Pokemon

[meredith]

Can somebody please tell me what the heck this Pokemon thing is?

[Louie]

http://www.pokemon.com should explain everything. But I'll tell you anyways...

"Pokémon" means "pocket monsters" in Japanese. It is a game made by Nintendo and is widely popular with all kids. The object of the game is to try to collect all 150 "Pokémon" in the world. The Pokémon are various animals with magical powers, from cute cuddly creatures, to huge, ferocious beasts.

The kids are addicted to this game because of the trade feature. They can trade the Pokémon they caught in the game to other people with the game in exchange for other Pokémon.

Pokémon was released in Japan in 1995 and in the U.S. in 1998. As you can tell by now, Pokémon has become hugely popular with the kids. There are the Pokémon cartoon show, the Pokémon movie coming out soon, Pokémon toys, and the Pokémon trading card game.

Sorry if you weren't interested in the history of Pokémon, but that was the only way I could answer your question completely.


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[handy]

There is a pokemon newsgroup. you can download and print all the winning pokemon for free. But don't tell.

Its just like Magic the gathering, you know, whoever has the best card wins.

[BigRoryG]

Hey, Handy - I used to play Magic wheni was a kid, and i was cheap so i never had the best cards, but i knew the game, 'cause i reasearched and i could beat all my friends 'cause they were dumb. It's very complex, very open to strategy

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If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.

If you need a graphic solution, http:\\talk.to\Piglet (http://talk.to\Piglet)

[The_Peyote_Coyote]

Dear Meredith:
Many of the kids in the Bloomington, Ind, areas are crazy about the Pokemon game. And a few adults, too -- saw a 30-year-old man stomp out of a game store a few nights ago because the clerk would not sell him the last two Pokemon boosters. She wanted to sell them to a kid.
I've noticed the adults and teenagers, myself included, stick to Magic: The Gathering, Legend of the Five Rings (my favorite at present), Doomtown and Seven Seas.
BTW handy, BigRoryG is right. There is considerably more to playing Magic than what cards you have.

[DSYoungEsq]

Just a note: the Pokémon trading card game is only the second game with the critters to surface here. The first game was the Nitendo game that was played on GameBoys (I don't think that there was a game for the regular Nitendo system). There were two versions (Red and Blue) which allowed you to run into different Pokémon, and which encouraged you to trade Pokémon with friends using the cord that can connect GameBoys. The object of the game was to wander through the world, slowly using your starter Pokémon to overcome (the faint, they don't die) the wild Pokémon you ran into, capturing them to add to Professor Oak's collection of data on them, and using them to fight other Pokémon. Each Pokémon species has different attacking/defensive moves and can evolve to other types that are more powerful.

The newest Pokémon game in the US is the Pokémon Snap game for the Nitendo 64. This very cute game eschews the idea of violence (fighting Pokémon) for using a camera to capture Pokémon on film, with an elaborate scoring system and some cute helping methods for causing evolution. I had quite an enjoyable 20 hours or so getting to the end of it. :)

[handy]

hey someone is suing Nintendo claiming Pokemon is racketeering. lol. Better watch out.

[Louie]

I'm confused, which did come first, the Nintendo Gameboy game or the trading card game?

[HeyHomie]

I feel compelled to point out that the Pokemon cartoon show is the same show that sent Japanese kids into convulsions a few years back. And they brought it here. Lovely.

[Sealemon88]

It's like playing Rock-Scissors-Paper:Vegas Rules.

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You say "cheesy" like that's a BAD thing.

[handy]

BigRoryG, I used to play poker when I was a kid along with war, which only requires a cheap deck.

[nasargent]

This is kind of off the subject but you may find it amusing, especially all of you lawyer-bashers out there.

