Pokémate

Pokémate (Japanese: ポケメ～ト Pokémate) is a mobile phone application in which s can catch Pokémon. The application allows players to send messages to other people on the user's friend list (up to 16 people) or chat with them. Players can select and capture Pokémon to keep in the storage feature of the application. They can also subscribe to the game in order to receive more Poké Balls and other media.
Pokémate was only distributed in Japan. It was announced on April 24, 2006, and, shortly after, it was made available as a demo at 's booth during 2006.Announcing Title Lineup for North American Market for E3 2006. The game was released on June 5Square Enix and Pokémon present a new style of communication, "Pokémate", starting distribution today! The very first cell phone communication app with Pokémon!!. It closed its service on January 31, 2008.Archived Japanese site after closure
==Versions and membership==
The game came in two versions: a "normal" version and a "pre-installed" version. FOMA P902iS phones came with the pre-installed version of the game; other phones would need to download the game to play it. Some Pokémon were exclusive to each version, so that collecting all Pokémon would require interacting with players of other versions.Catching diary 015 2006/07/30: solitaire on the phone
Both versions originally came with a free trial period. After the trial period, a membership must be purchased at a cost of 210 yen per month. The membership unlocks two features: a shop where Poké Balls can be bought and a wallpaper feature (部屋の背景を変更する change room background).Pokémate app overview 2: solitaire on the phone The normal version's trial lasted one month and gave the player three random Pokémon and five Poké Balls to start the game with (all given by Professor OakCatching diary 001 2006/06/07: solitaire on the phone). The pre-installed version's trial lasted three months and gave the player 10 Poké Balls instead of 5; one of the Pokémon initially received would also be a Pokémon exclusive to the pre-installed version.Official site (archived: June 13, 2006) The free trial was discontinued in November of 2006.056: version update: solitaire on the phone
==Compatible phones==
The phones compatible with Pokémate were originally limited to the DoCoMo 90X series of phones, but eventually this expanded to include other models, including the 70X series and a childrens' phone (SA800i).Official site (archived: January 31, 2008)
* 70X series
** F700i, F700iS, N700i, P700i, SA700iS, SH700i, SH700iS
** D701i, N701i, N701iECO, P701iD
** D702i, D702iBCL, D702iF, F702iD, N702iD, P702i, P702iD, SH702iD, SH702iS, SO702i
* 90X series
** D900i, F900i, F900iC, N900i, N900iS, P900i, SH900i
** D901i, D901iS, F901iC, F901iS, N901iC, N901iS, P901i, P901iS, P901iTV, SH901iC, SH901iS
** D902i, D902iS, F902i, F902iS, N902i, N902iS, N902iX, P902i, P902iS, SH902i, SH902iS, SO902i, SO902iWP+
** D903i, F903i, N903i, P903i, SH903i, SO903i
* Other
** SA800i
** DOLCESL, MusicPorterII, prosolidII
==Interface==
When the game is initially started, the player must input a mail address (and confirm they have received a response at that address), choose a nickname (up to 8 full width characters or 16 half width), and select a partner Pokémon. Once these steps are complete, the player will be able to see the main screen. Within the main screen, the phone's i-appli button is assigned to ログ, which shows up to 30 of the latest chat messages; and the mail button is assigned to MENU, which shows the game's menu.User manual for P902iS - JapaneseUser manual for P902iS - English
Menu item 	English 	Function
おしゃべり部屋 	Chat room 	Chat in the current room
メ～ルひろば 	Mail field 	Write email and view sent and received email
ポケモンロード 	Pokémon road 	Catch wild Pokémon with Poké Balls and view a list of captured Pokémon
友達をとうろく 	Register friends 	Register a friend's Pokémon for mail field
友達に紹介 	Introduce to friends	Introduce Pokémate to friends who don't have it
おまけ設定 	Option 	Fill out the profile, change settings, or change email address
===Chat room===
The chat room is a place where the player can invite friends to their "room" or join friends in their rooms if they have received an invitation. Each person in a room is represented by their partner Pokémon.
Chat room's main interface has five icons under the room name, with the first being "Chat" (しゃべる). Screenshots show some rooms with names different from the default "chat room" (おしゃべり部屋), so it appears it was possible for the owner to change their room's name. The partner Pokémon were also supposed to be able to reflect the player's emotions, so changing their displayed emotions may have been part of these functions as well.
