Pokemon Come To The Real World In The Virtual Reality ‘Pokemon GO’

Pokemon is trying very hard to make a return to the global giant it once was, and Pokemon GO, an augmented reality game for Android that will allow users to catch pokemon in the world around them, is a bold step towards that goal.

In a press conference called by Nintendo earlier today, Junichi Masuda, the creator and lead developer of Pokemon, delivered some news that shows Pokemon has not given up on its quest to reach a greater audience. Nintendo also released a promo that showcases some of the game’s capabilities.

Pokemon news source Pokebeach, who are translating the press conference, report on the game.

“Pokemon will roam free in the real world (on your smartphone). Players can capture Pokemon in any environment in all places around the world. It’ll be a “wholesome, fun” game that families can enjoy together. They want people to go outside and discover new areas together when looking for Pokemon.”

“Imagine discovering a Pikachu hiding by the Eiffel Tower,” mused Masuda.

Pokebeach also reported on an optional accessory called ‘Pokemon GO Plus’ that would make the player’s experience more interactive with the outside world.

“‘Pokemon Go Plus’ will be a wearable device you can use with the game so you don’t have to stare at your smartphone the whole time. It vibrates when it senses a Pikachu in the area, for example, so you don’t have to always be checking your phone for Pokemon in the area. It lets you know whenever something is happening in the game. It uses Bluetooth to connect to your phone. You can use it to throw a Poke Ball to capture a Pokemon too. It only uses LED lights and vibrating so it doesn’t consume too much energy. They created the device so players would be able to pay attention to their surroundings without being glued to their smartphones.”

Let’s stop and take a moment to go over a brief history of Pokemon in order to put Nintendo’s current actions into perspective.

If you were a kid or parent in the late 90’s or early 2000’s, you probably remember that Pokemon, the adorable fighting monsters created of Japanese creation, and the addictive video games, TV shows, and graphic novels that surrounded them were all the rage. Pokemon products sold faster than hotcakes, and children around the world spent countless hours memorizing the names, appearances, and statistics of the 251 ‘mons created for the second “generation” of Pokemon, introduced to the US in late 2000 (for Japan, it was 1999). Pikachu and Charizard were like John Lennon and Paul McCartney. And Magikarp was like Ringo.

A Den of Geek reporter comments on the Pokemon fad that was really more like an international obsession.

“If you were a child growing up in the ’90s, like me, it was the best time of your life; a secret world of collecting and battling creatures that was just for people your age, and everyone your age was into it. Life-long friendships were made over trading at the local game shop or at break time in school, and you rushed home to catch the anime on TV – even if you’d seen the episode countless times before…”

Unfortunately for the children of the Pokemon era, good things hardly ever last, and the all-out craze trailed off not long after the release of Pokemon Generation II. Ever since then, however, Pokemon has remained a huge money-maker, even in the US. This is evidenced by the fact that Pokemon X and Pokemon Y, the most recent entries in the Pokemon video game franchise, are the best-selling games for Nintendo’s most recent handheld console, the Nintendo 3DS.

Also in the past few years, Nintendo has been really trying to lure older fans who fell in love with Pokemon during its golden years back into the Pokemon world. The latest examples of this were seen in Pokemon X and Pokemon Y, after the release of which reviewers complained about too much fan service to fans of the older games. They cited as examples the facts that players could choose from the Generation I starter pokemon (bulbasaur, squirtle, and charmander) and could capture all three of Generation I’s legendary bird pokemon (articuno, zapdos, and moltres).

Pokemon GO, which is planned for release in 2016, certainly looks like it will continue reaching out to an older crowd. After all, none of the actors in the promo are children. Almost all of the pokemon depicted in it are from Generation I.

The game certainly looks unique, however; almost futuristic, in fact. If Nintendo can make the experience provided by Pokemon GO as fun and addictive as the main series Pokemon video games, it may be able to win back ex-fans by once again providing that magical sense of adventure brought on by traveling into a world filled with pokemon.

When the fans were younger, a virtual world on the screen of a Gameboy was enough. Older fans want to experience an adventure with a plot more grounded in reality, and Nintendo seems to be catching onto that fact.

[Image via Getty Images and Stephen Lam/Getty Images]