Pokemon is now ten years old

Pokemon just turned ten years. It’s incredible how this Japanese character first appeared and, practically over night, took over the US and soon Europe and the rest of the world.

The Pokemon craze came like a storm and today I doubt there is any child in the US or Europe that hasn’t seen the cartoons.

It all started with Nintendo launching a game for its consoles that featured peculiar looking creatures in February 1996. It became a phenomenon and a year later the first movie in the long series was launched.

Nine years later, the range of Pokemon products is enormous. Toys, computer and console games, trading cards, TV cartoons, books, etc.

In 2005, a POKéPARK was opened in Nagoya which attracted over 4.1 million visitors from March to September.