (RPGs) were not very popular outside Japan, and NoA executives believed that American children did not have the attention span for such a complex title. Americans were said to be more interested in sport- and action-oriented games, preferably with realistic graphics. Japanese people, by contrast, were alleged to care more about characters and plot. Up to that point, few Japanese properties had been successfully mainstreamed in
1740-460: A few external artists to create some test-designs for the American market. The mockups they proposed included 'graffiti style' drawings, 'beefed-up' and more muscular looking Pokemon, and a new Pikachu that looked like "a tiger with huge breasts". Arakawa concluded that it "didn't work", and by that time, the anime had begun its production in Japan, leading NoA to conclude it was too late for
1914-412: A fixed number of episodes, using a specific opening sequence and sporting a different subtitle for each new season. In addition to the main series and the movies, the anime series has also shown various full-length specials and TV shorts. Many of these specials centered around legendary Pokémon or one or more of the main characters that are separate from the main cast during its corresponding series, while
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#17327830771812088-463: A game centered on capturing creatures of differing rarity. Since the Game Boy is a portable device, these creatures could then be exchanged with other players in real life using the link cable. Once the player has caught a creature in-game, it was to be stored in miniaturized form in a special capsule. This facet of the game was inspired by Ultraseven , a tokusatsu show that Tajiri had enjoyed as
2262-413: A graphical revamp anyway. Of pivotal importance to Pokemon ' s global expansion was Alfred R. Kahn , CEO of US-based 4Kids Entertainment , NoA's licensing agent since 1987. Convinced of the franchise's potential, Kahn agreed to invest an undisclosed sum in return for both the anime and licensing rights. Pokemon became one of the first Japanese media franchises in which both the localization of
2436-551: A group of angry Spearow. While Pikachu's injuries are treated in Viridian City's Pokémon Center, Ash is confronted by Misty , a girl whose bike he desperately stole and wrecked in his attempt to escape the Spearow, so she declares that she will not leave Ash's side until she is properly compensated. Suddenly, a trio of criminals from the organization Team Rocket — Jessie , James , and Meowth — appear to steal Pokémon from
2610-451: A lack of (experienced) staff. Nintendo consequently granted ShoPro exclusive licensor rights. This was the first time that Nintendo of Japan (NoJ) granted licensor rights to another company, aside from its overseas subsidiaries Nintendo of America (NoA) and Nintendo of Europe (NoE). A copyright council was formed, headed by Ishihara. Beginning in April 1997, the council met every Tuesday, in
2784-482: A large variety of species endowed with special powers. The franchise's target audience is children aged 5 to 12, but it is known to attract people of all ages. The franchise originated as a pair of role-playing games developed by Game Freak , from an original concept by its founder, Satoshi Tajiri . Released on the Game Boy on February 27, 1996, the games became sleeper hits and were followed by manga series,
2958-416: A largely silly show with slapstick comedy and colorful battle sequences, making Ash's Sisyphean task to become the world's best Pokémon trainer continually entertaining." Paste ranked the series at 44th place in its October 2018 list of "The 50 Best Anime Series of All Time", with Sarra Sedghi writing: "To the joy of '90s kids everywhere, Pokémon helped solidify anime (and, hopefully, good punnery) in
3132-470: 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 1 million sales of Red and Green . The offer was a surprisingly big success: 300,000 units were expected to be sold, but over double was ordered. The Pokemon Trading Card Game was one of the first collectible card games (CCGs) developed in Japan. Its creation
3306-406: A main installment of the Pokémon video game series . In the international broadcasts, these series are split across 27 seasons. The show originally followed Ash Ketchum , a young trainer of fictional creatures called Pokémon . Joined by his partner Pokémon Pikachu and a rotating cast of human characters, Ash goes on a journey to become a "Pokémon Master", traveling through the various regions of
3480-506: A much-needed boost to Japan's economy, which was stagnating in what would later be called the Lost Decade . An example of a firm that benefited greatly from Pokemon was food manufacturer Nagatanien [ jp ] . From May 1997, the company began selling Pokemon -branded curry , furikake , and baking mixes . In December 1997, Nagatanien was hit hard by the collapse of one of its biggest sales channels, Toshoku , in what
3654-514: A mysterious ancient Poké Ball, join a group of adventurers called the Rising Volt Tacklers and set out to travel the world. After learning Liko's pendant contains a Pokémon named Terapagos and the ancient Poké Ball contains a Black Rayquaza both belonged to the legendary adventurer Lucius, the Rising Volt Tacklers decided to find Lucius's six Pokémon known as the "Six Heroes". Later, Liko, Roy, and Dot joins Orange Academy to learn about
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#17327830771813828-609: A noun, it is identical in both the singular and plural , as is every individual species name; it is grammatically correct to say "one Pokémon" and "many Pokémon", as well as "one Pikachu " and "many Pikachu". The Pokémon franchise is set in a world in which humans coexist with creatures known as Pokémon. Pokémon Red and Blue contain 151 Pokémon species, with new ones being added in subsequent games; as of January 2024, 1,025 Pokémon species have been introduced. Most Pokémon are inspired by real-world animals or mythical creatures based on real-life folklore. For example, Pikachu are
4002-437: A number of game-related television shows for Fuji Television 's late-night slot. In his job as a TV producer, Ishihara befriended Tajiri, as well as Shigesato Itoi , who would later become CEO of Ape, Inc. Ishihara was also the general director of the world's first gaming encyclopedia: TV Games: Encyclopedia of Video Games ( テレビゲーム―電視遊戯大全 , Terebigēmu ― Denshi Yūgi Taizen ) . Hatakeyama & Kubo (2000) wrote that, at
4176-403: A pre-selection and send the approved proposals to Japan, where the council made the final decision. Many submissions were bounced at the US stage, and thus never got sent to Japan. Tilden noted that processing all license applications, and mailing all approved prototypes and their documentation to Japan, was a lot of work. Arakawa did consider streamlining the process by moving someone from Japan to
4350-588: A process called evolution via various means, such as exposure to specific items. Each Pokémon have one or two elemental types, which define its advantages and disadvantages when battling other Pokémon. A major goal in each game is to complete the Pokédex , a comprehensive Pokémon encyclopedia, by capturing, evolving, and trading with other Trainers to obtain individuals from all Pokémon species. Two new types were introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver – namely
4524-570: A role-playing game written by Itoi, but it was also founded with the intent to give outside talent a chance to pitch new, innovative games. At the time, Ape was housed in the same Kanda-Sudachō office building as Nintendo, located in Tokyo . Ishihara, a friend of both Itoi and Tajiri, was involved with Ape's management (and would become its vice-president in 1991). Tajiri's relationship with Ishihara prompted Tajiri to present his idea for Pocket Monsters at Ape's office. Present during Tajiri's pitch
4698-461: 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 Pokemon game. Kawaguchi then suggested an alternative, which Yamauchi agreed with; Blue would not receive a normal retail release, but would instead be made available only through mail order for
4872-566: A talking Pikachu , revealed that the original intention for the anime was to have the Pokémon talk, but OLM, Inc. was unable to come up with a concept that Game Freak were accepting of. The following table lists the annual content revenue from Pokémon anime media in Japan, as reported by market research firm Hakuhodo . Pokémon is currently available for streaming on Netflix in 216 regions and countries with different dubs and subtitles; all countries have at least English audio. Pokémon
