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The Pokémon Peninsula > Opinion Articles > The Future of Pokémon

I wrote this article for my school's student newspaper in March 2004. *shrugs* They didn't bother to use it. Or anything else from the eight pages of stuff I submitted, like music and Anime reviews. Even though they kept going on about how they needed submissions. Enjoy! XD

Love 'em or hate 'em, it looks like the little critters are here to stay. The cute Japanese "pocket monsters" have been around for about eight years now, and with six TV series, seven movies and over 15 games (as well as featured characters in other games) it's pretty clear they'll be here for a while.

Take your minds back a few years, to when Pokémon Red and Blue appeared on the shelves of games shops and department stores. It seemed like the craze took off overnight. Every second kid was hunched over a GameBoy, battling away, trying to catch 'em all. The link cables came out for trades and linked battles. Everyone loved these little monsters.

In the wake of this came the TV show, following one boy's Pokémon journey. Kids loved it. They could identify with Ash Ketchum and his friends, the water-loving Misty and the Pokémon breeder Brock, aged between 10 and 14. Pokémon Yellow soon followed, with a cute little Pikachu in the Pokémon trainer's shadow.

There was a break, during which more TV series and movies appeared. Then the Gold and Silver Versions were released. It was a Poké-revolution! New Pokémon to catch, lands to explore, things to do and get… a whole new generation of Pokéfans began. Next came another "single" version, Crystal, with the added choice of playing as a boy or a girl. Pokémon had always been popular with both genders, but now the gender imbalance was dissolved.

By this time, we were up to five TV series and four movies. New things could only follow.

Follow they did, with the GameBoy Advance games Ruby and Sapphire Versions topping the Japanese games charts in the first week of their release. Sapphire was on top, Ruby a close second - and they had been out for only four of the seven days for that chart! Obviously, Pokémon hadn't lost its popularity.

There followed a return to old-school, with remakes of Red and Green (Green was Japan's equivalent of Blue; Japan's Blue was different) the current releases, Fire Red and Leaf Green. They're due out in English sometime around September.

So, what's in store for Pokémon? Well, we know this for sure: more movies, more TV and more games are on the way. The seventh movie may be out (in Japan at least) by the time you read this; Pokémon Colosseum for the Nintendo Gamecube is just out, and looks stunning in 3D.

The last word goes to Pokémon's creator, Satoshi Tajiri: while there are almost 400 Pokémon already, he says there are still over 700 he's drawn and we'll see in games and Anime.