Pokémon
Pokémon: ポケモン Pokémon (poh-keh-mohn, although frequently mispronounced poh-kee-MAN), is a video game franchise,IN THE ASS, created by Satoshi Tajiri and published by Nintendo for several of their systems, most importantly the Game Boy. It has been merchandised into anime, manga, trading cards, toys, and much more. The name Pokémon is a portmanteau of the words Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター Poketto Monsutā), which is its Japanese name.
Pokémon is also the collective name for the fictional creatures within the Pokémon games. The franchise has 386 unique monsters that lie at the heart of the Pokémon series (391 including currently known Pokémon from future games and 393 including glitches). These figures have grown from the 151 monsters - including the almost unobtainable Mew - from the original games.
The Pokémon games are role-playing games with a small strategy element which allow players to catch, collect, and train pets with various abilities, and battle them against each other to build their strength and evolve them into more powerful Pokémon. Pokémon battles are based on the non-lethal Eastern sport of fighting insects, but the Pokémon never bleed or die, only faint. The game's catchphrase used to be "Gotta catch 'em all!", although now it is no longer officially used. The games have sold over 100 million copies to date, not counting the ones released for home consoles (such as the Nintendo 64 and the Nintendo GameCube). This makes it the second biggest-selling games franchise ever (after Nintendo's Mario series).
The Pokémon characters have become pop-culture icons, with a Pikachu balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, thousands of merchandise items, and in 2005, a theme park in Nagoya, Japan. The prone to offend cartoon South Park spoofed Pokémon in Episode 310, entitled "Chinpokomon" ("chinpoko" is Japanese slang for penis), in which the executives behind it were revealed to be Japanese ultranationalists bent on avenging Japan's admitted defeat in World War II. Shows such as the Simpsons have made mild references to Pokémon and other anime in their cartoons.
Because of the unprecedented popularity of the franchise, Nintendo formed a subsidiary company called The Pokémon Company to handle the franchise. The subsidiary handles everything from publishing the games in Japan to running the official merchandise stores, the Pokémon Centers. The Pokémon Company in turn has a U.S. based subsidiary called Pokémon USA, of which a minority owner is 4Kids Entertainment, the international distributors (outside Japan) of the popular Pokémon anime series.
Properties
All of the Pokémon licensed properties overseen by the Pokémon Company are divided roughly by generation. There have been four generations, defined by the Pokémon which appear therein. Each of these generations has been first introduced in a pair of Pokémon video games for the Game Boy or its successors (including the Nintendo DS), beginning with Pokémon Red and Blue. Each generation introduces a slew of new Pokémon and a handful of new general concepts, usually without replacing any old Pokémon or concepts.
These generations are roughly chronological divisions; a handful of Pokémon from a subsequent generation appear in the anime, manga, or trading card game before the main Game Boy games which demarcate the generation are released, but the anime, manga, and even, of late, the card game divides itself into sagas or generations by the same scheme as the games.
Some of the general concepts were introduced elsewhere, before being introduced in the games. Two-on-two battles appeared in the anime long before appearing in the games, and Pokémon Abilities are similar to Pokémon Powers, introduced long before in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
The generations:
- First generation - Introduced in Pokémon Red and Blue. Introduced the first 151 Pokémon, as well as trading and battling Pokémon.
- Second generation - Introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver. Introduced 100 additional Pokémon, as well as equipping Pokémon with items, breeding Pokémon and baby Pokémon, and the Steel and Dark Pokémon types.
- Third generation - Introduced in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. Introduced 135 additional Pokémon (133 if you don't count the generation's two promotional-only Pokémon), as well as Pokémon Abilities (always-on special innate abilities), Pokémon Contests (similar to dog shows), and two-on-two Pokémon battles.
- Fourth generation - Slated to be introduced in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. A handful of new Pokémon from this generation have made cameo appearances in the seventh and eighth Pokémon movies (Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys and Mew and the Wave Guiding Hero: Lucario, respectively), as well as promotional materials for Pokémon XD.
