Who invented Pokémon?

Summary

Forever Ago Podcast: "Who Invented Pokémon?"
Brains On Universe | Host: Joy Dolo | Guest: Romil | Release Date: August 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

This family-friendly episode of Forever Ago takes listeners on a journey through the fascinating origins of Pokémon. Led by host Joy Dolo and kid co-host Romil, the show delves into the history of the world-famous franchise, exploring how Satoshi Tajiri turned his childhood bug-collecting hobby into one of the most popular video game and media empires ever. The episode blends playful storytelling, fun historical facts, and critical thinking, all while maintaining a light, energetic, and humorous tone.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Connections to Pokémon ([02:45]-[04:14])

• Joy Dolo and Romil share their early experiences with Pokémon, discussing favorite monsters and first introductions (mainly through the TV show).
• Romil lists his top three Pokémon: Gengar, Charizard, and Eevee, explaining the appeal of each.

2. Global Popularity and Impact ([05:15]-[06:13])

• Pokémon's evolution from a video game into a cultural phenomenon: movies, TV shows, toys, card games.
• Staggering statistics include: over 500 million video games sold, 85 billion trading cards, Pokémon Go downloaded over one billion times.
  • Statsaurus (character): "One billion is about one eighth of the whole population of the planet. That means about one out of every eight people in the world downloaded Pokémon Go." (05:48)

3. Satoshi Tajiri’s Childhood ([06:26]-[08:11])

• Set in Tokyo, Tajiri's love for bug collecting and exploration of nature.
• "Satoshi was obsessed. He’d collect bugs, study them, and come up with new ways to catch them." (07:09, Joy Dolo)
• Neighborhood changes due to urbanization led Tajiri to a new obsession: arcade video games.

4. From Arcade Obsession to Game Design ([08:16]-[09:37])

• Tajiri’s fascination with how games worked—so intense he’d skip school for arcades.
• Creation of Game Freak magazine to share gaming strategies (sold over 10,000 copies).
• Realization that many games were lacking, motivating Tajiri to create better games.

5. The Birth of Game Freak and Pokémon ([15:16]-[18:08])

• Teaming up with illustrator Ken Sugimori to form the company Game Freak.
• Nintendo’s launch of the Game Boy (1989) was transformative—portable, connected gaming.
• Tajiri’s unique idea: use the Game Boy cable to "trade creatures” between players, inspired by catching bugs as a kid.

6. Pokémon’s Difficult Creation ([18:08]-[19:14])

• The team nearly went bankrupt; Satoshi supported the company by writing articles and paid staff with his earnings.
• "He didn’t even pay himself." (18:17, Romil)
• The project took six years and faced skepticism, even from Nintendo, as trends were shifting away from the Game Boy.

7. Pokémon’s Unexpected Success: The Secret of Mew ([22:27]-[24:11])

• Initial release met with relative indifference; the Game Boy seemed outdated.
• Rumors of a secret 151st Pokémon, Mew, spread on playgrounds, sparking curiosity and word-of-mouth success.
  • “In the game you’re told there are 150 Pokémon to catch. But it turns out there was a hidden 151st Pokémon. It was called Mew.” (22:59, Romil)
• The discovery of Mew and the emphasis on trading via the Game Boy cable fueled social interaction and popularity.

8. Global Mania and Legacy ([24:11]-[25:14])

• Pokémon cartoon premieres—Pikachu becomes a global mascot.
• "In 1999 the first Pokémon movie was released in the US and it was a smash." (24:49, Joy Dolo)
• Satoshi Tajiri’s quirky passion is now a worldwide obsession.
  • “He took his obsessions and made something unique and cool from them...it’s a full circle.” (24:59, Romil)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Joy Dolo (On Histamons):
  “Yeah, unless you are a copyright lawyer, in which case it is a distinctly different creation that bears no resemblance to a Pokémon whatsoever.” (00:49)

• Romil (Describing Eevee):
  “It kind of looks like…a doggish, catish thing. Like, it had a big, fluffy tail…cute…a ring of white fur around its neck…” (03:38)

• Statsaurus (On Pokémon Go):
  “One billion is about one eighth of the whole population of the planet. That means about one out of every eight people in the world downloaded Pokémon Go.” (05:48)

