Today we’re going to talk a little bit about the Pokémon logo and the history of this popular franchise
The Pokémon media franchise features a striking yellow and blue inscription logo. The English version of the logo is arguably the most popular around the world, but it is not the only one. The Japanese version of the inscription has a different look and a different theme, but still retains its characteristic cheerfulness.
What is Pokémon?
Pokémon is a well-known video game franchise owned and published by Nintendo Corporation. It was developed in 1996 by Satoshi Tajiri, a well-known Japanese video game developer. Sales of the franchise’s products, including toys, books, collectible cards, anime and comics, are estimated to have exceeded $92 billion.
The history of Pokémon
Pokémon is a Nintendo video game franchise that launched in February 1996 as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green. Subsequently, the series became very popular in the United States and around the world. Originally designed for Nintendo’s Game Boy range of handheld consoles, Pokémon was introduced in the United States in 1998 with two titles called Blue and Red.
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In the Pokémon series, players step into the shoes of Pokémon trainers and obtain cartoon monsters and develop them to battle other Pokémons. The game became one of the most popular video game series on the planet, second only to Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros.
The origins of Pokémon
Pokémon began as a hobby of Satoshi Tajiri. As a child, Tajiri enjoyed catching tadpoles and insects in a pond near his suburban Tokyo home. With the help of Ken Sugimori and others, Tajiri devised Game Freak to give children the same imaginative drive he had as a child.
Tajiri was also heavily influenced by a TV show known as Ultra Seven, in which Ultraman summoned giant monsters inside capsules to help him fight evil. Thus, it was initially called Capsule Monsters, although Tajiri failed in his first proposals to Nintendo.
Later, with the help of Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo agreed to fund the project, although they still didn’t understand it. They gave the partners 6 years to create the first game. But due to branding issues, Capsule Monsters became Pocket Monsters, giving rise to Pokémon.
The beginning of Game Freak and Pokémon
Satoshi Tajiri designed Pokémon with the help of his illustrator friend Ken Sugimori.
In 1982, Tajiri teamed up with his friends to launch a video game magazine called Game Freak. However, after a while, Tajiri decided to start developing his own video games instead of writing about them.
Seven years later, Game Freak became a game company, and Tajiri and his friends introduced some games such as Yoshi, Mario and Wario, and Pulseman, which were quite well received.
In the early 1990s, inspired by his upbringing exploring forests and collecting tadpoles and insects, Tajiri developed the idea for Pocket Monsters (better known as Pokémon) and presented it to Nintendo.
The first Pokémon titles
At first, Nintendo was not entirely convinced by Pocket Monsters. However, it eventually accepted the idea, and Tajiri spent the next six years working with famed video game developer Shigeru Miyamoto (who came up with The Legend of Zelda and Mario) to bring the Pocket Monsters dream to life.
In February 1996, a green-red version of Pocket Monsters was released for the Game Boy range of handheld consoles in Japan. A cartridge contained the games, and players could trade Pokémon via a cable connected to someone else’s Game Boy.
Millions of copies of the games were sold, and they were subsequently introduced in the United States in 1998. A year later, the games were introduced in the UK in a blue and red (rather than green) version. The name Pocket Monsters was also shortened to Pokémon.
Seven more generations of Pokémon titles have since been released, from Silver and Gold to Sapphire and Ruby, Pearl and Diamond, Black and White, Black and White, Sun and Moon, X and Y, and the latest title Sword and Shield.
Each new generation contained new Pokémon. In fact, the Pokémon series now has about 898 different Pokémon. So it will take you quite some time to catch them all.
The beginning of the Pokémon Trading Card Game
After the success of the first Pokémon games, a company known as Media Factory came up with Pokémon Trading Cards (TGC). The first set of cards was introduced in October 1996, featuring 102 cards, with illustrations by Ken Sugimori, Keiji Kinebuchi and Mitsuhiro Arita.
The cards quickly became very popular and, in 1999, were introduced in North America and, soon after, worldwide.
Pokémon card tournaments emerged, where players could play against each other, and now there is even a world championship.
Since then, more than 30 billion Pokémon trading cards have been made, with some people going as far as spending several hundred thousand dollars for the rarest cards.
The launch of the Pokémon TV series
In 1997, Pokémon inspired the launch of an animated television series in Japan. The series revolved around the life of a boy named Satoshi (named after Pokémon’s inventor, Satoshi Tajiri) who embarked on a quest to become a Pokémon expert with his partner Pikachu.
The TV series premiered worldwide, and Ash Ketchum became Satoshi Tajiri’s new name. Since then, the Pokémon TV series has had 23 seasons and over 1,000 episodes.
In 2019, Ash eventually won the Alola League and became a Pokémon expert in the series called Sun and Moon.
The first Pokémon movie
In 1998, a movie hit theaters in Japan. The movie, called Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back, revolved around trainer Ash Ketchum, who, along with his friends, is invited to a secret island where they encounter the all-powerful Pokémon Mewtwo.
Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back was a box office hit and was released worldwide in 1999.