===Mail field===
Mail field's main interface has five options, the first of which is "Write mail" (メールを書く). If the player had new mail, a Pokémon would pop up to let them know. The field showed the partners of registered friends, and it was apparently possible to enter (or request entry to) a friend's chat room through their partner.
===Pokémon road===
Pokémon road's main interface has four options.
Menu item 	English 	Function
ポケモンゲット 	Catch Pokémon	Look for Pokémon to catch
ポケモンボックス 	Pokémon Box 	Analagous to a Pokédex
ショッピング 	Shopping 	Buy extra Poké Balls
プレゼント 	Present 	Appears after catching a Pokémon
The Pokémon available at Pokémon road broadly came from two places: a gradually changing pool of Pokémon available to everyone and Pokémon that may be available because of the player's interactions. See below for more details.
Pokémon Box (ポケモンボックス) is a list of Pokémon functioning similarly to a Pokédex. It has 10 pages of Pokémon featuring all 386 Pokémon that can be captured. It also displays the total number of Pokémon that have been captured. This is also where the player can change their partner Pokémon. Viewing an individual Pokémon's details shows its name, species, height, weight, Pokédex description (matching the description seen in Pokémon FireRed), and information about when and how it was caught.Tokyo Game Show | Square Enix (archived) Most of the sprites appear to match Pokémon Emerald, but several have differences ranging from minor to more noticeable (with and being examples of noticeable differences).
Pokémate Pokémon box.png|First page of Pokémon box
Pokémate Pokémon box detail.png|A detail page of 
After paying for a Pokémate membership, extra Poké Balls can be bought from a shop at a rate of 10 Balls for 105 yen. Each month, only 30 Balls can be obtained this way.Catching diary 017 2006/08/04: solitaire on the phone
====Pokémon Box pages====
The pages of the Pokémon Box are laid out as follows:
Page 1 	Page 1 	Page 1 	Page 1 	Page 1 	Page 1 	Page 1
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Page 2 	Page 2 	Page 2 	Page 2 	Page 2 	Page 2 	Page 2
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Page 3 	Page 3 	Page 3 	Page 3 	Page 3 	Page 3 	Page 3
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Page 4 	Page 4 	Page 4 	Page 4 	Page 4 	Page 4 	Page 4
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Page 5 	Page 5 	Page 5 	Page 5 	Page 5 	Page 5 	Page 5
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Page 6 	Page 6 	Page 6 	Page 6 	Page 6 	Page 6 	Page 6
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Page 7 	Page 7 	Page 7 	Page 7 	Page 7 	Page 7 	Page 7
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Page 8 	Page 8 	Page 8 	Page 8 	Page 8 	Page 8 	Page 8
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Page 9 	Page 9 	Page 9 	Page 9 	Page 9 	Page 9 	Page 9
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Page 10	Page 10	Page 10	Page 10	Page 10	Page 10	Page 10
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
===Backgrounds===
After paying for a Pokémate membership, the option to change the background became available (部屋の背景を変更する). This background is seen in places like Pokémon road.
Name 	English 	Description
ポケモンひろば 	Pokémon Plaza 	A Pokémon plaza in a natural setting with forests and mountains
みなみのしま 	Southern Island	Blue seas and beaches evoke a summer experience
けんきゅうじょ 	Research Lab 	A research lab somewhere with a high-tech style
スペシャル 	Special 	Update it and see what you get!
The special background changes periodically, but it only changes in-game if the player updates it. Known backgrounds are shown below.
File:Pokémate background special 2006-08.png|Special (unknown)
File:Pokémate background special 2006-10.png|Special (オレンジいろのもり Orange Forest)
File:Pokémate background special 2006-12.png|Special (クリスマス Christmas)
File:Pokémate background special 2007-01.png|Special (ゆきげしき SnowscapeCurrent likely appearances + Jan 2007 (first half): solitaire on the phone)
File:Pokémate background special 2007-03.png|Special (ふわふわひろば Powdery FieldsCurrent likely appearances + Mar 2007 (first half): solitaire on the phone)
File:Pokémate background special 2007-05.png|Special (unknown)
==Catching Pokémon==
The Pokémon available at Pokémon road broadly came from two places: a gradually changing pool of Pokémon available to everyone and Pokémon that may be available because of the player's interactions. If the player had already caught a Pokémon, it wouldn't appear at Pokémon road.