• Joy Dolo (On Game Freak’s struggles):
  “The team worked so much, they practically lived at the office. They spent so much money, Game Freak almost went bankrupt.” (18:09)

• Romil (On success):
  “But as word spread of a secret hidden Pokémon, sales picked up.” (26:23)

• Joy Dolo (Summing up):
  “Pokémon was the brainchild of Satoshi Tajiri. As a kid, he loved collecting bugs and playing video games. He turned his passion for games into a magazine, and later on, a game company…” (25:53-26:12)

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Fun Educational Segments

“First Things First” Quiz: Pop Culture Timeline ([09:46]-[12:56], [26:58]-[29:36])

• Joy and Romil guess which Japanese icons came first: Godzilla, Hello Kitty, or Mario.
• Final answers revealed: Godzilla (1954), Hello Kitty (1974), Mario (1981), with playful banter about the history of each.

Interactive Listener Mail ([04:14], [19:40])

• Kids from around the world request the Pokémon episode and propose topics like the Great Fire of London.
• Encouragement for listeners to send in creative slogans and drawings.

Playful Skits and Side Characters

• Characters like Recapinator, Statosaurus, and Descriptazard add educational recaps, statistics, and vivid descriptions for younger listeners.
• Example: Descriptazard describes Mew:
  “Mew is a pink mammalian Pokémon…a cat and a kangaroo had a baby…” (23:16)

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• 00:00–02:09: Fun “Histamon” intro and Pokémon as a playful metaphor
• 02:45–04:14: Joy & Romil’s Pokémon experiences and favorite monsters
• 05:15–06:13: Global popularity, statistics, and cultural reach
• 06:26–08:11: Satoshi Tajiri’s childhood bug-collecting days
• 08:16–09:37: From arcades to founding Game Freak magazine
• 15:16–18:08: Game Freak company origins, portable gaming, inspiration for Pokémon
• 18:08–19:14: Struggles during Pokémon’s creation
• 22:27–24:11: The secret of Mew and Pokémon’s viral success
• 24:11–25:53: Pokémon Mania, global spread, Tajiri’s lasting legacy
• 26:58–29:36: Answers and background on Godzilla, Hello Kitty, and Mario

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Final Thoughts

This episode gives a vibrant, accessible account of Pokémon’s creation while reinforcing themes of creativity, perseverance, and the fun of discovery. Both kids and adults will find new appreciation for the history behind a beloved franchise and the passion that brought it into the world.

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Credits:
Written by Sandon Totten | Edited by Molly Bloom | Produced and fact-checked by Ruby Guthrie | Sound design by Rachel Breeze | Engineering by Rafi Sofer | Original theme music by Marc Sanchez

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For more bonus content (like the “Pokémon Shock” incident), check out the Smarty Pass feed.

—End of Summary—

Transcript

[Joy Dolo]

Lemonade.

[Listener/Caller]

Brains on universe.

[Joy Dolo]

Okay, according to my map, this is where we find it.

[Romil]

Are you sure? The library doesn't seem like the kind of place a wild creature would be hiding.

[Joy Dolo]

Well, first off, we're not hunting a wild creature. We're hunting Histamons. Adorable monsters that love history. And second, the this Histomon loves archives.

[Romil]

Oh, that's why we're in the archive section of the library.

[Joy Dolo]

Exactly. Archive Olora feeds off of the information in old newspapers and magazines, much like I feed off of frozen Mac and cheese dinners.

[Romil]

So is a Histomon like a Pokemon?

[Joy Dolo]

Yeah, unless you are a copyright lawyer, in which case it is a distinctly different creation that bears no resemblance to a Pokemon whatsoever.

[Romil]

Gotcha. What does this Archivalora creature look like?

[Joy Dolo]

That's the thing, I have no idea. It could be like a little lizard or a giant sloth. It could be that kid over there picking her nose. Or that man behind the front desk giving us the stink eye.

[Library Staff/Janitor]

Sh.

[Joy Dolo]

You two are being very loud for the library. Sorry. It's definitely not him. The best way to find this Histomon is to set a trap. We lay out some old important documents and wait for Archive Elora to come feast, much like me when I'm reheating my frozen Mac and cheese dinner. Then we trap it with my histo ball.

