Gotta Catch ’em All
Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of video games, animated series and films, a trading card game, and other related media. The franchise takes place in a shared universe in which humans co-exist with creatures known as Pokémon, a large variety of species endowed with special powers. The franchise’s primary target audience is children aged 5 to 12, but it is known to attract people of all ages.
Pokémon Red Version and Pokémon Blue Version are 1996 role-playing video games (RPGs) developed by Game Freak for the Game Boy. They are the first installments of the Pokémon video game series and were first released in Japan as Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green, followed by the special edition Pocket Monsters Blue later that year.
The games were released internationally in 1998 and 1999 as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue, while an enhanced version named Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition was released in Japan in 1998 and in other regions in 1999 and 2000.
Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet are 2022 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch, and they were released on 18 November 2022. The games later received a downloadable content (DLC) expansion pass storyline, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero.
The first part, The Teal Mask, released on 13 September 2023, and the second part, The Indigo Disk, was released on 14 December 2023.
Pokémon video games have been released in a wide variety of genres and are considered the core series of the franchise. Various spin-off games also exist, such as Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, a roguelike RPG series, Pokémon Ranger, an action RPG series, and Detective Pikachu (2018), an adventure game. Pokémon games, in particular the core RPGs, are commonly classified in generations. For example, Junichi Masuda referred to Diamond and Pearl (2006) as Gen 4, and X and Y (2013) as the 6th generation.
