A Brief History of the Origins of the Pokémon Franchise
Pre-Intro:
I was told that I could speak on anything, but I didn’t want to just
tell you what it was. So here is the question: My topic relates to each of the
following major names, what is it?
Macy’s (an American department store and holding company worth about
6.5 billion)
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the US with an
annual budget of 18 billion)
FIFA (Fédération
Internationale de Football Association with 209 national associations)
Google (American technology company with equity more than $100 billion)
Sydney Opera House (completed in 1973, national icon of Australia)
Nintendo (Japanese consumer electronics company with equity more than $10
billion)
Since 2001 there has been a balloon of Pikachu, the electric mouse
Pokémon, in Macy’s annual Thanksgiving parade in New York as well as other
characters in certain years.
In 2005 NASA partnered with the Pokémon Trading Card Game to help
children learn the real science related to popular characters.
For the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Pikachu was the mascot for the
Japanese team.
In 2014 Google’s annual April Fool’s Day prank featured a google map
modification which allowed you to find and catch Pokémon on the map around the
world. And this week the announcement was made that catching Pokémon in real
life will become a reality as Niantic Inc., a software development start-up
from Google, will partner to produce Pokémon GO, a smartphone augmented reality
game, to be released in 2016.
Since 2014 an orchestra performance has been touring in the US, Europe,
Canada, and in late November they will be playing at the Sydney Opera House. In
the concert they play orchestral renditions of songs from the many games.
So now we should all be aware of this: my topic is Pokémon, but
specifically a brief look at the origins of this franchise giant and some of
how it got to where it is today.
Intro:
Before we dive into the origins, let me give you one last look at how
large a global power Pokémon is. Aside from its many substantial international
partnerships, including those mentioned earlier, the franchise has had over 70 video
games on multiple systems, nearly 1000 television episodes, 18 movies, numerous
manga or comic book series, a trading card game, action figures, stuffed
animals, board games and every sort of merchandise you can imagine as well as
its very own store in Japan. Recognizable by nearly anyone around the world, captivating
the imagination of children, spanning generations, and now having 721 monsters
to collect, battle, and trade, the Pokémon franchise has grown into an
international phenomenon worth nearly 40 billion US dollars. With endless
creativity and innovation, Pokémon has grown an international fan base, but how
did it get to where it is today? Today I will be briefly explaining the origins
of the franchise and some of the major events in its nearly 20 year history.
The Beginnings:
Satoshi Tajiri, as a child living in suburban Tokyo had fond memories
of catching insects and tadpoles near his house. The spots where he had
previously hunted for creatures had been paved over. As he grew up his
interests switched to video games. He went to the Tokyo National College of
Technology and got more involved in the gaming world. He learned programming
language, started a gaming magazine, and in 1989 founded the game development
company known as GAME FREAK inc.
In the early 90s he saw two children playing on their Nintendo Gameboys
with a link cable and he imagined bugs crawling across the cables. This is
where the original concept of catching and trading monsters began. Having lost
the spaces where children could catch insects and tadpoles, he wanted to give
modern children a chance to experience the same. The original concept had a
number of differences from the games as we know them now, but with a majority
of the same features including the monsters, balls to catch them in, battles
between trainers, trading between games and more. It was designed to take a few
minutes at a time between things wherever you are.
He pitched the idea to Nintendo multiple times and eventually, although
still somewhat confused they supported him. Development took six years and 190 Pokémon
were created. The first of which was Rhydon, not Bulbasaur as one might imagine.
Of that original group, 151 were programmed into the game with Pokémon 151,
Mew, being kept a secret from the public which they could use as a post-release
event if needed. The others would be saved for later games. The long
development process actually caused GAME FREAK to nearly run bankrupt with a
few employees quitting and Tajiri working unpaid overtime.
Release:
Pokémon Red and Green version released in Japan in February 1996 –
within the game you catch and train Pokémon with the goal of defeating 8 other
strong trainers (known as gym leaders), the elite four and your rival, as well
as the crime syndicate Team Rocket, but the overarching goal was to catch all known
species, which required trading certain monsters from the separate games.
Nearing the end of the Gameboy’s life, with the Gameboy color not far
away, Pokémon only had modest sales.
However, once the 151st Pokémon, Mew, was discovered by some
fans the story changed. Shortly after, Nintendo held a submission contest,
promising this legendary Pokémon Mew to 20 entrants. 78,000 applied and interest
in the game sky rocketed and the games would end up being the best-sellers of
the handheld.
This new success prompted the company to prepare Blue version, which
corrected many glitches and had updated graphics. This was released in October
of 1996 and around the same time the Trading card game and various Manga
adaptations began.
Early the following year the television adaptation began and due to its
popularity a final version of the game was released in 1998 with gameplay more
similar to the anime, especially with your starter Pokémon, Pikachu, walking
behind you.
With Yellow version released a precedent was set for the continued
release of new games in sets of 3. Each time with 2 main games, and 1 released
slightly later with some upgraded features.
Moving International:
Due to the popularity of the games in Japan, international releases of
the games and television show began in 1998 with the new slogan “Gotta catch
‘em all!”. The anime continued to excite fans and the first movie did extremely
well in theatres, grossing 10 million on the first day, and 67 in the first 12
days. It did so well as to temporarily hold the record in North America for
highest-grossing opening for an animated film until Toy Story 2 came out. In
this film a short was also shown in which a few new Pokémon were revealed.
Over the next couple years various spin-off games (Pinball, puzzles,
card game), a second movie (revealing another few new Pokémon), and even a live
musical were created.
November of 1999 the second generation of Pokémon games was released
for Gameboy Color: Gold and Silver versions, featuring 100 more monsters to
find and catch. Aside from being in a new country, the games featured very
similar styles of gameplay to the original: defeating 8 gym leaders, the elite
four and your rival, a crime syndicate, and a job to catch them all. The games
also introduced a few features including: gender, breeding, and baby Pokémon,
time, friendship, and shiny Pokémon.
This process would be repeated time and again as the game consoles
evolved: various new species of Pokémon would be revealed in the television
show or movies, spin-off games would be produced, and about every 4 years a new
generation of main series Pokémon games would be released. Introducing new
countries, wireless connectivity, ways to improve your Pokémon, and obviously
new Pokémon to catch increasing from the original 151 to today’s 721 which is
increasing as we speak. A number of remade versions were released to allow for compatibility
with the contemporary games.
Since there is always a new Pokémon around the corner, and the history
of the Pokémon world always remained somewhat a mystery, there are many people
who theorize over release dates of new games, potential new evolutions of
existing monsters, and various plot points of the television series or games.
As I mentioned earlier, even now, about 2 years after the previous new
generation many people are theorizing when the next generation will be released
based on leaked images of new Pokémon. The announcement of Pokémon GO is a
whole new frontier for Pokémon taking the games not only global using wireless
connections, but now to the real world. For many fans this is a childhood dream
come true, whether they are now a child, or were back in the 90s.
Conclusion:
Where the game will go from here I cannot say, but what is clear is
that the Pokémon franchise has an excellent way of keeping fans on their toes, has
made a name for itself in video gaming, the country of Japan, and around the
world, and is likely to continue growing in the coming years.
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