[Romil]

Like a Pokeball.

[Joy Dolo]

Yes. Unless you work for Nintendo, in which case I have no idea what you're talking about, because this is an original idea I had all by myself. Okay, for the trap, I've got some great archive worthy newspapers. Like this one from the day humans first landed on the moon. Or this one from when America elected the first black president, Barack Obama.

[Romil]

What's this one?

[Joy Dolo]

Oh, that's coupons for frozen Mac and Cheese dinners. I'm really excited to go buy some after this.

[Romil]

I can tell.

[Joy Dolo]

Mac and Cheese, the favorite dinner of history lovers everywhere.

[Romil]

Wait, is that true?

[Joy Dolo]

Well, I love history and I eat Mac and cheese for dinner, so probably. Say, while we wait, should we talk about the history of Pokemon? You know, as an unrelated topic that has nothing to do with histamons, I

[Romil]

was hoping you would ask.

[Joy Dolo]

Perfect. Let's podcast about Pokemon. Gotta cast em all. This is forever ago where we explore the before. I'm your host, Joy Dolo, and my partner for today's adventure is Romil from Needham, Massachusetts.

[Romil]

Hi, Joy.

[Joy Dolo]

Okay, today we're talking about Pokemon. Romil, do you like Pokemon?

[Romil]

Oh, yeah.

[Joy Dolo]

So how were you first introduced to Pokemon?

[Romil]

I think I watched the TV shows.

[Joy Dolo]

I used to watch the old Pokemon, like, back in the day when I was a kid and there was the song that was, like, rocking. It was like, I'm going to be the very best no.

[Library Staff/Janitor]

1.

[Joy Dolo]

Is that the one you're talking about?

[Romil]

Yeah.

[Joy Dolo]

That's so cool. Do you have a favorite Pokemon?

[Romil]

I have a top three. Like, they're not in any order ranked, but I like Gengar because he's, like, kind of cool and, like, creepy. Ish. I like Charizard because he's also cool, and he's like, pokemon have mega Evolutions, and he has, like, two different ones. So that's cool. And then I like Eevee. Not because, like, I don't like. I don't think Eevee's that good in a battle, but I like it because it has, like, a bunch of different Evolutions.

[Joy Dolo]

What is.

[Sponsor Voice]

What is.

[Joy Dolo]

What does it look like?

[Romil]

It kind of looks like. I mean, a doggish, catish thing. Like, it had a big, like, fluffy tail. It's like. It looks like kind of like an oval. Then it has, like, a head with pointy ears, and it's cute. And then it has, like, a ring of, like, white fur around its neck. And, like, it's the same color of the fur at the end of the tail. And then. And then I have four little. It has four little legs with paws on the ends.

[Joy Dolo]

Oh, cute. This is a topic that lots of you were curious about.

[Listener/Caller]

Hi, I'm Rowan. And I'm Finn. And we would like to hear an episode about the history of Pokemon.

[Romil]

Hi, my name is Isla. I'm from Coventry in England, and I

[Listener/Caller]

want to know what the history of Pokemon is.

[Romil]

My name is Henry, and I'm from Greenough, Montana. And my question is, what is the history of Pokemon?

[Listener/Caller]

Hi, my name is Amber, and I'm from New Jersey. And my question is, what's the history of Pokemon?

[Joy Dolo]

Thanks, Rowan, Finn, Isla, Henry, and Ambrose for sending in your questions.

[Romil]

So let's learn about Pokemon.

[Joy Dolo]

Pokemon are powerful, cute monsters that fight each other.

[Romil]

You know, like Pikachu, Squirrel, Snorlax, Bulbasaur, Charizard.

[Joy Dolo]

Your favorite.

[Romil]

Or like, Psyduck, Jigglypuff, Eevee, and Gengar. Two more of my favorites.

[Joy Dolo]

Oj Broccoli, chorizo. Oh, wait. I was reading the list of foods I plan to eat with my frozen Mac and Cheese dinner.

[Recapinator]

Whoops.

[Romil]

Pokemon started as a video game, but today it's also in movies, TV shows, card games, and toys, and it's super popular.

