Pokemon was
created in 1996 by Nintendo for their best selling portable video game
system, “Game Boy”. Originally released in Japan, Pokemon are a
class of unique little Pocket Monsters that battle each other when
instructed to do so by their trainer. The original term for Pokemon was
“Poketto Monstaa”, the coined Japanese term for Pocket Monster. Soon
the Japanese shortened the name to “Pokemon”. A Japanese game
designer named Satoshi Tajiri invented Pokemon based on childhood
memories of collecting bugs in jars and wishing he could make them fight
like the monsters in his favorite science fiction movies. The game was
so intricate that it took Tajiri six years to develop the Pokemon game.
Once released, the rest is history. The overwhelming popularity of the
game prompted the creation of a Japanese Pokemon television series and a
Japanese Pokemon CollectibleTrading Card Game, both of which also became
tremendous successes.
The Pokemon phenomenon began in the U.S. in 1998 with the release of the
original Red and Blue Game Boy games, the debut of the animated Pokemon
television series on Warner Brothers, and the release of the English
version of the Pokemon Trading Cards. The Pokemon television series
immediately catapulted Kids Warner Brothers to the top of the cable
ratings for kids shows. According to a February 2001 Nintendo press
release, the Pokemon television show continued to be ranked No. 1 among
kids 2 to 11, and among boys 6 to 11. Warner Brothers also released the
first three big screen animated Pokemon feature films in North America:
“Pokemon: The First Movie”, also known as “Pokemon The Movie:
Mewtwo Strikes Back” (released in 1999), “Pokemon The Movie:
2000”, and “Pokemon 3 the Movie (2001)”.
For those of you unfamiliar with Pokemon, they are creatures who possess
unique powers or special abilities. In the Pokemon world, human beings
act as Pokemon trainers and capture as many of the Pokemon creatures as
they can. The captured Pokemon then join the trainer’s team and help
them capture other Pokemon, enabling the trainers to become “Pokemon
Masters”. Pokemon battles have a rigid code of rules that do not allow
dirty tricks or easy ways out. Also, Pokemon battles never end with a
creature’s death. The successful end to a Pokemon match occurs when
one of the battling monsters faints and is rushed to a Pokemon Center
for recovery, or when it is captured by a trainer and put in a ball
called the Poke Ball. Lastly, the Pokemon storyline encourages
cooperation and teamwork.
Some interesting statistics from Nintendo on Pokemon interactive video
games:
 | During
Pokemon’s first 24 months of availability in the United States,
Nintendo of America reported a total sales of 20 million Pokemon
video games for Game Boy Color and Nintendo 64.
|
| Six
of the industry’s 10 top-selling video games in 2000 were Pokemon
titles.
|
| Seven
Pokemon titles were responsible for 10 percent of all software units
sold in year 2000.
|
| As
of February 2000, there were 12 Pokemon games for both Nintendo 64
and Game Boy.
|
| As
of February 2000, nearly 27 million Pokemon games had been sold in
the United States and more than 74 million Pokemon games had been
sold worldwide.
|
Pokemon
continues to be an outstanding entertainment and retail property in
today’s international market. Its success can be attributed to
Pokemon’s incredible appeal to children from diverse cultures and
across age barriers. Although originally designed for adolescent boys,
Pokemon’s popularity quickly spread to include girls, elementary age
school children and even preschoolers. As summarized by Galil Tilden,
Nintendo’s Vice President, “Pokemon is much more than a phenomenon
– It’s now a children’s entertainment staple here in America and
globally… From the video games, to the toys, to the TV series,
Pokemon’s staying power is evident in its multifaceted appeal to its
broad fan base."
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