20 years of Pokemon

If you weren't aware during Super Bowl L, 2016 is the 20th anniversary of Pokémon.

Released on February 27, 1996 in its native Japan, the game was created by Nintendo and Game Freak for the Game Boy in two games: Red and Green.  There was a Blue version as a special edition.  When released here in the US, the games were Red and Blue and a new version was made called Pokémon Yellow, were the player's starting Pokémon was franchise mascot Pikachu.

The game's objective was to hunt for, obtain information on, and battle with other players in your quest to be the Greatest Pokémon Master.  Villains included your in-game rival plus a villainous gang called Team Rocket.  The franchise expanded to include trading card games, an anime series and movies, comic books, and toys, in terms of revenue it's second only to Super Mario Bros. 

To pay tribute I did my own pic based on a sequence in the short film Pikachu's Vacation with Pikachu and some of his friends, including Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Psyduck and Vulpix, with Jigglypuff in place of Togepi and Eevee because of his popularity.

Since the debut of the franchise, Pikachu had seemingly become to the Japanese what characters like Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny are to the Americans.

While we would not get Pokémon in the US until 1998, it's power could not be ignored; Pikachu even got himself a balloon in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Happy 20th to Pokémon!

Pokémon is (c) Nintendo, Game Freak and The Pokémon Company