5046-506: A trading card game, and anime series and films. From 1998 to 2000, Pokémon was exported to the rest of the world, creating an unprecedented global phenomenon dubbed "Pokémania". By 2002, the craze had ended, after which Pokémon became a fixture in popular culture , with new products being released to this day. In the summer of 2016, the franchise spawned a second craze with the release of Pokémon Go , an augmented reality game developed by Niantic . Pokémon has since been estimated to be
5220-472: A yellow mouse-like species with lightning bolt-shaped tails that possess electrical abilities. The player character takes the role of a Pokémon Trainer. The Trainer has three primary goals: travel and explore the Pokémon world; discover and catch each Pokémon species in order to complete their Pokédex ; and train a team of up to six Pokémon at a time and have them engage in battles. Most Pokémon can be caught with spherical devices known as Poké Balls . Once
5394-491: Is boring, repetitive, and formulaic. The show constantly preaches about friendship and helping others. ... Nearly every episode features Ash , Misty, and Brock on a trip. Team Rocket tries the latest scheme to catch Pikachu or whatever else, and fails miserably." He concluded: "at the end of the day, this franchise feels more like crass marketing then [ sic ] trying to preach the importance of friend and companionship." In an April 2008 review, Common Sense Media gave
List of generation II Pokémon - Misplaced Pages Continue
5568-581: Is the successor to Meet Up at the Pokémon House? , which premiered on April 3, 2022, during Pokémon Journeys (second part) and Pokémon Horizons . It is hosted by Shoko Nakagawa (later replaced by Shuhei Nakano), Ryōgo Matsumaru, Abareru-kun, and Hikaru Takahashi, and it focuses on their travels. Pokémon premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 1, 1997. The series is broadcast on the TX Network family of stations first on Thursday evenings; it
5742-502: Is the successor to Pokémon GET☆TV , it aired from October 4, 2015, to March 29, 2022. It is hosted by Shōko Nakagawa, Rinka Ōtani, Hyadain , and Abareru-kun, making it the first variety show not to have reruns of previous anime episodes, unlike its predecessors. It ran during Pokémon: XY (second part), Pokémon: Sun & Moon and Pokémon Journeys (first part). Where are we going with Pokémon!? (ポケモンとどこいく！？, Pokémon to doko iku!?), more commonly known as Poké Doko (ポケどこ, Poké Doko),
5916-527: Is the successor to Pokémon Smash! It aired from October 6, 2013, to September 27, 2015. Shoko Nakagawa remains as a host, and is joined by Yukito Nishii and comedy team Taka and Toshi. Just like its predecessors, it is a variety show featuring reruns of previous anime episodes and special live-action segments. It ran during the first part of Pokémon: XY . Meet Up at the Pokémon House? (ポケモンの家あつまる？ Pokémon no Uchi Atsumaru?), more commonly known as Pokénchi (Japanese: ポケんち) or Pokémon House (Japanese: ポケモンの家),
6090-425: Is then syndicated throughout the rest of Japan's major broadcasters ( All-Nippon News Network , Fuji Network System , Nippon Television Network System ) on their local affiliates as well as on private satellite and cable networks on various delays. Production in Japan is handled by TV Tokyo, MediaNet (formerly TV Tokyo MediaNet and Softx), and ShoPro (formerly Shogakukan Productions). Kunihiko Yuyama served as
6264-484: 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. After
6438-414: Is variety show featuring reruns of old episodes as well as a number of 'Research' episodes involving live-action elements. Regular guests include Golgo Matsumoto and Red Yoshida of TIM ; Hiroshi Yamamoto, Ryūji Akiyama, and Hiroyuki Baba of Robert ; Becky (through September 2006), and Shoko Nakagawa (starting October 2006). Pokémon Smash! ( ポケモンスマッシュ! , Pokémon Sumasshu! ) is the successor to
6612-458: The Diamond and Pearl series for Anime News Network , gave the dubbed series an overall grade of C. He wrote: "The formula has been set in stone … Ash and buddies wander around, meet a new pokémon [ sic ] or pokémon [ sic ] trainer, fight, make friends, and then use their newfound Power of Friendship to stave off an attack by the nefarious Team Rocket", and added: "even
6786-615: The Pokémon media franchise. Developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo , the Japanese franchise began in 1996 with the video games Pokémon Red and Green for the Game Boy , which were later released in North America as Pokémon Red and Blue in 1998. In these games and their sequels, the player assumes the role of a Trainer whose goal is to capture and use the creatures' special abilities to combat other Pokémon. Some Pokémon can transform into stronger species through
6960-642: The Pokémon anime series in 1998 and 1999, Togepi , which was a recurring character in the anime owned by Misty , Donphan in the Pokémon first movie in 1998, Snubbull in the first Pikachu short movie in 1998, and Marill , which also debuted in that short film and was a recurring character in the anime owned by Tracey Sketchit in 1998 and 1999. Elekid , Bellossom , Ledyba , and Hoothoot debuted in Pikachu's Rescue Adventure , and Lugia and Slowking debuted in Pokémon 2000 . The following list details
7134-528: The Pokémon movies , cast interviews, and live action footage, in addition to the previously mentioned Pokémon side story episodes. The hosts were Mayumi Iizuka as Kasumi (Misty) and Yūji Ueda as Takeshi (Brock). They were regularly joined by Kaba-chan , Manami Aihara, Bernard Ackah and Rex Jones as the comedy team "Shio Koshō", Megumi Hayashibara as Musashi (Jessie), Shin-ichiro Miki as Kojirō (James), and Inuko Inuyama as Nyāsu (Meowth). The show ran from October 15, 2002, to September 28, 2004, when it
List of generation II Pokémon - Misplaced Pages Continue
7308-568: The Pokemon 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 of Pokemon ' s release,
7482-565: The Pokémon☆Sunday series. It aired from October 3, 2010, to September 28, 2013. Like its predecessors, Pokémon Smash! is a variety show that features live-action segments and reruns of old anime episodes. It ran during Pokémon: Black and White . The theme song is "Endless Fighters" by AAA . Regular guests include Golgo Matsumoto and Red Yoshida of TIM; Shoko Nakagawa; and Hiroshi Yamamoto, Ryūji Akiyama, and Hiroyuki Baba of Robert . Pokémon Get☆TV ( ポケモンゲット☆TV , Pokémon Getto☆Terebi )
7656-575: The Sun & Moon series, I Choose You! , and The Power of Us at the end of March 2022, leaving only the first season and the seasons and movies released exclusively to the platform. Content was also available on the Pokémon TV app and website. In a February 2008 review for IGN , Jeffrey Harris gave the Indigo League series a score of 2 out of 10, saying: "Ultimately, the show's story
7830-490: The " Dennō Senshi Porygon " incident happened, which Kubo felt made even more people resistant to the idea of an overseas introduction. Market research turned back negative: American kids reportedly did not like Pokémon . Arakawa ignored the study and, convinced of the franchise's potential, allocated an enormous budget to Pokémon ' s launch. The exact amount was not disclosed, but was reportedly equal to or more than $ 50 million (c. $ 93.47 million in 2023), approximately
8004-716: The "Dark" and "Steel" types – intended to better balance the gameplay of Pokémon battles. Dark and Steel types fare well against the then dominant Psychic type. The concept of breeding was introduced in the second generation of Pokémon games as well, which allows players to manipulate the skills of their Pokémon to a greater degree. Some of the new Pokémon introduced in Gold and Silver are pre-evolutions of other Pokémon, such as Pichu and Igglybuff . Referred to as "baby Pokémon", they are usually only available by breeding their evolved forms. Pokémon Gold and Silver were first revealed at Nintendo Space World in 1997. At this point,
8178-418: The 100 Pokémon of generation II in order of their National Pokédex number. The first Pokémon, Chikorita , is number 152 and the last, Celebi , is number 251. Alternate forms that result in type changes are included for convenience. Mega evolutions and regional forms are included on the pages for the generation in which they were introduced. Pokémon are a species of fictional creatures created for
8352-603: The Alola League, after becoming the first Champion of the Alola Region, Ash bids farewell to his classmates and Alolan family and Pokémon before returning to Pallet Town. Ash and his new friend Goh become research fellows for Professor Cerise, tasked with collecting information on Pokémon from Kanto to Galar. Meanwhile, Ash competes in the World Coronation Series, a world tournament held to decide
