If you don’t specifically want to “play” the game, I’d suggest checking out the anime or maybe one of the movies
As far as it’s place in culture and popularity: I’d say Pokemon is a toy company that happens to make video games. And sure, it did all start with a video game, but as the franchise expanded they jumped to a lot of different markets, and merch has always been a moneymaker.
Just like GI Joe and Transformers, I think the show was part of its marketing. It was on TV all the time when I was a kid, and I definitely knew people who got into the game after watching the show.
But y’know, video games are expensive to produce and in the 90s not everyone could afford the hardware to play them. So they got into the trading card space which was gaining popularity at the time. Anybody could afford a couple bucks to get some new cards, and trading cards were the original lootbox: a microtransaction moneymaking machine. Also the business model is essentially gambling for minors, and it’s surprisingly easy to get kids hooked on bits of cardboard.
Those kids are all grown up now, and pokemon was a big part of their childhood. Nowadays I think they probably do largely trade on nostalgia. But even so, the characters are cute, and have huge appeal to children. There’s always going to be a market for dolls and t-shirts
If you don’t specifically want to “play” the game, I’d suggest checking out the anime or maybe one of the movies
As far as it’s place in culture and popularity: I’d say Pokemon is a toy company that happens to make video games. And sure, it did all start with a video game, but as the franchise expanded they jumped to a lot of different markets, and merch has always been a moneymaker.
Just like GI Joe and Transformers, I think the show was part of its marketing. It was on TV all the time when I was a kid, and I definitely knew people who got into the game after watching the show.
But y’know, video games are expensive to produce and in the 90s not everyone could afford the hardware to play them. So they got into the trading card space which was gaining popularity at the time. Anybody could afford a couple bucks to get some new cards, and trading cards were the original lootbox: a microtransaction moneymaking machine. Also the business model is essentially gambling for minors, and it’s surprisingly easy to get kids hooked on bits of cardboard.
Those kids are all grown up now, and pokemon was a big part of their childhood. Nowadays I think they probably do largely trade on nostalgia. But even so, the characters are cute, and have huge appeal to children. There’s always going to be a market for dolls and t-shirts