Video games
Main article: Pokémon (video games)
The Pokémon franchise originated with a series of Japanese video games created by Satoshi Tajiri for the Game Boy, and these games and their sequels and remakes are still considered the "main" Pokémon games, the games which most fans of the series are referring to when they refer to "Pokémon games." The first games in the series were the RPGs Pokémon Red and Blue (Red and Green in Japan, followed by a Blue, and a Yellow special-edition version). These games were nearly identical, save for the fact that each version had a select group of Pokémon that the other version did not. The ultimate goal of these games was to catch at least one member of all the different species of Pokémon (150 at the time, 151 including one that could not be obtained during regular gameplay), and to do so, players had to trade for Pokémon not available in the version they had. While battling monsters is nothing new to RPGs, many players found themselves nearly addicted to finding, fighting, and capturing every Pokémon in the game. Another, perhaps easier, goal was to finish the game's storyline by becoming the Pokémon League Champion by collecting eight Gym Badges and defeating the Elite Four plus the current League Champion.
Each generation of Pokémon games so far has followed a pattern of two complementing versions followed later by at least one other version with some extras. Pokémon Red and Blue were followed by Pokémon Yellow (in Japan, Red and Green were followed by Blue which was subsequently followed by Yellow). Gold and Silver were followed by the exclusively Game Boy Color version, Crystal. The Game Boy Advance first saw the release of Ruby and Sapphire. The most recent full fledged game has been Fire Red and Leaf Green which are remakes of Red and Blue. A third version of Ruby and Sapphire, called Pokémon Emerald, was released on May 1, 2005.
The series has also diversified into various spin-offs, such as pinball games, virtual pets, simulated photography, and racing. A handful of these spinoffs are remade in subsequent "generations"; for example, Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire is very similar to Pokémon Pinball but with newer Pokémon, and Pokémon Stadium 2 is largely identical to Pokémon Stadium but for the compatibility with Pokémon Gold and Silver.
The most recent game to be release was Pokémon XD for the Gamecube. It has come out on October 3rd, 2005. The next to come out are listed below.
A number of Pokémon games are in development. These games include:
- Pokémon Diamond and Pearl - Nintendo DS, 2006
- Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon Red Rescue Force and Blue Rescue Force, for GBA and DS respectively, 2005
Super Smash Bros.
Two of the most popular Pokémon, Pikachu and Jigglypuff, were chosen to appear as two of the 12 characters in Nintendo's party/fighting game Super Smash Bros., which was released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. Pikachu appeared as an initially available character while Jigglypuff was an unlockable one. The pair returned in the 2001 GameCube sequel, Super Smash Bros. Melee. They kept their positions, Pikachu was still an initial character while Jigglypuff was still an unlockable character, but two new Pokémon also appeared (joining Jigglypuff as unlockable characters: Mewtwo and Pichu.
In both games, many different Pokémon can be used in a match by throwing the Pokéball item. A randomly-chosen Pokémon is released from the Pokéball, using one of its attacks to affect other players.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the player can collect many different trophies of a variety of characters from numerous Nintendo games, including several Pokémon characters.
Anime
Main article: Pokémon (anime)
There are two Pokémon anime series based on the video games. The first, and the more familiar one, Pokémon or Pocket Monsters (often referred to as Pokémon: Gotta Catch Em All to distinguish it from the later series) tells the adventures of Ash Ketchum (Satoshi in the original Japanese version) as he travels through Kanto, the Orange Islands, and Johto to become the greatest Pokémon Master. For the English language release, Pocket Monsters was split into four separate series spanning five seasons. This series is based on the first and second generation games.
The saga continues into Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation (in Japan) where Ash and company travel to Hoenn, a southern region in the Pokémon World. Ash takes on the role of a teacher and mentor for a younger, beginning Pokémon trainer in this series. Again, for the English release, Advanced Generation was split into separate series. This series is based on the third generation games. After this series Ash will go back to his home region of Kanto and visit new areas around there with the current team and Misty will meet him part way through this.
With the planned release of the fourth generation games for 2006, a follow-up to the Advanced Generation saga based on those games is expected. It is said to be titled Pokémon Ranger.
The second, entitled Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku is a spinoff of the first, and tells the adventures within the continuity of Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation, starring many of the recurring characters in Pocket Monsters. The English adaptation of this series, Pokémon Chronicles, combines the episodes from this series as well as various other made-for-TV specials (originally unrelated to Housoukyoku) that have aired in Japan but not translated for English release.
