If you don't like Pokemon, you were never a child
Rate heart for nostalgia
THIS IS A SFW THREAD, NO RULE34 POKEPORN HERE
Yes, Pokemon! The franchise that is, was, and continues to be absolutely amazing!
When you were a child, you didn't know what anime was, you just remember a cartoon with animals that fought and was based on friendship.
The main difference between Pokemon and other TV shows of your era is when you look back at all the OTHER fads, you think "What was I thinking!?". If you look back on Pokemon, and you think "shit man, I wish i was 8 again."
Now, how BIG is Pokemon? well it's in spellcheck, when even the word "Spellcheck" isn't in spellcheck. 'Nuff said.
Some history!
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(all sources from "Bulbapedia":
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page)
Early days
With the help of Ken Sugimori and other friends, Tajiri formed Game Freak and much later the design studio known as Creatures. When Tajiri discovered the Game Boy and the Game Boy Link Cable, it gave him the image of insects traveling along the wire, which led to concept for a new game called Capsule Monsters. After several failed attempts at pitching this idea to Nintendo, Tajiri's new friend Shigeru Miyamoto pitched it to the company, and Nintendo began to fund the project, spending six years developing the games that would become a worldwide sensation. The original artwork for the games was drawn by Tajiri's friend, the artist Ken Sugimori. Sprites of Pikachu, Mew, Meowth, Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle appeared in Game Freak's Game Boy Camera in 1998[1]. Sometime during development, Nintendo decided to change the name "Capsule Monsters" to "Pocket Monsters."
Generation I:
Taking over Japan:
The first Pokémon games, Pokémon Red and Green Versions, came to the Nintendo Game Boy system in Japan on February 27th, 1996, which was the fulfillment of Satoshi Tajiri's dream and allowed people of all ages to catch, train and trade 151 creatures and become a Pokémon Master. Due to high sales, Pokémon Red and Green were swiftly followed up with Pokémon Blue, which had improved graphics and sounds.
After the games, a Pokémon Trading Card Game was developed by Media Factory with its own set of rules. The first set of cards was released on October 20th, 1996, containing 102 cards, and became very popular.
The franchise also won many manga interpretations, the first being Pokémon Pocket Monsters by Kosaku Anakubo, which was first collected and published in November 1996 by Shōgakukan. This was chiefly a gag manga, using crude humor and slapstick, starring a trainer named Isamu Akai and his rude Clefairy.
The popularity of the franchise also led to an anime series based on the games, premiering in Japan on April 1st, 1997. The main character was a young Pokémon Trainer named Satoshi (after Satoshi Tajiri, later dubbed in English to Ash Ketchum), based on Red. Another character introduced in the first episode was Satoshi's rival, Shigeru (after Shigeru Miyamoto, later dubbed in English to Gary Oak), based on Blue.
The anime quickly became very popular, and soon a manga series based on it named Electric Tale of Pikachu was written by Toshihiro Ono. The first volume of the series was first published on October 28th, 1997. The more famous manga in the western world, however, is Pokémon Adventures, the first volume of which was first published in Japan on August 8th, 1997. This is the longest running manga in Pokémon history, as it is still ongoing today, over twelve years later. Several other manga series were published in that era, including Pokémon Zensho and Miho Asada's Pokémon Get da ze!.
In addition to these manga series, Shogakukan also published the first volume of Pokémon Wonderland, a magazine with the latest information on the franchise, on August 23rd, 1997. They also released a new manga series named Pokémon PiPiPi ★ Adventures (later translated to Magical Pokémon Journey), authored by Yumi Tsukirino, on March 28th, 1998. The main difference in this series was that is was aimed mainly towards girls.
On April 25th, 1998, the first Pokémon Center store was opened in Tokyo, specializing in Pokémon merchandise. Along the way, The Pokémon Company began its operations. Many such stores were opened in later years, and today there are six different stores across Japan, as well as one in New York.
Conquering the World
North America received Red and Blue Versions, as well as the anime, in September 1998 (the anime on the 7th and the games on the 30th), and soon everywhere else began to play the games on the Game Boy under the slogan Gotta Catch 'em All!. The Trading Card Game was also introduced to North America on January 9th, 1999 by Wizards of the Coast. Electric Tale of Pikachu became the first Pokémon manga to be translated to English when VIZ Media started publishing it on September 28th, 1999.
