Pokemon (Ohga Shrugs)

Pokemon is a series of video games created by Satoshi Tajiri and published by Nintendo. It consists of a main series of Role-Playing games developed by Game Freak for the Game Boy series of handhelds and a variety of spinoff games.

Concept
Pokemon games take place in a fantasy world that is simultaneously more and less technologically advanced than out own. Along with human populations, this world contains a species known as Pokemon, which comes in literally hundreds of varieties. In a typical Pokemon game, players take the role of Pokemon trainers, who recruit Pokemon to their teams through defeating them in battle, use their teams to defeat other trainers, and rise through the ranks of the local gym system and the Elite Four and Champion, all while thwarting a villainous team.

Main Series
Satoshi Tajiri first conceived of Pokemon early in the life of the original Game Boy. He saw the possibilities of the then-revolutionary "link cables" to allow data to transfer between two systems. Game Freak, then a relatively small developer, spent years developing this concept around a role-playing game featuring 151 collectable creature types. Meanwhile, legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto suggested making multiple versions of the game, each with exclusive monsters to trade.

The resulting game, originally titled "Capsule Monsters," was renamed "Pocket Monsters," and is today usually shortened as Pokemon.

Pokemon was released in Japan on February 27, 1996. At the time, the Game Boy, already over half a decade old, was in a state of decline. However, the initial Red and Green versions of the game sold well, shifting over two million retail units in 1996 alone. This number skyrocketed to over six million copies in Japan sold during 1997 alone, far beyond Satoshi Tajiri's or Nintendo's woldest expectations. By the end of that year, Pokemon had outsold Super Mario Bros to become Japan's best-selling retail game of all time, a status it retains to this day.

The Western release of Pokemon came from late 1998 through mid-1999, along with the release of the Game Boy Color. Pokemon would actually overshadow the release of the new system, becoming nearly as much of a phenomenon in America and other countries as it was in Japan. Red and Blue versions alone sold over 11 million units in North America, making it one of the few games in the region's history to exceed 10 million copies sold on a single platform. Even in Europe, with "only" somewhat over eight million sales despite Nintendo's limited presence in the region, the first generation of Pokemon games sold more than all but a handful of any other title ever released at retail.

Before the second generation of Pokemon was released, the special Yellow edition was released. Based somewhat on the Pokemon anime, this game started a tradition of releasing an "ultimate" version of a generation of games before moving on. Yellow version sold somewhat less than half of the sales of the originals, which would become the franchise norm.

The second generation of Pokemon, titled Gold and Silver was released for the Game Boy Color from 1999 to 2001 worldwide. Essentially the system's killer app, this second generation of Pokemon focused on expanding the series, adding 100 new types of Pokemon, two new elements, a new region to explore, a day and night system, breeding, equippable items, and, of course, color. This generation sold about three quarters as well as the original, netting over 23 million copies sold worldwide. Crystal version sold a mere 6 million, but added even more new concepts such as selecting the playable character's gender.

Pokemon entered its third generation in 2002, with the release of Ruby and Sapphire for the Game Boy Advance. With a "mere" 17 million sales, this series set a bottom point from which the franchise seemed destined to go no lower than. Ruby and Sapphire added over 130 new types of Pokemon, introduced weather conditions as a factor in battle, developed the "natures" aspect of the metagame, and introduced two-on-two battles. However, the game was also criticized for leaving out innovations from the second generation, including the emphasis on time of day.

Less criticized were the remakes of the original games titled FireRed and LeafGreen. Also released for the Game Boy Advance, these games combined the concepts and creatures of teh original games with the new mechanics and graphics of more recent entries. In total, Sapphire and Ruby sold 17 million units, Emerlad sold 7 million, and FireRed and LeafGreen sold 12 million, for a grand total of roughly 36 million.