What Is Pokémon?

Pokémon launched in Japan on February 27, 1996, with Pocket Monsters Red and Green for the Game Boy. It reached North America on September 28, 1998, as Pokémon Red and Blue. The animated series followed in Japan on April 1, 1997.

For the full story of how the franchise grew, generation by generation, see the Pokémon history and timeline.

Pokémon was created by Satoshi Tajiri, who founded the studio Game Freak and designed the original games. He was inspired by collecting insects as a child. Ken Sugimori led the original creature designs, and Nintendo published the games.

There is more on the people and companies behind it in who created Pokémon.

In the games, you play as a trainer who explores a fictional region and catches wild Pokémon by weakening them in battle, then storing them in a Poké Ball. You build a team from the ones you catch and use them to battle other trainers.

Winning battles earns experience, so your Pokémon grow stronger and many of them evolve into new, more powerful forms. You can also trade Pokémon with other players, which was a core idea from the very first games, and some Pokémon only evolve when they are traded.

Around all of that sits a huge collecting culture. The tagline "Gotta Catch 'Em All" captures the goal of completing the Pokédex, the in-game encyclopedia of every species. That collecting instinct is also what makes the trading card game so popular, where certain rare cards are prized by collectors.

It is all three, and they share the same characters and world. The three main pillars grew up alongside each other rather than one replacing another.

The video games are where Pokémon started and remain its heart. The main series releases new games with new regions and new creatures to catch, and mobile games like Pokémon GO, launched in July 2016, brought catching into the real world.

The trading card game lets you both play matches and collect the cards themselves. It launched in Japan in October 1996 and in North America in late 1998, and it has stayed hugely popular ever since, with some rare cards becoming genuinely valuable.

The animated series, which debuted in Japan on April 1, 1997, follows a young trainer and his Pokémon and is how many people first meet the characters. Alongside it are movies, plus toys and merchandise of every kind.

Pokémon is designed to be enjoyed by everyone, and it is safe and easy for children to get into. The battles are turn-based and cartoonish rather than graphic, and the tone is friendly.

At the same time, it has large and serious adult audiences. There is a worldwide collector scene built around rare cards, and a competitive circuit where adults battle in official tournaments for real prizes. Many of the people most invested in Pokémon today are grown-ups who first played it in the 1990s.

Here is a version you could repeat at dinner. Pokémon is a world full of creatures you can catch, name, and train. You build a team, battle other trainers to make your team stronger, and try to collect as many different kinds as you can.

The same world exists as video games, as a card game you can both play and collect, and as a cartoon, all sharing the same characters. That mix of collecting and friendly competition is why it has stayed popular for about 30 years.