Kimura's image was truly too captivating.
Although he was acting cute, it felt incredibly natural, and it never gave off any feeling of him being effeminate. In fact, when you looked at his face, you were easily drawn into his eyes.
When he patted the Pikachu plushie and said "I want it," it didn't feel uncomfortable; on the contrary, you could read a sense of longing and temptation from it, to the point where it would make a young girl's heart explode.
Aoki Haruhi had already experienced this in his previous life; this guy was like this even when doing lipstick commercials.
If it had been any other male actor, it would have been very difficult to pull it off this well.
If one wasn't careful, it would be easy to fall into the trap of being "too effeminate" or "too serious," and it would be difficult to express it as comfortably as Takuya Kimura did.
A grown man, a young heartthrob, an idol, holding a big plush toy—this type of advertisement, which felt more like something for a little girl yet still possessed male charm, instantly became a sensation across Japan upon airing.
It became a unique phenomenon in the advertising industry.
Of course, "unique phenomenon" is used here in a positive sense. Before this, advertising professionals seemingly hadn't considered this kind of contrast.
After all, for products featuring plush toys or cute themes, they basically always hired sweet, girlish figures for the shoots. For gaming products, they tended to hire famous gamers; for example, the spokesperson for "Adventure Island" was Toshiyuki Takahashi, who was incredibly skilled at the game.
Many of Nintendo's advertisements featured popular celebrities or big names from variety shows.
Advertisers at the time were still stuck in some conventional ways of thinking.
Although Kimura's advertisement this time wasn't as iconic as the lipstick one, it did open up a new train of thought.
The animated series served as a warm-up, successfully boosting the IP and helping audiences become familiar with and fond of Pokémon. Then, airing Kimura's commercial and putting up the corresponding posters kept the excitement for Pokémon growing.
Then, Pokeni announced that the Pokémon game would be released in August, creating anticipation.
This is what they call a combo move.
After the whole combo was executed, the hype couldn't be any hotter.
Now, many kids are clamoring for a Sega GP as a gift, and of course, the most important thing is that it has to come with a Pokémon game cartridge.
Although the anime was broadcast in Japan and its primary fan base was also in Japan, Pokeni had made preparations early on and had already localized the Pokémon games into English.
After all, Sega's stronghold was in the West.
With the anime as a forerunner, Aoki Haruhi sought out Kyoto Animation's Pokémon lead, Kigami Yoshiji, and company president Hatta Hideaki to discuss localizing Pokémon into English.
"That would mean we need to find a US television station to broadcast it, and their distribution reviews and such are actually quite strict and bizarre," said Hatta Hideaki. "However, we could start by finding someone to handle the dubbing production first."
What Hatta Hideaki said was indeed a fact.
Moreover, in a place like the US, you need relevant permits for everything you do.
Not only were the processes troublesome, but they also required paying large sums of money. Back in the day, Tom Kalinske, the general manager of Sega's American branch, spent a long time just trying to explain the licensing system to President Nakayama Hayao, baffling even the notoriously meticulous Japanese.
It seemed that when the time came, they would likely only be able to entrust it to Kyoto Animation and let them figure out how to handle it themselves.
In this way, it was unclear when the animation would air in the West, or on which television station it would be broadcast.
"However, there may be some content that requires attention," said Aoki.
"Huh?" Hatta Hideaki and Kigami Yoshiji looked up at the same time.
"In our future animation designs, we need to avoid some unnecessary trouble for the English versions."
In my previous life, in the original "Pokémon" series, the design of the Pokémon Jynx featured a black face.
The relevant episodes sparked controversy, and later the official design changed Jynx's color to deep purple. On the US version of the Pokémon website, there is no image for the character Jynx.
In episode 64 of "Pokémon Sun & Moon," Ash disguised himself as a Passimian in the latter half of the episode, painting his face black to match the Passimian.
