Pokémon (video game series)

Pokemon is a Japanese video game franchise created by Satoshi Tajiri for Nintendo in the 1990s. It is known as Pocket Monsters in Japan. The Pokemon 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 898 monsters, with Pokemon Sword and Shield. Pikachu is the most well-known Pokemon. When the idea was invented, there were only 150 Pokemon, which was upgraded to 151 (including Mew) when the Blue version in Japan was released. In the United States and Europe, the number of Pokemon was 151 from the beginning. There are now over 800 altogether.
The Pokemon games involve making decisions about what to do and when to do it. 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 Pokemon. It is also possible to trade Pokemon with a friend. The Pokemon in the battles never bleed or die; they only faint. All Pokemon love human beings, except for Shadow Pokemon - 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 Pokemon". 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).
Pokemon 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 Pokemon, 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)
*Pokemon Red and Blue (Game Boy)
(Nintendo 64)
*Pokemon Yellow (Game Boy)
Pokemon Trading Card Game (Game Boy Color)
Pokemon Gold and Silver (Game Boy Color)
Pokemon Stadium 2 - known as Pokemon Stadium in US and Europe (Nintendo 64)
Second generation
*Pokemon Crystal (Game Boy Color)
Pokemon Snap (Nintendo 64)
Pokemon Puzzle Challenge (Game Boy Color)
Pokemon Puzzle League (Nintendo 64)
Hey You, Pikachu! (Nintendo 64)
Pokemon Stadium Kin Gin - known as Pokemon Stadium 2 in US and Europe (Nintendo 64)
Third generation
Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire (Game Boy Advance)
Pokemon Colosseum (Nintendo GameCube)
*Pokemon Box: Ruby and Sapphire (Nintendo GameCube)
Pokemon Channel (Nintendo GameCube)
*Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen (Game Boy Advance)
*Pokemon Emerald (Game Boy Advance)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (Game Boy Advance)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (Nintendo DS)
Pokemon Dash (Nintendo DS)
Pokemon Trozei! (Nintendo DS)
Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness (Nintendo GameCube)
Pokemon Ranger (Nintendo DS)
Fourth generation
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl (Nintendo DS)
Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (Nintendo DS)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (Nintendo DS)
Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia'' (Nintendo DS)
My Pokemon Ranch (Wii)
*Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo DS)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (Nintendo DS)
Pokepark Wii(Wii)
Pokemon Rumble(Wii)
Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver (Nintendo DS)
Fifth generation
Pokemon Black and White (Nintendo DS)
Pokemon Conquest (Nintendo DS)
*Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 (Nintendo DS)
Sixth generation
*Pokemon X and Y (Nintendo 3DS)
*Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (Nintendo 3DS)
Seventh generation
*Pokemon Sun and Moon (Nintendo 3DS)
*Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (Nintendo 3DS)
*Pokemon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! (Nintendo Switch)
Eight generation
*Pokemon Sword and Shield! (Nintendo Switch)
History
The first games, released in 1998, were Pokemon 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 Pokemon trainer who catches, raises, and battles with Pokemon, collects badges from the 8 Gym Leaders, explores all over Kanto (the region), and trades Pokemon 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: Pokemon Yellow. In this game, the player's character design is similar to Ash Ketchum (from the anime.) Also, instead of the Pokemon 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 Pokemon 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 Pokemon Gold and Silver, released in 2000, which had a total of 251 catchable Pokemon, as opposed to only 151 previously. A sequel to the two games was released, Pokemon Crystal, which had several new features that were not on Gold and Silver: Pokemon had animated sprites when they came into battle, there was a subplot within the games relating to the different letter shapes of the Pokemon Unown, and there was a new building called the Battle Tower, where players could battle very strong Pokemon 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, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire were released. They were the first Pokemon games on the Game Boy Advance, and this upset many players because they could not trade Pokemon with Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, or Crystal. However, there were 135 new Pokemon, bringing the total to 386. There were many new features, like a PokeNav (a new item used for many ingame tasks), many more kinds of Poke 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, Pokemon Fire Red & Leaf Green were released. They did not take place in a new region, and they did not have any new Pokemon. They were simply remakes of Pokemon Red & Blue, adding a new "extra region" called the Sevii Islands, and a few new features. However, they made it possible for players of Ruby and Sapphire to get earlier Pokemon 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 Pokemon, which made many players happy.
In 2005, Pokemon Emerald was released. It is a sequel to Ruby and Sapphire. It was the first "main" Pokemon game since Crystal where Pokemon 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 Pokemon, and other things.
In 2007, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were released. They take place in a new region called Sinnoh. They had 107 new Pokemon, 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 Pokemon, 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, Pokemon Platinum was released in the United States in March 2009. In May 2009 it was released in the UK.
In 2010, Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver were released. They did not take place in a new region, or have any new Pokemon. They were simply remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver. Like Pokemon Yellow, the player's Pokemon can follow them. The games come with a pedometer like device, called the Poke Walker, that can let players walk with their Pokemon, and gain Watts, which can be used to fight Pokemon, or dowse for items.
Later in 2010, Pokemon Black and White were released. They take place in a new region called Unova. They had 156 new Pokemon, 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, Pokemon Black 2 & White 2 were released. They are sequels to Pokemon Black and White. They had a number of new areas and characters, as well as characters from Black and White.
In 2013, Pokemon X & Y were released. They are the first ever 3D games in the main Pokemon series. They take place in a new region called Kalos. There are many new features, including the Mega Evolution, where some Pokemon 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 Pokemon.
in 2014, Pokemon Omega Ruby & 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, Pokemon Sun & 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 Pokemon send out help to exactly the same Pokemon (or evolutions) to help when weakened.
In 2017, Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon were released, which was like sun & moon, but more features were added. it increased the Pokemon number to 807, and added ultra wormholes, where different Pokemon are seen and caught, which made shiny hunting very easy and accessible.
Other websites
The Official Site (United States) (Note: Requires Adobe Flash.)
The Official Site (Japan)