Pokemons may look like cute ‘n’ cuddly little monsters, but the latest toy craze from Japan can whup even Godzilla when it comes to capturing the American imagination.
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Since storming the U.S. toy industry last fall, Pokemon products have been emptying the wallets of pre-adolescent boys (and their parents) nationwide. The hand-held Gameboy video game, manufactured by Nintendo, has sold 1.7 million units so far, the company’s biggest seller ever.
A line of action figures by toymaker Hasbro and a trading-card game also are big sellers, and “Pokemon,” the daily morning cartoon produced in Japan and seen here on WPWR-Ch. 50, is the highest-ranked kids’ show in its 7 a.m. time slot.
The mass appeal of Pokemon is based on a combination of successful toy trends of the recent past. Think virtual pets, Beanie Babies and intricate trading-card games such as “Magic: The Gathering,” all rolled into one bizarro world of strange-looking little creatures with even stranger names, like Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Jigglypuff.
“Kids love them because the characters are so colorful, they have great names, and there’s a little bit of nurturing and role-playing going on,” says Hasbro’s Holly Ingram. “And hunting and finding these things translates into toy collecting.”
In a weird reversal of languages, the American version of the toy goes by the Japanese-sounding name Pokemon; in Japan they are called Pocket Monsters.
The phenomenon began as a Japanese television cartoon in 1996. (In a widely reported incident two years ago, 700 children suffered seizures from watching a scene with strobe lights. The scene was cut for American TV audiences.) The show’s concept was parlayed into a video game for Nintendo’s hand-held Gameboy.
The object of the game is relatively simple: A player assumes the roles of various human characters, then must search for, capture and train Pokemon monsters.
Each monster is based on natural elements, such as water or fire. Once trained, they can evolve into bigger, meaner and more powerful versions of their former selves. A player captures more monsters by pitting those he has trained against others.
Once you’ve captured all 150 monsters, you’re proclaimed “The World’s Greatest Pokemon Trainer” — a major badge of honor in schoolyards across the country, says Andrew Goodwin, 12.
“It’s like a race with my friends to capture all the characters,” says Goodwin, who has bagged 140 monsters.
There is one major hurdle to overcome before achieving that lofty “World’s Greatest” level — there are two versions of the Gameboy cartridges, with only 139 characters that are unique to each.
That means either buying both cartridges — at about $30 each — or trading monsters with friends by connecting Gameboy consoles with a cable to capture all the characters.
Cumulative time spent playing the game is displayed, so a player — or a concerned parent — can see how long they’ve been at it. Goodwin has logged about 50 hours since getting the game for Christmas. Yet his mom, Maria, isn’t bothered by that — nor by the battling monsters that make up the game’s main feature.
“The time he spends playing the game doesn’t concern me,” she says. “It’s actually a lot tamer than the other junky games out there. They’re all the same — it’s all about good vs. evil — but Pokemon is cuter and gentler.”
And showing no signs of slowing down. Despite critics who call the Pokemon game “nothing more than a high-tech hybrid of specimen collecting and cockfighting,” Pokemon toys and licensed products from watches to knapsacks are still selling long after the Christmas season.
The most popular Pokemon, the yellow, catlike character named Pikachu, has been spun off into a Furby-like toy, and Hasbro has begun shipping its new line of bean-filled Pokemon plush dolls to stores.
Nintendo also plans to expand its product line with a new Gameboy cartridge, Pikachu Pinball, plus a version for home use that allows players to snap video stills.
Even though Pokemon has been around for three years, the marketing monster is still growing strong in Japan. A feature film based on the cartoon series was released there last summer, and last month a Japanese airliner was adorned with several of the characters. (A Pokemon film is in the works for a U.S. release.)