Retronauts Catches Up with 20 Years of Pokemon

This week, USgamer's classic gaming podcast examines the portable RPG that became an outright phenomenon.

Article by Bob Mackey, Contributor

4 April 2016

Once again we find ourselves tackling a subject already covered by the first run of Retronauts because, hey, a lot can happen in nine years.

Rest assured, though, there's no shortage of things to say about Pokemon. While Pikachu and his marketable friends recently celebrated their 20th birthday, every new generation brings in an entirely new demographic of players who've never touched a turn-based RPG before. Nintendo may never replicate Pokemon's meteoric rise, but their monster-collecting series remains reliably successful, with plenty of new releases, remakes, and, of course, the mountain of merchandise we've come to expect.

Truth be told, no comprehensive discussion of Pokemon could possibly be contained within 90 minutes, so if we've neglected to mention something, it was likely due to intentional choice rather than sheer incompetence. (It did take us half the show to start talking about the actual games.) But the stuff surrounding Pokemon is nearly as interesting as the games themselves, from the story of its creator, who turned a humble fanzine into one of the most profitable video game developers of all time, to the anime, manga, and related ephemera that make up Pokemon's highly successful mass-media assault. No matter your relationship with Pokemon, you're bound to find something to connect with in this episode—or you can just enjoy all of the clips and great music I've crammed into this little .mp3 file. (Your choice.)

Joining us on this one is Henry Gilbert, who hosts the comic book podcast Cape Crisis on the Laser Time Network, and Kat Bailey, mastermind of USgamer's own Axe of the Blood God podcast. And our cover art comes courtesy of Nick Daniel. As always, you can keep up with the latest Retronauts news via our Twitter and Facebook accounts, and check out some of our video content over on our YouTube page. And, in case you forgot, Retronauts is fully funded by our Patreon campaign, so if you can afford to donate even a dollar a month, please consider it! Every little bit really helps our cause.