Pokémon

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Pokémon


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Introduction


Pokémon is the second biggest gaming franchise in the world (the biggest being the Mario series). It is owned by Nintendo, and was created by Satoshi Tajiri around 1995.
Pokémon properties have since been merchandised into anime, manga, trading cards, toys, even books. However, its most common form is the video game.



The name Pokémon is the romanized contraction of the Japanese brand, "Pocket Monsters". The term “Pokémon” can be used in both singular and plural like the word fish. This means that in the same way you can say “a fish” you can also say “2 fish” you can also say “a Pokémon” and “2 Pokémon”.
The catchphrase of the game in Japan is “Let’s get Pokémon!”, however in English versions the catchphrase was “gotta catch ‘em all!” although it is no longer used.
People who catch and train Pokémon for battles are known as Pokémon trainers.



You should say that in the game you are represented by a tiny person, who you can move around on the screen to explore the countryside or visit towns and cities. You meet other people along the way and can talk to them. You also encounter creatures called Pokémon, which may be tiny like insects, or as big as a house. You can capture them in your pokéball (no matter what size they are). Once you've captured a pokémon, it belongs to you and will do your bidding. It can be used to fight with other pokémon - with wild ones to weaken them enough so that you can capture them, with ones belonging to other people so that you can gain kudos and entry into certain areas of the game.


Pokémon types


There are 17 main types of Pokémon. The type of Pokémon you have affects the types of Pokémon you are strong against (e.g. Water-type is strong against Fire-type), the type of Pokémon you are weak against (e.g. Grass-type is weak against Fire-type). It also affects the moves that a Pokémon can use, because moves are also categorised by type (e.g. Fire blast is a Fire-type move and Razor leaf is a Grass-type move)

The 17 main types are:
  • Bug-type
  • - These usually resemble insects from the real world and their names may do this as well, for example a Pokémon that resembles a catterpillar is called a Caterpie and similarly one that resembles a Butterfly is called a Butterfree. Bug-type Pokémon usually evolve at low levels which makes them a popular choice for novice trainers. They usually have quite high speed levels and quite fast attacks.
  • Dark-type
  • - These usually (and quite obviously) usually look like dragons, however it's important to note that not all pokémon that dragon-type Pokémon.
  • Dragon-type
  • Electric-type
  • Fighting-type
  • Fire-type
  • Flying-type
  • Ghost-type
  • Grass-type
  • Ground-type
  • Ice-type
  • Normal-type
  • Poison-type
  • Psychic-type
  • Rock-type
  • Steel-type
  • Water-type

There is also an 18th type known as ???-type, however this is only a move type (e.g. the move curse is ???-type), there are no ???-type Pokémon.

Evolution


Pokémon are also able to change their form in a process known as evolution. There are 4 evolutionary stages that a Pokémon can be at. These are: Baby, basic, stage 1, stage 2. A Pokémon can evolve by levelling up, trading, holding items, using stones, or a combination of these things.

Video Games


As mentioned above, this is the most common form of Pokémon. Most Pokémon games are released in chronological order and divided roughly by generation. In Pokémon a new generation is created when a large number of new Pokémon are introduced into the game, which were not present before. To date there have been 4 generations of Pokémon, bringing the current total to 497. Here is a list of every Pokémon game released (in English) to date. (Specific information about the Pokémon found in each generation can be found in the corresponding entries)

The First generation


See main article: First Generation Pokémon

Pokémon Red — Game Boy — September 9, 1998

Pokémon Blue — Game Boy — September 9, 1998

Pokémon Snap — Nintendo 64 — June 30, 1999

Pokémon Pinball — Game Boy Color — July 31, 1999

Pokémon Yellow — Game Boy Color — October 19, 1999

Pokémon Stadium — Nintendo 64 — February 29, 2000

Pokémon Trading Card Game — Game Boy Color — April 11, 2000

Pokémon Puzzle League — Nintendo 64 — September 25, 2000

The Second Generation


See main article: Second Generation Pokémon

Pokémon Gold — Game Boy Color — October 15, 2000

Pokémon Silver — Game Boy Color — October 15, 2000

Hey You, Pikachu! — Nintendo 64 (with special microphone accessory) — November 5, 2000