There is also a television program in Japan titled Pokémon Sunday, a live action Pokémon-themed variety show hosted by the Pokémon Research Team.
Currently, the English adaption is still running and can be seen on Kids WB in the United States. In other countries its YTV in Canada, Sky One in the United Kingdom and RTE2 in Ireland. Housoukyoku originally aired on TV Tokyo but has since ended its run, while Chronicles can only be seen in the United Kingdom on Toonami UK as of May 2005. Sunday is seen only on TV Tokyo, with no English adaptation planned.
Card game
Main article: Pokémon (card game)
The Pokémon Trading Card Game was first introduced to North America in 1999, and in Japan at an earlier date. It is a collectible card game based off the famous Pokémon video game. At the time, it was published by Wizards of the Coast, the company most famous for Magic: The Gathering.
However, with the release of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Game Boy video games, Nintendo took back the card game from Wizards of the Coast and started publishing the cards themselves. The latest incarnations of the card games is known as Pokémon-e Trading Card Game, the cards of which (for the large part) are compatible with the Nintendo e-Reader.
In 1998, Nintendo released a Game Boy Color version of the trading card game. This game included digital versions cards from the original set of cards and the first two expansion (Jungle and Fossil), but also included several cards exclusive to the game.
Manga
There are various Pokémon manga series, four of which were released in English by Viz Communications, and seven of them released in English by Chuang Yi.
Manga released in English
- Pokémon (The Electric Tale of Pikachu a.k.a Dengeki Pikachu), a shōnen manga created by Toshihiro Ono. It was divided into four tankōbon, each with four separate titles in North American and the English Singapore versions: The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Pikachu Shocks Back, Electric Pikachu Boogaloo, and Surf's Up, Pikachu. The series is based mostly on the anime.
- Pokémon Adventures, a shōnen manga based on the video games.
- Magical Pokémon Journey (a.k.a. Pokémon: PiPiPi Adventures), a shōjo manga
- Pikachu Meets the Press (newspaper style comics, not released by Chuang Yi)
- Ash & Pikachu (a.k.a. Satoshi to Pikachu, not released by Viz)
- Pokémon Gold & Silver (not released by Viz)
- Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire and Pokémon Pocket (not released by Viz)
- Pokémon: Jirachi Wishmaker (not released by Viz)
Manga not released in English
- Pokémon Card Ni Natta Wake (How I Became a Pokémon Card) by Kagemaru Himeno, an artist for the TCG. There are six volumes and each includes a special promotional card. The stories tell the tales of the art behind some of Himeno's cards (the tale of Persian from the Jungle set is particularly popular).
- Pokémon Getto Da ze! by Satomi Nakamura
- Poketto Monsutaa Chamo Chamo Puritei by Yumi Tsukirino, who also made Magical Pokémon Journey.
- Pokémon Zensho
Pokémon Live
Main article: Pokémon Live!
A live action show called Pokémon Live! toured the United States in late 2000. It was based off of the popular Pokémon anime, and was well-liked among some fans of the franchise (in spite of some continuity errors relating to the anime). In late 2002, it was scheduled to tour Europe, but was cancelled for unknown reasons.
Controversy
See also Jynx (Pokémon) and Kadabra for specific controversial Pokémon designs, and Banned episodes of Pokémon for controversies related to specific episodes.
Religion
Christianity
Some Protestant Christian groups in the United States believe Pokémon to be Satanic in origin[1]. After the US release of Pokémon Yellow, there was a sudden widespread criticism of it passed through Christian congregations primarily by word-of-mouth. The claimed parallels between Pokémon and Satanism include:
- Pokémon parallel demons. They are captured and must be invoked to perform tasks.
- Magical "talismans" (gym badges) are necessary to control many of them.
- "Magical" stones are used to evolve certain Pokémon
- Pokémon "evolve." Evolution precludes literal creationism, therefore Pokémon denies some forms of Biblical interpretation.
- Many Pokémon have paranormal or psychic powers. These powers are not derived from God and therefore must stem from Satan.
- Many Pokémon embody or practice Asian spiritual and mystical concepts. For example, some practice martial arts, which some Christian groups denounce as gateway to pagan religions. The game world also incorporates Asian traditions about elemental forces.
