History of Pokemon: Why You Need to Know It When Playing Pokemon Go

Take a walk around Singapore and you’ll most likely encounter a few Pokémon trainers wannabe roaming the streets. If there’s something that’s more revolutionary than iPhone, it has to be Pokémon Go.

While kids try to catch ’em all in all parts of Singapore, it’s ironic that some of them didn’t even know the premise of Pokémon—all they know is that catching Pokémons is the trend to follow now.

Do you know that Pokémon is actually inspired by a game played by kids in the early 70s: catching insects? I guess that’s why adults nowadays are still so fascinated with it: it reminds them of the days when they were out on the streets catching those real creatures.

While Pokémon was first released in 1996, the idea came about in 1990, when the original Game Boy was released. The then 25-year-old Satoshi Tajiri (now 50 years old), a then new game developer and the brainchild of the Pokémon franchise, came upon the idea as his favourite pastime as a child was catching insects. In his hometown, he realized that urbanization had made the insect population decline, and so decided to develop the game.

However, he also noticed that as video games became more popular, more kids preferred to stay indoors. He held on to that idea for a while until the release of Game Boy: the link cable, a cable used to connect two Game Boys together, was a Godsend, as it allowed players to trade Pokémons.

Because the idea of Pokémon stemmed from insect collecting, the Pokémons, according to Satoshi Tajiri, would look like insects. However, it seems that further amendments made them the cute pocket monsters we are all familiar with now.

Satoshi Tajiri faced a series of difficulties before the game hit the shelf: firstly, he had always believed that Nintendo would reject this game. The belief became a reality when he first pitched the idea to Nintendo: they did not understand the concept behind the game that well. Secondly, there were several trademark issues, in particular the name: It was first called Capsule Monsters, CapuMon and then KapuMon before the final and familiar name of Pocket Monster came into place.

Unlike games like Final Fantasy or Super Mario, Pokémon wasn’t expected to be a success. Taking six years to develop, it was 1996 when the game was released, and that was near the end of the lifespan for the original Game Boy. Media outlets then (do remember that twenty years ago, the mainstream media has a lot of influence) did not give it much attention.

In fact, it was so bad that Satoshi Tajiri’s game development company, Game Freak, nearly went bankrupt and Satoshi Tajiri did not draw a salary. They were only able to survive with an investment from another game development company, Creatures, which is now responsible for the popular Pokémon card games.

However, the game saw its light at the end of the tunnel when the 151st secret Pokémon, Mew, was made known to the public. Interestingly enough, the character was only included in the game as an Easter egg for the game developers: but a glitch led it to be found by the public, and everyone was buying the games to find this secret Pokémon.

Throughout the years, Pokémon grew steadily, and Pokémon fans had stayed loyal to the franchise. In 1998, with the Pokémon franchising gaining international foothold, The Pokémon Company was established by the three key players: Game Freak (Satoshi Tajiri’s company), Creatures (the company who invested in Game Freak when it was on the brink of bankruptcy developing Pokémon) and well, Nintendo.

Of course, by now, you should be wondering: why should you know this? All you want is to catch some Pokémons, right?

Here’s the thing: just like any great person, there’s a great struggle before it. This great game franchise wasn’t an overnight success: it was from the tears and sweats of great men who have struggled and believed in a concept. It’s not just another Candy Crush or Flappy Bird that used the Internet to gain traction: it’s built with tenacity.

So, as you enjoy this game, remember this: it’s difficult to catch them all, but it’s even more difficult for the game to be developed. With this kind of history, I’m pretty sure it won’t be yet another fly-by-night mobile game.

Featured Image: Matthew Corley / Shutterstock.com

This post was first published on goodyfeed.com