Quoted By:
Yes. The anime was really popular. You have to remmeber that the 90s was an era where TV shows had eras of dominance and merchandising to go with it. Transformers, TMNT, Power Rangers, all had their time in the light. 98-00 was Pokémon's.
Then came toys, and ultimately, the games. They were, bar none, the best games on the Game Boy at the time and every kid who had a GB, got Pokémon, and every kid who didn't wanted one. In a matter of weeks/months, it's all there was to your childhood. You watched the anime, you went to school and played the games with your friends and traded the cards with others.And it just kept coming,
Looking back at some of my magazines back then, they were talking about Pokemon Gold and Silver's popularity in Japan before it was even released in the UK
That said, it didn't last anywhere near as long in the UK as it did in the US. From speaking to people on the old fforums and IRC at the time, Pokémania in the US didn't really start slowing down till the end of Gen 2, whereas it was pretty much dead here by 01. I remember knowing hundreds of kids who played RBY and collected the cards. By the time GSC came out, only three or four kids I knew had stuck with it. By the time of RSE, it was only me.
Thank fuck I had other hobbies and was good at sports though, otherwise my ass would have been bullied hard.
