Pokémon (universe): Difference between revisions
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==Franchise description== | ==Franchise description== | ||
''Pokémon'' was introduced in Japan in February 1996 by Nintendo and the recently-founded second-party game developer, Game Freak, as "''Pocket Monsters''", a Game Boy JRPG that came in slightly-modified ''Red and Green'' editions that both made then-original use of the Game Boy's connection cable between separate systems in that, rather than being strictly used for competition, it was additionally used for cooperative data transfer between players. Nintendo did not expect these games to be a large success, even less so in the West than domestically, but the games - branded ''Pokémon'' outside of Japan - took both sides of the Pacific by storm and quickly established the series as a blockbuster, multi-billion dollar franchise. The main JRPG series paved the way for a merchandising empire, including an extensive anime continuity, several series of manga, a bestselling trading card game, and video games touching upon many other genres. ''Pokémon'' has become the | ''Pokémon'' was introduced in Japan in February 1996 by Nintendo and the recently-founded second-party game developer, Game Freak, as "''Pocket Monsters''", a Game Boy JRPG that came in slightly-modified ''Red and Green'' editions that both made then-original use of the Game Boy's connection cable between separate systems in that, rather than being strictly used for competition, it was additionally used for cooperative data transfer between players. Nintendo did not expect these games to be a large success, even less so in the West than domestically, but the games - branded ''Pokémon'' outside of Japan - took both sides of the Pacific by storm and quickly established the series as a blockbuster, multi-billion dollar franchise. The main JRPG series paved the way for a merchandising empire, including an extensive anime continuity, several series of manga, a bestselling trading card game, and video games touching upon many other genres. ''Pokémon'' has become the second biggest-selling game-based media franchise of all time,only behind Nintendo's ''[[Mario (universe)|Mario]]'' franchise; as of March 2013, cumulative sold units (including home console versions) have reached 245 million copies.<ref>http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=40736</ref> As a direct result, ''Pokémon'' has been a mainstay in the Nintendo-centric crossover fighting games ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' since the series started in 1999. | ||
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, sentient, oftentimes sapient creatures possessing the abilities to perform amazing talents of seemingly every conceivable sort, examples of which are breathing fire, expulsing poisonous smog, summoning rainfall, performing martial arts, using illusion to split 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 immensely powerful beings that the world's human denizens superstitiously attach a variety of creation myths to, and others still are man-made. Unlike the main RPG series itself, where all Pokémon make animal-like grunts and vocalizations except for Pikachu in Yellow and the sixth generation, most Pokémon in the anime freely communicate with each other in an exclusive language that consists entirely of them reciting their own species names, but some can communicate in human tongue through telepathy (e.g. [[Mewtwo]]), and in extremely rare cases a Pokémon can master the ability to speak the physical human tongue (e.g. a particular [[Meowth]]). As of the present "sixth generation", there are at least 719 recognized species of Pokémon, a fair portion of which are known to have multiple, distinctive forms. | 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, sentient, oftentimes sapient creatures possessing the abilities to perform amazing talents of seemingly every conceivable sort, examples of which are breathing fire, expulsing poisonous smog, summoning rainfall, performing martial arts, using illusion to split 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 immensely powerful beings that the world's human denizens superstitiously attach a variety of creation myths to, and others still are man-made. Unlike the main RPG series itself, where all Pokémon make animal-like grunts and vocalizations except for Pikachu in Yellow and the sixth generation, most Pokémon in the anime freely communicate with each other in an exclusive language that consists entirely of them reciting their own species names, but some can communicate in human tongue through telepathy (e.g. [[Mewtwo]]), and in extremely rare cases a Pokémon can master the ability to speak the physical human tongue (e.g. a particular [[Meowth]]). As of the present "sixth generation", there are at least 719 recognized species of Pokémon, a fair portion of which are known to have multiple, distinctive forms. | ||