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Every single kid was into Pokemon, and every single adult was aware of Pokemon. Watching the anime was school, and kids would get together at home to do it. Playing the games was mandatory, and owning the cards was a very popular pastime. The card game got so out of hand at my school that it had to be explicitly outlawed after some time.
Every store had Pokemon merchandise or a Pokemon-themed something to capitalize on the craze. There was also controversy. As per usual concerned Christians believed that Pokemon, like every other cultural product from Japan, had some hidden Satanic symbols (especially in the shape of Kadabra and Alakazam's heads). In the USA where Christians are a particular breed of crazy many creationists were angry over the use of the term "evolution."
The first Pokemon movie was hype as fuck and shown in theaters everywhere. So was the G/S one. The introductory segment that showed off Donphan to the world at large was probably the most hype moment in Pokemon ever.
The hype continued into the second generation, but it obviously wasn't as intense. It continued to be huge with kids, but was no longer a world-consuming cultural phenomenon that everyone was constantly aware of. Still everyone played G/S and made it to the end. The TCG started to die off, and Pokemon merchandise was no longer ubiquitous.
In the long break between generations two and three the Pokemon fad died. I didn't even know new Pokemon games were coming out until I saw Ruby and Sapphire on store shelves. By that time continuing to play Pokemon was for weirdos and losers, at least among my class, but at that point I was already in early high school, so it isn't surprising.
Anyway, it was a good time. My childhood was defined by Pokemon. I remember having like three friends literally sitting watching me play Silver on a little GBC screen with external lighting, Pokemon Stadium, Snap, everything.