8526-597: The English dub) faced criticism from fans when Ash lost the Kalos League against Alain. The fans specifically criticized the episode due to the misleading name and trailers that suggested that Ash would win the battle and because Ash had lost all of the Pokémon Leagues in past seasons. Fans also disliked the outcome because they believed Ash's Greninja had many advantages over Alain's Charizard , including
8700-458: The Game Boy as an insect cage". Ishihara emphasized, however, that the idea of trading creatures with the link cable was Tajiri's. GF and Ape agreed to merge their projects together. According to Tajiri, the two teams initially collaborated on the game, but the work proved difficult, one of the reasons being that Ape was busy developing EarthBound . Tajiri eventually figured that "rather than working with Ape, we had to do something on our own, or
8874-518: The Game Link Cable was only used for competing, but not for something else. Combining this inspiration with his memories of catching insects and other small species, Tajiri's idea would eventually evolve into a virtual recreation of his boyhood experiences, and an attempt to "regain the world that he had lost". He would later state that the game represents "the story of a boy's summer day". Tajiri and his Game Freak staff began pondering over
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#17327830771819048-554: The Gym Leaders of the Orange Islands and qualify for the local Orange League Tournament. Ash and Misty are joined by artist Tracey Sketchit , who dreams of meeting Professor Oak. Ash faces and defeats Supreme Gym Leader Drake after collecting the Orange Islands gym badges. The trio returns to Pallet Town, where Tracey stays with Professor Oak as his assistant and Brock reunites with his friends. Ash, Misty, and Brock go to
9222-794: The Johto region after learning that Gary Oak, Professor Oak's grandson and Ash's rival, has gone there as well. Ash defeats the Gym Leaders of Johto and competes in the Silver Conference, where he defeats Gary and causes him to reconsider his purpose in life. After advancing to the quarter-finals, Ash loses to Harrison, who informs him of the Hoenn region. Misty and Brock return to their home due to family reasons. Ash leaves all his Pokémon (excluding Pikachu) in Professor Oak's lab, and he travels to Hoenn alone. Ash arrives in Hoenn, where he reunites with Brock and gains two new companions, May ,
9396-626: The Kanto region, defeating Gym Leaders, collecting their badges, and capturing new Pokémon. After collecting all eight badges, Ash participates in the Indigo Plateau Conference, but he reaches the top 16 before losing to his friend Ritchie. Upon Ash's return to Pallet Town, Professor Oak asks him to go to Professor Felina Ivy in the Orange Islands to collect a GS Ball, a mysterious Poké Ball that cannot be opened. Brock stays with Professor Ivy as her assistant, and Ash decides to defeat
9570-543: The Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back ( Pokémon: The First Movie ), premiered on July 18, 1998 and became the fourth highest grossing film of the year in Japan. Ultimately, the incident did not damage the Pokemon franchise – it in fact grew further during and after the anime's hiatus. While video rental tapes were removed from shelves, all other Pokemon products continued to be sold as usual, and customer demand for them remained high. Helping matters
9744-1067: The North American launch of Pokémon was the release of the Game Boy Color on 23 November 1998. The American version of the Pokémon anime started broadcasting in Australia and New Zealand on September 28, 1998. Red and Blue were subsequently released there on October 23. Various territories in Asia followed: the anime series debuted in Hong Kong on November 16, in Taiwan on November 23, in Shanghai on November 24, in Beijing on January 10, 1999, and in South Korea on July 14, 1999. Outside North America, 4Kids distributed
9918-451: The North American release of Pokémon Red and Blue . Pokémon was distributed on VHS and DVD by Pioneer Entertainment and Viz Video, which sold 25 million units of the series in 2000. Following the eighth season in 2005, the series' dub production was taken over by The Pokémon Company. Beginning with twelfth film, Arceus and the Jewel of Life , DuArt Film and Video became
10092-547: The Pokémon House? and Where are we going with Pokémon!? The Pokémon anime series was largely credited for allowing anime to become more popular and familiar around the world, especially in the United States and Asia, where many Pokémon films are among the highest-grossing anime films. It is also considered to be one of the first anime series on television to reach this level of mainstream success with Western and Asian audiences, as well as being credited with allowing
10266-412: The Pokémon learns new offensive and defensive moves to use in battle. Furthermore, many species can undergo a form of spontaneous metamorphosis called Pokémon evolution , and transform into stronger forms. Most Pokémon will evolve at a certain level, while others evolve through different means, such as exposure to a certain item. The main idea behind Pokémon was conceived by Satoshi Tajiri . Tajiri
10440-577: The Pokémon world and competing in various Pokémon-battling tournaments known as the Pokémon League. However, by the 26th season , a new cast is featured, with new protagonists Liko and Roy. The anime series is accompanied by spin-off programming; including Pokémon Chronicles , a series of side stories; and the live-action variety and Pokémon-related news shows; such as Pocket Monsters Encore , Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station , Pokémon☆Sunday , Pokémon Smash! , Pokémon Get☆TV , Meet Up at
10614-595: The Sinnoh region. Dawn earns five ribbons to participate in the Sinnoh Grand Festival, where she loses to Zoey in the finals, placing her runner-up, and Zoey takes the Ribbon Cup. Ash defeats all eight Sinnoh gym leaders to participate in the Sinnoh League, where he defeats his new rival Paul in the quarter-final, then Ash loses to Tobias in the semi-finals, placing him in the Top 4 and Tobias beccomes
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#173278307718110788-574: The Terastal phenomenon, after graduating from Orange Academy; they continue their search to find "Six Heroes" with the Rising Volt Tacklers. In Japan, Pocket Monsters is currently broadcast as eight sequential series, each based on an installment of the main video game series. The anime is aired year-round continuously, with regular off-days for sporting events and television specials. In its international broadcast, Pokémon ' s episodes have currently been split up into 27 seasons, as of 2024, running
10962-801: The Top 8 and Tyson becomes the Winner in the Ever Grande Conference. Then Ash returns to Pallet Town. Ash continues his journey with Brock, May and Max in Kanto, where he participates in the Battle Frontier and gets seven Frontier Symbols after defeating the Frontier Brains. However, Ash declines the offer to be a Frontier Brain, and decides to continue his Pokémon journey. May collects five ribbons to participate in Kanto Grand Festival, where she defeats Drew in
11136-551: The US between June and November 2006. The vast majority of the episodes making up Chronicles were taken from what was known in Japan as Pocket Monsters Side Stories ( ポケットモンスター サイドストーリー , Poketto Monsutā Saido Sutōrī ) , which aired as part of Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station . The remaining portions of Chronicles consisted of a TV special called The Legend of Thunder , and installments from Pikachu's Winter Vacation , originally released on video. Pocket Monsters Encore ( ポケットモンスター アンコール , Poketto Monsutā Ankōru )
11310-491: The US, and if they were, it was alleged to be on account of having been properly Americanized : Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was considered a prime example of this. Visually, Pokemon was believed to be too kawaii , or cute . It was assumed that Pokemon could not succeed on cute alone – it must also be cool . In an effort to enhance the franchise's coolness, NoA considered a graphical redesign and contracted
11484-612: The US, but no person could be found who was as competent as Ishihara. The Pokémon anime was first broadcast on September 7, 1998. Pokémon Red Version and Blue Version were released three weeks later, on September 28, 1998. To localize the card game, Nintendo contracted Wizards of the Coast , the creator of Magic: The Gathering . The Pokémon Trading Card Game was officially launched nationwide on January 9, 1999, although pre-sold in select stores in December. Coinciding with
11658-674: The US, library episodes also aired on Cartoon Network in the Kids' WB years starting in 2002 and Boomerang in the Cartoon Network years starting in 2010 and have aired in Spanish on TeleXitos and Discovery Familia . Pokémon was originally licensed in the United States by 4Kids Entertainment , who produced a localized English adaptation that was syndicated by The Summit Media Group . The localized version premiered in first run syndication on September 8, 1998, twenty days before
