Pokémon (universe): Difference between revisions
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''Pokémon'' was introduced in Japan as "Pocket Monsters" by Nintendo in February 1996 as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy RPGs. It was not expected to be a huge success, but in the event, ''Pokémon'' exploded into an extremely potent franchise phenomenon, having been merchandised into an anime continuity (consisting of a television series with consistent motion pictures), many series of manga, an extensive collectible card game, toys, books, and other media. It was all ported to American audiences and worldwide later on. ''Pokémon'' has become the second biggest-selling game-based media franchise of all time, second only to Nintendo's [[Mario]] franchise; As of December 1, 2006, cumulative sold units (including home console versions) have reached more than 155 million copies. | ''Pokémon'' was introduced in Japan as "Pocket Monsters" by Nintendo in February 1996 as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy RPGs. It was not expected to be a huge success, but in the event, ''Pokémon'' exploded into an extremely potent franchise phenomenon, having been merchandised into an anime continuity (consisting of a television series with consistent motion pictures), many series of manga, an extensive collectible card game, toys, books, and other media. It was all ported to American audiences and worldwide later on. ''Pokémon'' has become the second biggest-selling game-based media franchise of all time, second only to Nintendo's [[Mario]] franchise; As of December 1, 2006, cumulative sold units (including home console versions) have reached more than 155 million copies. | ||
In the various incarnations of the Pokémon universe, the world of ''Pokémon'' is an Earth-like world inhabited by many species of the eponymous Pokémon creatures which coexist with humans. The Pokémon are colorful, generally sentient creatures possessing the abilities to perform amazing talents of seemingly every conceivable sort, examples of which are breathing fire, exhuming poisonous smog, summoning rainfall, performing martial arts, holographically splitting up into multiple copies of itself, employing psychokinesis, unleashing paralysis-inducing electricity, etc. Many Pokémon live as wild animals both as predators and prey, while other individual Pokémon are mythical and powerful beings responsible for the creation of the world, and others still are man-made. Most Pokémon can only communicate in a non-human language that consists of syllables of their own names, but some can communicate in English through telepathy (e.g. [[Mewtwo]]), and in extremely rare cases a Pokémon can master the ability to speak the physical human tongue (e.g. one particular individual of the [[Meowth]] species). | In the various incarnations of the Pokémon universe, the world of ''Pokémon'' is an Earth-like world inhabited by many species of the eponymous Pokémon creatures which coexist with humans. The Pokémon are colorful, generally sentient creatures possessing the abilities to perform amazing talents of seemingly every conceivable sort, examples of which are breathing fire, exhuming poisonous smog, summoning rainfall, performing martial arts, holographically splitting up into multiple copies of itself, employing psychokinesis, unleashing paralysis-inducing electricity, etc. Many Pokémon live as wild animals both as predators and prey, while other individual Pokémon are mythical and powerful beings responsible for the creation of the world, and others still are man-made. Most Pokémon can only communicate in a non-human language that consists of syllables of their own names, but some can communicate in English through telepathy (e.g. [[Mewtwo]]), and in extremely rare cases a Pokémon can master the ability to speak the physical human tongue (e.g. one particular individual of the [[Meowth]] species). As of now, there are 493 species of Pokémon that have been identified. | ||
The concept of the ''Pokémon'' universe, in both games and the general fictional world, stems from the hobbies of insect collecting and cockfighting, the former being a popular pastime which ''Pokémon'' executive director Satoshi Tajiri had enjoyed as a child. In most instances of ''Pokémon'', humans of varying interests seek out and capture various and multiple species of Pokémon using specially designed mass-producible tools called [[Poké Ball]]s. In most cases a Pokémon caught from the wild by a human willingly joins up with the human and obeys his or her commands. Some catch and own Pokémon as friendly pets and lifelong companions and do not participate in any competitive activities with them. Others of a less savory nature, such as members of the Pokémon crime syndicate Team Rocket (Home to the Meowth who can speak the physical human tongue), capture Pokémon and use them as weapons to advance their evil agendas. For most humans, however, including players of the ''Pokémon'' RPGs, take the Pokémon trainer's route in life and collect Pokémon to train them and battle the Pokémon of other trainers in officially sponsored competitive Pokémon matches. | The concept of the ''Pokémon'' universe, in both games and the general fictional world, stems from the hobbies of insect collecting and cockfighting, the former being a popular pastime which ''Pokémon'' executive director Satoshi Tajiri had enjoyed as a child. In most instances of ''Pokémon'', humans of varying interests seek out and capture various and multiple species of Pokémon using specially designed mass-producible tools called [[Poké Ball]]s. In most cases a Pokémon caught from the wild by a human willingly joins up with the human and obeys his or her commands. Some catch and own Pokémon as friendly pets and lifelong companions and do not participate in any competitive activities with them. Others of a less savory nature, such as members of the Pokémon crime syndicate Team Rocket (Home to the Meowth who can speak the physical human tongue), capture Pokémon and use them as weapons to advance their evil agendas. For most humans, however, including players of the ''Pokémon'' RPGs, take the Pokémon trainer's route in life and collect Pokémon to train them and battle the Pokémon of other trainers in officially sponsored competitive Pokémon matches. | ||