POKEMON

Pokémon[a][1][2][3] (an abbreviation for Pocket Monsters[b] in Japan) is a

Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded
by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. The franchise was created by Satoshi
Tajiri in 1996,[4] and is centered around fictional creatures called "Pokémon".
In Pokémon, Pokémon Trainers are people who catch, train, care for, and battle
with Pokémon. The English slogan for the franchise is "Gotta Catch ‘Em All!".[5]
[6]
 There are currently 1008 Pokémon species.[7]

The franchise began as Pocket Monsters: Red and Green (later released outside of

Japan as Pokémon Red and Blue), a pair of video games for the original Game
Boy handheld system that were developed by Game Freak and published by
Nintendo in February 1996. Pokémon soon became a media mix franchise adapted
into various different media.[8] Pokémon is one of the highest-grossing media
franchise of all time. The Pokémon video game series is the third best-selling video
game franchise of all time with more than 440 million copies sold[9] and
one billion mobile downloads.[10] The Pokémon video game series spawned
an anime television series that has become the most successful video game
adaptation of all time[11] with over 20 seasons and 1,000 episodes in 192 countries.
[9]
 The Pokémon Trading Card Game is the highest-selling trading card game of all
time[12] with over 43.2 billion cards sold. In addition, the Pokémon franchise
includes the world's top-selling toy brand,[13] an anime film series, a live-action
film (Detective Pikachu), books, manga comics, music, merchandise, and
a temporary theme park. The franchise is also represented in other Nintendo media,
such as the Super Smash Bros. series, where various Pokémon characters are
playable.