Pokémon
Pokémon is a
media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo
and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair
of interlinkable Game
Boy role-playing video games, Pokémon has since become the second
most successful and lucrative video game-based media franchise in the
world, behind only Nintendo's
own Mario series. Pokémon properties have since been merchandised into
anime, manga, trading cards, toys, books, and other media. The
franchise celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2006, and as of 23 April
2008, cumulative sales of the video games (including home console
versions, such as the "Pikachu" Nintendo
64) have reached more than 186 million copies.
One of the consistent aspects of the Pokémon games spanning from
Pokémon Red and Blue on the Nintendo Game
Boy to the Nintendo DS game Pokémon Platinum is the choice of one
of three different Pokémon at the start of the player's adventures;
these three are often labeled "starter Pokémon". Players can choose a
Grass-type, a Fire-type, or a Water-type. For example, in Pokémon Red
and Blue (and their respective reworks, Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon
LeafGreen), the player has the choice of starting with Bulbasaur,
Charmander, or Squirtle. The exception to this rule is Pokémon Yellow
(a remake of the original games that follows the story of the Pokémon
anime), where players are given a Pikachu, an Electric-type mouse
Pokémon, famous for being the mascot of the Pokémon media franchise; in
this game, however, the three starter Pokémon from Red and Blue can be
obtained during the quest by a single player, something that is not
possible in any other installment of the franchise.
The Pokémon anime series and films are a meta-series of adventures
separate from the canon that most of the Pokémon video games follow
(with the exception of Pokémon Yellow, a game based loosely on the
anime storyline). The anime follows the quest of the main character, Ash Ketchum
(known as Satoshi in Japan) a Pokémon Master in training, as he and a
small group of friends travel around the fictitious world of Pokémon
along with their Pokémon partners. The original series, titled Pocket
Monsters, or simply Pokémon in western countries (often referred to as
Pokémon: Gotta Catch 'Em All to distinguish it from the later series),
begins with Ash's first day as a Pokémon trainer. His first (and
signature) Pokémon is a Pikachu, differing from the games, where only
Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle could be chosen. The series follows
the storyline of the original games, Pokémon Red and Blue, in the
region of Kanto. Accompanying Ash on his journeys are Brock, the Pewter
City Gym Leader, and Misty, the youngest of the Gym Leader sisters
from Cerulean City.
