Nintendo also wanted to elaborate the use of friendship in the game. In Pokémon Yellow, Pikachu, the lead pokémon, wasn't very cooperative and was very unhappy with the player at the start. The player has to put up with Pikachu and take care of it and train it. Only after the player has treated and trained Pikachu well, and take great care of it, would it become pleased with the player and obey him. In the end, the player and Pikachu will became great friends.
Why is pokemon popular?
It is one of the few games dedicated to children.
Nowadays, very few games are being created for a young age group about six to twelve years. Pokémon is an exception. Because so few games have been created for this young age group, they naturally are attracted to any game designed especially for them, and in this case it is pokémon.
Since this game was aimed for children, the main character, Ash Ketchum (his name sounds like catch 'em) is like any other ordinary kid like the children here on Earth. But what is so different about him, the thing that makes him special, is that he lives in a world with creatures called pokémon. And that he was given a pokemon of his own in order to assist him in his journey to become the Greatest Pokemon Master ever.
This would make a child think that he too is able to do just that. The psychology is that someone similar to the child, somebody at the same age, who was born into an ordinary family leading an ordinary life, has the power to do something extraordinary one day. Thus, children like to imagine themselves having the same power as the characters in the game or story. Everyone also likes to imagine himself being the greatest person in the world and having the power to do whatever he wants. By playing pokemon, the can achieve these kind of goal that they would not be able to achieve in real life.
Another reason that pokémon is popular among children is that many children can identify with and relate to the game. For example, a pokémon such as Growlithe looks like a puppy.
Pokemon was constructed to touch several timeless emotional needs. Part of its power comes from the story line of good vanquishing evil, where the child becomes part of the story and is empowered to capture his own monsters, train them and have them fight for him. It also stimulates the desire to collect them all, but it's competitive in a way that helps inspire social interaction.
Parents become indirect targets, influenced by their children to buy Pokemon related products. The conventional wisdom about the current generation of parents is that they are more easily swayed than parents in the past to buy their children whatever they ask for. The fact that the game is relatively nonviolent (characters don't die, they faint) increases the likelihood that parents will allow it in their homes.
Children have always liked to collect things. These things can be anything, from stamps to stickers to money. In the game, an objective is to catch and train every pokémon there is in the pokémon world. This being collecting has children hooked over it trying to collect all the pokémon before their friends do so. The collection in the game directly mirrors the collecting done by the child consumers in response to the game. Children can imitate Ash and try to capture Pokemon, as well, either in the video game or by buying their plastic figures or trading cards.
Marketing
After all, the property boasts 151 characters and, as the tagline explains, kids "Gotta catch `em all."
The plans Maciel refers to include the release of the second movie next summer and the debut of 100 new "gotta catch `em all" characters to add to the current 151-strong Pokemon stable.
With each release of a new game or movie, new Pokemon characters are presented to stimulate the collecting side of the craze: not so few characters that they are too easily collected nor so many that collecting them all, the goal of all true Pokemoners, seems unrealizable.
This strategy then constantly creates new challenges to the players since they all the time have to catch more and more pokemon.
Another reason of the Game Boy’s success is that it is portable and can easily carried about. Therefore, a consumer can enjoy a game on the Game Boy just about anywhere. Nintendo has also quite often been known to use a strategy known as bundling, meaning that they put together two products so that they would cost less. An example of this can be seen in Nintendo’s release of the special edition Game Boy Colour, which comes with the game Pokemon Yellow.
Also, since Nintendo is well known and has a reputation for coming up with good games, consumers would not hesitate as much when it comes to buying the game.
Since pokemon was originally released in Japan, there had to be some changes in the product when adapting it to the western world. Since pokomn has become so extremely popular we can come to the conclusion that this was done in a effective way. The key to this success is what computer experts call localization—customizing software for a particular country.
Satoshi, the protagonist who is on a journey to become the best Pokemon trainer in the world, became Ash. Most other names were also Anglicized. In addition, the monsters were given clever English names like Squirtle for the water-squirting, turtle-like pocket monster. As Pikachu was expected to be the key global character it was the only pokemon out of the 151 first ones whose name would be maintained in all markets.
If Pokemon in general is a brand, each of the 151 individual pokemon are sub-brands with the power to sell on their own.
Licensing
Nintendo also owns the licensing rights to the game and its characters and there are thousands of different products that have created a muli-billion-dollar market. Examples include:
- Comic books
- Trading card game cards
- Fuzzy dolls
- Snack foods
- Halloween costumes.
- Key chains
- Towels
- T-shirts
- Backpacks,
- Umbrellas
- Lollipops
- Coloring, activity books
- Temporary tattoos
And also the more extreme examples with
- Pokemon curry
- Pokemon Seaweed
- Pokemon juice packs
- Airplanes
- Buses
Pokemon phenomenon
When you look at it from a marketing and a branding perspective, it's brilliant. It covers television, it covers video, it covers things on your computer, there's the cards, there's the toys, there are art contests. It's really one of the products that has done the best job of covering all those bases.
You could say that it is a single package with multiple spin offs that build on each other. This synergistic strategy, it is important to note, is a common target of critics of children's marketing. The usual criticism is that for example the TV series is nothing but 30 minute commercials for the game.
Nevertheless, it misses the synergistic point that all the components are part of a much larger cultural phenomenon coordinated by marketing.
The game and the TV show do however build upon each other--the basic elements of the game provided a structure for the show's narrative, while the show provided a richer context for the experience of the game and provided clues and advice throughout about success in the game.
It is not just a singular product that is being marketed; it is the whole “phenomenon”.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the reason why pokemon is so popular is because the whole concept creates connections and bonds to the children since they can, through the main character Ash, go out on a adventure and live their dreams. The pocket-size game machine Game Boy is a magic wand that instantly turns kids into Pokemon trainers. A typical Pokemon aficionado wakes up to the early-morning TV show, eats breakfast staring at Pikachu at the back of a serial box, and trade Pokemon cards at lunch time. In after-school hours, too, kids are enthralled by more Pokemon in the form of video games and Pokemon Web sites. Nintendo has thus successfully not only created a product, but a whole lifestyle and phenomenon. Pokemon also has its own story line (as did Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles), but it also taps into the notion of collecting that sustained the Beanie Babies craze. While Power Rangers had the story line without the collecting and Beanie Babies had the collecting without the story line, Pokemon has both.
It is also non-violent and therefore it gains the acception from the parents. In the game the characters faint, not die. One can wonder if the same is to be said about the pokemon fad.