/vp/ - Pokémon » Thread #25240220

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Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 10:48:18 No.25240220 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>25240281 >>25240288 >>25240306 >>25240401 >>25241988 >>25241998 >>25242060 >>25242576 >>25243881 >>25244187 >>25246477

How did Pokémon become so popular?

How the hell did Pokémon become a success?
Pokémon Red and Green was in development hell for 6 years. They were released at the end of the Gameboys lifecycle and was a pretty ugly and crude-looking game from a no-name studio.

Yet it exploded. Why?

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 10:54:13 No.25240244 Report

Quoted By: >>25241954

Because the gameplay is good. Contrary to anti-genwunner bandwagon beliefs the gen 1 games were solid. It was 150 fucking characters to collect and you could battle and trade with people on top of that. So many possibilities and replayability. Also the monster design was good and appeals to multiple groups of people.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 11:04:44 No.25240273 Report

Quoted By: >>25242405 >>25242570

The anime came along with it.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 11:07:17 No.25240281 Report

Quoted By: >>25242062

>>25240220
Because Nintendo actually used to market things.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 11:10:14 No.25240288 Report

Quoted By: >>25246448

>>25240220
The anime is good and the original Red/Blue had the best commercial of all time.

>shady bus driver compressing them into a gameboy

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 11:18:15 No.25240306 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240220
Let me explain this to suit your "born in 2002" mentality. You know how memes are popular? Well, imagine your product became a meme so strong that anyone that didn't get it became a social outcast among certain demographics.

Plus they're super fun.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 11:47:28 No.25240401 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240220
being released at the right place, at the right time and on the right console

if Pokemon was released after internet took over everyone's lives it wouldnt become such a smashing success

and if it released after smartphones became a thing it probably wouldnt even be noticed in the sea of shit that flooded the portable gaming market

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 17:25:06 No.25241710 Report

Quoted By:

My first even handheld console was a see- through purple gameboy colour and pokemon yellow when i was like 6 .. fair to say i literally didn't need any other games because it was so amazing. that's why is was such a success

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 18:08:40 No.25241954 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240244
Don't forget that once it arrived in the Americas and Europe, it came with the Card Game and TV Show.

>Have game come out
>And TCG and Anime shortly after to advertise the game and then...
>Get mad cash with merchandise

For comparison look at TMNT and that marketing!

I remember a Nintendo Power issue that focused on Pokemon way before it's English release. There's a PDF somewhere.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 18:11:20 No.25241967 Report

Quoted By:

It's fun.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 18:14:38 No.25241988 Report

Quoted By: >>25245798

>>25240220
Did it even have TV commercials? I don't remember any

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 18:16:13 No.25241998 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240220
We make our children insufferably stupid. And the Japanese are just stupid.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 18:17:29 No.25242005 Report

Quoted By:

Collecting, story, different media, Nintendo

All the stars were in alignment

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 18:29:20 No.25242060 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240220
One day, one day these kids on the playground were showing off their pokemon cards. I didn't even know there were games or a TV show. I didn't know jack shit about it other than the colorful cards with neat monsters and an infodump little book I stole from another kid. I used to spend hours staring at the designs. I gave up beating up kids (which was getting harder after Columbine anyways) and shoving girls to get their attention and focused on becoming the very best like no one ever was.
I should have stuck to physical violence.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 18:29:33 No.25242062 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240281
>Nintendo decides to randomly market Splatoon
It's a smashing hit!
>Nintendo decides to randomly market Fire Emblem Awakening
The best selling game in the franchise so far.
>Nintendo decides to NOT promote Codename S.T.E.A.M. other than a single youtube video
It barely moves 1k units.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 19:18:17 No.25242405 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240273
Thisx1billion.
A few people had either Red or Blue when I was a kid, but EVERYONE watched the anime. Thats why faggot youtube animators always reference the anime and its characters
>pokemon parody
>set in the game universe and not in Kanto
>MC is still Ash
>region's professor is Oak
Every time

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 19:37:36 No.25242551 Report

Quoted By:

They marketed it well, along with the anime and the cards and whatever else.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 19:40:44 No.25242570 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240273
Except it exploded as a game and nothing more in Japan

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 19:41:44 No.25242576 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240220
It was a good idea. Monsters are cool.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 19:58:14 No.25242676 Report

Quoted By: >>25242717 >>25242754 >>25245947

People have thought about this topic for some time. Pokemon got fucking huge, and very few franchises since have seen similar success and "mania". Sure, there are likely dozens of things that added to the insane Pokemon hype, but many people consider the main reason Pokemon got huge was because of these two reasons:

>Trading
>Mew

The trading aspect is easy to understand, it facilitated bringing people together and fostered a community. If I wanted an Alakazam or a Machamp, I would have to trade in order to get it. There were also game-exclusives, if I wanted a growlithe, I would need to trade with someone who has the game that has growlithe (I think growlithe was a game-exclusive?).

