Nintendo Celebrates Pokemoniversary

Thanks to IGN Pocket for their article pointing out that Nintendo's Pokemon franchise is celebrating its 5th anniversary in the States. According to the article, "Pokemon first launched on the original Game Boy in Japan in 1996. Since bringing the franchise to North America in September 1998, Nintendo has sold more than 110 million Pokemon games worldwide. Pokemon merchandise has generated over $15 billion in worldwide retail sales since 1998." With the HAL-developed Pokemon Pinball:Ruby And Sapphire out now for GBA, and Pokemon Coliseum for GameCube forthcoming early next year as a Pokemon Stadium-style companion for Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire on GBA, it seems Pikachu and friends are here to stay.

Comments

My Thoughts

[Gothic_Walrus]

Pokemon is most definitely a dead fad, but the game franchises won't be going anywhere soon. Even if you hate all of the marketing that once surrounded the series, you've got to admit one thing: the games that started it all were actually good.

I still remember (was it back in 1998? Seems longer...) when I got my Pokemon Red game. The games had just been released in the U.S. and the series wasn't exactly popular at that point in time. I got the game because I heard it was a good RPG, and I found out that it was. Decent storyline (too bad it hasn't changed in any of the other GB games...), incredibly deep battle system (Bulbasaur or Squirtle?), lots of replay value...Screw Final Fantasy. Now this was an RPG.

It's unfortunate that Nintendo killed the series' popularity through overexposure (the card game was a bit much). It also didn't help that the new Game Boy games brought some innovations (Gold and Silver) but were mainly retreads of what's been done before (Ruby, Sapphire, Yellow, Crystal).

In any case, I'm going to remember Pokemon for what it began as: a damn good RPG.

RPG????

[Dot.Com.CEO]

At the danger of the Jap games fanboys jumping on to me, let me make a comment. Those Final Fantasy games you are refering to, as well as the Pokemon "RPGs" are anything but. Sure, you gain points and you can level up, you learn spells etc., but you cannot "role play". Can you choose between being a good or a bad character? Will the game change towards you when you do? If, for example, you decide to play the game again as a different character, will you have a different experience? Do you even have the choice to play the game as a different character? Don't get me wrong, I'm quite fond of the Final Fantasy style games but this thing of calling them RPGs really has to stop at some point. People are even calling the Zelda series an RPG, I'm really beginning to think I've lived my whole life in a paralel gamers universe.

These games are much closer to the adventure games of old in that they are story and character driven. Please stop calling them RPGs. I suggest you play a game of Morrowind or Neverwinter Nights to see what a real RPG is like.