History

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Pokémon.

In 1998, Nintendo spent $25 million promoting Pokémon in the United States in partnership with
Hasbro, KFC, and others.[14] Nintendo initially feared that Pokémon was too Japanese for Western
tastes but Alfred Kahn, then CEO of 4Kids Entertainment convinced the company otherwise.[15] The one
who spotted Pokemon's potential in the United States was Kahn's colleague Thomas Kenney.[16]

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.[17] In 2006, the franchise
celebrated its tenth anniversary.[18] In 2016, the Pokémon Company celebrated Pokémon's 20th
anniversary by airing an ad during Super Bowl 50 in January and re -releasing the first Pokémon video
games 1996 Game Boy games Pokémon Red, Green (only in Japan), and Blue, and the 1998 Game Boy
Color game Pokémon Yellow for the Nintendo 3DS on February 26, 2016.[19][20] The mobile augmented
reality game Pokémon Go was released in July 2016.[21] The first live -action film in the franchise,
Pokémon Detective Pikachu, based on the 2018 Nintendo 3DS spin-off game Detective Pikachu, was
released in 2019.[22] The eighth generation of core series games began with Pokémon Sword and
Shield, released worldwide on the Nintendo Switch on November 15, 2019.

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the company released two additional titles for the Nintendo Switch:
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, remakes of the Nintendo DS Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
games, on November 19, 2021, and its "premake" Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which was subsequently
released on January 28, 2022.[23][24]

The most recent games in the main series, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet began the ninth and latest
generation and will be released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch in late 2022.

Name

The name Pokémon is a syllabic abbreviation of the Japanese brand Pocket Monsters.[25] The term
"Pokémon", in addition to referring to the Pokémon franchise itself, also collectively refers to the many
fictional species that have made appearances in Pokémon media as of the release of the eighth
generation titles Pokémon Sword and Shield. "Pokémon" is identical in the singular and plural, as is each
individual species name; it is and would be grammatically correct to say "one Pokémon" and "many
Pokémon", as well as "one Pikachu" and "many Pikachu".[26]
Concept

See also: Gameplay of Pokémon, List of Pokémon, and Pokémon universe

Gameplay of Pokémon

Artwork from Capsule Monsters, Satoshi Tajiri's early design concept of Pokémon.

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.[27] Players are designated as Pokémon Trai ners 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 (also known as TCG).

In most incarnations of the Pokémon universe, a Trainer who encounters a wild Pokémon has the ability
to capture that Pokémon by throwing a specially designed, mass-producible spherical tool called a Poké
Ball at it. If the Pokémon is unable to escape the confines of the Poké Ball, it is considered to be under
the ownership of that Trainer. Afterwards, it will obey whatever commands it receives from its new
Trainer, unless the Trainer demonstrates such a lack of experience that the Pokémon would rather act
on its own accord. Trainers can send out any of their Pokémon to wage non-lethal battles against other
Pokémon; if the opposing Pokémon is wild, the Trainer can capture that Pokémon with a Poké Ball,
increasing their collection of creatures. In Pokémon Go, and in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go,
Eevee!, wild Pokémon encountered by players can be caught in Poké Balls, but most cannot be battled.
Pokémon already owned by other Trainers cannot be captured, except under special circumstances in
certain side games. If a Pokémon fully defeats an opponent in battle so that the opponent is knocked
out ("faints"), the winning Pokémon gains experience points and may level up. Beginning with Pokémon
X and Y, experience points are also gained from catching Pokémon in Poké Balls. When leveling up, the
Pokémon's battling aptitude statistics ("stats", such as "Attack" and "Speed") increase. At certain levels,
the Pokémon may also learn new moves, which are techniques used in battle. In addition, many species
of Pokémon can undergo a form of metamorphosis and transform into a similar but stronger species of
Pokémon, a process called evolution; this process occurs spontaneously under differing circumstances,
and is itself a central theme of the series. Some species of Pokémon may undergo a maximum of two
evolutionary transformations, while others may undergo only one, and others may not evolve at all. For
example, the Pokémon Pichu may evolve into Pikachu, which in turn may evolve into Raichu, following
which no further evolutions may occur. Pokémon X and Y introduced the concept of "Mega Evolution,"
by which certain fully evolved Pokémon may temporarily undergo an additional evolution into a
stronger form for the purpose of battling; this evolution is considered a special case, and unlike other
evolutionary stages, is reversible.

In the main series, each game's single-player mode requires the Trainer to raise a team of Pokémon to
defeat many non-player character (NPC) Trainers and their Pokémon. Each game lays out a somewhat
linear path through a specific region of the Pokémon world for the Trainer to journey th rough,
completing events and battling opponents along the way (including foiling the plans of an evil team of
Pokémon Trainers who serve as antagonists to the player). Excluding Pokémon Sun and Moon and
Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the games feature eight powerful Trainers, referred to as Gym
Leaders, that the Trainer must defeat in order to progress. As a reward, the Trainer receives a Gym
Badge, and once all eight badges are collected, the Trainer is eligible to challenge the region's Pokémon
League, where four talented trainers (referred to collectively as the "Elite Four") challenge the Trainer to
four Pokémon battles in succession. If the trainer can overcome this gauntlet, they must challenge the
Regional Champion, the master Trainer who had previously defeated the Elite Four. Any Trainer who
wins this last battle becomes the new champion.

Pokémon universe

Pokémon is set in the fictional Pokemon universe. There are numerous regions that have appeared in
the various media of the Pokémon franchise. There are 8 main series regions set in the main series
games: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh/Hisui, Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar. Each of the eight generations
of the main series releases focuses on a new region. Every region consists of several cities and towns
that the player must explore in order to overcome many waiting challenges, such as Gyms, Contests and
villainous teams. At different locations within each region, the player can find different types of
Pokémon, as well as helpful items and characters. Different regions are not accessible from one another
at all within a single game, only with the exception of Kanto and Johto being linked together in Pokémon
Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold and SoulSilver versions. There are also regions set in spinoff games and
two islands in the Pokémon anime (Orange Islands and Decolore Islands), all still set within the same
fictional universe.

Each main series region in the Pokémon universe is based on a real world location. The first 4 introduced
regions (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh/Hisui) are based on parts of Japan, with later regions being
based on parts of the United States (New York City is Unova and Hawaii is Alola), France (Kalos), the
United Kingdom (Galar), and Spain and Portugal (generation 9 region).[28][failed verification]