Pokémon (video game series)

Pokémon is a Japanese video game franchise created by Satoshi Tajiri for Nintendo in the 1990s. It is known as Pocket Monsters in Japan. The Pokémon franchise is now made up of animated television programs (anime), Japanese comic books (manga), trading cards, and toys but, most importantly, the video games. There are currently 1025 monsters, with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Pikachu is the most well-known Pokémon. When the idea was invented, there were only 150 Pokémon, which was upgraded to 151 (including Mew) when the Blue version in Japan was released. In the United States and Europe, the number of Pokémon was 151 from the beginning. There are now over 1000 altogether.

The Pokémon games involve making decisions about what to do and when to do it, also know as turn-based battling. They allow the player to catch the monsters, train them to make them better and attack other monsters so that they get better abilities and possibly evolve into different Pokémon. It is also possible to trade Pokémon with a friend. The Pokémon in the battles never bleed or die; they only faint. All Pokémon love human beings, except for Shadow Pokémon - the doors to their hearts have been artificially closed. The game's slogan in the U.S. was "Gotta catch 'em all!", although now it is not used officially any more. The Japanese slogan is "Let's get Pokémon". Over one hundred million (100,000,000) of the games have been sold so far, not counting the ones released for the Nintendo 64 and the Nintendo GameCube. This makes it the second best-selling video game series of all time (after Nintendo's Mario series).

 Pokémon video games (by year) 
There is a sequence of games that is considered to be the "main series" in this line of games. These games are RPG style games, and are always feature new Pokémon, in a new region, with a new Protagonist, or are a remake in some way of a previous man series game. They are marked below with an *

First generation
Pocket Monsters: Red and Green(Game Boy)
 *Pocket Monsters: Blue (Game Boy)
 *Pokémon Red and Blue (Game Boy)
   (Nintendo 64)
 *Pokémon Yellow (Game Boy)
 Pokémon Trading Card Game  (Game Boy Color)
 Pokémon Gold and Silver  (Game Boy Color)
 Pokémon Stadium 2  – known as Pokémon Stadium in US and Europe (Nintendo 64)

Second generation
 *Pokémon Crystal (Game Boy Color)
 Pokémon Snap (Nintendo 64)
 Pokémon Puzzle Challenge (Game Boy Color)
 Pokémon Puzzle League  (Nintendo 64)
 Hey You, Pikachu!  (Nintendo 64)
 Pokémon Stadium Kin Gin – known as Pokémon Stadium 2 in US and Europe  (Nintendo 64)

Third generation
 Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire  (Game Boy Advance)
 Pokémon Colosseum  (Nintendo GameCube)
 *Pokémon Box: Ruby and Sapphire (Nintendo GameCube)
 Pokémon Channel (Nintendo GameCube)
 *Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (Game Boy Advance)
 *Pokémon Emerald (Game Boy Advance)
 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (Game Boy Advance)
 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team  (Nintendo DS)
 Pokémon Dash (Nintendo DS)
 Pokémon Trozei! (Nintendo DS)
 Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness  (Nintendo GameCube)
 Pokémon Ranger (Nintendo DS)

Fourth generation
 Pokémon Diamond and Pearl  (Nintendo DS)
 Pokémon Battle Revolution  (Wii)
 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (Nintendo DS)
 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (Nintendo DS)
 Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (Nintendo DS)
 My Pokémon Ranch  (Wii)
 *Pokémon Platinum (Nintendo DS)
 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (Nintendo DS)
 Poképark Wii (Wii)
 Pokémon Rumble (Wii)
 Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver (Nintendo DS)

Fifth generation
 Pokémon Black and White  (Nintendo DS)
 Pokémon Conquest  (Nintendo DS)
Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (Nintendo DS)

Sixth generation
Pokémon X and Y  (Nintendo 3DS)
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (Nintendo 3DS)

Seventh generation
Pokémon Sun and Moon  (Nintendo 3DS)
Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (Nintendo 3DS)
Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! (Nintendo Switch)

Eighth generation
Pokémon Sword and Shield  (Nintendo Switch)
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (Nintendo DS)
Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Nintendo Switch)

Ninth generation
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (Nintendo Switch)
Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Nintendo Switch)

History
The first games, released in 1998, were Pokémon Red and Blue, which became big hits and are still among the best-selling video games of all time. They followed the adventures of the player, a Pokémon trainer who catches, raises, and battles with Pokémon, collects badges from the 8 Gym Leaders, explores all over Kanto (the region), and trades Pokémon with other people who have the game by using the Game Boy's Game Link Cable. Later, a sequel to Red and Blue was released: Pokémon Yellow. In this game, the player's character design is similar to Ash Ketchum (from the anime.) Also, instead of the Pokémon given to the player at the start of Red and Blue (the player can choose Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle) in Yellow the only possible choice is Pikachu, which represents the Pokémon Ash started with in the anime.

