Sure, Pokémon is supposed to be for kids, but you shouldn’t ignore it. This is why.
You can’t turn around these days without seeing another Pikachu or another sweet character from Nintendo’s famous Pokémon game series. From toys, cartoons and video games, today’s youth were swept away by “Poké-Mania” and for ten years the tide has not stopped. How can such a silly concept be so enduring?
You may not know that Pokémon was created as a video game concept in Japan in 1996. A popular pastime for Japanese children is collecting insects. A Japanese businessman named Satoshi Tajiri-Oniwa thought that a game that revolved around collecting different types of animals would be a big seller, so he came up with the idea that it would soon become the multi-million dollar international marketing machine that everyone wanted. we know and love (do we tolerate? ) This Day.
The original games were deceptively simple, with a certain quirky, endearing charm. You start out as a child who is given a Pokémon (short for “Pocket Monster” in the US release, Nintendo feared litigation from the company that owns the similar title “Monster in my Pocket”) to protect it as you explore the world on a quest. to capture all kinds of monsters. The Pokemon you catch can help you find and catch other monsters. Plus, you can even trade monsters with your friends to grow your collection. This is even necessary, as there are two versions of each Pokémon game and some monsters can only be caught in one version or the other.
As you breed your Pokémon and watch them grow stronger, you can battle them against other players. These “battles” are basically a complex game of “rock, paper, scissors”, in which each monster has a characteristic that gives it an advantage over another type. For example, Grass-types can easily wear down Water-types, but are weak to Fire- and Bird-types!
While all the merch soon followed, the actual games are very smart and well made, making them great fun for anyone who enjoys strategy or just exploring a world and collecting cute, scary, or weird creatures. You can enjoy the games without having to watch a cartoon or buy a stuffed Pikachu – trying to “catch them all” has been a guilty pleasure for quite a few people outside of these games’ target demographic.
