How Pokemon took over the world as the beloved franchise turns 30

The now multibillion-dollar franchise began life as a role-playing video game series created by Satoshi Tajiri for the Game Boy handheld console. The first Pokemon titles – Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green – were released by Nintendo in Japan on February 27, 1996, followed later that year by Pocket Monsters Blue in October.

Inspired by his childhood pastime of collecting insects in suburban Tokyo, Tajiri designed the games to recreate the childlike joy of exploring nature and interacting with bugs. The idea is to complete the “Pokedex” and, just as the games’ tagline says: “Gotta Catch ’em All!”

The games were adapted into the Pokemon Trading Card Game in October the same year, while the Pokemon Pocket Monsters manga followed in November.

The first episode of the Pokemon anime series aired on Japanese network television in April 1997 – the episode was titled “Pokemon, I Choose You!” – while Pokemon: The First Movie was released in July 1998.