People don't realize it, but the secrecy surrounding Mew was equally as important to Pokemon becoming a huge success as the trading aspect was. Everyone knew that Mew existed, but no one knew how to get it. So theories were conjured up, rumors were spread, lies were told. "Ya, you have to use strength on the truck next to the S.S. Anne and Mew is under it." This then led to Mew being the first event Pokemon, which continued the trade and community aspect so vital to Pokemon.

I know there are other aspects to what made Pokemon huge, but the trading and Mew are the two most important aspects.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 20:02:25 No.25242717 Report

Quoted By: >>25242754

>>25242676
Maybe that's what got it to start, probably in Japan. After that I'm pretty sure it's mainly because of marketing.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 20:08:53 No.25242754 Report

Quoted By:

>>25242676
>>25242717
I'm not so sure what started the mania, but the reasons it went on for so long and still is kinda a think and not just a dead and buried fad is the community aspect.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 23:08:54 No.25243836 Report

Quoted By:

I got a random promotional vhs tape in the mail (my grandparents may have sent off for it, idr). This was before the show came out and since i was a sega kid up unitl that point i didny even know about the games. I watched that tape at least a dozen times. It was damn good marketing. It couldn't have been more than six months after that that pokemania really took off

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 23:16:47 No.25243881 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240220
It offered a huge variety of monsters you could play as while previous rpg's only gave you a limited amount of characters that were forced upon you. The trading and battling also escalated the interaction between players, friends could help you towards a mutual goal giving them much more to talk about when discussing the game.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 16 Feb 2016 23:57:21 No.25244187 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240220
It was (and to this day still is) one of the most flawless examples of how to use multimedia marketing to advertise your brand and rake in all the money

>Fun Game Boy RPG with 151 different creatures to select from to create a team of fighters/friends. 2 versions so people could (literally) connect with fellow Pokemon fans to battle against and also help to get otherwise impossible Pokedex entries
>Cartoon that keeps kids interested in the brand outside the video games. Helps them to learn more about how cool the monsters are and functions as extended tutorials for the games (explaining starters, water can help you get past Brock's gym, you can only have 6 Pokemon in your party)
>Trading Card Game provides more merchandise for fans to collect. The nature of TCGs encourages players to seek other people out to play with and trade cards with. The cards allow people to get attached to Pokemon they might not have in their Game Boy cartridges
>Back in the day, Pokemon was on everything: fast food Kid's Meals, shirts, lunchboxes, backpacks, marbles, school supplies, various toy lines. Provides kids with plenty of options to spend their money on (or beg their parents to spend money on)

All these factors link perfectly with one another to practically guarantee anyone who likes Pokemon would never run out of ways to interact with/fund the franchise. As the amount of people who first played Pokemon on old Game Boys who still continue to buy new Nintendo handhelds for Pokemon games shows, this marketing strategy creates lifelong customers

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 17 Feb 2016 04:08:38 No.25245787 Report

Quoted By:

Bump

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 17 Feb 2016 04:11:26 No.25245798 Report

Quoted By:

>>25241988
It had tons.
I remember cereal commercials mostly.
And the ones releasing Ruby and Sapphire.

>zigzagoon

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 17 Feb 2016 04:40:41 No.25245947 Report

Quoted By:

>>25242676
Watch some more pokefan made youtube videos you dolt.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 17 Feb 2016 05:31:13 No.25246228 Report

Quoted By:

Here come the guys who parrot yt videos titled "THE GENIUS OF POKEMON", "THE HISTORY OF POKEMON", "POKEMON IS OVERRATED".

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 17 Feb 2016 05:42:37 No.25246293 Report

Quoted By:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tTc8__lXkM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY2n6TBWCbE

Wew lad

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 17 Feb 2016 06:17:09 No.25246448 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240288
I remember that. I loved that commercial.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 17 Feb 2016 06:26:40 No.25246477 Report

Quoted By:

>>25240220
It was (and still is) a solid game despite some retroactively bad oversights like Special not being divided into separate stats or how powerful sleep and trap moves were. This combined with having a wide variety of mons that appeal to everyone (kaijus, cutemons, oddballs, things that don't fit into those categories) combined with simply understood mechanics means that it's one of those things that anyone can just pick up and play.

However Nintendo also unleashed a blitzkreig of advertisement when it came out and obviously helped for its staying power.

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