Courtesy of Nintendo
The Pokémon craze
One of Nintendo’s most successful game franchises is going strong
by Steven l. Kent
With over 450 million games sold worldwide, not including a billion-plus Pokémon Go downloads, Pokémon may be Nintendo’s most reliable crown jewel.
Nintendo introduced Pokémon 26 years ago, spawning a very successful anime television series and a wildly popular trading card game. Many of the 10-year-olds who first played these games in the 1990s are now 30-somethings with families of their own, and they still play Pokémon. Violet and Scarlet, the newest games in the franchise, continue the phenomenon.
Pokémon, short for “pocket monsters,” star in video games in which players explore virtual countrysides, searching for monsters they can trap, train and enter into G-rated battles against each other. Pokémon never bleed or break; they faint from exhaustion and wait to be healed. Some are fearsome, but most are of the adorable persuasion. Some fight using elemental attacks such as tsunamis and firestorms. Some scratch, kick and bite. Some sing their opponents comatose.
Pokémon combat is rock-paper-scissors warfare. Punching and kicking attacks are effective against most monsters but useless against ghost-type Pokémon. Water types are great against fire- and rock-type monsters but weak against plant and electrical types.
Violet and Scarlet mark an evolution in this bestselling universe. While previous games led players from one location to the next using tightly scripted narratives and linear paths, Violet and Scarlet take place in a completely open world. You can explore each area in whatever order you like. And, having finally tapped into the internet, The Pokémon Company has added an option that enables players to perform the menial tasks of catching and leveling up their Pokémon in teams of up to four people. It’s a brave new world! Why explore it alone? Whether you’re a first-wave Pokémon fan or became one during the Pokémon Go craze in 2016, or have some other point of entry into the monsters’ world, the phenomenon is alive and growing.
Steven L. Kent is the author of The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 2 (Crown 2021; not available at Costco).
More games
Here is a little info about some of the games available now, or in the near future, if you need gift-giving ideas.
- PlayStation 5: God of War: Ragnarök is an epic adventure in which Sony’s Greek-myth-busting Kratos takes on the Norse gods.
- Nintendo Switch: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is scheduled for release early next year.
- Xbox Series X/S: Game Pass Plus is a streaming service with a huge library of games that can be paid for using Xbox gift cards.—SLK
Costco Connection: Pokémon Violet and Pokémon Scarlet, as well as gift cards for Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony online stores, are available in most Costco warehouses and at Costco.com.
