In 1996, the world was introduced to Pokémon for the first time. These digital monsters were part of a video game released by Nintendo for its portable Game Boy system. Now, 30 years later, there are more than 100 video games in the Pokémon franchise—not to mention a trading card game and an anime!
Japanese video game designer Satoshi Tajiri dreamed up the idea for Pokémon when he saw two handheld game systems connected by a cable. Tajiri, who had loved collecting insects as a kid, was inspired to create a game in which friends could use the cables to find and trade cool critters between their systems. Today fans can swap Pokémon wirelessly using an internet connection. That’s a big help for players trying to catch ’em all!