PokéFact: Celebrating Fifteen Years (And Rambling)

Hello guys! It’s Tuesday and I don’t know if you remember, because it seriously has been awhile, but I used to post Pokéfacts on Tuesdays. Now, I really don’t know what happened during that one or two month period, but I am back now and that’s what matters right? (Actually, Steven just kinda announced my failures on the new episode, which I am on by the way [I have yet to hear it, because some people *ahem* were too “busy” to put it up, but I bet I sound terrible, because I usually do in real life, so I am sorry about that] so I figure actually posting would justify for my actions.)

So I really want to do a long post this time, to make up for my absence, so I possibly may be rambling a bit. I will try not to, but I do like to ramble, so I can make no promises. As you guys know already, Black & White came out early this month. I got Black for my birthday (thank you Stevie <3)!  Black and White brought us the fifth generation to us! Which, I find it lovely, because I remember back in the day when stealing my siblings Red and Blue games and playing their games on a Gameboy and everywhere you went was something new. I already knew a lot of the Pokémon from the anime and I basically memorized the PokéRap at the end (yes, Aaron, some of us did listen to that!), so it’s not like any of the Pokémon was new to me, but it was the whole adventure in the game that I found the most fun. I mean I didn’t want to kill a Zubat every time I saw one or want to kill myself every three steps when I found a wild Bidoof (wrong generation, I know, but I am making a point), but things in Red and Blue were exciting because it was a brand new experience and that is exactly what I found Black to be, even though I haven’t gotten so far yet.

Wow, this is sounding too much like a ‘Black and White’ Amazon review, so let’s get to the facts! Pokémon has been around for fifteen years. FIFTEEN YEARS! And it is still as amazing as ever! We went from playing old school on a Gameboy to rocking out on a DS (speaking of DS’, how many of you got the new DS that came out this weekend? Leave a comment!) It sold over two million in the first two weeks!  After fifteen years and 649 Pokémon still continues to triumph and since Black and White only the new Pokémon from their story, no need to worry about those annoying Zubats and Bidoofs. Instead we get new ones to hate. ;]

I currently have 473 words and I really haven’t gotten to the hardcore facts. Good thing I didn’t promise not to ramble. So how did Pokémon come about, you may ask? What began this whole lifestyle (because we all can admit Pokémon is not a fad) of beating up little monsters until they almost pass out and capturing them into tiny little balls, only to become friends with them later on, in order to beat up more little more monsters until they faint? Well, let’s go way, way, way back to find the answers. Starting with the creator Satoshi Taijiri, who by the way did not die in the Earthquake in Japan, despite what Twitter and Tumblr said and I think it has now been going along Facebook now… They’re always late with this information.

So Satoshi Taijiri liked to collect bugs when he was little. Actually his nickname was Mr. Bug and I think that we all can admit Satoshi Taijiri was a pretty hipster kid during his childhood. He created Pokémon because he wanted children to experience the feeling of catching and collecting bugs that he experienced when he was a small child and as many of you know Pokemon is the contraction of the Japanese brand “Pocket Monster,” which ended in the result of this amusing video made by a religious Digimon fan, which has been posted on here before, but someone on iTunes asked for it I think, so I am linking it again for them.

All together there are around fifty Pokémon video games, dating back to 1996 when it first came out and this includes games like Hey You, Pikachu! Where you would talk to Pikachu on a microphone and he would pretty much ignore you, but remember this was for N64, so pretty advance technology there, I suppose. Also games like Pokémon Puzzle League, also for N64 and a game you should never, ever face Steven in, unless you are that one guy from the Midwest Gaming Classic.

And back in the old school days, Pokémon brought us some pretty factable (which is now a word, because I say so!) things. Such as in Red and Blue Lickitung couldn’t learn lick. Or Ash was originally supposed to have a Clefairy as his starter, but this was changed and I think the podcast already said this one (stop stealing my facts guys! I know where most of you live!). Another being Growlithe's original name was Flame. Yeah, they had yet to start getting creative at that point.

I am pretty sure I am going to stop rambling now, because I am using a lot of facts that I could use in weeks to come and I need to still post this on Tuesday, so it’s legit and I can’t get in trouble.  I’ll leave you guys with one finally fact though. We all know Pokémon is popular, that’s my brother someone who is twenty-two made this podcast and website and why I am here, a fifteen year old girl blogging about around Pokémon Facts for no really good reason and why we had over thirty little kids running around our room during the weekend. You are here because you love Pokémon or you want to hate upon us, which is still saying you care enough to hate, so either way it works. But Pokémon is second only to the Mario franchise (and we all know how popular that guy is) and in those short fifteen years, my whole life span, little Pikachu who may look all cute and innocent has netted somewhere in the region of $24 billion in Poképroceeds.