[Joy Dolo]

The Pokemon company has sold over 500 million video games.

[Romil]

They've made over 85 billion trading cards.

[Joy Dolo]

And Pokemon Go, the game for smartphones, has been downloaded over a billion times. To help make sense of that, I choose you, Statosaurus. The histamon that loves to explain statistics.

[Statsaurus]

There are roughly 8 billion people alive on Earth today. One billion is about one eighth of the whole population of the planet. That means about one out of every eight people in the world downloaded Pokemon Go. Gr. That's a lot of people. Stenosaurus out.

[Joy Dolo]

Thanks, Dadosaurus. So today, Pokemon is a mega smash hit. But before all that, it was a wild idea that almost flopped. Let us tell the tale.

[Romil]

It all began with a kid who loved playing outside.

[Joy Dolo]

His name was Satoshi Tajiri. He grew up in Japan around 50 years ago.

[Romil]

Back then, people had cars, electricity, and color tv. But no one really had computers at home yet. And video games were still super new.

[Joy Dolo]

Satoshi lived in a neighborhood in Tokyo that was full of forests, streams, and rice fields.

[Romil]

And there was nothing he loved more than going out in all that nature and finding bugs.

[Listener/Caller]

Ooh, look at this one. It's got a hard shell. Oh, this one has shiny wings. Bugs are the best.

[Joy Dolo]

Satoshi was obsessed. He collect bugs, study them, and come up with new ways to catch them.

[Romil]

A lot of other kids would just put honey on a stick and leave that out to attract beetles.

[Joy Dolo]

But Satoshi realized beetles like to sleep under rocks during the day. So he left a rock out and came back the next morning. When he lifted the stone, he found a beetle party.

[Listener/Caller]

So many beetles. This is the best day ever.

[Joy Dolo]

Satoshi's friends called him Dr. Bug because he knew everything about these tiny creatures. He even dreamed of being a bug scientist one day.

[Romil]

But soon his neighborhood started to change.

[Joy Dolo]

Japan was growing quickly, and the forests and streams around Tokyo were getting paved over to make room for apartment buildings, roads, and stores.

[Romil]

Satoshi later said that one day you'd see a pond and the next it would be an arcade.

[Joy Dolo]

Which led to Satoshi's next video games.

[Romil]

He started going to those new arcades.

[Joy Dolo]

Arcades are buildings full of video games on machines the size of a refrigerator. Each refrigerator sized machine had a screen and controllers, and each machine only had one game on it.

[Romil]

If you wanted to play, you'd have to put coins in the machine. When your time ran out, you'd have to put in more coins to keep playing.

[Joy Dolo]

One of his favorite arcade games was called Space Invaders. You control a little spaceship that shoots at an alien army.

[Romil]

Satoshi was hooked. He would even skip school to go play video Games.

[Joy Dolo]

His parents were not happy.

[Romil]

But like with bugs, Satoshi wanted to really understand video games. So he studied them to figure out how they worked.

[Joy Dolo]

He even enrolled in a two year college program to learn about computers. Soon, his head was so full of video game tricks and tips that he had to share what he knew with the world.

[Romil]

Satoshi started making a magazine called Game Freak.

[Joy Dolo]

Every issue had instructions for how to master various games. People loved it. One issue of Game Freak sold over 10,000 copies.

[Romil]

But Satoshi felt like most games were not as good as they could be, and he decided to fix that.

[Joy Dolo]

Coming up, how Satoshi changed video games forever. But first, let's take a quick break and play a round of

[Statsaurus]

first things first.

[Joy Dolo]

This is the game where we take three things from history and ask you to put them in an order. They were invented today. Since we're talking about Japan, we're gonna do three other pop culture icons from that country. So we've got hello Kitty, that adorable white little cat cartoon.

[Romil]

Oh, yeah, yeah. With the pink bow.

[Joy Dolo]

Yeah, yeah. Godzilla, the giant green monster that can step on a skyscraper. And Mario, the plucky plumber from Nintendo.

[Romil]

So Mario probably had to come out with video games. And I'm guessing that, like, in Satoshi's era, if he lived, like in the 80s and said video games were still pretty new. And I think hello. Either hello Kitty or Godzilla's first.