11832-529: The United States, the anime aired on Kids' WB as a Saturday morning cartoon starting in February 1999. In its first week under the Kids' WB umbrella, Pokémon would manage to hit a 3.9 rating (a percentage of how much a specific demographic of people is watching), reaching 3.1 million viewers by September, and Nielsen stating that "half the boys (ages 6-11) watching TV (at 10 a.m.) are seeing Pokémon" by that November. Beginning in 2020, Netflix gained
12006-537: The United States. Arakawa appointed Gail Tilden to lead the project, prompting her to leave her position at Nintendo Power magazine. Tilden said that they "decided to make an all-out effort to repeat the phenomenon in the Western world". In two press releases, NoA self-described Pokémon ' s marketing campaign as "aggressive". The localization of the Pokémon anime was done by 4Kids, and directed by Norman J. Grossfeld . Grossfeld strongly believed that
12180-511: The West". She added: " Pokémon may not be high artistry (because, you know, it's for children), but the show's pervasiveness is a testament to the power of nostalgia." IGN ranked the series at 70th place in its list of "Top 100 Animated Series", saying that the series "had clever writing and a golden marketing formula designed to spread Nintendo's Pokémon videogames into new, lucrative territory." Pokémon has had several anime episodes removed from
12354-494: The Winner of Lily of the Valley Conference. Bidding farewell to Dawn in Sinnoh and Brock one last time, Ash once again returns to Pallet Town. Ash, his mother Delia and Professor Oak take a holiday to the far-off Unova Region, where he meets and travels with would-be Dragon Master Iris and Striaton City Gym Leader, Pokémon Connoisseur, and sometimes detective Cilan . After winning all eight Unova badges and thwarting
12528-703: The Winner of the Lumiose Conference. Bidding farewell to his friends in Kalos, Ash once again returns to Pallet Town. Ash, Delia and her Mr. Mime are on vacation in the Alola region when Ash has an encounter with Tapu Koko, the guardian Pokémon of Melemele Island, who presents him with the Z-Ring, a device that, when paired with a special crystal, allows a Pokémon to unleash a powerful Z-move when synchronized with its trainer, leading him to stay in Alola and enroll at
12702-437: The anime also got more girls interested in the franchise, and girls' purchases of Pokemon products increased. This has been partly credited to Pikachu, who gained widespread popularity among both boys and girls. The success of this character would later lead to the game Pocket Monsters Pikachu ( Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition ), released in Japan on September 12, 1998. An adaptation of Pokemon Blue , this version
12876-445: The anime and the licensing of merchandise was handled by a single company, as well as a non-Japanese company. Kahn suggested to use the short version of the name, "Pok é mon," adding an acute accent (´) over the e to assist with pronunciation and "give it a little flair". NoJ president Hiroshi Yamauchi officially approved the project in late November, and subsequently announced it at Space World 1997 . However, three weeks later,
13050-559: The anime in cooperation with Brian Lacey of Lacey Entertainment . The series was presented at MIP TV , in Cannes, France, from April 3–8, 1998. Broadcasters were initially not interested due to its Japanese origins, and preferred to wait and see how the anime would fare in the US. After its American success, Lacey received inquiries about the series throughout 1999 from multiple international broadcasters. Lacey noted that, in Europe, this
13224-551: The anime received similar levels of success. For example, in Germany , "a highly competitive kids market", Pokémon was purchased by RTL 2 . The show's popularity bolstered the entire program block, more than tripling its viewers. Andrea Lang, RTL 2's editor of cartoons and children's programs, said: "We were speechless. We've never had a comparable success". By March 1998, half a year before Pokémon ' s overseas launch, 499 million Pokémon cards had been produced. By March 1999,
13398-418: The anime should be Americanized . At NATPE 1998, he asked ShoPro for a "kind of carte blanche , to let me change the show as I think would work for this market", to which ShoPro agreed. However, no national TV station was interested in buying the anime or financing its localization. Kahn then decided to self-finance Pokémon' s production costs, despite realizing this "could very well bring down 4Kids" if
13572-419: The anime to end before they could release their new games. 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 4WD craze and its accompanying hit series Bakusō Kyōdai Let's & Go!! . Kubo had an important role in the creation of both, which impressed the stakeholders. To appease Ishihara, Kubo promised him that
13746-405: The anime was broadcast in 51 countries, the films were released in 33 countries, and the cards had been translated into 11 languages. In North America, the debuting Pokémon franchise quickly rose to success. Red and Blue sold 200,000 copies in its first month. By December 1998, the Pokémon anime had become the highest-rated syndicated children's show during the weekdays. This attracted
13920-439: The anime would last for at least a year and a half. This was unusually long for a debuting anime, and required a big investment. Kubo's proposal for Pocket Monsters was officially approved on September 26, 1996. For Nintendo of Japan, it was the first time they licensed a TV series. Kubo assigned independent producer Choji Yoshikawa [ ja ] to lead the project. Shogakukan Productions , commonly called ShoPro,
14094-481: The approximately 7,500 applications submitted in 1997, only about 5% was approved. By March 1998, 35 companies offered licensed Pokemon goods, and there were approximately 700 Pokemon products. Tomy manufactured Pokemon toy figures and plush dolls. Bandai made Pokemon gashapon , dolls and ramune -flavored candy in a plastic box in the shape of a Game Boy. Meiji Seika produced Pokemon chocolate snacks and pudding. The lucrative franchise provided
14268-529: The attention of two media companies: Warner Bros. , co-owner of The WB channel; and Saban Entertainment / Fox Family Worldwide , owners of the Fox Kids channel. A bidding war ensued between the parties, which was won by Warner Bros. On February 13, 1999, Pokémon launched on the Kids' WB national television block. The debut episode became the most watched premiere in Kids' WB's history. In European countries,
14442-606: The battle system, and among other things suggested Pokemon types . Ishihara also came up with the idea of the Pokedex , a portable encyclopedic device which players can use to keep track of the Pokemon they caught. Throughout the years, Tajiri had several conversations with Shigeru Miyamoto , Nintendo's top game designer who Tajiri described as a mentor figure. Although, in a 2018 retrospect, Miyamoto downplayed his role in advising Tajiri, and stated that his contributions to Pokemon were in fact limited. Miyamoto did, however, suggest
14616-560: The center. Pikachu overpowers them, which convinces the trio of his teamwork value and inspires numerous subsequent attempts to steal him. In order to compete in a Pokémon League Tournament, Ash must defeat Gym Leaders and earn badges as evidence of his victories. Ash earns his first badge in Pewter City after battling with the Gym Leader Brock , who decides to venture with him. Together with Brock and Misty, Ash travels across
14790-540: The company was housed in the same office building as Nintendo in Tokyo. Co-ownership of the Pokemon property, which Ishihara helped create, was subsequently assigned to Creatures. This resulted in Pokemon having three legal owners: Game Freak, the main developer; Creatures, representing producer Ishihara; and Nintendo, the publisher. Anne Allison (2006) wrote that Nintendo also bought the property after Red and Green were finished. Hatakeyama & Kubo (2000) noted that
14964-623: The conference room of Creatures' office, at the Nintendo Kanda Building in Sudachō , 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,
15138-472: 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
15312-532: The day after Red and Green 's release Shogakukan, which frequently surveys their target groups, determined that the Pocket Monsters manga was well received. To further promote Red and Green , the May issue of CoroCoro , released on April 15, 1996, announced the "Legendary Pokemon Offer", centered around a mysterious, secret Pokemon called Mew . Mew was a last-minute addition to Red & Green . It
