Pokémon, also known as "Pocket Monsters", "Pet Elves", "Wonder Babies", "Pocket Monsters" (Koudai Yaoguai), "Pocket Elves", "Elf Pokémon"...
But they are all the same thing.
Pokémon is a series of games developed by Game Freak and Creatures Inc., and published by Nintendo.
The original work was a Game Boy role-playing game released in Japan in 1996.
The Pokémon series is the second best-selling video game series in the world, second only to Nintendo's Super Mario series.
How influential is Pokémon?
In the 21st century, as long as you say the name Pokémon, there is almost no one from the age of 6 to 40 who hasn't heard of it.
Although it is second only to Super Mario in sales, it is not inferior in fame at all, and was even once hailed as the world's largest IP.
From games to animation, to peripheral toys, figures... Pokémon has everything.
Although it is second only to Super Mario in terms of sales, its fame is in no way inferior, and it was even once hailed as the world's largest IP.
Pokémon has everything from games to anime, to peripheral toys, figurines...
Everything you could imagine.
Pokémon can be described as a turn-based pet-raising role-playing game.
The game mechanics themselves are not particularly complex, but its strength lies in satisfying players' desire for collection, and the various interesting and cute Pokémon pets, all of which fascinate players.
Although Pokémon is very successful now, the process of it becoming famous was quite bumpy.
Back in 1995, even Nintendo, the master of the gaming world, had its moments of falling into the abyss.
At that time, due to changes in the market, Nintendo was preparing to withdraw from the handheld market, intending to shift its focus to home consoles and the development of a replacement for the Game Boy, the "Virtual Boy" (VB for short), which is considered the first prototype and attempt at a VR headset.
But unexpectedly, the concept of the VB was too far ahead of its time and was a complete failure. With the N64, two generations of home consoles began to collapse, and their territory in the console market was encroached upon by Sony and Sega.
The failing Nintendo was like someone teetering on the edge of a cliff, but it was then that it saw a glimmer of hope: "Pokémon."
At the beginning, when the Pokémon game was finally produced, it faced fierce competition from "Final Fantasy" and "Dragon Quest," the two national RPGs of Japan, and was beaten to a pulp.
When Pokémon was first released, the game had barely been produced when it was battered and bruised by its competitors, the Japanese national RPG staples "Final Fantasy" and "Dragon Quest."
Players didn't have much interest in Pokémon, and Famitsu only gave it a low score of 28.
However, when Nintendo decided to believe in "Pokémon," it also helped it to "evolve."
Nintendo first serialized the "Pokémon: The Story of Clefairy" manga, and then promoted it in major magazines, and Pokémon gradually became widely known.
Later, thanks to its animation adaptation and the accidental appearance of the "Mew Cartridge," Pokémon's reputation exploded, and it became a world-class IP.
The "Mew Cartridge," that legendary Pokémon No. 151, "Mew."
Simply put, the original cartridges didn't have enough capacity to hold all of them, so they were deleted down to just 150.
But Mew's creator took the liberty of sneaking it in after fixing bugs in certain cartridges.
It was equivalent to creating a "Collector's Edition," which featured the 151st Pokémon, "Mew," a Pokémon not available in any other version.
Unexpectedly, this unforeseen move drove players wild.
Nintendo struck while the iron was hot and launched a limited-time event where players could obtain a "Mew Cartridge." There were only 20 prizes, but it attracted nearly 80,000 applicants, which stunned even Nintendo itself.
They then rushed to work, and a few months later, they took the opportunity to release the Blue Version, which fixed many bugs and saw sales climb once again.
If the The Legend of Zelda series changed the gaming world for Nintendo, then it was certainly the Pokémon series that changed Nintendo itself.
It was precisely because of Pokémon that Nintendo was able to escape its predicament and reclaim its status as the king of handheld consoles.
One could even say that without Pokémon, Nintendo would have been like a person missing a leg.
Without Pokémon, Nintendo might not even have been able to survive the crisis of 1995.
In short, the journey of Pokémon from its inception to fame, and finally to becoming a world-class IP, was truly filled with hardships, and a fair bit of luck was involved as well.
It is said that when fortune smiles, heaven and earth lend their strength; when fortune fades, even the hero is powerless.
From the original creator Satoshi Tajiri, to Nintendo finding itself in a predicament and pinning its hopes on Pokémon, to the handheld console, the chance inclusion of Mew in the cartridge, and finally the manga and anime adaptations... if any single link in this chain had failed, Pokémon never would have succeeded.
Aoki Haruhi could not guarantee that he could achieve the same level of glory by developing Pokémon himself as it did in his previous life.
However, it was still better than handing it over to Nintendo.
"We're hiring."
Aoki Haruhi placed his coffee cup in front of the little HR and tapped her desk.
"Eh?"
Ayase Akane first looked at the half-drunk coffee cup in front of her. Her eyes were confused for only a second, and then they instantly lit up.
"Okay, President. You've finally remembered me."
Having been a secretary for so long, her body instinctively wanted to go and refill his coffee.
But upon hearing the words "hiring," the HR soul within Ayase Akane finally awakened.
She was even a little moved.
She quickly flipped open her notebook from the drawer and picked up her ballpoint pen, ready for action.
"President, what kind of talent are we looking for? What positions, and what are the specific requirements?"
Before Aoki Haruhi could answer, she frowned and asked, "But President, it's been less than half a year since the last round of hiring. Are we really hiring again?"
"Mm, Pokeni is in a growth phase right now," Aoki Haruhi said nonchalantly.
Tsk, tsk.
It really hasn't been easy; just a while ago, the company was barely hanging on.
So now it's in a growth phase.
Self-confidence is a good thing.
But is the President really not afraid that hiring too many people might cause the company to suddenly collapse?
But then again...
As an HR, Ayase Akane actually quite hoped to have something to do.
"Then may I ask what the requirements are?"
Aoki Haruhi stood where he was, leaning against her desk, and tapped his fingers on the tabletop.
"Botany, zoology, biology, paleontology, entomology... university graduates with these majors will do."
Sss...
Ayase Akane's fingers trembled.
"Um... President, what do you need such talent for?"
"For planning roles. We want to feature more insect and plant-type protagonists in our next new game."
Uhh...
"Understood, President."
Ayase Akane sighed silently.
Although she had long since realized the President had a penchant for [non-human] things, this was the first time he had been so blunt about it.
Before, they at least had some humanoid appearance or packaging; a request as blatant and terrifying as this was completely unheard of to Ayase Akane.
Has the President finally decided to stop being human?
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