[Joy Dolo]

Oh, okay.

[Romil]

I'm not really sure which one to pick because hello Kitty could be like, more recent because. Yeah, or it could be like a cartoon that got, like. Because I've seen, like, people have, like, hello Kitty purses and stuff.

[Joy Dolo]

Oh, yeah, yeah. So it could be more recent.

[Romil]

It could. I'm guessing Godzilla Mario. Okay. No, hello Kitty, Godzilla, Mario, hello Kitty, Godzilla, Mario.

[Joy Dolo]

In that order.

[Romil]

Actually. Hello Kitty, Mario, Godzilla. I think Godzilla is pretty new because, like, to have the idea of a beast that could step on skyscrapers, you have to be able to, like, show it somehow. It's hard to draw. And then, like, you have to have the idea of skyscrapers because, like, if you. God, like. Yeah. So I've seen stuff like that.

[Joy Dolo]

Good idea. So first we have hello Kitty and then Mario and then Godzilla. These are your final answers.

[Romil]

Yes.

[Joy Dolo]

Yes. All right. Lock it in.

[Listener/Caller]

My.

[Romil]

My favorite part of the podcast, but also my most scary part.

[Joy Dolo]

It's always a little nerve wracking.

[Romil]

Right.

[Joy Dolo]

We'll hear the answers at the end of the episode right after the credits, so stick around. We're working on an episod all about the history of pizza why? Because it's a perfect food. But it needs a good slogan. A slogan is a saying or a tagline for something like skittles, taste the rainbow or Forever ago, where we explore the before for pizza. It could be pizza. Every biteza a delightsa. What do you think is a good idea for a pizza slogan?

[Romil]

My first idea is huzzah pizza.

[Recapinator]

I love that.

[Romil]

And then my second, it could be like after every meal, you'll be out the door wanting more shot and pizza, we need ya.

[Joy Dolo]

Oh, it's a song too.

[Romil]

Or it could be pizza. More like pizazza.

[Joy Dolo]

Pizazza. Listeners, record your pizza slogan and send it to [e-mail] content contact. And while you're there, you can send us episode ideas, questions and drawings. Like maybe you invent your own histamon. A monster that loves history. Draw it, name it, tell us what it does and send it to [e-mail] contact.

[Romil]

Thanks and keep listening.

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Joy Dolo]

And you know, in middle school, that

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Joy Dolo]

You're listening to Forever Ago. I'm Joy.

[Romil]

And I'm Romil.

[Joy Dolo]

And to help remind us about what we learned so far, I choose you. Recapinator.

[Recapinator]

Yeah, Recapinator is here. We just learned that Pokemon is like a huge mega pop culture phenomenon, right? And it all started thanks to a boy named Satoshi Tajiri. He loved hunting bugs and playing video games. Who doesn't? Eventually he started a magazine for game fans called Game Freak.

[Library Staff/Janitor]

Cool Cool.

[Recapinator]

But he realized most games are low key Kind of bad. So he wanted to make better ones. And that's where we pick up our story. I'm Recapinator.

[Library Staff/Janitor]

See you later.

[Joy Dolo]

Thanks, Recapinator.

[Romil]

Satoshi teamed up with a friend of his who drew pictures for Game Freak magazine.

[Joy Dolo]

His name was Ken Sugimori. And together they created a game company called, wait for it, Game Freak.

[Romil]

Why mess with a good name, right?

[Joy Dolo]

The first game they made was a puzzle game called Mendel Palace. It did well, and it put Game Freak on the map.

[Romil]

Then, in 1989, something big happened. The game company Nintendo launched a new device called Game Boy.

[Joy Dolo]

Oh, yeah, I remember this one. It was the first real handheld video game player. Before this, you could play video games in an arcade or at home on your TV screen, but not on the go. Then suddenly there was this gray box the size of a grown up's hand. The top half of the box had a tiny screen that was black and white, and the bottom half was where the controls were. You'd hold it like you were texting on a smartphone, and you had to put these little boxes in it called cartridges, to change what game you were playing. And Tetris was really popular on Game Boy. So was Mario Romil. Have you heard of Game Boy?