The pool available to everyone was generally announced ahead of time and a given Pokémon's availability might change by the day; but Pokémon also had various conditions or rarities for their appearances. The announcements generally had a legend as follows (with some older announcements being slightly different):
* ！ Appears suddenly
* △ Rare
* ○ Occasional
* ◎ Common
* ☆ If many Pokémon have been caught
* N: normal version only
* P: pre-installed version only
The player's interactions with other Pokémate players could also influence the Pokémon they could find. If the player had a Pokémon that could evolve as their partner while chatting with others, this appeared to trigger a mini-"event" where the partner Pokémon spotted its evolved form on Pokémon road and the player could capture it. Some Pokémon also appeared to arrive at Pokémon road because the player's friends had it.
Legendary and Mythical Pokémon could only be received directly from their events.Pokémate app overview 3: solitaire on the phone When being caught, most of them also were described as being asleep, making it possible to approach and catch themCatching diary 005 2006/06/25: solitaire on the phoneCatching diary 010 2006/07/06: solitaire on the phone.
===Exclusivity===
The following Pokémon were distributed to specific versions of the game, but for various reasons, many of them may not be truly "exclusive" to a version (i.e., require interacting with another version). Some of the pairs are in the same family (e.g., ), so that at least one can be "evolved" to obtain the other. There are also cases like / and / where each Pokémon was distributed as an "exclusive", but they were each distributed to both versions in alternation. Furthermore, a number of these "exclusive" Pokémon could also be found in non-exclusive methods (e.g., Growlithe was released in 2007 as a non-exclusiveCurrent likely appearances + Feb 2007 (latter half): solitaire on the phone) or in unevolved forms ().
Dates 	Pre-installed	Normal
8/2-3/2006Current likely appearances + Aug 2006: solitaire on the phone 	 	
9/28-29Current likely appearances + Oct 2006 (first half): solitaire on the phone 	 	
10/3-4 	 	
10/6-9 	 	
10/16-17Current likely appearances + Oct 2006 (latter half): solitaire on the phone 	 	
10/19-20 	 	
10/22-23 	 	
10/24-27 	 	
10/27-28 	 	
10/28-29 	 	
10/29-11/1Current likely appearances + Nov 2006 (first half): solitaire on the phone 	 	
11/3-4 	 	
11/4-5 	 	
11/7-8 	 	
11/19-20Current likely appearances + Nov 2006 (latter half): solitaire on the phone 	 	
11/23-24 	 	
11/24-27 	 	
11/29-30Current likely appearances + Dec 2006 (first half): solitaire on the phone 	 	
12/2-3 	 	
2/13-16/2007Current likely appearances + Feb 2007 (first half): solitaire on the phone	 	
3/19-22Current likely appearances + Mar 2007 (latter half): solitaire on the phone 	 	
==Titles==
Pokémate could be connected with the cell phone-accessible site Pokémon Hiroba, and the site would show a "title" (称号) that reflected how many Pokémon the player has caught in Pokémate. 
Name 	English 	Caught
空き地 	Empty lot 	0
ポケモンの庭 	Pokémon garden 	6
ポケモン公園 	Pokémon park 	11
ポケモン祭り 	Pokémon festival	?
ポケモンタウン 	Pokémon town 	?
ポケモンフィールド 	Pokémon field 	51
ポケモンリゾート 	Pokémon resort 	?
ポケモンパラダイス 	Pokémon paradise	≤140
ポケモンランド 	Pokémon land 	172 or 173066：We're nearing the end of the year.: solitaire on the phone
ポケモン天国 	Pokémon heaven 	?
ポケモンワールド 	Pokémon world 	303?087：Registeel, the last Legendary Pokémon: solitaire on the phone
??? 	??? 	?
==Merchandise==
A sticker was given out featuring Pokémon that would be seen in Pokémate by October at the Pokémon Jungle Tours event in 2006.Catching diary 023 Pokémon up to October: solitaire on the phone
==Trivia==
* This is the first official Pokémon mobile application.
==References==
==Related articles==
Category:Mobile games
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