Since then, there have been 23 animated films and one live-action film called Detective Pikachu, starring Ryan Reynald.
Pokémon come to mobile with Pokémon GO
In 2016, a rather large game was introduced to smartphones that made waves around the world upon its release. The game is known as Pokémon GO.
Pokémon GO was quite revolutionary. It allowed players to explore their location in real life, using augmented reality technology and satellite to make it look like the Pokémon they had on their phone was actually there.
Upon its release, Pokémon GO broke download records and has since been downloaded over a billion times – that’s a lot of Pokémon trainers!
Pokémon remakes and their future
In 2018, Nintendo introduced remakes of the Pokémon Yellow and Red and Blue games in the form of Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee.
The new technology allowed players to throw pokeballs with Nintendo switch controllers. And with the help of a specially designed pokeball controller, players could even take the pokeballs for a walk.
Pokémon broke records in the first week of its release, prompting a new wave of remakes, including the recently released Pokémon Snap. The Pokémon Company plans to release more remakes in the future, so fans should look forward to them.
History of the Pokémon logo
The Pokémon logo is a striking yellow and blue logo. Most of us are familiar with its English variant, but it has been translated into several other languages. All variants of the Pokémon logo look the same. Only the Japanese version of the logo is left out of the entire series, as it is different in both color and shape. Nintendo owns the rights and trademark to both logos.
Satoshi Tajiri launched the Pokémon project in 1995. Even so, it managed to become popular in a fairly short period, thanks to the original representation of the fictional universe aimed primarily at children. Considering the target audience, there are some aspects of visual identification. Indeed, younger fans pay attention to the unique visual images and bright colors, which makes the logo stand out in an eye-catching way.
Pokémon logo design elements
Pokémon Symbol: The Pokémon emblem is technically an inscription, but in reality, the funny-looking letters are a much more recognizable feature of the series. The most popular characters can vary greatly depending on who created them, but they usually include Misty, Pikachu, Charizard Mewtwo, Mew, Ash, Arceus, May, Red, and Brock.
Pokémon font: The word “Pokémon” comes from the original Japanese “Pocket Monsters” label. The font of the Pokémon logo consists of a very energetic and playful inscription, especially designed to appeal to children. The Pokémon emblem is one of the most instantly recognizable and popular in the toy and cartoon industry. It is written in huge yellow letters with a blue outline, while the franchise name curves like a rainbow.
Colors of the Pokémon logo: the yellow characters of the Pokémon emblem represent optimism and joy, while the blue represents class and excellence.
Why has the Pokémon logo never evolved?
The Pokémon media franchise has been around for 25 years. The franchise started with the blue version of Pokémon and the red version of Pokémon for Game Boy. The game series involves human trainers trying to capture creatures known as Pokémon and teaching them how to battle each other.
The basic but addictive idea soon blossomed into a sprawling transmedia franchise that continues today. The franchise spawned a famous anime series, comic books, toys, animated movies and much more.
The Pokémon franchise also has a live-action film version, known as Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, in which Deadpool’s Ryan Ronald voices the title character. If the movie becomes a hit, spinoffs and sequels are already in the works.
The gaming division of the Pokémon franchise continues to flourish, with Nintendo Switch games Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu quickly becoming some of the best-selling Pokémon titles. If you’ve been a longtime Pokémon fan, you may have noticed that the brand’s colorful logo has never been changed or revamped, save for a few superficial alterations.
While other successful video game series, such as Call of Duty or Resident Evil, have changed their recognizable emblems to mark a change in direction or tone, the Pokémon emblem has remained virtually the same, even 25 years after the franchise’s inception. Fans have grown so accustomed to it that they even make fun of it, so why hasn’t the logo ever changed?
The answer seems to lie in Game Freak’s approach to the development of the Pokémon series. While some elements are improved or made more complex, the gameplay and core elements remain the same. According to Pokémon director and producer Junichi Masuda, Pokémon is like basketball or soccer, where fans watch the action expecting a specific formula every time.
That’s why there has never been a radical change in gameplay, and apparently the Pokémon emblem remains basically the same. The emblem also evokes a certain nostalgia and warmth in today’s fans, and while they might joke about it, they probably wouldn’t be too happy if the iconic font was ever revamped.
The franchise will undergo a drastic change in direction and style someday, so in the meantime, fans of the franchise should appreciate the fact that the franchise is staying true to its tradition.
The Pokémon logo in pop culture
The Pokémon logo and franchise are associated with many different mediums. In general, Pokémon characters have already become pop culture icons. Movies and newspapers always mention them; they are part of parks, appear on magazine covers, etc.
According to psychologists, Pokémon is a pop culture icon because the video game creates a strong fictional universe and allows fans to assert their personality. Children choose a character that closely resembles their own personality and thus affirm their likes and dislikes, differentiating themselves from their peers.
Pokémon Logo PNG
If you want to download the Pokémon logo or the Pokémon logos featured throughout the article, just right-click and click “Save Image As”, then you can save the logos in PNG format.