"Gotta Catch 'Em All"

Beginning life as a 'Gameboy' computer game that took six years to create, Pokèmon grew into a world-wide merchandising phenomenon almost without equal, of which the TV series was merely an extension.

The interactive role playing game of Pokèmon -the title derived from 'Pocket Monster'- offered players (called 'trainers') a chance to capture an ever increasing number of collectible species and engage in Pokèmon battles with other trainers. The trainers goal is to increase their status until they earn the honour of becoming "The World's Greatest Pokemon Master." The simple task of capture becomes more difficult as each Pokèmon creature possesses it's own special powers based on it's connection with the elements of either earth, wind, fire or water. Trainers have to exhibit manual dexterity, problem solving and strategic skills to win battles, and commit to memory an ever growing list of inscrutable facts about which strategies are best suited to which Pokèmon.

The hero of the TV story is Ash, a 10-year old boy who lives with his mother in a place called Pallet Town. Here children are eligible to receive a licence to keep Pokèmon when they reach the age of ten. At the local Pokèmon Research Centre, Professor Oak presents Ash with his Pokèmon, Pikachu, an electric mouse. Pikachu turns out to be something of a temperamental creature, but Ash, who loves Pokemon, is happy to finally have one of his own. And so the adventure begins for the youngster as he sets off to become the world's best Pokèmon Master.

In Japan, where the Pokèmon were born, Ash is called Satoshi; and Satoshi was made in the image of his creator, Satoshi Tajiri. However, by the time Tajiri had spent six years developing his computer game, most people considered Game Boy to be old technology. "When I finished Pokèmon," says Tajiri, "I thought Nintendo would reject it." However, Nintendo did release the game even though they did not expect much from it. Pokèmon sales grew slowly though steadily and they did not stop. Tajiri generated further interest by revealing a secret twist in the programming. Officially there were only 150 species of Pokèmon. Unknown to Nintendo, Tajiri had put a 151st in the software: Mew, a major character in the Pokèmon movie. "You had to acquire Mew by interacting," says Tajiri. "Without trading, you can never get Mew." With a hit on its hands, Nintendo decided to animate the game. The show, produced in anime style, quickly became the top-rated children's TV series in Japan, appealing to both girls and boys alike.

Whilst Japanese children followed the adventures of Satoshi pitted against the evil Musashi and Kojiro, US and British children watched Ash fight the same battles against Jessie and James, Only Pikachu was called by the same name. Not only were the names changed, so too were the sites, sounds, jokes and even the storylines. Every frame of the show was altered to remove Japanese writing, foods and even culture. Not a word remained the same-and every word had to fit. After the dialogue was translated, it was edited so that the words matched the exact movements of the characters' mouths. Reshaping each Pokémon cartoon for English speaking audiences took up to three months and costs nearly £75,000, but as one of the all-time children's favourite the investment was obviously worth it.

Pokemon was a shining example of modern day hype and clever marketing. As well as the computer game and TV series there were (still are) books, music, and videos. Around the world people are collecting and swapping trading cards, sometimes to the point of fanaticism. There are toys and stickers which, for a while at least, seemed to come out on a weekly basis. And when it came to Web sites, "Pokèmon" was, for a time, the sixth most searched for word on the Internet.