Still, most people (including many Asian Christian congregations) dismiss these claims to be nonsense, and attribute many of the alleged protests to urban legend. The surprisingly small amount of original protests (as opposed to reports of protests) seem to reinforce this belief. It would be incorrect to state that the Christian religious community is of a single mind in this matter, since most mainstream sects of Christianity are utterly indifferent to Pokémon.
The alleged outcry was enough to move the Holy See to comment, in an official statement on April 21, 2000:
- The Vatican has announced that the trading-card and computer-game versions of Pokémon are "full of inventive imagination," have no "harmful moral side effects" and celebrate "ties of intense friendship." Whether that extends to the TV show, His Holiness didn't say. The New York Post, quoting a Thursday story in The Times of London, says The Vatican made its announcement on its satellite TV station, Sat2000, run by the Italian Bishops' Conference.-from the New York Times
There are also allegations, particularly among Christians, against "Pokémon" citing liberal views on morality. These include the immodest dress of some of the female characters in the show, the use of the phrase "kick your ass" in the lyrics of a song in the show, though the phrase was later removed and replaced with different lyrics, and a certain character, ("James"), wearing women's clothes in several episodes of the show, giving some the impression that he is transvestite.
Judaism
Pokémon has been criticised by some members of the Jewish community for its use of the swastika, the most widely known symbol of Nazism, which they hold is inappropriate for children's toys. Nintendo says that this is a matter of cultural misunderstanding, as the swastika has been used in East Asian cultures as a symbol for "good fortune" by the Buddhist religion for thousands of years. Even today in Japan, the swastika is not necessarily associated with Nazism, and most Japanese maps still use little clockwise swastikas, or "manji", to indicate the location of Buddhist temples.
The manji was shown only on a Japanese version card and was excluded from the North American release. However, these Jewish groups attacked the Japanese version distributed in the U.S. by unauthorized import, even though the manji symbol is reversed (i.e., clockwise rather than counterclockwise) in relation to the sauwastika or Hakenkreuz used by the Nazi party, colloquially and incorrectly termed simply "the swastika" in the West. As a result of this controversy Nintendo stopped using this symbol even in the Japanese version. [2] This raised a public backlash in Japan for being intolerant towards the symbols of the Buddhist religion for the sake of avoiding controversy.
Islam
A few Islamic religious speakers in Saudi Arabia (which has banned Pokémon), Jordan, and Egypt hold that Pokémon is part of a "Jewish conspiracy" to corrupt Muslim children. They claim incorrectly that the word "Pokémon" is a Japanese word which means "I am a Jew." One Saudi Arabian Sheikh (Sheikh Abdel Moneim Abu Zant) has written "The Pokémon craze is a Jewish plot aimed at forcing our children to forgo their faith and values and to distract them from more important things such as scientific ambitions." The Anti-Defamation League has denounced these theories. [3].
Health
Main article: Banned episodes of Pokémon: Electric Soldier Porygon
On December 16,1997, 685 Japanese children were admitted into hospital with convulsive epileptic seizures. It was determined that the cause of the seizures were a result of watching an episode of Pokémon, 「でんのうせんしポリゴン」 (Dennou senshi Porygon, or "Electric Soldier Porygon"). In this particular episode, there were bright explosions with rapidly-alternating blue and red color patterns. It was determined in further research that these strobing light effects can sometimes cause some sensitive individuals to have epileptic seizures, even if they haven't had any previous history of epilepsy. As a consequence, many video game makers (including Nintendo) have added warning labels (or made pre-existing ones more prominent) on their video game products warning that exposure to video games may cause photosensitive epilepsy in some individuals. [4]
Miscellaneous
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A mammalian oncogene was named "Pokemon" [5] (no "é") by its discoverers. This name is apparently an acronym for "POK Erythroid Myeloid ONtogenic" factor (a cancer causing agent), so the name could be either a backronym or simply coincidence.
See also
Miscellaneia
- List of Pokémon
- Pokémon (anime)
- List of Pokémon name origins
- Banned episodes of Pokémon
- Pokémon Chronicles
- List of Pokémon episodes
- Cultural references in Pokémon
- List of Pokémon References or Spoofs
- Poké Ball
- Pokémon evolution
- Pokémon types
- Pokémon Adventures
- Pokémon (card game)
- mon (monster)
External links
