A Tiny Backstory of Pokemon 

When pokemon was first released it wasn’t even called pokemon, it was called “Pocket Monsters”. It was invented by a Japanese man named Satoshi Tajiri and his friend Ken Sugimori who was an illustrator. Back in the early 1990’s, they came up with an idea which was inspired by his childhood of exploring forests and catching bugs they then pitched a game called “Pocket Monsters” to Nintendo. Nintendo was a bit skeptical about it at first, but soon after accepted it. On February 27th, 1996 they released their first “Pocket Monsters” games (red and green versions) for the Gameboy in Japan. According to Gamerant.com, “Suddenly kids all over the country and world were obsessed with the Japanese franchise.” It’s safe to say that the Pokemon games sold like crazy to a lot of people. They then released a new blue version of the game, and that’s also when the game got shortened down to the name we all now know as Pokemon.                                               

The Pokemon Craze

Not too long after the games came out they turned the viral Pokemon games into an anime on April 1st, 1997. It was about a boy named Ash Ketchum with the ultimate goal to become a Pokemon Master (the greatest trainer ever). Not too long after the first airing of the Pokemon anime, they made cards for pokemon named literally Pokemon cards. The cards were a hit! Adults and families were buying them like crazy! They even made it into magazines. To summarize, Pokemon was a hit in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

Even More Pokemon Games and Stores Have Opened

As the years went by with Pokemon making more games and growing their franchise opening more stores and having their product in more stores there was one specific game they made in 2016 that was a huge hit to all Pokemon fans, Pokemon Go. Pokemon Go is a game developed by Niantic Labs and was released on July 6th, 2016. Pokemon Go is a game where you actually go out into the world and catch Pokemon (virtually of course), but it was a crazy hit for Pokemon fans that like to go outside and actually look for Pokemon! Pokemon Go also held events where players of the game can also go to socialize and do events with other trainers! Pokemon even had their own shops as the years went by. In the year 2020 on June 23rd, they released a Pokemon Cafe with Pokemon-themed desserts and foods!

Pokemon Keeps Growing and Growing

Pokemon is still growing to this day with even more fans coming and going onto the pokemon games with new game releases and even Ash Ketchum completing his goal of becoming a Pokemon master.

Sources: Gamerant, Paisano-Online