Different gaming experiences connect to the masses, as people of all ages join together to enjoy the world’s highest grossing media franchise, reported by VICE: Pokemon. In modern competitive gaming, including Twitch streamed Pokemon tournaments online, this energy extends beyond arcades into global audiences who participate in different ways.
This year, Pokémon celebrates its 30th anniversary, using their main Pokemon website to praise the creative minds behind the madness and the mobile and physical games that came with it.
Senior Asa Trocolli described the franchise’s lasting appeal as something that has never faded. “It’s timeless,” he said.
According to Forbes, from 1996 to 2026, Pokémon has morphed into a global sensation, grossing over $147 billion and counting as of recent. The franchise bridges the gap between Millennials and Gen Z, connecting them through human trainers like Ash Ketchum, and valuable creatures like Pikachu and Charizard.
Kyle Frappoly, a Lane Tech security guard who grew up playing the earliest Pokémon games, reflected on his experience with its origins. “I used to play the original Game Boy games, which were Red, Blue, and Yellow. I also used to play the trading card game back when it was the OG.”
Junior Tyler Tran, who watched Pokémon’s presence shift over time with age, said the franchise has become more socially accepted in recent years. “I’ve definitely seen it evolve in the culture over years,” he said. “I feel like normally you would get bullied for even touching these cards. But now, I guess, with social media and influencers, it’s popped off.”
Trocolli also reflected on how Pokémon became a part of their middle school’s social culture in their earlier years. “At my old school, my science teacher was a state champion in the card game. So he’d talk about it all the time, and he’d give us cards and stuff, and it became kind of like a competition to see who could collect the most cards in elementary school,” Trocolli said.
The Sunday reported that in Machida, a suburb of Tokyo with strong Japanese urban influence, Satoshi Tajiri was born. He would then go on to create the game Pokémon, spending his time catching bugs and little creatures with the intention of going into Entomology. What originally started as an interest in insect behavior later shot him to success at 30, creating a series of revolutionary executive projects.
The Sunday continued that his passion for Entomology and detailed video game creation is shown through the complexity of his creatures; the stealth and skill of each individual insect in nature is trivial for the universe, revealing tricks on how each character operates in each game. Due to its complexity and psychological rewards, their games have become addicting with the thrill of collecting.
Junior Adrian Wallace described the collecting aspect of Pokémon as personally rewarding. “[Pokémon] gives me a big sense of completion,” he said. “It just gave me a big sense of completion, because it took so long to beat, which is really engaging overall, and because the story was so in-depth.
Despite its humble origins, Pokémon’s longevity progressed with their later connections from Nintendo, which put them on the map in America, creating the “Pokémon” show in 1997, and making iconic games such as Pokémon Red & Blue (1998), along with more modern games like Pokémon GO (2016). Nintendo.com recorded that from 2016, their revenue exponentially boosted with in-app/console achievements, eventually leading to variant games like Pokémon GO to reach $100 million within a year of its creation.
The man behind it all, Tajiri, spends this anniversary grateful for the creative chaos in his youth in Machida. “Everything I did as a kid is kind of rolled into one thing,” Tajiri told Time magazine in 1999.
For the next couple of years following their 30th anniversary, Pokémon has nearby plans to expand their classic trading card (TCG) and console game selections. As Pokemon heads into a new generation, fans wait eagerly for new release dates to drop.
