Pokemon Could Have Had a Very Different Theme in the West

Pokemon‘s original games in the West could have been wildly different for their initial launch, according to an interview with a former Nintendo of America boss. The multimedia monster-catching franchise has become a worldwide sensation in the nearly thirty years since Pokemon Red and Green originally debuted in Japan. The franchise has seen massive success with everything from its video games and anime adaptations to the overwhelming popularity of the Pokemon Trading Card Game. However, new information reveals that an initial concept for Pokemon could have vastly changed the franchise today.

Pokemon has seen a wide variety of different ideas explored through its games, both within the main series and spinoffs. The franchise has experimented with multiple other genres, leading to racing games like Pokemon Dash and strategy games like Pokemon Conquest alongside its standard monster-catching formula. The franchise has even added more casual, lifestyle-focused games to its repertoire, like Pokemon Sleep as a Pokemon-themed sleep tracker. A recent interview reveals that Pokemon‘s initial Western release could have seen its entire concept changed.

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Pokemon was Almost A Baseball RPG in the West

As reported by NintendoLife, a recent interview with former Nintendo of America marketing boss Gail Tilden reveals a major change that was considered by the American division. Tilden shares that Nintendo of America had expressed its doubts about the franchise’s success in the West, given its heavily Japanese-inspired characters and concepts. Nintendo of America reportedly considered changing the game’s aesthetic to be more “gritty,” even considering changing the main premise from the iconic creatures to a baseball league. However, Tilden confirmed that Nintendo of America quickly scrapped the idea of changing Pokemon, given the Pokemon franchise’s explosion in popularity in Japan.

While Pokemon‘s potential conversion to a baseball RPG may seem odd, the franchise came as somewhat of an oddity for its release. Pokemon‘s original release on the Game Boy arrived fairly late into the handheld console’s original lifespan, with Pokemon Red and Blue launching in the West nine years after the Game Boy’s launch. Pokemon‘s overwhelming popularity even served to reignite sales of the Game Boy, with worldwide sales for the first generation of games topping 31 million copies. The associated trading card game has also grown to become one of the most well-known and highly-regarded TCGs in the world.

Pokemon‘s colossal success in its early days cemented the franchise as a mainstay in pop culture that has remained relevant nearly three decades after its debut. Pokemon‘s most recent main-series games saw meteoric sales that rivaled even the series’ early popularity, with Scarlet and Violet selling more than 25 million copies as of September 2024. The franchise also recently made waves with its anime adaptation, with Pokemon Horizons ending Ash Ketchum’s more than two-decades-long run as the anime’s protagonist. While Nintendo of America may have had early concerns about Pokemon, the franchise’s success has certainly spoken for itself.

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Satoshi Tajiri