15486-482: The development, and helped with debugging . Sugimori was in charge of the graphics and character design. Masuda created all music and sound effects, and did part of the programming. The budget that Nintendo granted to Game Freak was low; thus, Pocket Monsters was initially planned as a small, compact game, based primarily around Tajiri's core idea of exchanging. However, as development progressed, GF's ideas and ambitions for Pokemon grew. They soon realized that
15660-494: 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. 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. By August 1996, Kubo had become convinced of Pokemon ' s potential, and believed Shogakukan should create an anime adaptation . Nintendo
15834-446: 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 and did not need to be hospitalized. No one died. Broadcasting of Pokemon
16008-605: The episode's featured Pokémon, Porygon, has rarely been seen in future episodes, with appearances limited to one brief cameo appearance in the movie Pokémon Heroes and in one scene-bumper later in season 1. Its evolutions Porygon2 and Porygon-Z have only appeared in a brief part of the opening sequence of Pokémon the Movie: Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice . Several other episodes have been removed from broadcast in Japan due to contemporary disasters that resemble events in
16182-497: The exclusive rights to stream new episodes in the United States; the twenty-third season, titled Pokémon Journeys: The Series debuted on June 12, 2020 and ended on March 5, 2021, with its fourth twelve episode batch., and continues with the twenty-fourth season, titled Pokémon Master Journeys: The Series , debuted on the service on September 10, 2021. The series has previously aired in syndication, with new episodes premiering on Kids' WB , Cartoon Network , and Disney XD . In
16356-406: The fact that Water-type Pokémon resist Fire-type Pokémon attacks, and that the rare Bond Phenomenon Ash's Greninja was subject to was said to be far more powerful than a conventional Mega Evolution. Several animators of the series also expressed disappointment that Ash had lost. TV Tokyo 's YouTube upload of the teaser of the next episode received an overwhelming number of dislikes as a result of
16530-451: The films in North America. They were directed by Kunihiko Yuyama and Tetsuo Yajima, and written by Takeshi Shudo , Hideki Sonoda, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Shōji Yonemura , Eiji Umehara, and Aya Takaha. Pokémon Chronicles is a label created by 4Kids which is used for a collection of several as yet undubbed specials, which were first broadcast in English between May and October 2005 in the UK, and in
16704-445: The first RPG for the Game Boy; and petting in Japan , with Tajiri noting that having Pokemon is similar to having pets . Tajiri initially named his project Capsule Monsters , which GF's staff commonly shortened to Capumon . However, it later turned out that the term Capsule Monsters could not be trademarked , and it was subsequently decided to call the game Pocket Monsters , which became Pokemon . According to Tomisawa (2000),
16878-517: The first person to show interest in a North American launch of Pokemon was Minoru Arakawa , founder and then-president of Nintendo of America (NoA). Arakawa visited Japan to participate in Shoshinkai 1996 , held November 22–24. It was around this time when he first played one of the three Pokemon titles. He thought the games were promising, but Nintendo of Japan (NoJ) had no plans at the time to release them elsewhere. He returned to America with
17052-575: The first season were secured by TV stations in South Africa , Russia , Iceland , and Finland . In Israel , the anime debuted in February 2000. For unclear reasons, Red and Blue were not officially released there. Thriving only on the strength of the TV series, The First Movie , the cards, and imported video games , the Israeli Pokémon still became a success. By the end of 2000, Pokémon games had been released in 70 countries,
17226-410: The franchise is Pocket Monsters ( ポケットモンスター , Poketto Monsutā ) , which has been commonly abbreviated to Pokemon ( ポケモン ) since its launch. When the franchise was released internationally, the short form of the title was used, with an acute accent (´) over the e to aid in pronunciation. Pokémon refers to both the franchise itself and the creatures within its fictional universe. As
17400-472: The game had a massively larger world map than the final game and this prototype featured around 40 Pokémon designs that were removed and replaced when the games were released in 1999. Pok%C3%A9mon Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of video games , animated series and films , a trading card game , and other related media. The franchise takes place in a shared universe in which humans co-exist with creatures known as Pokémon ,
17574-422: The game series to reach such a degree of popularity and vice versa. Pokémon is regarded as the most successful video game adaptation of all time, with over 1,300 episodes broadcast and adapted for international television markets, concurrently airing in 192 countries worldwide and one of the most widely watched shows on Netflix, as of 2016. Ash Ketchum , a young boy from Pallet Town, comes of age and gains
17748-443: The game they were beginning to envision would not be easy to make. Sugimori admitted that, at the time, no one at GF had much knowledge of RPGs. "We thought we could handle it, but as we began working, we realized it was going to be tough", he acknowledged. Pocket Monsters was suspended indefinitely, and GF turned their focus on other titles (see Game Freak § Games ). After the game's initial development phase in 1990 and 1991,
17922-495: The game's main designer, Ōyama was its art director, and Akabane was one of its chief debuggers. 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
18096-479: The game's quality. A production council was formed to produce the 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
18270-418: The game(s). By 1996 , the seven-year-old Game Boy console was considered yesterday's news and near the end of its lifecycle . 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
18444-462: 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
18618-510: The investigative reporter Alexa, who is from the distant Kalos region. Having arrived back in Kanto, Iris and Cilan travel to Johto whilst Ash and Alexa head to Kalos. Ash and Alexa arrive in the Kalos region and Ash is itching to get started in earning his Gym badges. But after Alexa informs Ash that her sister, a Gym Leader, is currently absent, Ash travels to Lumiose City where he meets boy-genius Clemont and his younger sister Bonnie , unaware that Clemont is, in fact, Lumiose City's Gym Leader;
18792-584: The late 1980s, by which point Tajiri had become a respected game journalist in Japan's fledgling video game industry. Tajiri's knowledge of video games brought him into contact with Tsunekazu Ishihara . Ishihara had studied Arts and Science at Tsukuba University , and was trained in CGI . After working in advertising for two years, Ishihara joined a company named Sedic in 1983, which created video graphics and software, including one video game, Otocky (1987). As video games grew in popularity, Sedic also produced
18966-619: The late 1990s, this was the case for many anime in the US. Grossfeld came up with the advertising slogan "Gotta catch 'em all!" as the English equivalent to the Japanese Pokemon GETTO daze~! ( ポケモンゲットだぜー！ , Get (the) Pokémon!) . The phrase "miraculously managed to gain approval" by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which normally prohibits the use of injunctions in ads directed at children (e.g. "You must buy this!"). While
19140-565: The local Pokémon school. When he decides to undertake the trials necessary to master the power of the Z-Ring, Ash's new classmates Lana , Mallow , Lillie , Sophocles and Kiawe decide to accompany him. Ash takes part in the island challenges and defeat the Island Kahunas. Ash and his friends join the Aether Foundation and goes on Ultra Guardians mission to capture Ultra Beasts. Finally Ash gains his first league victory at
19314-515: The magazine it grew out of. Over the next few years, they independently developed the puzzle game Quinty , working on it alongside school or their regular jobs. However, no one within the group knew how to make the game's music . After consulting all his contacts, Tajiri got in touch with Junichi Masuda , who became the group's composer. Quinty was finished in 1989, and published by Namco . Tajiri officially incorporated Game Freak Co., Ltd. on April 26, 1989. Tajiri started to think of what
