30 years since the first Pokemon game. We're telling the story of how one of Nintendo's most important exclusives came to be

When Pokemon is mentioned, some people think of the Ash anime series, others of the movie about Detective Pikachu with Ryan Reynolds, and still others of the excitement surrounding the mobile Pokemon GO. But it all started on February 27, 1996, when the original game was released for the Game Boy. This article is dedicated to that game.

First, let's talk about the platform on which the first Pokemon was released. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a fierce console war raged between Sega and Nintendo. Initially, the rivalry focused solely on home systems, but soon both companies released their own handhelds. The Game Boy was released in April 1989, and the Sega Game Gear in October 1990. Also worth noting was the introduction of the Atari Lynx, which appeared around the same time. Nintendo's device was much simpler than its competitors, specifically, it had a black-and-white screen instead of a color one. However, the Game Boy won this race by a landslide, selling 118 million units, 10 times more than the Game Gear. The secret was simple: the device's relatively low price and excellent game library.

Many associate this console with Tetris. Other notable titles include Super Mario Land, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and Donkey Kong (1994). However, the most important game on the Game Boy was Pokemon.

Pokemon mechanics involve catching native monsters, battling them, and trading specific monsters with other players. All this seemed quite unusual for the 90s. The idea came from game designer Satoshi Tajiri. As a child, he was fond of collecting insects—he would catch them and show them to like-minded friends. Sometimes, they would trade rare species of bugs with each other. He regretted that after moving to Tokyo, he could no longer pursue this hobby. Then, he became fascinated with video games, and in 1983, he launched his own magazine, Game Freak. Ken Sugimori, who would later draw all the main Pokemon characters, also worked there as an illustrator. Six years later, Tajiri founded a game studio of the same name.

In 1990, he had the idea to replicate his childhood experience in a new project for consoles. His idea was for users to not only catch virtual insects but also trade them. The portable Game Boy seemed like an excellent platform for implementation, as the two consoles could be connected via a cable and the necessary data could be transferred.

But collecting alone was obviously not as exciting as the ability to battle Pokemon. Therefore, it was decided to add a full-fledged battle mechanic.

The Game Freak team had been developing Pokemon since 1990. Six years of intensive work led to the company running out of money and employees being unpaid. The Game Boy wasn't exactly the pinnacle of technological advancement at its release, and by the mid-1990s, it was already outdated. The very idea itself was considered by many to be too outlandish. There were concerns that Nintendo management would ultimately refuse to release Pokemon on the Game Boy. Implementing this mechanic on other platforms seemed impossible.

Help came from an unexpected source – Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the most influential people in the industry, who oversaw the development of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, took an interest in the game. He agreed to sponsor Game Freak and proposed releasing two versions of Pokemon – Red Version and Blue Version – that differed only in the selection of Pokemon available.

But neither he nor Satoshi Tajiri could have imagined how successful the game would be. Essentially, it gave the then-outdated portable console a second life.

The player must catch wild Pokemon in the local open world using a special ball-shaped device called a Pokeball. The chance of catching one depends on the monster's type, its health, and the level of your trap. If you manage to capture the creature, it becomes your pet. After this, the Pokemon must be trained and evolve. In the future, it will be able to evolve and become much stronger.

Battles are important for gaining experience. Enemies include wild Pokemon and those tamed by other trainers. During battle, it's important to use special abilities and actively use consumables, such as health packs.

The battle system in Pokemon can be considered overly simple, especially compared to jRPGs of the time. However, for an inexpensive portable console, this was enough to captivate millions of people around the world.

The goal of the game is to collect all Pokemon species. Specifically, you could trade them with other Game Boy owners via a special cable. However, to obtain the final 151st monster, you had to personally visit the Game Freak office and prove you already owned all the other beasts.

In total, including various editions for all regions, the original Pokemon sold 47.44 million copies. Even by today's standards, this is a huge success, and the game was released in the second half of the 1990s. Nintendo decided to build on this success, so it continued to release new installments in the series. In total, over a hundred have been released. The latest release, titled Pokemon Legends: Z-A, was on October 16, 2025. Time passes, the graphics improve, but the mechanics remain the same — catching Pokemon and battling them. There are now over a thousand of them, and there's clearly more to come.

While the 1996 original remains the most successful, newer games in the series also sell millions of copies. Most of them remain Nintendo exclusives. However, some titles have also been released outside of the big N consoles. A prime example is Pokemon GO for smartphones, which uses a camera and augmented reality features.

Riding the wave of the game's success, an anime series launched on April 1, 1997. It follows the adventures of the young Pokemon trainer Ash, who experiences both resounding victories and heartbreaking defeats. His story only concluded in 2023, after 25 seasons. But then a new series began featuring a heroine named Liko, which continues to this day. Full-length anime films were also released, expanding on the original story. Also noteworthy is the live-action film Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, which performed well at the box office.

Also worth mentioning is the collectible card game. It launched in October 1996 and continues to be supported to this day. The most expensive Pikachu print from the series sold at auction in February 2026 for $16.5 million.

As is often the case with major franchises, the release of games, cartoons, and movies was accompanied by various merchandise. Total revenue from Pokemon products has exceeded $100 billion, making it one of the most valuable franchises in the world.

The author of these lines was introduced to Pokemon in school. And we're not talking about the Nintendo consoles. One popular pastime back then was playing with Pokemon, which were round cardboard pieces with pictures on them. If you skillfully flipped them on the ground, you'd be the winner. They could depict anything from a strange flea named Pog to Power Rangers. But at some point, they were supplanted by Pokemon. To understand these strange creatures, I, on the advice of my classmates, turned on an anime series that was airing on television at the time. And it was the first Japanese cartoon I ever watched. None of my peers knew anything about Pokemon video games.

The second story happened much later. By then, I'd already graduated from college, was working, and with my next paycheck, I bought a Nintendo Switch. When a former classmate found out about it, he asked if I could use the console for a week. I didn't object. It turned out he wasn't interested in the new Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, or Bayonetta games. He wanted to experience the new Pokemon games for himself. All these years, my friend continued watching anime, following the world of pocket monsters, and running around town to expand his Pokemon GO collection. Eventually, I got hooked too.

The first Pokemon game offered unique gameplay with catching and training Pokemon, exploring a vast world, and battling other trainers. These adventures marked the beginning of the iconic series, which captured the hearts of millions of players worldwide and had a huge impact on the gaming industry.

Have you played the original Pokemon? Which other games in the series are you familiar with? Share your thoughts in the comments!