On the 9th of September 2015, Nintendo made an announcement which caught the Internet's attention. They discussed the future release of an app for 2016: 'Pokémon Go'. It's described as an 'augmented reality game', in which the gamer can look through the phone's camera, to see Pokémon (pocket monsters) hidden in the 'real world' around them. Not only that, but each gamer is able to summon Pokéballs, trade Pokémon, battle other trainers, and attempt to 'Catch 'em All'. This has been the cause of much excitement: aside from the unlikely reality of genetically engineered Pokémon, this is as close to their existence as the world is going to get.
That same day, the Pokémon YouTube channel released an advert for the game. An interesting thing to note is that the majority of people using this App appear to be 20-something years old, which signifies one thing: Nintendo knows its target audience. The first Pokémon game, "Pokémon: Red and Blue”, was released in 1996, meaning that those who would have grown up with it, and subsequent games, would be anywhere between fifteen and thirty today. Some people may doubt that the members of this generational group are truly excited for a video game, but they would be incorrect—the enthusiasm and anticipation of many can be easily tracked throughout the Internet, with each person more desperate than the last for the release date to be narrowed down to something a little more specific than '2016'.
The final scene of the trailer depicts a battle against one of the most powerful Pokémon, MewTwo, and manages to capture the perfect essence of the game. Thousands of people pour into Times Square, throwing in their own Pokémon, whilst the words 'Go unite' appear onscreen. The camaraderie between the massive numbers of individuals who've been affected in some way by the franchise is tangible, not only in the advertisement, but also in the real world. Pokémon has, in total, sold over 270 million units from its creation to 2015, meaning that it is one of the most popular video games in history. This sense of universality is surely demonstrative of how many lives the franchise of Pokémon has impacted, and its Japanese origins implying that it has a wider scope than westernised conglomerates such as Disney ever truly could.
Pokémon has thirty-six different versions for handheld gaming alone, with a further seventeen console games, two apps (including Pokémon go), and even an arcade game. The fact that each new game has not hindered the franchise’s popularity, and in many cases, has increased it, signifies how good they are at simply getting things right. Hopefully this app will live up to all the excitement, and everyone who grew up with a Pokémon game can really catch ‘em all.
Image: http://static3.gamespot.com/uploads/original/280/2802776/2935396-pokemon_go_plus.jpg
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