From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Pokmon (disambiguation).

The official logo

of Pokmon for its
international
release; "Pokmon"
is short for the original Japanese title of "Pocket Monsters".
Pokmon !"#$ Pokemon?, / p o k e m n / POH-kay-mon [1]
[2]% is a media fran!ise pu&lished &y Japanese "ideo game company
#intendo , o'ned &y $!e Pokmon %ompany ,[&] and created &y 'atos!i $a(iri
in ())*, focused on the titular creatures. +riginally released as a
pair of interlinka&le )ame *oy ro+e-p+aying "ideo games de,eloped &y
)ame ,reak , Pokmon has since &ecome the second-most successful and
lucrati,e ,ideo game-&ased media franchise in the 'orld, &ehind only
.intendo/s -ario fran!ise .[.] Pokmon properties ha,e since &een
mer!andised into anime , manga , trading ards , toys, &ooks, and other
media.
The franchise cele&rated its tent! anni"ersary in 011*.[/] 2umulati,e sales
of the ,ideo games including home console ,ersions, such as "Hey 0ou1
Pika!u2" for the #intendo 3. % ha,e reached more than 011 million
copies.[3] 3n .o,em&er 0114, .4ids 5ntertainment , 'hich had managed the
non-game related licensing of Pokmon, announced that it had agreed not
to rene' the Pokmon representation agreement. Pokmon 567 3nc. no' The
Pokmon 2ompany 3nternational%, a su&sidiary of Japan/s Pokmon 2o., no'
o,ersees all Pokmon licensing outside of 7sia.[6]
2ontents
1 #ame
2 %onept
& 7ist of Pokmon
. 8ideo games
o .91 )enerations
.92 )ame me!anis
.9291 'tarter Pokmon
.9292 Pokde:
/ ;n ot!er media
o /91 <nime series
o /92 ,i+ms
o /9& 'oundtraks
o /9. Pokmon $rading %ard )ame
o /9/ -anga
3 %ritiism and ontro"ersy
o 391 -ora+ity and re+igious be+iefs
o 392 Hea+t!
o 39& -onster in -y Poket
6 %u+tura+ inf+uene
= 'ee a+so
> ?eferenes
1@ 5:terna+ +inks
.ame
The name Pokmon is the romaniAed ontration of the Japanese &rand
Pocket Monsters !"89#$ :;< Poketto Monsut=?%.[=] The term
Pokmon, in addition to referring to the Pokmon franchise itself, also
collecti,ely refers to the 61> knoBn fitiona+ speies that ha,e made
appearances in Pokmon media as of the release of the si>th generation
titles Pokmon C and 0 . "Pokmon" is identia+ in bot! t!e singu+ar and p+ura+ ,
as is each indi,idual species name; it is grammatically correct to say
"one Pokmon" and "many Pokmon", as 'ell as "one Pika!u " and "many
Pikachu".[>] ?o'e,er, Pokmon ?ed1 *+ue , and 0e++oB feature .P2s
referring to the plurals of 2lefairy and @iglett 'ith an "s" at the end,
sho'n "2ABF73CDs" and "@3EABTTs", respecti,ely. This 'as fi>ed in
,ire?ed and 7eaf)reen .%
2oncept
The concept of the Pokmon uni"erse , in &oth the ,ideo games and the
general fictional 'orld of Pokmon, stems from the ho&&y of inset
o++eting , a popular pastime 'hich Pokmon e>ecuti,e director 6atoshi
TaFiri enFoyed as a child.[1@] Players of the games are designated as
Pokmon $rainers , and the t'o general goals in most Pokmon games% for
such Trainers areG to complete the Pokde: &y collecting all of the
a,aila&le Pokmon species found in the fictional region 'here that game
takes place; and to train a team of po'erful Pokmon from those they
ha,e caught to compete against teams o'ned &y other Trainers, and
e,entually &ecome the strongest TrainerG the Pokmon Master. These
themes of collecting, training, and &attling are present in almost e,ery
,ersion of the Pokmon franchise, including the "ideo games , the anime
and manga series, and the Pokmon $rading %ard )ame .
3n most incarnations of the fictional Pokmon uni,erse, a Trainer that
encounters a 'ild Pokmon is a&le to capture that Pokmon &y thro'ing a
specially designed, mass-produci&le spherical tool called a Pok *a++ at
it. 3f the Pokmon is una&le to escape the confines of the Pok Hall, it
is officially considered to &e under the o'nership of that Trainer.
7fter'ards, it 'ill o&ey 'hate,er its ne' master commands, unless the
Trainer demonstrates such a lack of e>perience that the Pokmon 'ould
rather act on its o'n accord. Trainers can send out any of their Pokmon
to 'age non-lethal &attles against other Pokmon; if the opposing
Pokmon is 'ild, the Trainer can capture that Pokmon 'ith a Pok Hall,
increasing his or her collection of creatures. Pokmon already o'ned &y
other Trainers cannot &e captured, e>cept under special circumstances in
certain games. 3f a Pokmon fully defeats an opponent in &attle so that
the opponent is knocked out i.e., "faints"%, the 'inning Pokmon gains
e:periene points and may le,el up. When le,eling up, the Pokmon/s
statistics "stats "% of &attling aptitude increase, such as 7ttack and
6peed. From time to time the Pokmon may also learn ne' mo"es , 'hich
are techniIues used in &attle. 3n addition, many species of Pokmon
possess the a&ility to undergo a form of metamorp!osis and transform
into a similar &ut stronger species of Pokmon, a process called
e"o+ution .
3n the main series, each game/s single-player mode reIuires the Trainer
to raise a team of Pokmon to defeat many non-p+ayer !arater .P2%
Trainers and their Pokmon. Bach game lays out a some'hat linear path
through a specific region of the Pokmon 'orld for the Trainer to
Fourney through, completing e,ents and &attling opponents along the 'ay.
Bach game features eight especially po'erful Trainers, referred to as
)ym 7eaders , that the Trainer must defeat in order to progress. 7s a
re'ard, the Trainer recei,es a Eym Hadge, and once all eight &adges are
collected, that Trainer is eligi&le to challenge the region/s Pokmon
Aeague, 'here four immensely talented trainers referred to collecti,ely
as the "5+ite ,our "% challenge the Trainer to four Pokmon &attles in
succession. 3f the trainer can o,ercome this gauntlet, he or she must
then challenge the Cegional 2hampion, the master Trainer 'ho had
pre,iously defeated the Blite Four. 7ny Trainer 'ho 'ins this last
&attle &ecomes the ne' champion.
Aist of Pokmon