BH
BillyH
Founding member
What's a bit odd from a UK perspective is that the Pokemon games themselves were released
after
the TV series and even the trading card game, indeed many of my generation first heard about the show several years before it arrived here because of the epilepsy scandal around the episode Electric Soldier Porygon, which occurred in Japan in December 1997 and was heavily reported at the time including on BBC Newsround. The show didn't arrive on Sky One until March of 1999, and the Game Boy games weren't released here until October that year, so there was a long build up until we could actually play the thing that had been talked about and advertised for so long.
In contrast, the games were released in Japan in February 1996 (over three and a half years earlier) and September 1998 in America, and the anime began in April 1997 in Japan and September 1998 in America - meaning in Japan the anime arrived after the games, in the UK the anime was first and in the States the show and the game arrived at the same time.
I was the perfect generation for Pokemon and from the time the show started on Sky right up until I started secondary school in September 2000 it was an absolutely massive part of my life, from the series to the trading cards to the games right up to the first movie or two. I delved occasionally into it as the early noughties went on but interest did fade and I was a bit astonished when it suddenly became cool and trendy again thanks to Pokemon Go four years ago.
In contrast, the games were released in Japan in February 1996 (over three and a half years earlier) and September 1998 in America, and the anime began in April 1997 in Japan and September 1998 in America - meaning in Japan the anime arrived after the games, in the UK the anime was first and in the States the show and the game arrived at the same time.
I was the perfect generation for Pokemon and from the time the show started on Sky right up until I started secondary school in September 2000 it was an absolutely massive part of my life, from the series to the trading cards to the games right up to the first movie or two. I delved occasionally into it as the early noughties went on but interest did fade and I was a bit astonished when it suddenly became cool and trendy again thanks to Pokemon Go four years ago.