Meanwhile in Japan in 1998, a new spin-off game, Pokémon Stadium, was released for Nintendo 64. This game featured only 42 Pokémon of the full 151. This game proved to be commercially and critically unsuccessful.
The anime, on the other hand, pushed the franchise to new heights. On July 18th, 1998, Pokémon the First Movie debuted in Japanese theaters, featuring the rare Mew and Mewtwo. In the United States, where it was released on November 10th, 1999, the movie even briefly held the record for highest-grossing opening for an animated film.
Plans soon started for a game based on the popular anime and Yellow Version was released September 12th, 1998 in Japan, October 25th, 1999 in North America and Europe. Pokémon Yellow allowed Trainers to take on the role of Ash and travel through Kanto with anime-style graphics for each Pokémon and a Pikachu by their side, following the anime's course of events.
Expanding to spin-offs
On December 18th, 1998 a Game Boy game based on the TCG was released, later arriving in North America on April 10th, 2000. It was followed, only in Japan, a year later by a sequel titled Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR!.
The anime, as well as Pokémon Yellow, marked Pikachu as the most popular and recognized creatures in Pokémon history, turning it into the franchise's mascot. This led to a small spin-off game called Hey You, Pikachu!, which was released in Japan on December 12th, 1998, and in North America on November 6th, 2000. This was a virtual-pet game, utilizing the Nintendo 64's Voice Recognition Unit to let the players interact verbally with Pikachu.
When the anime finished following the games story with Ash's defeat in the Pokémon League in January 1999, it started a filler season in a new region called the Orange Archipelago, introducing the new main character of Tracey Sketchit. During this season's time, a second movie, Pokémon the Movie 2000, was produced. It was first in Japanese theaters on July 17th, 1999, and in North American theaters on July 21st, 2000.
A non-traditional spin-off game for Nintendo 64, Pokémon Snap, was released in Japan on March 21st, 1999, inviting the player (in the role of Todd Snap) to a Pokémon photographing mission in a place called Pokémon Island. This game made its way to North America on July 27th, 1999.
On April 14th, 1999, a spin-off pinball game for the Game Boy Color was released, called Pokémon Pinball. This game took all the mechanics of regular pinball, with some Pokémon aspects added in. Its North American release was on June 28th, 1999.
A sequel to Pokémon Stadium was also eventually released in Japan on April 30th, 1999, and became a success. This game reached North America on February 29th, 2000, and became known there as the original Pokémon Stadium. The twist in the Stadium series from the main series was that it featured the Pokémon in 3D.
In September 2000, the anime-based puzzle game Pokémon Puzzle League was released for Nintendo 64. This game was the only Pokémon game to be made specifically for western audiences and not be released in Japan.
However, this was not the only American-made original Pokémon material. From 2000 to 2002, an anime-based musical called Pokémon Live! was shown on stages around the world. The most memorable plot point in the musical was the revelation that Ash's mother, Delia, used to be a friend of Giovanni when they were younger. The musical isn't considered canon, but it sparked endless theories among fans regarding the identity of Ash's father.
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I need not say more, as the first generation explains the most important parts of Pokemon history.
Some videos:
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WARNING: NOSTALGIA AND SOME TEARS AHEAD
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlw1FpOCEfo[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=639wngL59pE&feature=related[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_5XLMp5U78&feature=related[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-e0PTfIHEM[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-kFSCS-egk&feature=related[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbhbLrSQKyY[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVGBwyOzU4w[/media]
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Characters:
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Ash Ketchum:
Ash's main goal in life, as described in the first episode, is to be the world's greatest Pokémon Master. Ash began his journey at the age of 10 as a warm-hearted and well-intentioned but stubborn and unskilled Pokémon Trainer. He was forced to accept the irreverent Pikachu from Professor Oak as his starter Pokémon because he carelessly broke his alarm clock and woke up late on the day he was set to get his first Pokémon. .
IM A HUGE FAGGOT