The History of the Pokemon Franchise

Creation

The original concept for Pokemon was thought of by Satoshi Tajiri. He based the game on his favorite childhood pasttime hobby of bug collecting. He is currently the CEO of Game Freak.

Creation

Fun Fact: In the Pokemon anime, in Japan, instead of Ash Ketchum, the main character is named Satoshi as reference to the creator.

Fun Fact: For whatever reason, people mistake Satoshi Tajiri with Tsunekazu Ishihara, who was a producer at Creatures that helped developed the first Japanese games, Red and Green, and is the current president and CEO of The Pokemon Company.

Pokemon Generation 1

Generation 1

Pokemon Generations refer to an era on which games are released, usually indicated by a new region and a new batch of Pokemon. Generation 1 would be the first ever games created and would be designed to be playable on the Nintendo Game Boy. Japan had Pokemon Red and Green released on February 27, 1996 introducing the iconic 151 original Pokemon and the Kanto region. Pokemon Blue would be released in October 15, 1996, with improved artworks, sound upgrades, and removed several glitches.

The first Western releases of Pokemon would be Pokemon Red and Blue on September 28, 1998 in North America and would have the upgrades that were changed in the Japanese Pokemon Blue.

Pokemon Yellow would be released for Japan on September 12, 1998 and for the rest of the world around one to two years later. The game is to heavily take inspiration from the ever-growing popular Pokemon anime.

Pokemon Generation 2

Generation 2

Pokemon Generation 2 started off with Pokemon Gold and Silver for Japan in November 21, 1999 and October 14, 2000 for North America and introduced 100 new Pokemon and allowed players to explore the new Jhoto region. The games were made to play on the Game Boy Color, allowing the area, characters, and Pokemon to be in color. New types were also introduced, being the Dark and Steel types.

Pokemon Crystal would be released for Japan in December 14, 2000 and July 29, 2001 for North America and would have many changes, such as introduce a girl character to play as and the pokemon sprites do a short animation when entering a battle.

The programmer of Gold and silver, Shigeki Morimoto, stated it took over three years to complete the games because there were only four programmers working on it. Also, around this time, Tsunekazu Ishihara stated that the designs for the Pokemon were made based on the software developers' imaginations and experiences when they were younger.

Pokemon Generation 3

Generation 3

Generation 3 started with the release of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire on November 21, 2002 for Japan and March 18, 2003 for North America. These games set the character in the Hoenn region and added 135 new Pokemon. There was also the inclusion of several different game mechanics such as Pokemon abilities, that would provide a passive effect in battles and natures that would change each Pokemon statistics. The 3rd Generation games were made to played on the GameBoy Advance.

Generation 3 was also, the beginning of remakes or updating older games to fit the more recent developments. The original games were remade into Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen for Japan on January 29, 2004 and September 7, 2004 for North America.

The third game that comes with the two original games that started the generation is Pokemon Emerald on September 16, 2004 for Japan and April 30, 2005 for North America. The most significant change in the third version is the inclusion of the post game area, the Battle Frontier.

Pokemon Generation 4

Generation 4

Generation 4 started with the games Pokemon Diamond and Pearl for September 28, 2006 in Japan and April 22, 2007 for North America. The story takes place in the Sinnoh region and introduced 107 new Pokemon, included new evolutions for older Pokemon. A significant change in the battle system would be the physical and special split for attacking moves. Before, attacking moves would be physical or special based on the type of the the move. For example, Thunder Punch would be special because it was an electric type move, but now in the Generation 4 games it would be a physical move because it is a punch. The 4th Generation games were made to be played on the Nintendo DS.

The third version, Pokemon Platinum was released on September 13, 2008 for Japan and March 22, 2009 for North America. The third version fixed the slow movement speed in the previous games and introduced some older Pokemon in the region.

The remakes for this Generation would be HeartGold and SoulSilver and was released on September 12, 2009 for Japan and March 14, 2010 for North America. A fan favorite mechanic that was introduced in the remakes was that the first Pokemon in the player's party would be able to follow them around.

Pokemon Generation 5

Generation 5

Generation 5 started with the games Pokemon Black and White on September 18, 2010 for Japan and March 6, 2011 for North America, specifically New York, for the Nintendo DS. The game is set in the Unova region, which is based off the Untied States, and introduced 156 new Pokemon. Also, players could only encounter the new Pokemon until the post game. There are now sprite animations for the entire duration of the battles.

There were no remakes for this generation and the third games are actually different. Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 are set as sequel stories to the original games, instead of upgrades and tweaks to the story slapped onto the original games. Older Pokemon were available before the post game. There was also, the introduction of a difficulty system in the game, however it is difficult to obtain and removed from future titles.

Pokemon Generation 6

Generation 6

Generation 6 started off with the games Pokemon X and Y for the Nintendo 3DS. This is the first series of Pokemon games to get a world wide release on October 12, 2013 and the first Pokemon game to be in polygonal 3D graphics. The games are set in the region of Kalos, which is based off of France and introduced 72 new Pokemon. As well, a new mechanic called Mega Evolution was introduced, which gave specific Pokemon a temporary form and a power boost. They also introduced a brand new typing, known as the Fairy type, something that was not done since the Generation 2.

This was the first generation not to introduce a third game. Instead the remakes, Pokemon OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire were released on November 21, 2014. These games were also, in 3D graphics and introduced more Mega Evolutions to the game.

Pokemon Generation 7

Generation 7

Generation 7 began with the games Pokemon Sun and Moon that was released on November 18, 2016 for the Nintendo 3DS. The story takes place in the region of Alola, which is based off of Hawaii and introduced 81 new Pokemon. The games also, started the ideas of Regional Forms or different forms for the old Pokemon because they lived in different regions. For example, in the image on the bottom left, the original Vulpix is the red one and is a Fire type. The white Vulpix is its Alolan form and changed its typing to the Ice type because it lives in the snowy mountains of Alola. Another new mechanic introduced was Z-Moves, which gives all Pokemon a one time powerful move to use after doing a dance.

There are "third" games in this generation. Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were released world wide on November 17, 2017 and is set in an alternate dimension from the first games, but the locations are mostly the same and there were changes to the story. Five new Pokemon were introduced in these "third" games.

The remakes of this generation is Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu! and Let's Go Eevee!. They were released for the Nintendo Switch on November 16, 2018. It is unlike the other mainline games of this generation and removed all Pokemon Abilities and Hold Items. The mechanics are solely based on the popular mobile AR game Pokemon GO that was released on July 6, 2016, however it is set in the Kanto region.

Pokemon Generation 8

Generation 8

We are currently in the midst of Generation 8. It began with the release of Pokemon Sword and Shield on the Nintendo Switch world wide on November 15, 2019. This generation is set in the Galar region, which is based off the United Kingdoms and introduces 81 new Pokemon and 13 regional variants called Galarian forms. Among those new Pokemon, there are evolutions for the regional variants and evolutions for previous Pokemon were not seen since Generation 4. A new mechanic introduced would be Dynamaxing and Gigantimaxing, which allows Pokemon to grow big and sometimes change forms and gives them strong moves called Max Moves.

A controversial topic about theses new games was that they originally had left out over 400 Pokemon from previous generations. They also, cut the previous mechanics of Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves. People have also, criticized the laziness of the animations and models.

This is also, first time that the Pokemon Company is giving DLC content for a game. The first DLC called the Isle of Armor was released on June 17, 2020 and released a new area of the map, brought back some cut Pokemon, and introduced a new Galarian Form, Galarian Slowbro. The second DLC called the Crown Tundra is set to be released on October 22, 2020.