Thursday, September 23, 2010

The Pokemon Empire

The Pokemon franchise was one of the biggest features of our 90s childhood, and really, looking back on that time, it’s amazing how much money a franchise based on insect collecting made when it made it big in the USA in the late 90s. Unlike the Pogs craze, Pokemon still remains extremely popular, and the franchise is still growing and evolving.

Pokemon are, as I’m sure most of you know, those little monster like creatures that fight each other for no apparent reason other than for the sport of it, and live in little balls that people (“trainers”) can carry on their belts.

Once upon a time, there were 151 unique Pokemon. Now, there are 493.


What is so unique, in my opinion, is just how many ways these ‘Pocket Monsters’ (as they were known in Japan) were packaged. There were: trading cards, Gameboy games, Playstation/Nintendo games, stuffed animals, a TV show, books, comics, movies, McDonald’s toys, snacks, clothes, school supplies, action figures, board games, and PLANES. Yes, as in AIRPLANES. And those are just the things I can think of off the top of my head! Nintendo opened up an entire Pokemon store, because they could. Because people would BUY this stuff! In just ten years, Pokemon made Nintendo over 25 billion dollars worldwide (“Pocketing Profits.” ).

And I was totally part of their target audience, who played the video games, collected the cards, and watched the TV show. For a period of time, my brother and I received our allowance in the form of a pack of Pokemon cards. (Looking back, man were we nerds.)

Each pack of Pokemon game cards came with ten cards, including one rare card, and remember how cheated you would feel if that rare card was a stupid Energy card or trainer help card rather than that holographic Charizard you were holding out for? Whenever that happened, my whole Saturday would take a nosedive. What a waste! And I would lament having to wait all the way until next week to get a non-sucky pack, rather than an Energy card and my three-thousandth Weedle card. Pokemon has the ‘mystery’ factor when you purchased a pack, unlike Pogs, for example.

Also unlike Pogs, I did know how to play the trading card game, and it was a bit more complex. It involved attaching energy cards to your Pokemon in order to ‘attack’ and ‘damage’ your opponent’s card. Status changes (poisoning, putting your opponent to sleep, etc.) and trainer cards helped you to emerge victorious. The rules were fairly numerous, but relatively easy to grasp. Looking back, the trading card game really was a good game.

The video games were fun, too, and this is also where Nintendo’s brilliance really floors me. Because there are currently four ‘different’ generations of video games, which is basically the same quest with minor differences in the storyline and new Pokemon. In each generation, there are three different games (For example, Generation 1 in the US was Red, Blue, and Yellow), which are EXACTLY the same but with different Pokemon found in each version. That way, Nintendo tries to get you to purchase all three.

And now, the most nefarious part of Nintendo’s scheme, in my opinion: When they’re between generations, in order to make more money, they just RERELEASE old versions with better graphics! FireRed and LeafGreen were remakes of Generation 1, and soon HeartGold and SoulSilver, remakes of Generation 2’s Gold and Silver version, will hit the shelves. Nintendo is, basically, making double the money on the SAME GAME. (And yes, I know that these versions also have slight differences to reflect the updated canon of the Pokemon universe, but still! Same game! SAME GAME!) And people would buy them! People who had Red version would shell out the money for FireRed, just because it looked better!

The verdict? Pokemon was actually a great card/video game series until Nintendo went absolutely crazy and expanded the franchise to extremes. I guess I can’t blame them—if people are willing to buy Pokemon pillowcases, why shouldn’t they make them? However, the sad thing is that the video games seem to be the center of the franchise now, when it definitely used to be the card game, which I thought was really a fun game. I guess the relative simplicity of the card game can’t hold the attention of kids today, who are always looking towards the cutting edge.

Next time, I’m going to tackle that freaky little android that haunts so many of our dreams—FURBY.

14 comments:

  1. Sometimes, late at night, particularly if I'm alone or if it's stormy outside, I swear I can still hear the distant but distinct voice of my Furby...

    Great job on the Pokemon stuff! Even though I was never really into it, it still shaped me. There were many a spring afternoon I was forced to spend watching Animaniacs on my lonesome because all the other kids on my block were trading cards and playing on their Gameboys. *sigh*

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  2. "WHOA! ME SLEEP LONG TIME!"

    Noooooo!! Sleep forever, demon toy!!

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  3. Awesome Post!! I absolutely enjoyed it. And thank you for your response on the Furby. And yes its haunts you! Secret government cameras in that sensor above the eyes watching your every move... it was weird to say the least. I cant imagine how as children we didnt have nightmares then, yet now we freak out when we see a furby.

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  4. Oh man, Pokemon brings up a lot of old memories for me. I remember this one time Bobby Vanderbrown asked if I wanted to battle his pokemon, and I agreed to, So I went to my locker to get my Special Pikachu Edition Gameboy Color with the link cable. I was so psyched to battle with someone, because it would have been my first real live battle with another person. When I met up with Bobby again, he was confused and replied that he meant the card game.


    P.S. I want to be the very best, that no one ever was.

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  5. My brother and I had a link that went missing, and that made me so, so angry, because how else was I supposed to trade my Yellow version Pokemon to his Blue version so I could do the rare candy cheat on Cinnabar and then trade them back??

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  6. I could actually give a fig about "canon." What I like about FireRed and SoulSilver is that they have the same good plot and monsters as Red and Silver, but they use the new battle system.

    The video games have an incredibly deep and complex battle system. Puts the card game to shame. I'm usually too busy to devote a lot of time to it these days, but that's why it's stayed fresh for me.

    Oh, and I got a holo Charizard from my first booster pack. Don't you just hate me?

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  7. I do, Patrick. The day I finally got my holo Charizard was a beautiful day indeed.

    The video games were, in fact, great. I admit I speak from a place where the last game I played was the original Silver, on my ancient GameBoy Color. I think the reason the card game was my favorite was because I have good memories of playing it with my brother, at an age where we spent most of our time bickering.

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  8. I use to be a pokemon addict got a gameboy just for it. Used to collect the cards, and I would get cheated by the older kids when we went to trade cards. They use to trick me. Use to want to buy them small packs wrapped in that silver plastic looking stuff everytime we went to the super market. Had the game on the nintendo Pokemon Snap use to love that game and there was one on the computer dont remember what it was called. I was truely addicted though.

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  9. Curtis, I looooooved Pokemon Snap. I didn't have a Nintendo 64, so I could only play it when I went to my friend's house.

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  10. I'm still a Pokemon addict to this day...maybe not as much as a few years ago, but it's still there. I even have all the games!

    The generation has gone up since September...Generation V (Black and White) feature a whopping 649 pokemon! Including the Boss Pig pokemon, the Ice Cream Cone pokemon, the Bag of Trash pokemon, and its evolution: the Pile of Trash pokemon. Gotta Catch 'em All!

    Have you done War Heads yet? I loved those

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  11. Uhh now there are STINKIN 646 POKEYMANZ AND I REALLY FEEL BAT FOR CRUSTLE AGH NEIGHBOR LIZARD
    CREEP FRAK BIG HEAD SCARY EVO AAGH EVO HAS SCARY SPECIES NAME AGH TOO PEOPLE-Y NOOO NINTENDO YOU FAILED ME!

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  12. uhh how about #560
    THE FAIL POKEMON
    THIS POKEMON IS SO FAIL EVERYONE DIES
    The end.

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  13. NINTENDO YOU FAILED MEEEEEEEEEEEE!
    NO MORE #560 ANYMORE GO FIX IT

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  14. GAAAHHH NO MOAR POKEYMANZ STOP AT #561 STOP AT IT NOU!

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