Pokemon: Why is it so Popular?
Who would have guessed that a funny bunch of digital creatures with names like Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle and Jiggly Puff would hypnotize our kids, empty our pocketbooks and create the biggest game sensation in memory? With more than $5 billion in international sales, Pokemon is the best-selling video game in the U.S. More than 4.2 million Game Boy and Nintendo 64 cartridges have been sold since last September. Factor in the 1 million trading-card packs sold, a top animated TV series and the 100 or so a Pokemon license offering everything from backpacks to lollipops, and it's clear that we're a nation obsessed. Some smart features have helped hold kids' fascination. As any Pokemon player knows, the goal of the game is to collect and tame all 150 characters. But to do so, kids must link their Game Boys up with those of friends and make trades. Some of the printed cards were issued in limited quantities, spawning frenzied trading clubs for obsessed kids and causing the card! In Japan, where the Pokemon were born, Ash is called Satoshi; and Satoshi was made in the image of his creator, Satoshi Tajiri, a young outcast who, as a boy living just outside Tokyo, collec
was raised on Space Invaders in the early days of the video-game revolution. With a handful of fellow junkies (including his friend Ken Sugimori, who would eventually draw all the Pokemon), Tajiri began a magazine called GameFreak in 1982 to publicize tips and cheat codes of their favorite games. "Our conclusion was," he says, "there weren't too many good-quality games, so let's make our own." He took apart a Nintendo system to figure out how to make the games himself. Then, in 1991, he discovered Nintendo's Game Boy and its prize feature: a cable that could link any two Game Boys together. "I imagined an insect moving back and forth across the cable. That's what inspired me." Tajiri had hit upon the basic idea that would make the Pokemon a marketing wonder. Collecting would lead to trading between handhelds--and eventually between collectors of cards and plastic battle figures. That's where Pokemon's slogan, "Gotta catch 'em all", came from. Nintendo had a hit on its hand. They used marketing strategies to make kids become almost addicted to the series. The TV show propagandizes each new creature with a tutorial called "Who's that Pokemon?" Most of the Pokemon growl their names repeatedly ("Squirtle, Squirtle, Squirtle"), so the children learn who's who quickly. The Pokemon were given cleverly descriptive names from their Japanese counterparts. For example, of the three more popular Pokemon, Hitokage, a salamander with a ball of fire on its tail, became Charmander; Fushigidane, a dinosaur with a green garlic bulb on its back, became Bulbasaur; and Zenigame, a turtle who squirts water, became Squirtle. Others winked at familiar pop images: the martial arts Pokemon Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee are tributes to Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. ecret twist into the programming. Officially there were only 150 species of Pokemon. Unknown to Nintendo, Tajiri had put a 151st in the software: Mew, a major character in the movie, which beat other movies on it's opening weekend (see graph). You had to acquire Mew by interacting. Without trading, you can never get Mew. The rumors started flying of a secret monster that only a few people had the key to unlock. More games sold and the poke
Some common words found in the essay are:
Dungeons Dragons, Wizards Coast, Satoshi Tajiri, Game Boy, Game Boys, Hasbro Inc, Nintendo Tajiri, September Factor, Coast Inc, That's Pokemon's, game boy, wizards coast, card game, link game boys, game boys, link game, card pack, squirtle squirtle, pokemon phenomenon, buy children, video game,
Approximate Word count = 1479
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
