The power of the Pokémon brand is impossible to deny: Worldwide sales figures total over 186 million units across the entire series, and individually, each game holds a coveted spot in the top 20 highest selling console games of all time (with the newest, Diamond/Pearl weighing in at 16.48 million after just two years in worldwide release). In fact, the brand only seems to be growing stronger -- Diamond/Pearl has already sold more units than every other Pokémon iteration except the original Red/Blue. But why are gamers still playing? How did Pokémon escape the ravages of both waning interest and oversaturation that leave so many of its kid-friendly peers behind?

Junichi Masuda, a member of the Pokémon design team since the first title (as well as a board director of Game Freak) who's held duties ranging from scenario director to music composer, obviously knows the game very well. When asked what he thought the major reason that people still eagerly await the release of each new title, his immediate response was its simplicity. "Pokémon games don't focus just on hardcore players; they're accessible, approachable by everyone. Anyone can pick up and play the game without feeling overwhelmed. When you focus too much attention on just the hardcore, things get complicated." And, obviously, with its cute graphics, Saturday morning cartoon tie-ins, and watered-down narrative, the game is skewed toward a younger audience. But it remains almost as popular among adults, and the reasons for that come down to strong game design.

The Science of Collecting

The Pokémon games have some cute, original creature designs, but beyond their cuddly forms (and the hulking monsters many of them grow into) there are a lot of them -- 493 at last count. And, like with any repetitive game that offers rewards directly related to time spent in the game (see also World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time) the capacity for endless grinding to raise a character's level by even a fraction is an almost primal desire, one particularly well suited to games. For casual collectors, it might be enough to make it through the story with the bare minimum requirements. But countless hours can be spent exploring the game world to find every last, rare pokémon -- then even more time spent leveling them up. From the outside, it can seem like a grueling task, but, there's a great deal of comfort in familiarity and repetition.

And unlike many other games that make the player start over with each new iteration, Pokémon (with one exception) allows players to transfer their previously caught creatures to the next title in the series. The exception occurred when the Game Boy transitioned to the Game Boy Advance -- the original cartridges were incompatible with the redesigned system, leaving no way to transfer Pokémon between Red/Blue and Gold/Silver over to Ruby/Sapphire. But Game Freak rectified its mistake with the fourth generation of DS titles: Diamond/Pearl provided the ability to transfer Pokémon from GBA to DS. But it's all another way to maintain the audience; when players feel that the Pokémon they catch today will still be viable party members in the next iteration of games, it encourages loyalty to the franchise.

But what might also be artificially inflating the number Pokémon copies sold is that while the two versions that come out in each new generation follow the exact same story, certain pokémon are rare-to-nonexistent in one title, while abundant in the other. To truly catch all of the game's myriad pokémon, players must hook up with a friend who has the corresponding game and trade creatures (or buy a copy of both Diamond and Pearl, then play through each multiple times). According to Masuda, it's not just a videogame, it's a shared experience -- and for that experience, "It's important to communicate what you want, to talk when you trade and battle."

Beyond Training

Platinum's director, Takeshi Kawachimaru, describes the Pokémon universe as "a very specific world, but I think players feel comfortable in that world. And they want to keep going back, because it feels so comfortable." And the reason for that is that Game Freak provides reasons to stay there beyond the main game. Ruby/Sapphire introduced casual friendly Pokémon Contests to the franchise -- a dog show-like event for pokémon. The standard battle moves all have alternate descriptions which affect the contest's judges in unique ways, and there's a separate set of badges and awards that can only be obtained through methodical grooming and show competing.

But there's another game-within-the game at work in Pokémon, made to resonate with the casual audience: the player's relationship with their pokémon. And no game made that connection quite as apparent as Pokémon Yellow. After the raging success of the Pokémon TV show and the incredible love viewers showed to a certain electric mouse, the developers changed the starting pokémon to Pikachu and let the player talk to him throughout the adventure. If he was kept alive and well trained, he expressed his happiness whenever the player interacted with him, while bad trainers who repeatedly let the mouse faint or kept him confined to his Pokéball would only receive messages of unhappiness from their companion. That game mechanic carried forward throughout the rest of the series. Though it wasn't quite as obvious till Diamond/Pearl -- which added specific accessories that let the player keep an eye on their pokémon's happiness levels.

The Hidden Pokémon Game

But underneath that sugar-coated veneer of Pokémon is a game that, for all its pick up and playability, still rewards dedicated, extremely hardcore players. Entire websites are dedicated to tracking a pokémon's Effort Value (EV) and Individual Values (IV). It's only exploited by a small percentage of the fan base, but entire websites are dedicated to breeding, cultivating, and nurturing fighters who have the highest possible stats. And, since they aren't tracked in any visible way, normal players have no way of knowing anything about them.

The specifics are far too in-depth to fully describe (but MyCheats has a handy guide that lays it out right here). But the point is that the hardcore are rewarded for careful, calculated stat manipulation. While the core mechanics were added in to make sure every pokémon leveled up with individual stats, it's natural that some players learned the rules of manipulating those hidden values. And for better or worse, it provides a game that caters to a broader audience because of it. If the entire system truly was randomly generated, there wouldn't be a culture of mathematical manipulators focused on "overclocking" their pets. And, just like in the world of high-end computing and technology early-adopters, these people help create and maintain the buzz around the source of their obsession.

Looking to the Future

Without going through a substantial evolution (the game's graphics have improved marginally, and the roster of available, but similar, pokémon, grows larger with each new game), Pokémon has managed to create a handheld empire, but a lot of that credit goes to Nintendo. Outside of its sheer marketing power, Nintendo nurtures a stable of hit-making characters who don't vary too much, but whose basic structure is compelling enough that people always want to come back for more. No matter how many sports cameos Mario makes nor RPG outings, the Italian plumber is all about platforming, saving the princess, and beating Bowser. Link is a sword-wielding Hyrulian who has to rescue Zelda. And Pokémon is a collecting, battling, and trading-centric RPG.

If Pokémon continues its current trend, there won't be another major release in the franchise until a new handheld reaches the market, and when asked about it, Masuda said that the design team is always looking for a challenge, but "the handheld system is the most suitable for Pokémon." The DS, with 27 million hardware units solds, offers an incredibly broader player base, and there isn't another casual and hardcore franchise out there (outside of Nintendo's own Mario) with the such a strong history. Masuda added that, just as a teleconference isn't as involving as meeting with someone face-to-face, Pokémon's charm is that it's best enjoyed face-to-face. Even if the series expands onto the web, the core experience will remain the face-to-face experience. There might not be an MMO or even a major console release anywhere in the near future, but as long as Nintendo and Game Freak maintain the partnership, Pokémon games will remain on the horizon, and at the top of the sales charts, for a long time to come.

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Pokemon is the TOP SELLINg Franchise we know

NO OFFENSE to anyone.....but Pokemon did 30 million + sales without any bundles or any hardware bundled with it....it s TRUE MEGA HIT!

Now are you one of these gamerS?

do you still play pokemon...if so do you agree with their reasoning for it?

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