Site Presented By
Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
With a TV show, video game and trading cards, the pocket monsters have come for your children.
Jul 6, 1999 | Maybe you've read news stories about it being banned from elementary schools. Maybe a guy on the street tried to sell you some cheap. Or maybe you've been cornered by a wild-eyed 8-year-old addict -- the kid next door, your cousin, even your own son or daughter -- and subjected to a rambling monologue about "hit points," "damages" and "evolved stages." This is Pokimon, and it's some weird stuff. Imagine cockfighting crossed with Hello Kitty and you're merely scratching the surface. Below the surface, it gets even weirder.
Pokimon originated in Japan in 1996 as a Nintendo game and made its way west in 1998; the Pokimon Game Boy is now the bestselling video game in the United States. Pokimon (I think the name loosely translates to, "Empty the pockets of your hapless parents, sheep children!") has also crossed over into TV, toys, comic books, young readers' books, collectibles, clothing and a rabidly popular trading card game. Pokimon trading card decks that went for $9 a few months ago are now selling for upwards of $35 at some game stores, due to a mysterious supply problem in the Pokimon pipeline. Or so I'm told -- I'm sure that the lines around the block on new shipment delivery day have nothing to do with the inflated prices.
Grade school Pokimaniacs (mostly boys, but some girls too) can usually be found hunched over Game Boys or ogling each others' collections of cards depicting the 150 animal-mutants that make up the Pokimon universe. The object of the game is elegantly simple: "Gotta catch 'em all!" You'd be amazed at how fast kids learn to add and subtract in their heads when they're trying to figure out just how much allowance money catching 'em all will take.
In Pokimon, a player becomes a "trainer" who has to capture one of each species of wild Pokimon in order to advance to higher levels of mastery. The trainer whips his Pokimon into fighting shape, then sends them into one-on-one matches against another trainer's Pokimon. Each Pokimon has a special power of attack, and these attacks are the most endearingly dorky part of the game. For instance, the shrieking pigeon Pidgey blinds opponents with his "gust attack" -- which is a fancy way of saying that he flaps his wings and blows sand in their eyes. Jigglypuff, who looks like a wad of pink bubble gum, possesses a hypnotic "sing attack" that (according to the official Pokimon encyclopedia) can "send even the toughest Pokimon to dreamland." I'm not sure how Bulbasaur, a dinosaur thingy with what looks like a large garlic bulb growing out of its back, vanquishes opponents -- perhaps he overpowers them with a strong batch of pesto. Clearly, we're not talking about "Mortal Kombat" here.
