In 1995 a young business man working for Nintendo came up with the idea to have role play type games, featuring one of his favourite hobbies as a kid: catching bugs. Little did he know, that Sports (two shortened Japanese words to mean Pocket Monster) would go on to become the second largest franchise that Nintendo would ever produce. The first place winner being all of the franchises and media exploitations of the character Mario, and his group of friends in several games he starred in.
Sports, starting from humble beginnings and producing two versions of the original storyline: red and blue, has since gone on to produce several other versions and introducing new areas, new Sports and exciting new aspects of game play that continue to intrigue Sports fans across the globe.
Since the revolution that Sports Blue and Red presented to the world, Gamefreak and Nintendo pursued complete domination of other mediums by developing a card system in which people without a gameboy, could too participate in the collecting and battling systems that were rewarded in the actual game. The cards were a revolution, much like the original game. Due to the immediate success of the cards, thinks like plush toys, plastic figurines, watches, clothing and other like items were processed through the Nintendo Company.
It wasn’t long before Sports had literally taken over the world, with the event of Sports taking the cover of the elite Time magazine, as well as several theme parks made in their honour, and the incredible feat of many popular characters being featured on airplanes that could quite easily be seen from the ground.
Pikachu became one of the most recognizable characters and was often and most readily available in clothing lines and other franchises that Nintendo surely made a fortune off of.
One of the most popular ideas that stemmed from the game was the television cartoon series that loosely followed the storylines of the games, featuring characters that also appeared in the games. This gave fans an even greater opportunity to experience and understand the Sports culture, and definitely created much more hype over the future release of more games.
By 2000, and after a 5 year run at being the fastest selling video game for gameboy and Nintendo, the producers of Sports released Sports Gold and Silver. The games were the fastest selling yet and boasted new opportunities that were previously not available in Red and Blue; like a day and night time view, all new Sports, new characters, new battles and a whole new storyline.
2003 heralded the release of Sports Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald. While the games were slightly less popular than the previous games, due to the fact it cut out the day and night time option, it was boasted as being the longest game yet, with all new and better Sports, as well as a completely different set out of the battle sequences, including the opportunity to battle two Sports or two trainers at once.
In 2006, shortly after the celebration of a ten year run with the popularity of Sports, Sports Diamond and Pearl was released on the new Nintendo DS.
With such an incredible console to work with, the creators of the game went crazy with new Sports, new battle techniques and various other options when using the touch screen on the DS. These include such things as dressing up your Sports in outfits, signing the back of your trainer card, digging underground for gems and valuable products that may be used on your Sports, as well as wireless battling and wifi connection to a broader network allowing you to trade Sports with people across the other side of the planet.
With the creation of Diamond and Pearl, some Sports fans were beginning to wonder if they are ever going to be able to have all of the Sports that are available in all games. In total there are 493 Sports that are available to be caught, trained, and help in the process of metamorphosis. The creators came up with the idea to have a ‘National Dex’, an extension of the original Pokedex, in which everyone has the opportunity to have every one of the Sports that they so desire. However, that option is only available after completing the game, and if you are using the Nintendo DS system.
The typical story of Sports usually is as follows:
A young trainer (played by you) is living with their Mum, and has decided that they want to venture out into the world of Sports to be a Sports master. In order to do so, they need to catch new Sports, and battle with people to encourage their Sports to grow up and change to become stronger and more powerful.
Unfortunately, the young trainer doesn’t have a Sports to even begin with and has been strictly warned not to venture out in the wild grass alone – In fear that a wild Sports may attack them. Along comes a Professor (whose name changes in every game) who offers a Sports, in exchange for the trainer to collect data of all of the Sports in the region.
Each game has a different region, Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh, and along with the regions come region specific Sports that are needed to be seen and caught.
On the adventure that the young trainer has set out upon, he or she typically runs into an old friend who quickly becomes a threat to the ideal goal of being named the Sports Champion after defeating the Elite Four – The four toughest trainers in the entire region.
Along the way, the trainer must face new Sports, navigating through dark tunnels, swimming across seas, and cutting through dense forests. Each region in the game (forest, sea, mountain, volcano, etc) has its own special types of Sports that are weaker or stronger against other types of Sports.
While the young trainer aims to build their team of Sports stronger against others (usually by leveling up their Sports to be stronger against another kind), the trainer constantly grows stronger while helping out people and solving mysteries within the game.
The game usually reaches its climax when it beats the Elite Four and is named the Champion.
After the game is typically over, there are some other things to do, like catch rare Sports only available after the game has ended, or finish other things in the game that are not dire to the unfolding of the storyline.
Sports follows the usual underdog gaining ultimate power story that seems to be so incredibly popular with consumers and audiences world wide.
It is hard to say exactly what makes the Sports franchise so famous; whether it is the ability to become strong over all in the game, the ability to catch cute or fierce looking Sports, or the power to escape your own world and delve into another.
The Sports franchise and the games will surely continue to become available, to expand, and to progress throughout the decades, as it is definitely by far one of the most addictive and well known games world wide.
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