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.:. Pokemon, Info .:.
Collecting and playing The
concept of the Pokemon universe, in both the video games and the
general fictional world of Pokemon, stems from the hobby of insect
collecting, a popular pastime which Pokemon executive director
Satoshi Tajiri-Oniwa had enjoyed as a child. Players of the games
are designated as Pokemon Trainers, and the two general goals (in
most Pokemon games) for such Trainers are: to complete the Pokedex
by collecting all of the available Pokemon species found in the
fictional region where that game takes place; and to train a team of
powerful Pokemon from those they have caught to compete against
teams owned by other Trainers, and eventually become the strongest
Trainer, the Pokemon Master. These themes of collecting, training,
and battling are present in almost every version of the Pokemon
franchise, including the video games, the anime and manga series,
and the Pokemon Trading Card Game. In most incarnations of the
fictional Pokemon universe, a Trainer that encounters a wild Pokemon
is able to capture that Pokemon by throwing a specially designed,
mass-producible tool called a Poke Ball at it. If the Pokemon is
unable to escape the confines of the Poke Ball, that Pokemon is
officially considered under the ownership of that Trainer, and it
will obey whatever commands its new master and/or friend (depending
on how that trainer treats Pokemon in general) issues to it from
that point onward, unless the Trainer demonstrates enough of a lack
of experience that the Pokemon would rather act on its own accord.
Trainers can send out any of their Pokemon to wage non-lethal
battles against Pokemon; if the opposing Pokemon is wild, the
Trainer can capture that Pokemon with a Poke Ball, increasing his or
her collection of creatures. (Pokemon already owned by other
Trainers cannot be captured, except under special circumstances in
certain games.) If a Pokemon fully defeats an opponent in battle so
that the opponent is knocked out ("faints"), the winning Pokemon
gains experience and may level up. When leveling up, the Pokemon's
statistics ("stats") of battling aptitude increase, including
Attack, Speed, and so on. From time to time the Pokemon may also
learn new moves, which are techniques used in battle. In addition,
many species of Pokemon possess the ability to undergo a form of
metamorphosis and transform into a similar but stronger species of
Pokémon, a process called evolution. In the main series, each game's
single-player mode requires the Trainer to raise a team of Pokémon
to defeat many non-player character (NPC) Trainers and their
Pokemon. Each game lays out a somewhat linear path through a
specific region of the Pokemon world for the Trainer to journey
through, completing events and battling opponents along the way.
Each game features eight especially powerful Trainers, referred to
as Gym Leaders, that the Trainer must each defeat in order to
progress. As a reward, the Trainer receives a Gym Badge, and once
all eight badges are collected, that Trainer is eligible to
challenge the region's Pokemon League, where four immensely talented
trainers (referred to collectively as the "Elite Four") challenge
the Trainer to four Pokemon battles in succession. If the trainer
can overcome this gauntlet, he or she must then challenge the
Regional Champion, the master Trainer who had previously defeated
the Elite Four. Any Trainer who wins this last battle becomes the
new champion and gains the title of Pokemon Master. Video games Main
article: Pokemon video game series Generations The original Pokemon
games were Japanese RPGs with an element of strategy, and were
created by Satoshi Tajiri for the Game Boy. These role-playing
games, and their sequels, remakes, and English language
translations, are still considered the "main" Pokemon games, and the
games which most fans of the series are referring to when they use
the term "Pokemon games". All of the licensed Pokemon properties
overseen by The Pokemon Company are divided roughly by generation.
These generations are roughly chronological divisions by release;
every several years, when an official sequel in the main RPG series
is released that features new Pokemon, characters, and gameplay
concepts, that sequel is considered the start of a new generation of
the franchise. The main games and their spin-offs, the anime, the
manga, and the trading card game are all updated with the new
Pokémon properties each time a new generation begins. The franchise
is in its fourth generation.
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