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10 amazing facts about Pokémon as it turns 20
As Red and Blue hit their third decade, we uncover some amazing facts about the franchise.
Ash and company
© Nintendo / Game Freak
Pokémon turns 20 this month, marking two incredible decades of monster-catching madness. The series – which had relatively humble origins on the black-and-white Game Boy handheld – has spawned dozens of sequels and spin-offs, a mountain of merchandise and so many TV shows and movies that it's genuinely hard to keep track of them all.
Despite its advanced years, the Pokémon juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down, and to mark the momentous anniversary Nintendo is re-publishing the original Pokémon Red and Blue on the 3DS Virtual Console this year. In honour of this momentous birthday, and to tide you over until then, why not check out these 10 amazing Pokémon facts – they could even earn you some additional respect with your fellow Poké-fanatics.
Pokémon isn't a Japanese word It might sound Japanese, but Pokémon is actually the name the series was given when it was localised for the West. In its native Japan, it's called Pocket Monster – which makes sense, as the beasts captured in Pokéballs can be kept in your trousers when not in use (Capsule Monsters was one of the proposed original titles). However, Nintendo decided to contract the title to create the word Pokémon, which has since become the global moniker for the series. The fact that a Matchbox toy line existed in the west by the name of Monsters in my Pocket could have contributed to this decision.
Creator Satoshi Tajiri was mentored by the greatest games developer of all time Satoshi Tajiri founded Game Freak – the studio which develops the mainline Pokémon titles – after running a fanzine of the same name in the early '80s. After seeing the Game Boy in action in 1990, Tajiri was intrigued by the capacity for social play and decided to work on the game that would eventually become Pokémon. He found that Nintendo was initially quite receptive to the idea, but the concept stalled a few times. It wasn't until the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto – the creator of Donkey Kong, Mario and Zelda – took Tajiri under his wing that things really clicked into place. Miyamoto gave the young developer invaluable guidance and was the one who suggested that Pokémon titles should come on two different cartridges, to encourage people to trade with one another.
The series was inspired by bug collecting As a young child, Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri could hunt for bugs and trade them with his friends. "As a child, I wanted to be an entomologist,” he has said in a previous interview. “Insects fascinated me.” He cites this childhood fixation as one of the main inspirations for Pokémon – the idea that you can hunt and capture various beasts and pit them against one another, or – if you're so inclined – trade one bug for another. It's easy to see how this pastime influenced the creation of the game.
A form of protein discovered in 2008 was named after the Pokémon Pikachu Such is Pokémon's incredible influence that it has even made its presence felt in the field of science. When Shigeru Sato and his team discovered a new form of extracellular matrix-like retinal protein in 2008, the decision was made to name it Pikachurin, due to the similarity between its "nimble" nature and Pikachu's "lightning-fast moves and shocking electric effects". Pikachu joins Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog in the elite category of video game characters who have had proteins named after them; the "Sonic Hedgehog" protein – which is covered in covered in spiny denticles – was so named because Dr. Robert Riddle spotted the iconic character in one of his daughter's comic books.
Getting personal with a Pokémon
© Nintendo / Game Freak
Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee are inspired by real-life boxers in Japan Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee's names are based on Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee respectively, but in Japan it's a different story – the two monsters are named after real-life sportsmen rather than famous actors. Hitmonchan is known as Ebiwalar, a moniker inspired by the world champion flyweight boxer Hiroyuki Ebihara, who passed away in 1991. Hitmonlee's Japanese name is Sawamular, which is derived from "The Demon of Kickboxing", Tadashi Sawamura. These original names make much more sense, as the monsters are clearly based on these two sportsmen, rather than the actors Chan and Lee.
The franchise has made more than 39 billion dollars and sold over 200 million copies Pokémon is the second-biggest video game franchise of all time, second only to the Super Mario series, which has been running for 10 years longer. As of 2013, the entire media property (including games, movies and related merchandise) had – according to Nintendo – grossed revenues of ¥4 trillion worldwide ($37.76 billion) and turned over $2 billion in 2014 alone, with over 200 million games sold. If all of those games were laid out end to end they'd cover a distance of over 16,000 miles – a distance that would take the cutting-edge Japanese "Maglev" bullet train around 50 hours to travel at a speed of 314mph. Not bad for a franchise which Nintendo didn't expect to succeed, given that it launched on the Game Boy in 1996 – a time when the monochrome handheld was seen as being on its last legs.
How many can you name?
© Nintendo / Game Freak
There are now 721 different Pokemon species In the original Pokémon titles released in 1996, 151 different monsters were included. Over the past two decades that figure has since risen to 721. As different regions have been introduced, so have numerous new beasts, making the most recent mainline Pokémon outing – Pokémon X and Y – home to over 700 different types. If you can name them all, then you're a serious fan.
Pokémon Crystal took advantage of mobile phones over a decade ago Nintendo's recent move into smartphone gaming has already resulted in the announcement of an exclusive Pokémon title – the augmented reality offering Pokémon Go – but Nintendo and Game Freak were ahead of the game over 15 years ago. The Japanese version of Pokémon Crystal came bundled with a special adapter which allowed players to link their Game Boy Color to a mobile phone.
Using this peripheral, it was possible to battle with other players or trade Pokémon over the mobile network. The service was not as successful as expected due to the high cost of mobile ownership in Japanese at the time – the target audience simply could not afford to make use of the feature, and it was shut down in 2002. Still, this was an incredibly forward-thinking move by Nintendo, and one that would pre-date the more recent explosion in mobile connectivity. The feature was removed from the Western version of the game.
Pokémon has appeared on a Sega console
Sega and Nintendo are now close allies, but back in the '80s and '90s the two firms were bitter rivals, and released competing consoles in an attempt to dominate the global video game market. However, as the year 2000 beckoned Sega found itself in financial dire straits after the failure of the Dreamcast, and was forced to abandon the hardware market and focus on being an entirely software-driven company. That meant that the traditional battle lines were erased, and one of the most surprising developments was the appearance of a Pokémon game on a Sega hardware platform. Admittedly, this is the education-focused Sega Pico we're talking about here – hardly a major console and one which was totally ignored outside of Japan – but it's still an interesting and often overlooked fact. Another interesting Sega-related titbit is that Game Freak released the action platformer Pulseman on the Sega Mega Drive prior to working on Pokémon.
Pokémon have appeared on a nation’s currency The tiny South Pacific nation of Niue might not figure very highly on the list of world superpowers, but it has one surprising claim to fame – in 2001 a series of dollar coins were issued which featured various Pokémon: Pikachu, Meowth, Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charmander, to be exact. These coins have predictably become collector's items, and in 2011 Niue released a series of Star Wars coins.
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