The History of Pokemon: 1996 - Present
Before the creation of Pokemon, there was a fan magazine in Japan called Game Freak. Game Freak was created by Junichi Masuda and Satoshi Tajiri, together they launched Game Freak in 1981. Though this magazine was small and focused on niche or retro video games, it didn't stop Tajiri from dreaming of something bigger. As a new video game developer, along with the help of Junichi Masuda and Ken Sugimori, they attempted to pitch their first video game to Nintendo. Unfortunately, Nintendo rejected their idea and not wanting to let their dream go, they transformed Game Freak into a game development company.
Pokemon Red and Green
With the change of Game Freak becoming a game development company, new doors began to open, but not before their first two games were shot down by Nintendo. Despite their first two games being shot down, this didn't stop Tajiri or Game Freak from creating more games. In fact, their future developments led to the creation of Yoshi, Mario, and Wario. In time, this connection with Nintendo began to evolve into a good working relationship. Which resulted in Nintendo and Game Freak beginning their collaboration to create Pokemon in 1990. After six years of hard work, they were finally able to release Pokemon Green and Red in 1996. Two years later, in 1998 Pokemon would finally be released in the United States, but not as Red and Green, instead they were Red and Blue.
The Creation of Pokemon TCG
With Pokemon Red and Green doing well in Japan, Game Freak began their collaboration with Media Factory, a company known for their manga and anime. Together they worked hard to produce the first set of Pokemon trading cards in October 1996 known as the Base set consisting of 102 cards. This set didn't come to the United States until January 9th 1999 and by June 16th, 1999 Pokemon released a second set consisting of 64 cards in what was known as the Fossil set. Since then, Pokemon has been regularly producing multiple card sets yearly.
Today's Pokemon TCG Collection
All around the world TCG sets have become a well known piece of media, whether you're a fan of Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh, but ever since Pokemon's beginning they have continued to release cards at high volumes. As of early 2024, Pokemon has released over 16,000 Pokemon cards, with more set to release on a regular schedule, but this isn't the only thing that Pokemon has released. Pokemon has continued to make more video games and even mobile games, which has taken the world by storm.
What's Next?
Despite Pokemon nearing nearly 30 years of product releases, Pokemon is continuing on with their very busy release schedule. As they are slated to release a digital trading card game for mobile, called Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket before the end of 2024. Followed by the release of a new game for the Nintendo Switch called Pokemon Legends: Z-A, which has an unknown release date, but is scheduled for 2025. This of course doesn't even begin to mention that Pokemon has several TCG sets, set to be released throughout the remainder of this year. The next one being Scarlet & Violet-Stellar Crown set to release over 170 cards on September 13. Which you will be able to find here at Deck Chef on release day to add to your own custom decks.