Image: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Red/Blue Rescue Team
Back in 1996, a man named Satoshi Tajiri created a series revolving around creatures called Pokémon. These creatures were based of real-life animals, insects, and mythology. Each one has their own unique design, personality, abilities, and concepts that appealed to millions of people around the world. Their purpose was to live as wild animals in their own natural habitat, as well has having the potential to be captured and trained by people called Pokémon Trainers. Once captured and trained, the player (as the main Pokémon Trainer), would use their Pokémon in a variety of activates such as battling, Pokémon Contests, Pokémon Acting, or even just go on walks with them to boost up their friendship stats. The more the players interacted with their Pokémon, the closer the bond became.
The gameplay, world, and people of the Pokémon series are fun within itself. For some people, it’s what brings them back to the series and it’s what makes them love them for as long as they do. For me, however, one of the major things that keeps bringing me back to this series since I was 4 was the Pokémon themselves. Each generation of Pokémon brings us new designs for each game, at least 100 these days. This ranges from fire-breathing dragons like Charizard or a large raven with steel feathers and armor like Corviknight. When you look at the Pokédex, you’ll find a large Grass-Type tortoise with a tree on its back, a mythical star that sleeps for 1,000 years and can grant wishes, a small dog that can evolve into 7 different creatures depending on how you raise it, a long centipede that’s on fire, and so much more. All these descriptions of Pokémon in the series only scratch the surface with what Tajiri and his team have created over the past 20+ years.
Image: Ninetales
Mythology is another one of the key components to creating Pokémon. Though not all of these creatures have mythological backgrounds behind their design, the ones that do are very interesting and fitting for their purpose. For example, the Fire-Type Pokémon, Ninetales, is one of the earliest examples of mythos used in the world of Pokémon. Ninetales is based off the Kitsune of Japanese legend. The Kitsune has several long tales, long lifespans, can breathe fire, and has the ability to take on spirit forms. That last detail may come off as a bit odd when considering that Ninetales is a pure Fire-Type, but when one looks at the moves it can use in battle, it starts to make some sense as Ninetales can learn a few Ghost-Type moves harkening back to its spiritual origins. Several of Ninetales’ Pokédex entries mention a curse or supernatural powers of some sorts as Pokémon Moon’s entry, “Said to live a thousand years, this Pokémon use its supernatural abilities to manipulate fire. It can burn prey to a crisp as it pleases” and Pokémon Ultra Sun’s entry which states “It is vindictive and relentless by nature. Those who cross it even once will be cursed for a thousand years, along with their decendents”. Another example of a Pokémon originating from mythology is the Ice/Ghost-Type Pokémon called Froslass. Forslass is based off a female ice-spirit from Japanese folklore called the Yuki-onna. The Yuki-onna has several tales about it, but it basically winds down to a woman who disappeared one snowy day, became a ghost, and will freeze anyone who comes in contact with her. Froslass’ origins are further evidenced by her own Pokédex entries such as Pokémon Sword’s which states “After a woman met her end on a snowy mountain, her regrets lingered on. From them, this Pokémon was born. Its favorite food is frozen souls” and Pokémon Sun’s which states “When it finds humans or Pokémon it likes, freezing them and takes them to its chilly den, where they become decorations”. Many of its other entries state that Froslass mainly goes after handsome men as well.
Image: Reshiram and Zekrom
Notice that both examples of Pokémon that I used were related to ghosts in some way. This is mainly because Pokémon based off mythos and legend tend to be Ghost-Type Pokémon or Pokémon related to Ghost-Types in a sense. Most of them are from tales of old told during scary stories or even horror characters from literature such as the Grim Reaper or tales of sunken ships suddenly brought back to the surface. However, other types have their own literature/mythological background such as Dragon-Types which are obviously based off tales of dragons in fantasy stories. There are dragons based off Chinese tales, Japanese tales, and even English tales. In fact, there are two Pokémon, Reshiram (the Pokémon of Truth) and Zekrom (the Pokémon of Ideals) who represent Taoism’s concept of yin and yang.
Again, the list of Pokémon I mentioned in this short essay alone only scratches the surface of what the team behind this series can create. If you show someone, any random person, a visual of these unique creatures, they’re bound to point out one they like from the look of their design alone. And, if they’re curious enough, they may want to know more about the lore behind the design. This could make them even more interested in the Pokémon and the series itself. I think that this alone proves that Pokémon is not a game made just for kids, but one that is made for everyone of any age, gender, sex, etc. There’s always going to be one Pokémon for everyone. After nearly 1,000 Pokémon created as I type this, it’s hard to imagine what Tajiri and his team might make next.
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