There’s no stopping the Pokemon craze worldwide

SAN FRANCISCO, United States – Thirty years to life. 

As Pokemon celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, The Pokemon Company Chief Executive Officer Tsunekazu Ishihara hopes that the Pokemon craze will continue on through generations.

The Pokemon World Championships and the first-ever Pokemon XP kicked off on Saturday (Manila time), as it celebrates three decades since the original Pokemon Red and Green version games launched. 

From an era when there were just 151 Pokemon, there are now more than a thousand species in the games and the lore. 

And as he looks into the future, Ishihara voiced hope that the enjoyment of playing Pokemon would continue on. 

“I would say that just the core concept of the main series of Pokemon games that Game Freak continues to create today is such a strong game concept, and finding new ways to be able to expand on it and new ways to express it just continues to be enormously enjoyable for me,” he said in a panel interview.

“Maybe the greatest source of inspiration for me today comes from exploring emerging technologies, meeting new creators, coming up with ideas to transform those encounters into new experiences,” he added. 

The executive emphasized that he sees the connection Pokemon has from one generation to the next, and he hopes that it would continue on. 

“Thirty years from now, I really hope that Pokemon and the people that are stewarding it will continue to be creating entirely new forms of play that will really excite people and that humanity, in general, will continue to enjoy those experiences, maybe even across three or four generations in the future,” he said. 

“We see parents, mothers, competing intensely with their children in the video games and the trading card game. You can also see grandparents enjoying walking with their grandchildren while playing Pokémon Go and catching Pokémon in their walks together. So you see these kind of connections that are spanning generations through playing Pokémon together, forming,” he added. 

From Red and Green, Pokemon has now grown to a global juggernaut, covering trading card games, video games, anime and manga, among others. 

A stop-motion series, with Pichu and Sir’Fetchd as the leading characters, is likewise set to be released next year. 

“We continue to create new Pokemon experiences all the time. Pokemon really began as a video game on Nintendo's platform, and has continued since then to expand into all sorts of other media. Trading card game, obviously, animated series, different films, smartphone apps, all sorts of merchandise, and other kinds of entertainment and experiences,” Ishihara said. 

“What I'm seeing now is that even parents who maybe played when they were younger and no longer engaged with the core games primarily, they are kind of rediscovering Pokémon through things like craft exhibits or different forms of art, for example.” 

Thousands of fans flocked to the Moscone Center here to participate in the Worlds, as well as the Pokemon XP. 

Take a look at some of the highlights on the first day of the three-day event. (Photos from Ralph Villanueva and Basti Belmonte)