Pokémon

Gotta Catch Em All!

History

The franchise began as Pokémon Red and Green (later released outside of Japan as Pokémon Red and Blue), a pair of video games for the original Game Boy that were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo in February 1996. Pokémon has since gone on to become the highest-grossing media franchise of all time, with $90 billion in total franchise revenue. The original video game series is the second best-selling video game franchise (behind Nintendo’s Mario franchise) with more than 300 million copies sold and 1 billion mobile downloads, and it spawned a hit anime television series that has become the most successful video game adaptation with over 20 seasons and 1,000 episodes in 124 countries. In addition, the Pokémon franchise includes the world’s top-selling toy brand,the top-selling trading card game with over 25.7 billion cards sold, an anime film series, a live-action film, books, manga comics, music, and merchandise. The franchise is also represented in other Nintendo media, such as the Super Smash Bros. series.

In November 2005, 4Kids Entertainment, which had managed the non-game related licensing of Pokémon, announced that it had agreed not to renew the Pokémon representation agreement. The Pokémon Company International oversees all Pokémon licensing outside Asia. The franchise celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2006. In 2016, The Pokémon Company celebrated Pokémon‘s 20th anniversary by airing an ad during Super Bowl 50 in January, issuing re-releases of Pokémon Red and Blue and the 1998 Game Boy game Pokémon Yellow as downloads for the Nintendo 3DS in February, and redesigning the way the games are played. The mobile augmented realitygame Pokémon Go was released in July. The most recently released games in the main series, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, were released worldwide on the Nintendo Switch on November 16, 2018. The first live action film in the franchise Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, based on Detective Pikachu, began production in January 2018 and is set to release in 2019.The upcoming and latest games in the main series, Pokémon Sword and Shield, are scheduled to be released worldwide on the Nintendo Switch in late 2019.

Pokémon executive director Satoshi Tajiri first thought of Pokémon, albeit with a different concept and name, around 1989, when the Game Boy was released. The concept of the Pokémon universe, in both the video games and the general fictional world of Pokémon, stems from the hobby of insect collecting, a popular pastime which Tajiri enjoyed as a child.Players are designated as Pokémon Trainers and have three general goals: to complete the regional Pokédex by collecting all of the available Pokémon species found in the fictional region where a game takes place, to complete the national Pokédex by transferring Pokémon from other regions, and to train a team of powerful Pokémon from those they have caught to compete against teams owned by other Trainers so they may eventually win the Pokémon League and become the regional Champion. These themes of collecting, training, and battling are present in almost every version of the Pokémon franchise, including the video games, the anime and manga series, and the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Here is all Pokemon game so far:

First Generation

All titles in this generation were released for the Game Boy.

Second Generation

TitleJapanAmericaEurope
Pokémon RedFebruary 27, 1996September 30, 1998October 5, 1999
Pokémon GreenFebruary 27, 1996unreleasedunreleased
Pokémon BlueOctober 15, 1996September 30, 1998October 5, 1999
Pokémon YellowSeptember 12, 1998October 19, 1999June 16, 2000

All titles were released on the Game Boy Color.

TitleJapanAmericaEurope
Pokémon Gold and SilverNovember 21, 1999October 14, 2000April 6, 2001
Pokémon CrystalDecember 14, 2000July 29, 2001November 2, 2001

Third Generation

All titles were released on the Game Boy Advance.

TitleJapanAmericaAustraliaEurope
Pokémon Ruby and SapphireNovember 21, 2002March 18, 2003April 3, 2003July 25, 2003
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreenJanuary 29, 2004September 7, 2004September 23, 2004October 1, 2004
Pokémon EmeraldSeptember 16, 2004April 30, 2005June 9, 2005October 21, 2005

Fourth Generation

All titles were released on the Nintendo DS.

TitleJapanAmericaAustraliaEuropeSouth Korea
Pokémon Diamond and PearlSeptember 28, 2006April 22, 2007June 21, 2007July 27, 2007February 14, 2008
Pokémon PlatinumSeptember 13, 2008March 22, 2009May 14, 2009May 22, 2009July 2, 2009
Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilverSeptember 12, 2009March 14, 2010March 25, 2010March 26, 2010February 4, 2010

Fifth Generation

All titles were released for the Nintendo DS.

TitleJapanAmericaEurope
Pokémon Black and WhiteSeptember 18, 2010March 6, 2011March 4, 2011
Pokémon Black 2 and White 2June 23, 2012October 7, 2012October 12, 2012

Sixth Generation

All titles are released for the Nintendo 3DS

TitleJapanAmericaEurope
Pokémon X and YOctober 12, 2013October 12, 2013October 12, 2013
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha SapphireNovember 21, 2014November 21, 2014November 28, 2014

Seventh Generation

This generation started on the Nintendo 3DS but moved onto the Nintendo Switch.

TitleJapanAmericaEurope
Pokémon Sun and MoonNovember 18, 2016November 18, 2016November 23, 2016
Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra MoonNovember 17, 2017November 17, 2017November 17, 2017
Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go Eevee!November 16, 2018November 16, 2018November 16, 2018

Eighth Generation

TitleJapanAmericaEurope
Pokémon Sword and ShieldLate 2019Late 2019Late 2019