What says 90’s more than Pokémon? It’s one of the most popular franchises in the world and with its instantly recognizable star Pikachu, Pokémon has conquered games, TV, and movies! But are there things you may not know about Pokémon? Today we’re going to highlight things all Fanboys should know about Pokémon!
- Pokémon means “pocket monsters.” It’s an abbreviation of ‘Poketto Monsutā’ which means “pocket monster” in Japanese.
- Pikachu means “sparkly mouse noise.” ‘Pika’ is from ‘Pikapika’ which means ‘glitter or sparkle’ and ‘chu’ is from ‘chuchu’ the noise a mouse makes. Put them together and you have Sparkle Mouse Noise! I get the sparkle part, from when Pikachu uses his electric powers, but had no idea he was part mouse. I guess that could be a bonus fact.
- Pokemon was create by Satoshi Tajiri. “He was inspired by the fact that Gameboys could communicate, and began dreaming up a game that would link two Gameboys. At first, no body really understood Satoshi’s Pokémon idea, and the company struggled trying to produce it. Satoshi didn’t even take a salary during this time, but eventually the game was released and became a huge success!”-Beano.com
- Satoshi collected bugs first. Satoshi’s fascination with bugs inspired the catch phrase “Gotta’ catch ’em all!” He would spend hours searching for and collecting bugs and insects. He originally wanted to be an entomologist. I’m not sure how ended up designing games, but the world is thankful he did.
- Mario is Pokémon’s stiffest competition. Mario is the only video game that outsells Pokémon. Just a year ago-20 years after it’s debut-Pokémon was still the second best selling video game.
- Warhol and Pokéballs? Warhol may not have had an impact on the design of pokeballs, but the truth is Campbell’s Soup cans were. The balls were specifically designed to mimic the look of a soup can. I mean-I don’t know the why-I just deliver the facts.
- 88 Billion. Since the launch of the popular app, players have captured 88 billion Pokémon.
- Male or Female? You can tell the difference in Pikachu’s gender by their tails. Males have a standard lightning shaped tail. Females have a small indention at the end of their tail giving it a subtle heart shape.
- How many different pokémon are there? There’s 18 different types: Fire, Dark, Ice, Fighting, Onix, Steel, Poison, Psychic, Flying, Ground, Electric, Fairy, Water, Bug, Grass, Dragon and um…just normal ones.
- Their cards can be valuable. The first-ever Charizard card featuring the popular Fire-type Kanto starter is the highest-selling Pokémon card to date, reportedly selling for $360,000 on Goldin Auctions.
So, how’d you do? Did you know all of this already? I’m sure you did, all true fanboys should. Want to know more Pokémon facts? I used either Beano.com or ign.com for all my fact finding. You can find out all sorts of additional trivia by checking out those articles.