By: Andrew R. Nolfo
Staff Writer
The 30th anniversary of Pokémon happened on February 27, 2026, marking 30 years since the original Pokémon games (at the time called Pocket Monsters) versions Red and Green released in Japan in 1996. The Pokémon Company planned a year-long celebration across all parts of the Pokémon Community including the games, trading cards, events, merchandise, and media.
Pokémon was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996 and developed by Game Freak. Satoshi Tajiri’s original idea was based on his childhood love of collecting insects. The first games, Pokémon Red and Green, were not originally big hits. But by 1998, Pokémon had become a global phenom, after the original anime debuted in Japan in 1997 and internationally in 1998. It was an instant hit, as it is one of the most-watched animated series in history, boasting over 1,300 episodes as of 2025.
In 1999, the trading card game was launched, or TCG for short. That has since turned into one of the biggest crazes in today’s trading card world because some cards can be worth insane value, which then can be sold to the right audience for even more money. As of 2025, over 75 billion cards have been printed.
The reason Pokémon has been so influential to so many different generations is because of the love for the games, and the technology that has come with them. In 1989, the first game boy was released by Nintendo, and it was an instant hit. Over 40,000 units were sold, and within a few weeks, over a million dollars in sales from the Gameboy had been made. By the time 1996 came around,Nintendo was selling so many Gameboys that they released a revised version called the Gameboy Pocket.
The Gameboy Pocket was one of the early handheld systems closely associated with the rise of Pokémon. When the first Pokémon games launched in the late 1990s, they helped drive massive sales for Nintendo’s handheld hardware. By the year 2000, the success of the franchise had become undeniable. Pokémon had grown from a pair of role-playing games into a worldwide phenomenon spanning video games, trading cards, television, movies, and merchandise. Because of this rapid expansion, Nintendo and the creators of the series recognized the need for a dedicated company to manage the brand’s growth and business operations. The franchise itself was created by Satoshi Tajiri, the founder and CEO of Game Freak, the studio responsible for developing the core Pokémon games. However, the business side of the brand was largely overseen by Tsunekazu Ishihara, who played a major role in guiding Pokémon’s expansion into a global entertainment franchise. In 1998, Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc. worked together to establish a new organization called The Pokémon Company, with Ishihara serving as its inaugural president and CEO. This company would handle licensing, marketing, and overall brand management while the partner studios continued developing games and other media.
Since then, the Pokémon franchise has produced over 100 video games, including more than 30 mainline entries. These range from the original Pokémon Red and Blue on the Game Boy to later remakes such as Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen on the Game Boy Advance. Over the decades, Pokémon titles have appeared on many Nintendo handheld systems. Following the Game Boy era, which included the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance, the series continued on newer handhelds such as the Nintendo DS, DSi, 2DS, 3DS, and New 3DS, before transitioning to hybrid systems like the Nintendo Switch.
Because of the global phenomenon, fans have coined the term Pokémon day, which is every year since 1996, on February 27th, because it is the anniversary of the first games being released. This year, in 2026, was especially a big year because it marks 30 years of Pokémon history.
Every year we get reveals, but this year may have been the biggest year yet because we got the newest games announced: Winds and Waves (gen 10), and re-releases of previously mentioned FireRed and LeafGreen on the switch. We were introduced to Pokepia, a spin off game exclusively for Switch 2, that is currently taking the Pokémon fandom by storm, and updates to previous games.
As excitement builds for the future of the franchise, many fans are hoping for improvements beyond just visuals. Vol State Student Tyler Vaden said that he “really wants a good story from the Gen 10 games, similar to Sun and Moon (Gen 7), and doesn’t really care about the graphics as long as the story is better than the previous couple games.” This reflects a growing sentiment in the community that strong storytelling could help define the next era of Pokémon.
Here at vol state, I encourage anyone who’s a Pokémon fan had an amazing Pokémon Day 2026, and the students here from the Pioneer Press Student Newspaper hope you enjoyed your time off for spring break.
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