Pokémon Puzzle Challenge — Game Boy Color — December 4, 2000

Pokémon Stadium 2 — Nintendo 64 — March 26, 2001

Pokémon Crystal — Game Boy Color — July 29, 2001

The Third Generation


See main article: Third Generation Pokémon

Pokémon Box: Ruby and Sapphire — Nintendo GameCube — July 12, 2004

Pokémon FireRed — Game Boy Advance — September 9, 2004

Pokémon LeafGreen — Game Boy Advance — September 9, 2004

Pokémon Dash — Nintendo DS — March 14, 2005

Pokémon Emerald — Game Boy Advance — May 1, 2005

Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness — Nintendo GameCube — October 3, 2005

Pokémon Trozei! — Nintendo DS — March 6, 2006

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team — Game Boy Advance — September 18, 2006

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team — Nintendo DS — September 18, 2006

The Fourth Generation


See main article: Fourth Generation Pokémon

Pokémon Ranger — Nintendo DS — October 30, 2006

Pokémon Diamond — Nintendo DS — April 22, 2007

Pokémon Pearl — Nintendo DS — April 22, 2007

Pokémon Battle Revolution — Wii — June 25, 2007


Items found in the series

Poké balls

A Poké ball is a device used for catching wild Pokémon and storing them when they are not in use. In most of the games this is the only way that a trainer can catch Pokémon, although there are some cases where Pokémon can be obtained from eggs. Further information can be found here.

Pokédex

This is the prized possession of any trainer! In games this keeps a record of all the Pokémon that you have caught and gives physical data, a description of the Pokémon and a sample of its cry. In the anime cartoon, it is used as a reference for trainers giving them information on Pokémon they encounter in the field1.

Berries

These can be used by a trainer or held by a Pokémon and are used for restoring HP and stat. changes. The effect of using a berry depends on the berry that is being used.

Flutes

In Pokémon red, blue, yellow, fire red and leaf green versions the Pokéflute is used to awaken a sleeping Snorelax blocking the way. In Pokémon Snap, the Pokéflute is used to trigger certain responses from Pokémon, either bringing them out of hiding, or making them perform a special sort of trick. In other versions the Pokéflute is not present, but other sorts of flute are available.

Tm

Tm stands for “Technical Machine”. If a Tm is used on a Pokémon, it is able to learn a specific move (proving it is able to do so). If a Pokémon learns a move using a Tm it is possible for the Pokémon to forget that move. Tm’s can be found in the field, bought or be given as a gift when you defeat a gym leader. Tm’s can only be used once.

Hm

Hm stands for “Hidden Machine”. These are very similar to Tm’s with 3 exceptions. The first is that using a hidden machine gives you the ability to do something both inside and outside of a battle context (although there are some Tm’s that let you do this), the second thing is that a Pokémon cannot forget a move that it has learnt from a Hm (this can however be solved by taking the Pokémon to a move deleters house. Finally, Hm’s can be used as many times as you want, meaning that you can teach a Hm move to more than one Pokémon at a time.

Evolution stones

Evolution stones sometimes known as elemental stones can be given to a Pokémon for it to hold, or used on a Pokémon. If the right sort of stone is used on a Pokémon it can cause the Pokémon to evolve.

Vitamins

Vitamins (sometimes known as nutrients) are used to raise the stats of a Pokémon, they can be found and also bought (but at a very high price!)

General purpose tools

There is a different multi-purpose tool in every generation (apart from the first where one is not present). The tool tends to bear some sort of resemblense to the console it is present on.

In the second generation there was the Poké gear, which included a watch, map, phone and radio.

In the third generation there was the Pokénav, which monitored the contest condition of the player's Pokémon, stored profiles of other trainers defeated by the player (including keeping track of when a trainer is ready for a rematch), displayed awards and ribbons won by the player's Pokémon, and had a map to display the player's location in Hoenn. In Emerald version it also had a phone.

This generation also had the Pokémon Digital Assistant, which was a digital organizer used by the protagonists of Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. Much like the Pokédex, it keep track of the Pokémon captured and snagged by the user. It also served as these games' menu screens, displaying such data as money accumulated and time played.

In the fourth generation, there was the Pokétch (an abbreviation of “Pokémon watch”) which had 25 known functions, including including a calendar, touch-screen calculator, friendship checker, daycare monitor and pedometer and all the functions in previous generations.


Additional Research by: Gnomon U151503
1The "field" is a term used to describe a place in a game where the character is not in a dungeon, gym or town.

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