[Romil]

Yeah, I've seen it at the national video Game Museum, the NVM in Texas.

[Joy Dolo]

Yeah, yeah. One cool thing about the Game Boy was that you could connect two of them together with a cable so players

[Romil]

could play against each other in real time.

[Joy Dolo]

Most games use this cable to let people battle each other. But Satoshi saw something different. He pictured little digital insects crawling through the cable back and forth between people's game boys.

[Romil]

It sparked an idea. What if there was a way to combine the fun of hunting bugs with the design of a cool video game?

[Joy Dolo]

And that's how he came up with Pokemon.

[Romil]

He told Nintendo about the idea. The company was into it, but a little unsure of how it would work.

[Joy Dolo]

Yeah, it was pretty different from anything they'd done before. But as we've seen, when Satoshi is into something, he goes all in. And he was into this Pokemon idea.

[Romil]

So he and his friends from Game Freak got to work.

[Joy Dolo]

Ken Sugimori, the illustrator from the magazine, started designing all sorts of little monsters for the game.

[Romil]

Another friend made the music, and Satoshi

[Joy Dolo]

kept working on the concept. He eventually came up with a game where you hunt wild beasts called Pokemon, which is short for pocket monsters. You catch them, train them, battle them, and even trade them using those cables that connect game boys. There would be over 100 monsters, each with their own powers hidden across a huge map.

[Romil]

It was not an easy game to make.

[Joy Dolo]

The team worked so much, they practically lived at the office. They spent so much money, Game Freak almost went bankrupt.

[Romil]

Satoshi would write magazine articles in his precious free time, and he would use the money he earned to pay his staff. He didn't even pay himself.

[Joy Dolo]

Still, several employees quit, and it seemed like the game was just too big and too hard to finish.

[Romil]

But after six years of grinding, it was finally done. Pokemon was ready for the world.

[Joy Dolo]

But was the world ready for Pokemon? Turns out, no, they weren't ready. In fact, the world had moved on

[Romil]

by the time Pokemon was released. The original Game Boy was old news. People were excited about other devices.

[Joy Dolo]

Game magazines didn't even bother to write about this new Pokemon game.

[Romil]

It seemed like Pokemon was going to

[Joy Dolo]

be a big flop, a total failure, like a Mac and Cheese dinner that's not really thawed out. Why is the middle still icy if the sides are boiling hot? Riddle me this.

[Romil]

So it seemed like Pokemon would fade away until it was saved by one special monster?

[Joy Dolo]

No, not Pikachu. We'll tell you who in a second, right after the mailbag. Checking my mail. Checking my mail. Oh, here's a message from Quinn and her adult.

[Listener/Caller]

Hi, Joy. I was wondering if you could do a Fire of London episode for a podcast, because it's really interesting.

[Additional Listener/Caller]

So we were thinking. Joy, we love your podcast. We think it's so much fun. And we.

[Listener/Caller]

Especially the teddy bears and the candy lantern.

[Additional Listener/Caller]

There's some great episodes. Yeah, I mean, all them are. We haven't hit a bad one, have we? But we were thinking the Great Fire of London. It's such a cool story. You might want to cover it on your podcast. Thank you so much. Bye.

[Joy Dolo]

Oh, the Great Fire of London. That happened in the year 1666 and was a major disaster for that city. But a lot of fascinating history happened because of that disaster, too. Great idea, Quinn. Quinn also sent us a video of a cool 3D book she made about the fire with pictures of the buildings and colorful drawings and some writing. Just very cool stuff. Thanks for getting in touch. We'd love to hear your ideas from forever ago. Send them to [e-mail] contact. See you in the mailbag. Are you loving this episode about Pokemon? I mean, what's not to love, right? Well, boy, do I have a sweet surprise for you. There's a bonus episode in the Smarty Pass feed. It's all about a phenomenon called the Pokemon Shock, where hundreds of Kids felt ill after watching one specific episode of the Pokemon cartoon. What happened? Find out. The episode is just for Smarty Pass members. If you aren't part of the Smarty Pass, go [e-mail]. you'll help power forever ago and get cool bonus episodes. Thanks. We're back. And we're still waiting for that Archivalora to show up.

