On February 27, 1996, two games for the Nintendo Game Boy were released in Japan: Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green. Now, 30 years later, Pocket Monsters/Pokemon has become a sprawling, global phenomenon, with countless multimedia adaptations, toy lines, and merchandise galore. Mixing RPG gameplay with collection-fueled dopamine and turn-based combat, the original Pokemon games offered tons of depth, but with enough accessibility to welcome even the newest of players. In retrospect, it’s clear that Pokemon changed the trajectory of handheld gaming and influenced pop culture in ways never expected, uniting generations of players under one adventurous banner. As we celebrate 30 years of this beloved franchise, let’s take a look at the development, release, and legacy of Pokemon and find out how it became one of the biggest entertainment properties of all time.
Creating a Worldwide Craze
Pokemon was originally conceived by a Japanese gaming journalist named Satoshi Tajiri, who, in his teens, created the independent gaming magazine, Game Freak. Though the magazine met its end in the early 1980s, Tajiri made several connections through his work, and by 1986, had started working on a game development team. Also known as Game Freak, the studio’s first official project was a puzzle game called Quinty, released in 1989, and soon after, Tajiri found inspiration in his childhood memories. Similar to how Shigeru Miyamoto was inspired to create The Legend of Zelda franchise, Tajiri looked back fondly on his youth, where he would explore the Japanese countryside while collecting bugs, and thought to rekindle that feeling of adventure through an RPG.
As early as 1989, the team at Game Freak began whipping up ideas for a game called Pocket Monsters, with a focus on collecting insect-like creatures, trading them via the link cable, and battling against other “trainers”. Though initially envisioned as a small, contained adventure, the project continuously expanded in scope, and Game Freak found its complexity far too overwhelming. By 1991, development on the game had mostly ceased, with only occasional tinkering from the team, until the summer of 1994. With plenty of fresh faces on the team, a more focused effort was put toward Pocket Monsters, and by late 1995, the game was fully finished.
Given the extensive development window, by the time Pocket Monsters was ready for release, the Game Boy was well past its prime. However, this ended up working in the long run, as millions of people already owned a Game Boy, and its low price made it affordable for all players. So, when Pocket Monsters was finally released on February 27, 1996, it was a notable success. Thanks to a partnership with the popular manga magazine, CoroCoro Comic, Game Freak found meaningful marketing despite their small presence, and by September 1996, the game had already sold over 1 million copies.
Pokemon Goes Multimedia
Multimedia adaptations were swift and prolific for the Pocket Monsters/Pokemon franchise, even before the game found its stride. Due to Game Freak’s relationship with CoroCoro Comic, a manga adaptation was the first out the door, which was written and illustrated by Masakazu Kubo. The first run lasted for 14 volumes, with publications from 1996 to 2003, before the manga’s storyline was shifted to align with current game sequels.
Outside of the manga, Pocket Monsters found even more footing with its trading card game, which was designed by a small team of developers who worked closely on the original Game Boy games. At the time, trading card games were mostly unseen in Japan, but, citing the success of 1993’s Magic: The Gathering trading card game in the United States, the team was inspired to give it a go. The very first Pokemon Trading Card Game set was released in October of 1996, and though mostly ignored by popular media, it was a huge success. Nowadays, it’s common to see original, mint condition cards sell at auction for hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is crazy to think about, considering the card game’s humble beginnings as a means of advertising a video game product.
Even more so than the manga and the trading card game, the Pokemon anime has left its mark on pop culture, but surprisingly, it was mostly opposed at first. Though Masakazu Kubo saw huge potential in the franchise for an anime adaptation, Nintendo, Game Freak, and most of the developers saw the project as a risk. With an upcoming sequel in the works, they worried that the anime would fall out of step with the games, and saturating the market with Pokemon content would cause people to move onto the next fad. Despite these worries, Kubo’s convincing proved powerful, and the first season eventually premiered in April of 1997. From there, it caught on in a major way, becoming the highest-rated TV show in Tokyo, persisting for decades on its own. In fact, it’s likely that more people around the world recognize the protagonist Ash Ketchum and his companion, Pikachu, than those who recognize the original game.
Decades of Pokemon
From there, the tale of Pokemon is one etched in pop culture history. In 1998, the franchise made the jump to the United States, with a name change from Pocket Monsters to Pokemon, and was welcomed with millions more sales. The anime continued to climb the charts, the trading game bustled, and by 1999, Nintendo saw a 250% increase in profits, mostly attributed to the success of Pokemon. Though the global Pokemon craze slowed down in the mid-2000s, the franchise has still persisted, with dozens of mainline sequels and spin-offs, often becoming the best-selling games on their respective systems.
30 years is no anniversary to scoff at, and so, to celebrate, Nintendo has re-released Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen onto the Nintendo eShop. The trading card game continues to be popular, with anniversary events galore, and now, there’s even a Pokemon pinball machine. So, no matter what way you want to celebrate, we highly recommend spending a few hours catching your favorite Pokemon. With 30 years behind us, there’s a good chance Pokemon will continue for another couple of decades, with no sign of slowing down in the foreseeable future.
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