This book is not sponsored endorsed by or otherwise affiliated with any companies or the products featured in the book This is not an official publication POJO’S UNOFFICIAL BIG BOOK OF Pokémon 6 20 YEARS OF FEBRUARY 1996 POCKET MONSTERS RED GREEN IN JAPAN In February 1996 the Pocket Monsters Red Green video games were released in Japan They introduced the concept of collecting trading and battling with Pocket Monsters Thousands of people lined up in Japan to buy the games which instantly sold out These games eventually sold more than 10 million copies in Japan Pokémon Blue was released in the summer of 1996 and that game was mail-order only The games appear to be simple children’s games but they are actually very deep Role-Playing Games RPG’s The games feature a ton of strategy and a dynamic storyline OCTOBER 1996 POKÉMON TCG DEBUTS IN JAPAN Eight months later thanks to the success of the Game Boy games the Pocket Monsters Trading Card Game TCG was released The Pocket Monsters TCG turned into a craze in Japan TCGs were still a relatively new phenomenon in the world Magic the Gathering debuted in 1993 and was easily the most popular TCG at the time Magic the Gathering had a pretty strong teenager young adult following But common folk didn’t even know that TCGs existed Pocket Monsters Pokemon really changed that The Japanese Pocket Monsters franchise name was changed to Pokémon in the United States due to copyright trademark laws There was already a media franchise in the U S named Monsters in My Pocket 1996
7 This book is not sponsored endorsed by or otherwise affiliated with any companies or the products featured in the book This is not an official publication POJO’S UNOFFICIAL BIG BOOK OF Pokémon Pojo breaks out the Wayback Machine and has a look back at the most important releases in Pokémon history over the last 20 years Pokémon APRIL 1997 POKÉMON ANIME DEBUTS IN JAPAN There have been many successful anime over the years including Dragon Ball Z Naruto Fullmetal Alchemist Attack on Titan Inuyasha Yu Yu Hakusho Yu-Gi-Oh Sailor Moon and even Speed Racer Pokémon is right up there with the most successful of all time At the time we wrote this book Pokémon was entering its 19th Season and there are no signs of Pokémon slowing down The series follows the adventures of Satoshi and his Pocket Monsters In North America Satoshi is called Ash Ketchum and Pocket Monsters are called Pokémon There have been over 900 episodes 19 movies and dozens of TV specials based on the original game series The writers try to tie the anime in with the video games as much as possible Ash will visit new Pokémon Regions countries at about the same time they are introduced in the new video games The stories progress very much like a soap opera with each episode building off previous episodes 1997 By Bill Pojo Gill
8This book is not sponsored endorsed by or otherwise affiliated with any companies or the products featured in the book This is not an official publication POJO’S UNOFFICIAL BIG BOOK OF Pokémon 20 YEARS OF Pokémon JULY 18 1998 POCKET MONSTERS MOVIE MEWTWO STRIKES BACK DEBUTS IN JAPAN (cid:55)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:192)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:51)(cid:82)(cid:78)(cid:72)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:89)(cid:76)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:71)(cid:88)(cid:70)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:48)(cid:72)(cid:90)(cid:3) and Mewtwo in the Anime franchise for the (cid:192)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:76)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:36)(cid:79)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:89)(cid:76)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:45)(cid:68)(cid:83)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:74)(cid:72)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:70)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:3) (cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:50)(cid:81)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:3)(cid:73)(cid:72)(cid:90)(cid:3)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:192)(cid:79)(cid:80)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:90)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:3) into theaters in the U S most debut on cable television or go directly to DVD SEPTEMBER 5 1998 POKÉMON ANIME DEBUTS IN NORTH AMERICA North America is introduced to Ash Ketchum and Pikachu (cid:73)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:192)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:76)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:55)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:90)(cid:3)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:76)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:68)(cid:78)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:69)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:83)(cid:79)(cid:82)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:3) the video games and converts it into 83 half-hour episodes (cid:55)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:192)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:36)(cid:86)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:74)(cid:72)(cid:87)(cid:87)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:3)(cid:51)(cid:76)(cid:78)(cid:68)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:88)(cid:15)(cid:3)(cid:69)(cid:72)(cid:73)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:3)(cid:37)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:70)(cid:78)(cid:3) and Misty and defeating the Eight Gym Leaders from the Indigo League Team Rocket Jesse James and Meowth are introduced as evildoers who Ash has to contend with for many years to come 1998
9 This book is not sponsored endorsed by or otherwise affiliated with any companies or the products featured in the book This is not an official publication POJO’S UNOFFICIAL BIG BOOK OF Pokémon SEPTEMBER 28 1998 POKÉMON RED AND POKÉMON BLUE The Pokémon Red and Blue Role Playing Games RPGs were released simultaneously in North America These are essentially the English remakes of the Pokémon Red and Green video that were released in Japan in 1996 You are a trainer trying to catch the variety of pocket monsters Pokémon that appear in the game Once caught Pokémon can be added to your party and trained to assist you The longer you train Pokémon the more attacks they learn and the stronger they become There are a total of 150 Pokémon to catch but only 139 are available on Red and 139 are available on Blue In order to Catch Em All you need to use a Game Link Cable and exchange captured Pokémon with friends Traded Pokémon actually level up (cid:73)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:15)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:87)(cid:183)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:69)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:72)(cid:192)(cid:70)(cid:76)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:82)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:85)(cid:68)(cid:71)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:92)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:51)(cid:82)(cid:78)(cid:112)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:17) These games have sold more than 11 million copies in the U S and more than 31 million copies worldwide New factory-sealed unopened boxes of these games currently sell for over 400 on eBay NOVEMBER 1998 POKÉMON PIKACHU The Pokémon Pikachu was also known as The Pocket Pikachu It was an upscale step counter Pocket Pikachu was a digital virtual pet that you kept on your belt or in your pocket