[Romil]

Is that it?

[Library Staff/Janitor]

Is it?

[Joy Dolo]

Oh no, that's just the library. Janitor floors look great, my dude. Maybe I should try to call it like with a bird call or something.

[Library Staff/Janitor]

Cricket.

[Statsaurus]

Sh.

[Joy Dolo]

Seriously, this is a library, not a make weird noises place.

[Library Staff/Janitor]

Come on.

[Joy Dolo]

Wait, is a make weird noises place real? Because I feel like I belong there. Where is it?

[Library Staff/Janitor]

Just.

[Joy Dolo]

Just please keep it down. Okay, we will.

[Romil]

Let's get back to the story of Pokemon.

[Statsaurus]

Right.

[Joy Dolo]

So after years of work, Satoshi Tajiri and his friends released the game. And it seemed like a big old nothing.

[Romil]

No one was really paying attention to the Game Boy or this new game for it that involved catching and trading monsters.

[Joy Dolo]

That is, until people started hearing rumors about a very secret, very rare Pokemon. In the game. You're told there are 150 Pokemon to catch. But it turns out there was a hidden 151st Pokemon.

[Romil]

It was called Mew.

[Joy Dolo]

Mew looks like sort of.

[Library Staff/Janitor]

Hmm.

[Joy Dolo]

How to describe Mew? Oh, I know. To help me explain what it looks like, I choose you. Descriptazard. She's the Histamon that helps visualize things from Histamine.

[Library Staff/Janitor]

Hey, Descriptazard on duty. Mew is a pink mammalian Pokemon that stands on two legs, has a cat like face and a long thin tail. It looks like if a cat and a kangaroo had a baby. Aw, that's a cute idea. And Mew is cute too. Okay, hope that helped. Descriptazard signing off.

[Joy Dolo]

Thanks, descriptazard. So that's Mew.

[Romil]

Even in Nintendo didn't know about the secret monster hidden in the game.

[Joy Dolo]

To get it, you had to discover a glitch in the programming. It was a cool secret that got people interested in trying the game. Plus, Mew was super powerful, making Mew fun to play with.

[Romil]

And once you had Mew, you could use that special Game Boy cable to trade it with friends. Which got more players interacting with each other.

[Joy Dolo]

Word spread around playgrounds and arcades.

[Romil]

Sailed, grew and grew until soon Pokemon was one of Nintendo's biggest games.

[Joy Dolo]

And the Game Boy was trending once again. Not long after that, Nintendo made a cartoon TV show about Pokemon. It featured a boy and his best friend. A small yellow monster with red cheeks and enough lightning power to make Thor jealous.

[Romil]

That cartoon helped launch Pokemon mania in Japan. And in the United States, kids couldn't get enough.

[Joy Dolo]

They were trading the cards, buying the toys. In 1999, the first Pokemon movie was released in the US and it was a smash.

[Romil]

Nintendo kept making more Pokemon games, and people kept playing them.

[Joy Dolo]

Satoshi had done it. He took his obsessions and made something unique and cool from them.

[Romil]

And now other people were obsessed with the thing he made from his obsession. It's a full circle.

[Joy Dolo]

So that's the story of Pokemon.

[Listener/Caller]

So interesting. Thank you for sharing.

[Joy Dolo]

Archivalaura it's you. We found you.

[Romil]

Aw, it looks like a fuzzy purple moth.

[Listener/Caller]

I heard some history and had to come check it out. Do you mind if I also snack on these historic papers here?

[Joy Dolo]

You mean my trap or my free snacks? Sure. Speaking of snacks, would you like to come with us to go pick up some frozen Mac and cheese dinners? They're on sale.

[Listener/Caller]

Mac and cheese? You mean the favorite dinner of history lovers everywhere? Of course.

[Joy Dolo]

Yes. I knew it was true. Pokemon was the brainchild of Satoshi Tajiri.

[Romil]

As a kid, he loved collecting bugs and playing video games.

[Joy Dolo]

He turned his passion for games into a magazine, and later on, a game company.

[Romil]

That's when he had the idea of combining his love of finding bugs with his love of playing video games.

