Anyway, who hasn't heard of Pokemon? I'm just kidding, everyone has heard of Pokemon. If you haven't it's probably because you were deaf and/or blind in the late nineties because it was goddamn everywhere.
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Even INSIDE OF YOU.
Pokemon, Pocket Monsters in Japan, was the genius idea of Satoshi Tajiri a man who decided one day that he wanted all the money in the world. He was a fan of capsule machines and the idea of little things in balls that you could collect and thought a game based on that would be fun and help add a house to his house. Boy, was he right. To date the Pokemon franchise has made roughly 24 billion dollars. For reference, Bill Gates only has three times that much. Pokemon is a freaking goldmine.
There are games, movies, CDs, trading cards, manga, and toys. They also slapped their collectable faces on Kellogs products, Lunchables, Burger King toys, even Welch's jelly wasn't safe from the original 150 money makers.
There are games, movies, CDs, trading cards, manga, and toys. They also slapped their collectable faces on Kellogs products, Lunchables, Burger King toys, even Welch's jelly wasn't safe from the original 150 money makers.
It came in two flavors, grape and hoarder.
It was impossible to escape the money printer that was Pokemon. The series' motto of 'gotta catch 'em all' was shoved into our dumb heads from day one and there were 150 of these things that we needed to catch (read: buy). So that's 150 toys, 150 cards, 150 shirts, 150 everything. You can begin to see why this shit was amazing to kids and horrible to wallets.
Don't think you could get away with only getting your kid two or three of them. Kids knew who all of them were, what all of them did, which ones were good, and which ones were awful. You asked any kid in 1998 what they liked about Pokemon and you'd have to cancel your plans for the rest of the day. Adults, however, couldn't give two shits about Pikamanders or Bulbapuffs and always let their eyes roll into the back of their heads when their offspring began listing the names of the Gym Leaders they had beaten that day. It's too bad though, because had parents paid attention, they could have taken a slice of that pokemoney pie for themselves. The reach of the pocket monsters managed to reach the higher ups at Who Wants to be A Millionaire, as in the trivia show for adults.
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"What is this, Italian?"
I've barely even mentioned the games. Frankly in the late 90's the games, while they were the catalyst, were almost not important. The fact that it was on everything made Pokemon so much more than a game and made it a way of life. Although, if they weren't games, they wouldn't be represented in Smash Bros.
The first two games were released simultaneously in 1996 in Japan and 1998 in America for the Game Boy. Titled Pokemon: Red Version and Pokemon: Blue Version, the two games were nearly identical. The only difference was each version had a handful of exclusive Pokemon that could not be obtained on the other. Since the motto of the franchise was "Gotta Catch 'Em All," the inability to do so was sort of an issue for players. In order to get the version exclusive Pokemon one needed to buy a Game Boy Link Cable and find someone with the opposite version of the game. To recap: you need two games, two Game Boys, and a link cable to fully enjoy the game.
A freaking goldmine.
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"Haha, my parents have such cool money!"
In 2000 Nintendo and Game Freak, the companies behind the games, decided 150 things was not enough, so the sequels, Gold and Silver Version, were released. With the new games added color graphics and brought the grand total of collectable things to 250. So now there were 100 more faces to slap on t-shirts and toys and now you needed the new Game Boy Color in order to get the most out of the new games.
"They're right next to all this money"
The number of Pokemon continued to grow in 2002 with Ruby and Sapphire Version for the Game Boy Advance, then again with Diamond and Pearl Version in 2007 and Black and White Version in 2011 both pairs on the Nintendo DS. The last expansion to the growing roster was in 2013 with the release of X and Y Version. This brought the final monster count to a whopping 721.
For those keeping score at home, including the original Red and Blue, we have 12 games, 3 link cables for the first three consoles, and a total of 10 handhelds so everyone can get the version exclusives. Not to mention, there's almost five times the number of creatures as there were when this whole thing started. So now there are more cartoons for you to buy on a folder or a plate or a plane.
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| wikipedia
I can only assume they're flying to the bank.
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Not to mention the third games that correspond to each pair of games. This new 'third game' had it's own group of unique Pokemon and is sort of a director's cut of whatever original games it pairs with. Those games being Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, Black 2 and White 2 Versions. Yeah, that's roughly another 400 bucks you can throw at your child to get him to stop screaming.
So now you have to buy Red, Blue AND Yellow version, then buy Gold, Silver AND Crystal version and then buy a third Game Boy to truly catch them all. For all your hard work, Nintendo will enjoy some cigars on their yacht.
Pictured: Some Japanese kid going to college.
There are also the spinoffs such as Pokemon Snap where you photograph Pokemon or Pokemon Puzzle League, a Tetris type game, but instead the theme of blocks, it's theme is anime monsters and children.
Something something stacks of money.
There's also the remakes of the first three pairs of games, so you can re-buy the games you already own and have played. So basically what I've been saying is Pokemon is a good game, and you should buy them all.
In terms of gameplay, every game follows the same basic outline. You start your journey sans Pokemon until you reach the point in the game where you have to pick one of three Pokemon that you will never see again. The only way to get the other two are by trading with someone who has them.
The cutest blackmail alive.
Once you choose your starter, other than 'catching them all' you are tasked with training the monsters you catch for combat and using them to defeat eight bosses called Gym Leaders. For winning you earn the badge that they were holding as proof that you beat them. Along the way you face off with a villainous team of criminals and stop their plans, again by fighting your monsters. Once you're done saving the world, defeating the Gym Leaders, and catching 150+ monsters, you make your way to the Elite Four, Four Master Pokemon Trainers, and then finally the Champion of the Pokemon League. Keep in mind, your character is a child.
Hey kid, wanna see my pocket monster?
The thing that sets the games apart are the sheer number of Pokemon to collect and raise. As technology advanced, the games offered new ways to raise and train your Pokemon. So every game offered a fresh new take on a familiar journey and we were given so many new faces to take that journey with. Even though they were just zeroes and ones, you easily found yourself growing attached to the Pokemon you raised and fought with.
Despite their insane demands.
In Smash Bros 3DS, the Pokemon Series contributes the Pokemon Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Charizard, Lucario, and Greninja as playable characters. It also brings us the Unova Pokemon League from Pokemon Black and White as well as Lumiose City's Prism Tower from Pokemon X and Y as stages.
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| serebii.net
This is, of course, the arson aspect of Pokemon at work.
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At the end of the day Pokemon is a really fun game that lets you indulge both your adventure brain as well as your collector brain and since there are now so many different Pokemon to catch, different moves to teach each monster, and different ways to train them, each time you play, you can have a slightly different experience.
The next series is a bit less open world. It's a real straight shooter.
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