Recently, a bunch of lawfirms representing a bunch of parents sued all of the distributors and makers of Pokemon cards, basically alleging that the game promotes gambling and is immoral and illegal. Well, it turns out one of the big firms who brought the suit also represented one of the smaller distributors in other matters. Laywers are supposed to do conflict of interest checks to prevent this from happening, but this one slipped through the cracks. Anyway, the firm had to withdraw from the case, and the media picked up the story. When a senior partner was asked why the firm didn't advise its client (the distributor) that selling the cards was illegal and immoral, the partner said, "They didn't ask."

[Mr. Sheepshead]

A couple of things:

First of all the games precede the cards, both here and in Japan.

And if you think this Pokemon thing is bad here - you should see the scene in Japan. They've got 4 Game Boy Games (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow) and on Nov. 21 the two new ones (Silver and Gold) will be released. There are no less than 10 Japanese Pokemon related games. The four GB ones, Pokemon Stadium 1 & 2, Pokemon Card GB, Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Pinball, and Pokemon Genki Dechu.

Admittedly, this is pretty sickening, but so is Pokemon backlash. My favorite is Mark Juvera. This guy is a children's pastor whose own son was a Pokemon freak. Juvera read an e-mail on the evils (!) of Pokemon. Y'know, like how it can lead to other games like Magic: The Gathering (I guess religion doesn't care for role playing games). Well, anyways he ends up ripping up a Pikachu (he's that little yellow one you always see) doll with a sword during one of his church services. A wonderful anti-evil message: the disembowlment of a cute little defenseless yellow stuffed animal. (This story appears in Electronic Gaming Monthly #124, it's a whole bloody issue dedicated to Pokemon for those of you who still care about them).


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-Mr. Sheepshead

[John W. Kennedy]

The convulsions were caused by one/i] set of strobe-like flashes in [i]one episode of the cartoon. Basically, no-one in the cartoon business knew about the strobe-light problem before this. Now they do.

Anyway, the episode was redone. (And despite that, they're still not taking the risk of showing it in America, land of cheezy lawyers.)

Actually, the show's kinda cool, if you can get yourself to watch it like a kid; I know that when I was, say, 6-10 years old, I would have liked the Pokémon show much more than any other kids' show that's on today. (Those of you my age will perhaps understand what I mean when I say that the Pokémon world is a real place, just like Doodyville, USA.) There's also a certain amount that's at a Rocky & Bullwinkle level of comedy, such as the obsessive-compulsive villains who can't make an entrance without reciting their little "Prepare for trouble" speech.

The game itself is pretty cool, too, a fairly sophisticated CRPG with a rather large world. I don't own it, but if I ever were to buy a Gameboy, it would be so that I could play Pokémon on it.

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John W. Kennedy
"Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays."
-- Charles Williams

[BurnMeUp]

Actually just to clear something else up Pokemon means nothing in japanese.

POcKEt MONsters is how they arrived at the name.

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Just add water, it makes it's own sauce!

[John W. Kennedy]

Pokémon Yellow is coming out in the US today, along with a package deal with both the game and a special Pikachu-yellow Gameboy. Silver and Gold won't be out in the US for about a year.

(And Red and Blue only just made it to Europe.)

Red, Blue, and Green are essentially the same game, but have different Pokémon available, so that you must trade with others to get a complete collection. (There is, I gather, nothing in Green that is not in Blue, which is why Green was never made available in the US.) Yellow is more optimized for GameBoy Color, and is somewhat more conformed to the cartoon series. (It allows Pikachu as a starter Pokémon, and the familiar Jessie and James characters appear instead of generic villains.) Gold and Silver introduce at least 100 more species of Pokémon and a much larger world.

There's also "Pocket Pikachu", a combined virtual pet/pedometer, of which a 2nd, color version just came out in Japan.

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John W. Kennedy
"Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays."
-- Charles Williams

[DSYoungEsq]

Oh, Thanks, John, for reminding me about that little pocket-sized virtual-pet Pikachu! My then twelve-year-old son had one and you would have thought the world had come to an end when it was 'lost' in the mess he and his brother call their room. The day was saved when their youngest brother, all of six, proved that he is the best thing-finder of them all by rooting through the rubble and finding the now quite hungry and unhappy Pikachu.