19488-542: The main CoroCoro magazine was read by one in four elementary school students. CoroCoro' s deputy editor-in-chief was Masakazu Kubo [ ja ] . On Ishihara's suggestion, Kubo commissioned the creation of a manga adaptation . Written and illustrated by Kosaku Anakubo [ ja ] , its first chapter was featured in the March/April issue of Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic , released on February 28, 1996,
19662-546: The most and second-most popular Pokemon at the time. On October 20, 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 original set 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
19836-569: The opposing Pokémon is sufficiently weakened, the Trainer throws the Poké Ball against the Pokémon, which is then transformed into a form of energy and transported into the device. Once the catch is successful, the Pokémon is tamed and is under the Trainer's command from then on. If the Poké Ball is thrown again, the Pokémon re-materializes into its original state. The Trainer's Pokémon can engage in battles against opposing Pokémon, including those in
20010-430: The ownership structure of Pokemon is uncommon. They wrote that "Pokemon is probably the only property in the world today for which the original rights are not concentrated in a single company", like The Walt Disney Company does with their IPs . Tajiri and Ishihara did consider merging Game Freak and Creatures at one point. However, Tajiri decided against it because he feared it would erase what he had built up since he
20184-464: The phrase "Capsule Monsters" was already registered. According to Hatakeyama & Kubo (2000), the word "capsule" could not be used in the trademark. Tomisawa (2000) states that the Game Freak staff then came up with several alternatives, before someone within the team suggested "Pocket Monsters". In March 1989, Nintendo co-founded Ape, Inc. with Itoi. Ape's principal work was Mother (1989),
20358-438: The place of EP038 and EP039. EP052 aired between EP047 and EP048 and EP053 between EP057 and EP058. The ending song is the English version of Type: Wild performed by Robbie Danzie, and it was produced for Pocket Monsters Encore and aired. Pokémon de English ( ポケモンdeイングリッシュ , Pokémon de Ingurisshu ) was a segment at the end of Pocket Monsters Encore used to teach Japanese children simple English words and phrases. All of
20532-496: The production studio, which lasted until the twenty-second season . OLM, Inc. handles animation production. Until episode 259 (episode 262 in Japan), during the fifth season , the series was animated using cel animation . Beginning with episode 260 (episode 263 in Japan), titled "Here's Lookin' at You Elekid!", all subsequent seasons are digitally animated. In a 2018 interview, the creators of Detective Pikachu , which features
20706-469: The program; the 2004 Chūetsu earthquake , the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami , and the 2014 Sinking of MV Sewol all have caused cancellations or indefinite or temporary postponements of episode broadcasts. In the United States, the September 11 attacks in 2001 as well as 2005's Hurricane Katrina led to the temporary removal of two episodes from syndication. On September 1, 2006, China banned
20880-519: The project would never get finished". Ape, Inc. is not credited on the final product. The development contract was signed at the beginning of 1990, with a planned delivery of the game in October. Tajiri directed the project, working under Ishihara. Ishihara was the producer – he managed the budget, staff, and work schedule, monitored the game's overall progress, and served as a liaison between Game Freak and Nintendo. Ishihara also contributed ideas to
21054-513: The protagonist to start out with a different Pokemon. 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 Pocket Monsters ' central icons, as they expected Pikachu to appeal to both boys and girls, as well as their mothers. This would expand its audience, which
21228-441: The quarter-finals and advances to the semi-finals but she loses to Solidad, placing her in the Top 4, and Solidad takes the Ribbon Cup. Bidding farewell to May, Max and Brock as they went back to their hometowns, Ash returns to Pallet Town. After battling with Gary, Ash decides to travel to the Sinnoh region. Upon arriving in Sinnoh, Ash reunites with Brock and meet Dawn , another coordinator, who travels with them as they go through
21402-416: 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 test was later dubbed Pocket Monsters Blue . It was originally not meant to be sold. Only a small number of handmade copies were made, intended as
21576-441: The release of the platform game Pulseman , upon which Tajiri decided it was time to make a serious effort towards finishing Pocket Monsters . By this point, Game Freak's experience had grown considerably. Over the years, a number of new staff members had been added to the company. One of them was Atsuko Nishida , a graphic artist who created Pikachu , among others. Ishihara used his knowledge of card games to add more depth to
21750-423: The right to be a Pokémon Trainer, hoping to achieve his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master; trainers receive their first Pokémon from Professor Samuel Oak, the town's foremost authority on researching Pokémon. Though Ash oversleeps and arrives late to Professor Oak's lab, he receives a Pikachu, who is initially uncooperative. On their way to Viridian City, Ash earns Pikachu's friendship by selflessly shielding him from
21924-472: The rotation in Japan or the rest of the world. The most infamous of these episodes was Cyber Soldier Porygon ( でんのうせんしポリゴン , Dennō Senshi Porygon , commonly Electric Soldier Porygon ) . The episode made headlines worldwide when it caused 685 children to experience seizures and seizure-like symptoms caused by a repetitive flash of light. Although the offending sequence was caused by Pikachu 's actions,
22098-511: The same amount as the launch budget of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. Arakawa admitted that it was "quite a bit of money", but NoA "had been doing well for several years, so we had a lot of money to spare". He opined that if Pokémon would be as successful in the US as it had been in Japan, "an investment of 1 would turn into 100". NoA and 4Kids proceeded to devise a strategy on how to localize Pokémon for
22272-497: The segments where later compiled into three volumes and later released. Pokémon de English uses a mixture of unedited Japanese and painted-over English video. New English lines were also recorded for this release by the original voice actors from both Japan and the United States. Pokémon de English was later released as rental only VHS and DVDs in 2002 and 2007, respectively, including English audio, as well as closed captioning in both English and Japanese. On September 17, 2002, it
22446-427: The series 3 out of 5 stars, saying: "Over the years, the energetic, imagination-filled, Japanese-inspired fantasy series has cut across cultural, gender, and age barriers to captivate a global audience of girls, boys, and even adults", but added: "Folks may also find the franchise's massive commercial appeal disturbing, especially since the show is mainly geared towards kids." Carl Kimlinger, in an August 2008 review of
22620-520: The series from prime time broadcasting (from 17:00 to 20:00), as it did Western animated series such as The Simpsons , to protect its struggling animation studios. The ban was later extended by one hour. On August 18, 2016, the XYZ episode Kalos League Victory! Satoshi's Greatest Decisive Battle ( カロスリーグ優勝！サトシ頂上決戦 , Karosurīgu yūshō! Satoshi chōjō kessen ) ( Down to the Fiery Finish! in
22794-448: The series' chief director up until To Be a Pokémon Master . The anime had made millions of dollars in Japan when it first aired. An average Pokémon episode costs about $ 100,000. Internationally, The Pokémon Company International handles production and distribution of the anime with Iyuno Media Group and Goldcrest Post and published by VIZ Media, who was VIZ LLC, but merged with ShoPro. The anime currently airs in 192 countries. In
22968-557: The series' impeccably PC message of friendship, cooperation and acceptance". He criticized the series' soundtrack as "tin-eared" and "bad video game music". Kevin McFarland, in a 2016 binge-watching guide of the Indigo League series for Wired , described the series as "a kids program that emphasizes the value of hard work, the importance of family and close friendship, and the ideals of love, trust, and honor. But it's also
