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Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

economist.com

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Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#11

Post by iammjm »

someperson wrote: post #3

It's just a fad

When does a fad stop being a fad and start being a canon or an icon or whatever? Is Shakespeare a fad? As a 8 years old I knew all Pokémons by name their powers and I have spent literally all my pocket money on Pokémon, and now almost 30 years later people still seem to dig it. Also I don’t think it ever really went away in the meanwhile too. But yeah it could also just be millennial nostalgia and the cyclical nature of cultural products which over and over resurfaces and recycles and remixes the stuff from the past

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#13

Post by bogzz »

iammjm wrote: post #11
someperson wrote: post #3

It's just a fad

When does a fad stop being a fad and start being a canon or an icon or whatever? Is Shakespeare a fad? As a 8 years old I knew all Pokémons by name their powers and I have spent literally all my pocket money on Pokémon, and now almost 30 years later people still seem to dig it. Also I don’t think it ever really went away in the meanwhile too. But yeah it could also just be millennial nostalgia and the cyclical nature…

I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#14

Post by Liftyee »

I never played any Pokémon game apart from Go, until I recently tried HG/SS on my phone. It was a joy to experience (mobile!) games in an era where they were made as a form of art instead of as a cheap money making scheme. No microtransactions, no mandatory grind to progress, but plenty of goals and side quests to try as you want.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#15

Post by boringg »

joe_mamba wrote: post #7
crims0n wrote: post #4

It is one of the few franchises that spans generations. My kids enjoy it, just as my wife and I enjoyed it before them. We have fun playing the games together. I imagine my parents felt the same way with Star Wars.

I don't think your parents will enjoy the current crop of Star Wars IP.

They might enjoy the skywalker ranch general store though!

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#16

Post by someperson »

elictronic wrote: post #8
someperson wrote: post #3

It's just a fad

There's Godwins law about comparing everything to nazis. Will there be someperson's law of completely misunderstanding what a word means?

It was sarcasm. Pokemon has been called a fad since it first gained popularity in 1998.

Though to be fair the Pokemania era of the early 2000s was a blip, the same way Pokemon Go had a short-lived popularity surge in 2016.

Pokemon is enduring.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#17

Post by someperson »

iammjm wrote: post #11
someperson wrote: post #3

It's just a fad

When does a fad stop being a fad and start being a canon or an icon or whatever? Is Shakespeare a fad? As a 8 years old I knew all Pokémons by name their powers and I have spent literally all my pocket money on Pokémon, and now almost 30 years later people still seem to dig it. Also I don’t think it ever really went away in the meanwhile too. But yeah it could also just be millennial nostalgia and the cyclical nature…

It's a joke, people have been calling Pokemon a fad since 1998. Pokemania in the early 2000s was bigger than the Pokemon Go moment in 2016. But Pokemon endures.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#18

Post by tiznow »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #5
giancarlostoro wrote: post #2

It was a labor of love originally.

It was a beautiful attempt to reproduce a feeling of community that came from a bunch of kids collecting beetles in the woods for fun. Kids would need to get suggestions on where to go from other kids, and they'd show off the neat bugs they found and trade with other kids. The game was carefully designed to make kids work with each other and talk to each other. That's why you couldn't get all of the pokemon in only o…

Roaming around the apartment complex I grew up, in with friends and a link cable meeting new kids and trading Pokemon were some of the best times of my life.

I'm still a Pokemon fan to this day. I play Go all the time, collect cards when they're not obscene to acquire, and I'll probably buy a Switch 2 when they come out with the upgrade to immerse myself in the online aspect of modern Pokemon games. Fantastic franchise.

Re: Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit

#20

Post by GenericDev »

lifesaverluke wrote: post #12

Last weekend I vibe-coded a website where my boys (5 and 8 years old) can look up their Pokémon cards to find out what they mean. They can read Dutch but they have cards with English & Portugese texts. Site helps them learning English :-) https://kartiq.xyz/en

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