[Joy Dolo]

The first Pokemon game took six years to develop, and when it came out, people weren't that excited.

[Romil]

But as word spread of a secret hidden Pokemon sales picked up.

[Joy Dolo]

Today, Pokemon is one of the most popular game series in the world. This episode was written by Sandon Totten. It was edited by Molly Bloom. It was produced and fact checked by Ruby Guthrie. Engineering help from Rafi Sofer with sound design by Rachel Breeze. Original theme music by Mark Sanchez. Special thanks to Puneet and Sujata, Sarda, Lulu and Felix.

[Romil]

And if you want access to ad free episodes and special bonus content, subscribe to our smarty pass.

[Joy Dolo]

Okay, Romil, are you ready to hear the answers for first things first?

[Romil]

A little nervous, but I'll do it.

[Joy Dolo]

Oh yeah, I'm nervous too. Okay, so as a reminder, you chose hello Kitty for one, Mario for two

[Sponsor Voice]

and Godzilla for three.

[Romil]

Yep.

[Joy Dolo]

Okay, here we go. And you know, you did pretty good. You did pretty good. So the first one was actually Godzilla.

[Library Staff/Janitor]

What?

[Joy Dolo]

Yeah. So Godzilla was from 1954 and it was based on a movie from Japan. Oh, yeah. So Godzilla was originally played by a man in a rubber monster suit. And it was so. It was so Hot in the suit. The actor apparently could only be in it for three minutes at a time before needing to get fresh air. Could you imagine just sweating inside of that thing?

[Romil]

You try shooting a video game, you're in the middle of an epic line. I need to get them some fresh air.

[Additional Listener/Caller]

Yeah.

[Joy Dolo]

Everybody stop.

[Additional Listener/Caller]

Yeah.

[Joy Dolo]

But there have been more than 30 Godzilla movies made over the span of 70 years.

[Romil]

Oh, I mean, I've seen a video game for it.

[Sponsor Voice]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joy Dolo]

So it must have been around for a long time. But I didn't know that either. That was a long time ago. And then second was hello Kitty.

[Romil]

Hello Kitty. Oh, I got got it completely wrong.

[Joy Dolo]

It was tough. They're really close together. So hello kitty is in 1974. And so hello Kitty was created and introduced to the world as a character on a little coin pur a year later. And she's a prime example of kawaii, which is the Japanese word for cute. Hello Kitty. Even though she comes from Japan, the character is actually supposed to be a British cat because Britain was. Britain was trendy in Japan at the time hello Kitty was invented. So it was like a cool thing. The last one is Mario. So 1981 is when that came out.

[Romil]

Oh man. Also, I knew it was in the 1980s cuz the if like things are pretty video games were still super new then. I knew Mario was supposed to be then.

[Joy Dolo]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Mario was first introduced to the world in a video game called Donkey Kong. Have you ever heard of that one?

[Romil]

Oh yeah. I've seen like Donkey Kong. Like bananas. I've seen games like that. Oh yeah, I've seen both movies.

[Joy Dolo]

Oh, cool. Okay, so Donkey Kong, if people that aren't familiar, is where he kind of jumps over barrels and they're thrown by an angry gorilla. So Mario had a few different names before Mario Stuck, including Mr. Video and. And Jumpman.

[Romil]

Mr. Video, it's me, Mr. Video. I can't imagine that. What would Luigi be? Mr. Audiobook? Princess? Smartphone.

[Joy Dolo]

So legend has it they got the name Mario from the landlord of Nintendo's USA branch. His name was Mario Segale. That's a great name. Which one of these was the most surprising to you?

[Romil]

Uh, I was surprised that Mario is called Mr. Video and Jumpman.

[Additional Listener/Caller]

Yeah.

[Joy Dolo]

I also thought it was interesting that hello Kitty was British.

[Romil]

Yeah, I didn't know that.

[Joy Dolo]

Yeah, I didn't either. Join us next week for a new episode all about a day in the life of ancient Rome. And to hear our bonus episode about the Pokemon shock incident. Get smarty.

[Library Staff/Janitor]

Pass.

[Joy Dolo]

And check the premium feed.

[Romil]

Thanks for listening.

[Listener/Caller]

D.