How it all started – Story of Pokemon
As kids, all of us have sneaked and peeked to watch our favorite cartoon channel on television or to get a grab of that favorite comic series.
The ecstasy boomed as we share our bounty of the favorite character collections with our group of friends. With the popularization of any fictional content among people, the markets are buzzing with stickers, games, stationary, accessories and apparel related the particular characters.
One such all-time favorite of a lot of people around the world is the Pokémon series.
Created by Satoshi Tajiri, Ken Sugimori and Game Freak, Pokémon had its debut in the year 1996 in the form a game called as Pocket Monsters Red and Green. The term “Pocket Monsters” was shortened to be called as Pokémon. Satoshi Tajiri as a kid loved catching insects and tadpoles near his home in Tokyo. As he grew up, he had an idea of developing a game focused around catching fictional creatures which created the first Pokémon game. He teamed up with others to create a media franchise owned by the Pokémon Company, a Japanese Consortium between Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures.
Pokémon series first had its birth in Japan. The first Pokémon game series was released on February 27, 1996 titled Pokémon Red and Green versions which became a huge hit and fulfilled Tajiri’s dream. The game allowed people of different age groups to catch the Pokémon creatures, train them and make up an army; expert players were titled the Pokémon Masters. The first version of the game itself had 151 creatures collectively called as Pokémon.
The Pokémon Red and Green Series were followed by Pokémon Blue with increased graphics and sounds.
In October 1996, the concept was carried further by Media Factory in the form of a card trading game containing 102 cards.
The year 1997 featured an anime version of the characters along with 2 characters added into it – Pokémon trainer named Satoshi also known as Ash Ketchum and his rival named Shigeru also known as Gary Oak– which was based on the Blue version.
There are other series which were written later which revolved around Pokémon such as The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Pokémon Adventures, Pokémon Zensho and Pokémon Gotta Catch ‘Em All.
A magazine called Pokémon Wonderland was published by Shogakukan in 1997 which had latest information of the franchise. Yumi Tsukirino authored a series of Pokémon named Magical Pokémon Journey which was mainly aimed towards girls. Stores specializing in selling Pokémon Merchandise opened up across Tokyo and New York.
The game spread to parts of America by the year 1998. Correspondingly, the Yellow version of Pokémon was released and movies featuring Pokémon were released in Japan.
The journey kept going on through the years in the form of various anime series, games, books, movies and a musical. Pokémon has now completed Six Generations and completed its Twentieth Anniversary as on February 27, 2016. New games titled Pokémon Sun and Moon were announced with the start of a newer generation on this occasion and are due to be released in November, 2016.
As the technology kept changing, so is the world of Pokémon as well. Looks like our favorite Pokémon will continue to make our lives exciting forever.
