Pokémon
Worldwide phenomenon celebrates its 25th birthday
Pikachu is probably the most famous Pokémon
© enchanted_fairy / Shutterstock.com
Hard to believe, but this Saturday "Pokémon" will be 25 years old. Stars like Katy Perry and Post Malone are also celebrating the anniversary.
If you were to ask a random pensioner in a German pedestrian zone whether he knew what "Pokémon" was, he would probably not necessarily be able to explain what the popular pocket monsters are. But grandpa and grandma have also seen a Pikachu in many cases. With younger generations, however, it is almost unthinkable that they have no contact with "Pokémon". The extremely popular brand is now celebrating its 25th birthday.
How it all started
On February 27, 1996, "Pokémon" was released for the first time for Nintendo's Game Boy in Japan with a green and a red version. At that point, no one could even imagine how huge the brand was going to get. Due to its high popularity, a blue version was released a little later. German video players – apart from imports – had to wait until October 1999 to be able to play the red or blue edition of "Pokémon" for the first time. The different editions add up to one of the best-selling video games that has ever appeared. According to "Statista", more than 31.3 million copies were sold.
And the hype should only continue to grow over the years. Formerly popular with children and die-hard video game fans in particular, there has been an entire empire for many years now, which in addition to games also includes an extremely successful trading card game, movies, an anime series about the main character Ash Ketchum and countless merchandising items such as plush figures, T. -Shirts and the like.
The release of "Pokémon Go" for smartphones in 2016 hit the broad masses like lightning. The augmented reality app turned the summer five years ago into a real social festival. While the corona pandemic will probably still not make such an encounter possible in 2021, millions of people met in 2016 to hunt down the little pocket monsters with their smartphones. At this point in time, there was probably no more popular topic in the media either.
How is celebrated
It goes without saying that the brand's birthday must be celebrated. But what have Nintendo and The Pokémon Company planned? Numerous surprises are promised for 2021, which will gradually be revealed. However, some actions in the context of the month-long celebrations are already known. Some stars will also play a role.
In the night from Saturday to Sunday, at 01:00 am German time, a virtual concert with Post Malone (25, "Circles") will take place under the motto "P25 Music". The event will be broadcast on YouTube, Twitch and on "pokemon.com". And Katy Perry (36, "Roar") also makes a musical contribution, as it became known in January. Together with the Universal Music Group, new songs by a wide variety of artists, including Perry, are to be released.
Perhaps German "Pokémon" fans in 2021 will also be offered a similar action as US fans. In the Happy Meals for children there are actually special trading cards until March 8th. However, the US media recently reported that there were shortages as numerous adults bought the Happy Meals wholesale just to get the cards. Some of the packs should not even have landed in the individual branches of the chain and were directly resold at horrendous prices.
In addition, a new video game is set to appear in 2021. And very soon. The "New Pokémon Snap" inspired by "Pokémon Snap" (Nintendo 64) will be released on April 30 for Nintendo Switch. In addition, a special code is to be communicated on February 25th, with which "Pokémon Sword" and "Pokémon Shield" players receive a special Pikachu. All of this – and more – should only be the beginning.