23142-674: The show would fail. According to Kahn, they "spend a fortune" on the localization. To have it broadcast in syndication , 4Kids offered the show for free to local TV stations across the country, in exchange for a portion of the advertising revenue. NoA assisted, persuading dozens of stations to carry the series by offering to buy some of their advertisement space, spending a total of $ 5 million (c. $ 9.35 million in 2023). Despite all this, most broadcasters were still reluctant to carry Pokémon , with Grossfeld experiencing difficulties getting through their "preconceived notions or their snobbery for Western-produced animation over something from Asia". At
23316-649: The sinister Team Plasma, Ash, Iris, and Cilan travel throughout the eastern side of Unova to prepare for the Unova League, but Ash loses to Cameron in the quarter-finals, placing him in the Top 8. Cameron loses to Virgil in the semi-finals, placing him in the Top 4 and Virgil becomes the Winner of the Vertress Conference. Afterwards, Ash, Iris, and Cilan travel through the Decolore Islands before Ash makes his way back to Pallet Town and meets
23490-511: The slogan into the theme. While NoA and 4Kids were allowed a fair degree of liberty in their localization of Pokémon , the Japanese copyright council, headed by Ishihara, had the last say over it. All decisions regarding adjustments and promotion had to gain final approval of the Japan side. This included all of the merchandise, for which a 'two-step system' was created. All (aspiring) licensees in North America were to send their merchandise proposals to 4Kids. Staff of both 4Kids and NoA then made
23664-540: The sporadically made later side story episodes typically air as special episodes. As of 2020 , there have been 23 animated films and one live action film. The first nineteen animated films are based on the television series, with the original film being remade into the 22nd. The 20th, 21st and 23rd animated films are set in an alternate continuity to the anime. The films are produced by the animation studios OLM , Production I.G , Xebec , and Wit Studio , and distributed in Japan by Toho , with various studios distributing
23838-420: The staff "tinkered with it from time to time", as Sugimori put it. For instance, by October 1992, a large number of Pokemon had been designed, and a poll was held that month among all staff members to gauge the popularity of the different species. Several more such votes followed to determine collectively which Pokemon should be included. Still, development had mostly come to a halt until the summer of 1994, after
24012-886: The strongest trainer in the world in order to battle Leon, the Champion of the Galar Region and current Monarch, and Goh attempts to catch each and every Pokémon, including Mew, and later takes part in trial missions of a research project called "Project Mew" to be a Chaser and find Mew. Ash defeats Leon in the final round of the World Coronation Series Masters Eight Tournament and becomes the new Monarch. Goh and other members of Project Mew travel to Faraway Island, where they encounter Mew and Goh befriends it instead of catching it. With their goals accomplished, Ash and Goh go their separate ways. Ash resumes his journey with Pikachu, but along
24186-438: 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. ShoPro paid half of the production cost of Pokemon . TV Tokyo paid the other half and was granted co-ownership of the anime. The ads during the show ' s commercial breaks were managed by advertisement agency JR Kikaku [ ja ] , which
24360-462: The tagline does sound commanding, the FCC reasoned that the act of catching is at the core of Pokémon ' s play. Therefore, the phrase was allowed. The series' theme song was written by John Loeffler and John Siegler and performed by Jason Paige . In commissioning the track, Grossfeld specifically requested the song's chorus to be written around the "Gotta catch 'em all" phrase, firmly embedding
24534-457: The team got lucky. "The probability of so many great people coming together at the same time is very low", he said. Per Tajiri's explicit condition, every anime team member had to play the game extensively, including the illustrators and voice actors. The anime staff "unanimously agreed that the game was interesting" and "felt connected with each other through the world of Pokemon ", feeling positively challenged to make an anime that would match
24708-530: The time, Ishihara was particularly interested in Magic: The Gathering . While developing the Pokemon RPG, he realized that the concept behind it could be adapted into a Magic -like CCG. The Pokemon Trading 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
24882-414: The time, Ishihara was probably the most well-connected man in the industry, with a knowledge of games "beyond comparison". Ishihara was also interested in playing cards , and contributed to the development of at least three simple card games designed by Itoi and published by Ape. In 1986, Tajiri, Sugimori, and a few other enthusiasts started an informal development team called Game Freak, named after
25056-461: The time, anime had not yet found mainstream popularity in the West. Contemporary news reports cited Sailor Moon as an example of an anime that had failed to catch on with American youth. Still, with NoA's help, 4Kids ultimately succeeded in contracting 112 broadcasters for Pokémon , reaching "about 85 to 90 percent" of television households. However, many broadcasters gave it off-peak time slots, with starting times like 06:00 or 06:30. Prior to
25230-633: The total number of cards shipped reached 764 million. By March 2000, this figure would grow further to 4.255 billion cards, manufactured in both Japanese and American factories. Pok%C3%A9mon (TV series) Pokémon , abbreviated from the Japanese title of Pocket Monsters , and currently branded in English as Pokémon the Series , is a Japanese anime television series, part of The Pokémon Company 's Pokémon media franchise , which premiered on TV Tokyo in April 1997. The anime franchise consists of eight sequential series in Japan, each based on
25404-426: The tournaments are a relief, a blessed pause in the cerebrum-liquefying formula as Ash and company square off against destined rivals for an episode or two." However, he stated that it would be enjoyed by its target audience, saying: "It's colorful, silly and lively (if insanely simplistic and cheap)" and added: "Parents will appreciate the absolute lack of objectionable content (aside from the promotion of animism ) and
25578-431: The trading card game and related merchandise, occasionally developing spin-off titles. The three companies established The Pokémon Company (TPC) in 1998 to manage the Pokémon property within Asia. The Pokémon anime series and films are co-owned by Shogakukan . Since 2009, The Pokémon Company International (TPCi), a subsidiary of TPC, has managed the franchise in all regions outside of Asia. The original full name of
25752-638: The use of different colored cartridges for the game, in response to Tajiri's and Ishihara's musings about making each playthrough slightly different, as to 'individualize' the player's experience. According to Tajiri, "five or seven colors" were considered, but they eventually settled on two: Red and Green . Otherwise identical, each had Pokemon not found in the other, encouraging players to socialize and trade to complete their collection. Ishihara aspired to create video games of his own. As Pocket Monsters Red and Green were nearing completion, Ishihara founded Creatures, Inc. on November 8, 1995. Upon founding,
25926-460: The way, they reunite with Misty and Brock and decide to travel with them again. After traveling for a while, Ash, Brock, and Misty return to their homes. Then, Ash decides to travel again to meet and befriend new Pokémon in order to achieve his goal of becoming a Pokémon Master. Liko , a girl from the Paldea region, who wears a mysterious pendant, and Roy , a boy from the Kanto region, who possesses
26100-451: The wild or owned by other Trainers. Because the franchise is aimed at children, these battles are never presented as overtly violent and contain no blood or gore. Pokémon never die in battle – they faint upon being defeated, and can then be rejuvenated at a Pokémon Center. When a Pokémon wins a battle, it gains experience points . After gaining a certain amount of it, the Pokémon levels up, and its statistics rise. As its level increases,
26274-425: The world's highest-grossing media franchise and one of the best-selling video game franchises . Pokémon has an uncommon ownership structure. Unlike most IPs , which are owned by one company, Pokémon is jointly owned by three: Nintendo , Game Freak, and Creatures . Game Freak develops the core series role-playing games , which are published by Nintendo exclusively for their consoles, while Creatures manages
