A Pokemon Primer for Parents

I remember the Pokemon craze when it first hit back in the mid 90's and I had assumed that, like most of these types of toy and game fads, it had fizzled out but imagine my surprise when my kids came home recently and asked for some Pokemon trading cards because a bunch of their friends at school had them. It turns out that this fad never died out and is in fact probably even more popular now that in was back in what I thought was it's heyday.

The Pokemon (meaning "Pocket Monsters) franchise is owned by gaming giants Nintendo who have taken it from a game that was originally played on connected Game-Boys to a huge brand incorporating movies, DVD's, game cards, video games, cartoon series and much, much more. To hear kid's talking about Pokemon is like listening to a foreign language so I thought it might be a good idea to fill all the parents in on some of the terminology so that you won't feel like a complete moron when your kid is rambling on about it to you (something, I must confess I went through at the start).

There are 4 different generations of Pokemon, the latest of which is Diamond and Pearl and each generation introduces a host of new characters. At this current time there are just fewer than 500 different characters to collect and add to your Pokedex (which is a fictional electronic device that records the info of each character that you have captured). The basic idea is to capture the best and strongest Pokemon and train them so that they can battle against others. What most parents will find really frustrating is that just when you think you have a handle on the characters you then find out that they actually evolve 1-4 times to become different, stronger characters. It's amazing though how kids can rhyme off these names and their evolutions like it were nothing.

If you don't have a video game system of some kind then the trading card game is also a lot of fun for the kids. It's basically the same set-up as the video game idea where you collect as many different cards as you can and battle against others. Don't misconstrue the word "battle" as meaning that the games are violent, because they are not, it all has to do with power points and what special skills each character has that win the battle rather than any kind of all-out violence.

The most popular of the Pokemon and most likely the ones that your kids will hound you for the most are Pikachu, a cuddly, yellow little guy with a lightning bolt tail, Mew, a flying cat type creature who has the DNA of all Pokemon and can transform into any one that he wishes. Mewtwo, a clone of Mew who is the bad guy of the group who tries to capture the other Pokemon and clone them to make him even stronger.

One thing that parents need to know, especially if buying the video games, is that 99% of the Pokemon cannot actually speak and all they do is repeat their names over and over and over. If you are in the same room as your kid and they are playing one of those games you'll find yourself wanting to tear your hair out in frustration as the character they are playing chants it's name in a seemingly never ending mantra.

As far as movies go, there are currently 10 available with one more to be released in Japan sometime in 2008. If you want your kid to see the movies in order then they go like this:
1. Pokemon: The First Movie
2. Pokemon: The Movie 2000
3. Pokemon 3: The Movie
4. Mewtwo Returns
5. 4Ever
6. Pokemon Heroes
7. Jirachi Wishmaker
8. Destiny Deoxys
9. Lucario And The Mystery Of Mew
10. Pokemon Ranger And The Temple Of The Sea
They are all very easy to find and you can easily pick them up at Wal-Mart (a great source too if you are buying the trading cards) or Blockbuster.

All in all I'd say that Pokemon is a fun, safe hobby for your kids to have. The video games are fun and very kid friendly and are all rated "E for everyone" and the cards are actually really nice and colorful and a great way for kids to pass the afternoon or a long drive in the car and if you are anything like me you'll want to take the time to learn all the characters and what they can do so that you can still have a meaningful dialogue with your children....believe me, if you know just one evolution they will think you are the coolest parent out there.