Pikachu

Pikachu (Japanese: ピカチュウ) are a species of Pokémon, fictional creatures that appear in an assortment of video games, animated television shows and movies, trading card games, and comic books licensed by The Pokémon Company, a Japanese corporation. The Pikachu design was conceived by Ken Sugimori. Pikachu first appeared in Pokémon Red and Green in Japan, and later in the first internationally released Pokémon video games, Pokémon Red and Blue, for the original Game Boy.

Like other species of Pokémon, Pikachu are often captured and groomed by humans to fight other Pokémon for sport. Pikachu are one of the most well-known varieties of Pokémon, largely because a Pikachu is a central character in the Pokémon anime series. Pikachu is regarded as a major character of the Pokémon franchise as well as its mascot, and has become an icon of Japanese pop culture in recent years.

Concept and design

Developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo, the Pokémon series began in Japan in 1996, and features several species of creatures called "Pokémon" that players, called "trainers", are encouraged to capture, train, and use to battle other players' Pokémon or interact with the game's world. Pikachu was one of several different Pokémon designs conceived by Game Freak's character development team and finalized by artist Ken Sugimori. According to series producer Satoshi Tajiri, the name is derived from a combination of two Japanese sounds: pika, a sound an electric spark makes, and chu, a sound a mouse makes. Developer Junichi Masuda noted Pikachu's name as one of the most difficult to create, due to an effort to make it appealing to both Japanese and American audiences.

Pokémon Pikachu

Pokémon Pikachu, also known as Pocket Pikachu (ポケットピカチュウ) in Japan, is a series of portable Pokémon digital pets featuring the famous yellow electric Pokémon, Pikachu. This product was intended as an exercise toy and mentioned by Guinness World Records as the most popular exercise toy of its time. The first release of the device was simply called "Pokémon Pikachu." A yellow unit resembling a Game Boy, it features a black and white LCD screen used to display animations of Pikachu's activities. The second release, Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS, was available in clear and silver casing with a color display featuring more animations. Both of the Pokémon Pikachu incarnations differ slightly from more traditional portable virtual pets in that Pikachu does not need to be fed, watered, or cleaned up after. Instead, the Pokémon Pikachu unit can be strapped to a belt and used as a pedometer. With every step it counts, the Pokémon Pikachu credits its user with "watts," which are a sort of currency used to buy Pikachu presents. Twenty steps on the pedometer will reward the player with one watt. As the player grows closer to Pikachu, more activities become available. However, if neglected, Pikachu will become angry and eventually refuse to recognize the player. Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS features an infrared port for interacting with Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal via the Mystery Gift option, which uses the Game Boy Color's built-in infrared communication port. This mode allows players of the Game Boy titles to trade their Pokémon Pikachu's watts for items to use in the Game Boy game. Although there is a limitation on how much the Mystery Gift mode can be used between Game Boy cartridges, Pokémon Pikachu's only limit is that of available watts. Watts can also be sent to other Pokémon Pikachu 2 units.

Pikachu virus

The Pikachu virus, sometimes referred to as Pokey Virus, was a computer virus believed to be the first computer virus geared at children due to its incorporation of Pikachu from the Pokémon series. The first person to find this virus was Mido and Hani. It arrived in the form of an e-mail titled "Pikachu Pokemon [sic]" with the email saying that "Pikachu is your friend." Opening the attached executable met users with an image of Pikachu, along with a message stating, "Between millions of people around the world I found you. Don’t forget to remember this day every time MY FRIEND." The virus itself appeared in the attachment to the email as a file named "PikachuPokemon.exe". It was often compared to the Love Bug, though the Pikachu virus was noted to be far less dangerous and slower in its dissemination.

Spread

The virus was mainly spread through Microsoft Outlook email attachments. The email containing the attached virus propagated through infected users by sending itself to all contacts in the user's Outlook address book.