26448-452: Was Shogakukan's production company. The animation company they commissioned was OLM, Inc. (Oriental Light and Magic), on Kubo's suggestion. Kunihiko Yuyama , one of OLM's founding members, became the anime's director. ShoPro assembled a team of five writers, plus two supporting writers. All key people involved with the production of Pokemon were well-experienced and had proven track records within Japan's anime industry. Yoshikawa felt that
26622-433: Was Takashi Kawaguchi, who worked at Nintendo's General Affairs Department and was also a manager at Ape. Kawaguchi brought the idea to Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi , who reportedly said: "This is it. This is the idea I've been waiting for." By pure coincidence, Ishihara had come up with an idea for a game similar to that of Tajiri, and around the same time was discussing it with Ape. This game, Toto , involved "using
26796-405: Was a general understanding among businesses that the anime was not canceled, 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 Pokemon products from their sales floors. "When we started this project in Japan, one of the first things I
26970-615: Was a stark contrast compared to previous years: "I was trying to sell this sort of stuff for years and buyers would tell me they were moving away from Japanese animation shows", he said. In October 1999, the franchise was launched in the European key markets of Germany , the United Kingdom , France , and Spain . The anime started broadcasting in Denmark , Norway , and Sweden in December 1999. In 2000, broadcasting rights for
27144-483: Was a teenager. "I felt threatened by the idea of changing how Game Freak was operating, and starting back over with Mr. Ishihara", he said. "It was an identity problem. If Game Freak ceased to exist, then so would I". Tajiri noted that, since Game Freak and Creatures both focus on Pokemon , it sometimes felt more like different departments than different companies. Pocket Monsters Red and Green were finally finished in December 1995. A release date of December 21, 1995
27318-520: Was announced, but missed. After sufficient cartridges, manuals and packages had been manufactured, the pair of games ended up being published on February 27, 1996. However, the property was copyrighted in 1995, and "© 1995" is shown on the title screens and cartridges. This year is since used on the copyright notice seen on many Pokemon products, even though no actual Pokemon product was released in 1995. Nintendo had no high expectations of Pocket Monsters Red and Green , and media largely ignored
27492-730: Was born on August 28, 1965, and grew up in Machida , a suburb of Tokyo . As a child, he enjoyed discovering and catching insects and other small creatures in the various ponds and fields that surrounded his town. During Japan's economic miracle , many cities, including Machida, were significantly expanded. As a consequence , Machida's nature was largely destroyed. In his second year of junior high school , an arcade hall opened in Tajiri's neighborhood, introducing him to video games . While studying electrical engineering at Tokyo College of Technology [ ja ] , Tajiri began publishing
27666-462: Was broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 19, 1999, to September 17, 2002. It ran during the second part of the original series. Pocket Monsters Encore is a variety show featuring reruns of old episodes, including Japanese and English audio tracks, except for EP035 and EP018, which were broadcast in stereo. EP022 and EP023 broadcast together. EP018 was taken out of sequence and inserted between Holiday Hi-Jynx and Snow Way Out! , which were broadcast in
27840-428: Was considered a core objective of the anime. During the council's first meeting, Yoshikawa brought up the issue on whether the Pokemon in the anime could talk, and if not, how they could communicate. In the video games, each has a specific cry. In Anakubo's CoroCoro manga , most could speak. At first, the council believed there should be a mixture of Pokemon that could talk and some that could not. However, this idea
28014-610: Was directed by Ishihara, and co-developed by Ape. The popularity of Mario's Picross incited Nintendo to develop the Game Boy Pocket , a slimmer and improved version of the Game Boy, released in Japan on July 21, 1996. Because of the timing and naming, 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. Two media channels that would play important roles in
28188-496: Was eventually discarded: the Pokemon had to make a specific cry. The council agreed that Pokemon were like animals, and while they and humans 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
28362-533: Was globally one of the most widely watched shows on Netflix, as of 2016. It is also available on Hulu (in the United States and Japan), Amazon Prime Video (in the United States), and JioCinema (in India). From when the series made its home on Disney XD, as much as every in-circulation episode was available on Watch Disney XD and later DisneyNOW in the United States until February 2022. Netflix removed
28536-421: Was halted, and new guidelines were implemented to help prevent similar events from happening. With the show on hiatus , ShoPro and OLM worked on a feature Pokemon 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 anime series returned on April 16, 1998. The film, titled Pocket Monsters
28710-483: Was hesitant, noting 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 , Pokemon Gold and Silver , and Ishihara did not want
28884-412: 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 April 1, 1997. By November, it had become the highest-rated program on TV Tokyo. The anime succeeded in its goal of widening Pokemon ' s audience. Although the video games and the cards remained mostly of interest to boys,
29058-553: Was influenced by Magic: The Gathering , the first CCG in history. Indeed, the Pokemon 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 Itoi and released through Ape, Inc. At
29232-404: Was made to resemble the TV series more. 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 anime begun, licensing requests for Pokemon started to increase, which Nintendo had difficulties handling due to
29406-570: Was replaced by Pokémon☆Sunday . Pokémon☆Sunday ( ポケモン☆サンデー , Pokémon☆Sandē ) was broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 3, 2004, to September 26, 2010. The show is the successor to the Pocket Monsters Encore and the Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station . It ran from the second part of Pokémon: Advanced Generation to Pokémon: Diamond & Pearl . Like the shows before it, Pokémon☆Sunday
29580-439: Was replaced by Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station . Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station ( 週刊ポケモン放送局 , Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku ) is a closely related spin-off series that aired during the final part of the original series, and continues during the beginning part of Pokémon: Advanced Generation . The show was presented as an animated variety show, and showed clip shows, reruns of Pokémon episodes, television airings of
29754-413: Was then the third-largest bankruptcy in Japan's postwar history. Nonetheless, due to their Pokemon -licensed products, Nagatanien reported net profits in fiscal years '97 and '98, despite having forecasted losses. In the evening of December 16, 1997, the Pokemon franchise was hit by a crisis related to the broadcast of the anime's 38th episode, " Dennō Senshi Porygon " (Computer Warrior Porygon). It
29928-471: Was to become Pokemon while completing Quinty , and before he officially founded Game Freak. Around this time, Nintendo announced the upcoming release of the Game Boy , a handheld console that would revolutionize the gaming industry. Tajiri learned that the device would have a link port , and with the corresponding Game Link Cable , two Game Boys could be linked together. Sometime later, Tajiri remembered an incident while playing Dragon Quest II (1987),
30102-515: Was told was that this kind of thing would never appeal to American audiences. They said, 'Because the characters are in a very Japanese style, you cannot sell them to Americans'. So from the very beginning, I never thought there would be an English version. Now, it's just as popular in the United States [as in Japan], and I realized that we shouldn't always believe the opinions of conservative marketers." Shigeru Miyamoto , August 1999 Possibly
30276-438: Was watched by approximately 4.6 million households. In the episode, the cast is transported into a virtual world, accompanied by a Porygon , a digital, human-made Pokemon. While flying through cyberspace, they are attacked by an anti-virus program which mistakes them for viruses, shooting "vaccine missiles" at the group resulting in explosions of bright, rapidly swapping red and blue flashes. The intense stimuli brought about by
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