page_title: Pikachu
section_title: Promotion and legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Pikachu / Promotion and legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: TOYOTA ist Pikachu Car, at the Expo 2005 Sasashima Satellite Area 「De･La･Fantasia」, Nagoya, Japan 日本語: トヨタ・istのピカチュウコンセプトカー。
context_page_description: Pikachu are a species of Pokémon, fictional creatures that appear in an assortment of video games, animated television shows and movies, trading card games, and comic books licensed by The Pokémon Company, a Japanese corporation. They are yellow rodent-like creatures with powerful electrical abilities. In most vocalized appearances, including the anime and certain video games, they are primarily voiced by Ikue Ōtani. A Pikachu also appears as part of the main cast in the live-action animated film Pokémon Detective Pikachu, played in CGI and voiced by Ryan Reynolds.
  The Pikachu design was conceived by Atsuko Nishida and finalized by Ken Sugimori. Pikachu first appeared in Pokémon Red and Green in Japan, and later in the first internationally released Pokémon video games, Pokémon Red and Blue, for the original Game Boy.
  Pikachu are one of the most well-known varieties of Pokémon, largely because Pikachu is a central character in the Pokémon anime series. Pikachu is a major character of the Pokémon franchise as well as its mascot, and has become an icon of Japanese pop culture in recent years. It is one of the major mascots for Nintendo.
context_section_description: As the mascot of the franchise, Pikachu has made multiple appearances in various promotional events and merchandise. In 1998, then Topeka, Kansas Mayor Joan Wagnon renamed the town "Topikachu" for a day, and a "got milk?" advertisement featured Pikachu on April 25, 2000. A Pikachu balloon has been featured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade since 2001. The original balloon was flown for the last time publicly at the Pokémon: Tenth Anniversary "Party of the Decade" on August 8, 2006 in Bryant Park in New York City, and a new Pikachu balloon that chases a Poké Ball and has light-up cheeks debuted at the 2006 parade. In the 2014 parade, a new Pikachu balloon was wearing a green scarf and holding a smaller Pikachu snowman.
  During the first episode of the 11th season of Top Gear, presenter Richard Hammond compared an image of the Tata Nano to one of Pikachu, stating, "they've saved money on the styling 'cause they've just based it on this." In the episode "Dual" of the third season of Heroes, Hiro Nakamura is nicknamed "Pikachu" by Daphne Millbrook, much to his chagrin. He is called this again by Tracy Strauss, after which he excuses himself before punching her in the face. A Pikachu spoof called Ling-Ling was a main character in the Comedy Central show Drawn Together. An image of Pikachu has also been featured on the ANA Boeing 747-400 (JA8962).
  Pikachu has appeared several of times on The Simpsons. In the 2002 episode "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade", Bart Simpson has a hallucination while taking a test in class and envisages his classmates as various television characters, one of which is Pikachu. Maggie Simpson appeared as a Pikachu in a couch gag during the opening sequence of the 2003 episode "'Tis the Fifteenth Season". The couch gag was used a second time for the 2004 episode "Fraudcast News". In the 2010 episode "Postcards from the Wedge", Bart is distracted from his homework by an episode of Pokémon. After watching Ash Ketchum talk to his Pikachu, he muses how the show has managed to stay fresh over the years.
  Pikachu was ranked as the "second best person of the year" by Time in 1999, who called it "the most beloved animated character since Hello Kitty". The magazine noted Pikachu as the "public face of a phenomenon that has spread from Nintendo's fastest selling video game to a trading-card empire", citing the franchise's profits for the year as "the reason for the ranking", behind singer Ricky Martin but ahead of author J.K. Rowling.
  The character was ranked eighth in a 2000 Animax poll of favorite anime characters. In 2002, Ash's Pikachu received 15th place in TV Guide's 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time. GameSpot featured it in their article "All Time Greatest Game Hero". In 2003, Forbes ranked Pikachu as the "eighth top-earning fictional character of the year" with an income of $825 million. In 2004, the character dropped two spots to tenth on the list, taking in $825 million for a second straight year. In a 2008 Oricon poll, Pikachu was voted as the fourth most popular video game character in Japan, tying with Solid Snake. The character has been regarded as the Japanese answer to Mickey Mouse and as being part of a movement of "cute capitalism". Pikachu was listed 8th in IGN's "Top 25 Anime Characters of All Time". Nintendo Power listed Pikachu as their ninth favourite hero, stating that while it was one of the first Pokémon, it is still popular to this day. Authors Tracey West and Katherine Noll called Pikachu the best Electric-type Pokémon and the best Pokémon overall. They added that if a person were to go around and ask Pokémon players who their favourite Pokémon was, they would "almost always" choose Pikachu. They also called Pikachu "brave and loyal". On a less positive note, Pikachu was ranked first in AskMen's top 10 of the most irritating 1990s cartoon characters. Similarly, in a poll conducted by IGN, it was voted as the 48th best Pokémon, with the staff commenting "despite being the most recognized Pokémon in the world... Pikachu ranks surprisingly low on our top 100". In 2011, reader
caption: A Toyota Ist customized to resemble Pikachu.
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