When Nintendo realized how popular Red, Blue, and Yellow had become, they decided to support the production and release of more games. After Yellow came Pokémon Gold and Silver, released in 2000, which had a total of 251 catchable Pokémon, as opposed to only 151 previously. A sequel to the two games was released, Pokémon Crystal, which had several new features that were not on Gold and Silver: Pokémon had animated sprites when they came into battle, there was a subplot within the games relating to the different letter shapes of the Pokémon Unown, and there was a new building called the Battle Tower, where players could battle very strong Pokémon to win items and set records. Once the player has beaten the Elite Four, they can go to Kanto, the region in Red, Blue, and Yellow.

In 2003, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released. They were the first Pokémon games on the Game Boy Advance, and this upset many players because they could not trade Pokémon with Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, or Crystal. However, there were 135 new Pokémon, bringing the total to 386. There were many new features, like a PokéNav (a new item used for many ingame tasks), many more kinds of Poké Balls, a far bigger region (Hoenn) than in previous games (Kanto and Johto), and a Battle Tower different from the one in Crystal. Players could also create Secret Bases, small hideouts hidden in trees and rock walls.

Later in 2004, Pokémon Fire Red & Leaf Green were released. They did not take place in a new region, and they did not have any new Pokémon. They were simply remakes of Pokémon Red & Blue, adding a new place with missions and adventures called the Sevii Islands, and a few new features. However, they made it possible for players of Ruby and Sapphire to get earlier Pokémon in their games. If a person had Ruby, Sapphire, Colosseum, FireRed, and LeafGreen (which many fans of the games did), they could have all 386 Pokémon, which made many players happy.

In 2005, Pokémon Emerald was released. It is a sequel to Ruby and Sapphire. It was the first "main" Pokémon game since Crystal where Pokémon had battle animations instead of static images. There was also a new place called the Battle Frontier where players could go after they beat the Elite Four. It was similar to the Battle Tower in Crystal, Ruby, and Sapphire, except it was eight different facilities, all with different rules. Players earned Battle Points which could be used to buy items for Secret Bases, items for Pokémon, and other things.

In 2007, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl were released. They take place in a new region called Sinnoh. They had 107 new Pokémon, which brought the total to 493. Another noticeable difference from the previous games was that Diamond and Pearl did not capitalize all the letters in names of Pokémon, people, towns, items, and other things that were important to the games. For example, Lugia would appear as "LUGIA" in previous games, but in Diamond and Pearl it would just say "Lugia." This cleared up a lot of players' confusion, because many thought that a sentence like "LUGIA is found in the WHIRL ISLANDS" looked unusual. A sequel to Diamond and Pearl, Pokémon Platinum was released in the United States in March 2009. In May 2009 it was released in the UK.

In 2010, Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver were released. They did not take place in a new region, or have any new Pokémon. They were simply remakes of Pokémon Gold and Silver. Like Pokémon Yellow, the player's Pokémon can follow them. The games come with a pedometer like device, called the Poké Walker, that can let players walk with their Pokémon, and gain Watts, which can be used to fight Pokémon, or dowse for items.

Later in 2010, Pokémon Black and White were released. They take place in a new region called Unova. They had 156 new Pokémon, bringing the total to 649. They introduced seasons, where areas appear differently depending on the season, and some areas can only be reached during certain seasons.

In 2012, Pokémon Black 2 & White 2 were released. They are sequels to Pokémon Black and White. They had a number of new areas and characters, as well as characters from Black and White.

In 2013, Pokémon X & Y were released. They are the first ever 3D games in the main Pokémon series. They take place in a new region called Kalos. There are many new features, including the Mega Evolution, where some Pokémon like Mewtwo, Blaziken, and Lucario are be able to evolve into stronger forms during a battle if they are holding a Mega Stone. There is also a new type called Fairy, which is strong against Dragon-type Pokémon.

In 2014, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were released, which were remakes of Ruby and Sapphire. it added more mega evolutions, including the other hoenn starters, beedrill, Sableye, etc. tons of features were also added.

In 2016, Pokémon Sun and Moon were released, which introduced people to a new region, Alola. there were a total of 803 (including mythical's). however, only 403 are in the Alolan pokedex, with the others being able to be transferred from past games. rotom is now your pokedex, called the rotomdex, and z moves were introduced. Z moves does a lot of damage, but can only be done once per battle. Gyms, and gym leaders were taken out, and were replaced with totem pokemons, and island kahunas. a lot of features were added including SOS battles, where a wild Pokémon send out help to exactly the same Pokémon (or evolutions) to help when weakened.

In 2017, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were released, which was like Sun & Moon, but more features were added. it increased the Pokémon number to 807, and added ultra wormholes, where different Pokémon are seen and caught, which made shiny hunting very easy and accessible.

In 2018, Pokémon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! were released.

In 2019, Pokémon Sword and Shield were released.

In 2021, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were released. 

In 2022, Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were released.

The next game in the series, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is scheduled for a late 2025 release.

Criticism

The newer Pokémon games have been criticized for being very similar and not making enough changes to the gameplay, along with various technical glitches and bugs becoming noticeable starting with Pokémon Sword and Shield. Because of this, some players have stopped playing Pokémon and moved to indie games that are also monster tamer games, as they are perceived as “better” and more innovative than Pokémon. Examples of said indie monster tamers include Temtem, Cassette Beasts, Coromon, and Palworld.

 Other websites 
 The Official Site (United States)
 The Official Site (Japan)

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