And I DID buy a GB last winter to play Pokémon on after watching my boys at Christmas spend a whole week totally enthralled with the red and blue versions... :)

[salinqmind]

I am WAY old and am hypnotized by the Pokeman cartoon show twice a day, due to the viewing habits of my 12 yr old daughter. When I was her age, I was hypnotized by Astroboy, another Japanese cartoon!!! Some of the Pokeman are unbearably adorable. Sometimes Japanese elements (kimonos, Japanese shoes and houses, etc.) are shown but not alluded to, the cartoon characters have good ol' American voices. I just love the villains, Jessie and James (Team Rocket). They never learn. They are always defeated and disappear somewhere over the horizon with a little "ping". They are as obnoxious, self-centered, and greedy as they are strikingly BEAUTIFUL. (More so than the heroes, oddly enough. Never have I ever read any comment on this!) We also own the Pokeman Nintendo Snap game, and it is enjoyable in the extreme! Well, I got that off my chest! Don't worry, next year or so it'll be something else taking over our kids' minds....

[RoboDude]

I remeber seeing the TV ad for the Pikachu virtual pet long before I knew the games existed.

[NanoByte]

Howdy,

So in what state is Doodyville, USA?

Ray (unreal)

[sunbear]

I have to play pokemon with my 8 year old. He always gives me the starter deck with Charmander etc and his deck keeps improving every week. But he does not realize that as I "lose", I win. I get out of a lengthy game.

[BurnMeUp]

Well here is another adult that find many of the Pokemon adorable. I have played the game (Gameboy) a little and it's ok as a doversion on long trips. Overall i just love how adorable some of the characters are. Especially Jigglypuff.

Unfortunately I can't get WB or other local channels in my apartment complex without cable, and I REFUSE to use TCI so I have a dish instead. I will probably buy the episodes on DVD.

-Salinqmind - if you like the art of the characters, you should check out other japanese animation (Anime) shows. most video stores have a wide selection. But be careful many titles are not kid friendly.

Personally I also like Sailor Moon (although I feel like a dirty old man watching it).

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"She's nothin but a little lyin' ass bitch... I know she says she loves you but you know she don't care..."

[meredith]

Thanks everyone! I had some guy at work try to explain it to me and I read some about it, but for some reason, it just didn't click until I read all of these different takes on it, now I think I kinda get it! :)

[Mister Armageddon]

And here's yet another older viewer that's into Pokemon. This is like an epidemic or something. Actually, I watch the show mainly for the villains, because there's just something about them I love. They never win (they never really get that close, either) but they're endlessly hilarious to watch and they always get the funniest lines. Jigglypuff is also a personal favorite of mine. And the voice acting is excellent, plus the script remains amazingly faithful to the original. This is in direct contrast to most American TV dubs of anime.

The Game Boy games are great, too, even though I'm too chicken to actually go out and trade with anyone.

Oh, and BurnMeUp, you'll probably be pleased to hear that Cartoon Network has confirmed new episodes of Sailor Moon, although they haven't said when they'll air. From what I hear, the upcoming season is a masterpiece, so let's hope they don't screw it up.

And as long as we're delving into other anime, I get a real kick out of the fight scenes in Dragon Ball Z. Practically every energy beam Frieza or Goku fires turns into a Hiroshima-sized fireball when it misses their opponent and hits the ground. It's also a rare pleasure to actually see blood now, although the voice acting sucks compared to the first two seasons.

[Girl Next Door]

I like my husband's definition of Pokemon:

It's kind of like a cross between Beanie Babies and cockfighting.

:)

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Leslie Irish Evans
http://leslie.scrappy.net

[John W. Kennedy]

So in what state is Doodyville, USA?


(Sigh!) A state of mind.

(And to think that it once almost single-handedly subsidized the entire television industry!)

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John W. Kennedy
"Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays."
-- Charles Williams