This action was considered to touch upon the "blackface" issue in American culture, where a non-Black actor or character intentionally paints their face black, which is seen as racist and discriminatory toward Black people. Consequently, the English dubbed version aired in the United States skipped episode 64 entirely.
There are actually many similar issues.
Anyway, it's a huge pain; these things all need to be modified according to the specific national conditions of different countries.
"Understood, President Qing. We will take note of that." Kigami Yoshiji wrote it down in his notebook.
On August 1st, 1992, Sega's new handheld console, the GP, went on sale.
Because of its excellent preview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago back in June, many people were filled with endless anticipation for this game console.
After the console was released, its global sales quickly exceeded 600,000 units.
Currently, the games available on the GP, apart from Sega's own Sonic the Hedgehog, are mostly English-language games, such as:
The Addams Family
Batman
The Alien series
Tennis
There are relatively few local games from Japan; only sumo wrestling, Pac-Man, and match-three games...
There aren't many large-scale RPGs yet.
Basically, it's just a collection of small games produced by Sega and Sony themselves.
Many game companies, such as Konami, Capcom, and others, are all in a "wait and see" mode.
As for companies like Square, they are still in their honeymoon phase with Nintendo, clinging tightly to their big brother's coattails.
However, this is quite normal. If they hadn't been backstabbed by Nintendo in their previous life, they might not have thrown themselves into Sony's arms.
Koei, which has a slightly better relationship with Sega, is currently trying to develop games, but their main focus is still on TV games.
Overall, there are nearly 100 games available for Sega's new handheld console, but the quantity and quality of these games do not seem to satisfy the current appetite of players, and the market is far from being developed.
Under these circumstances, besides Sonic the Hedgehog, players seem to be waiting for a great work to appear on the Sega GP, one that will become the icon of this new handheld console.
On August 21, 1992, Pokémon was officially released.
After getting off work in the evening, Furukawa Hirozawa headed to the game store as usual.
Just as he walked into the shop, he saw the store manager wearing a meaningful smile. Pushing up his glasses, the manager said with a grin, "A new Pokeni game is out."
"Huh? Really? Is it a new title?" Furukawa asked eagerly.
"Of course," the manager nodded. "It seems you've been busy at work lately. Pokeni's ads are everywhere; I'm surprised you haven't noticed."
"Yeah," Furukawa nodded, feeling embarrassed, his cheeks turning red.
He had been working so much overtime lately, handling all sorts of reports. What was even worse was that tasks that should have been the responsibility of other departments were being dumped onto his.
He had no idea what his department manager was thinking; it was as if he had nothing better to do than take on all these tasks.
It would be a miracle if they didn't have to work overtime.
"So, what's Pokeni's new game called?" Furukawa asked, curious, as he started making his way toward the shelves on his own.
"Hmm, over there, on the middle shelf of the second row from the left," the store manager said, pointing the way. "It's called Pokémon."
Actually, Furukawa didn't even need the store manager's guidance; he could see it already.
Because this time, Pokémon was placed in a very conspicuous spot, right on the central display stand alongside Sega's new handheld console, the GP.
"Huh? Is it a handheld game?" Furukawa asked, a bit surprised.
But he quickly remembered that there had been quite a bit of buzz about Pokémon recently, and he often saw elementary school students around imitating Pokémon trainers...
Furukawa picked up the game box to take a look.
Although the handheld game cartridge box was about the same size as a regular cartridge box, the actual cartridge inside was much smaller—it could be said the box was mostly empty.
The cover featured a Charizard with its mouth wide open, flames raging.
Around the edge was a red emblem that read: [THE POCKET MONSTER TRAINER]
The Pokeni logo is in the top-left corner, and below it is the Sega GP exclusive label.
An all-ages game?
Hirozawa Furukawa muttered, puzzled.
It wasn't that he had any aversion to all-ages games, but he had grown accustomed to Pokeni's 16+ rating.
Most of P Corporation's games were 16+, with the exception of their mid-run flop, "Noble Academy."
Seeing this, unpleasant memories flooded into Hirozawa Furukawa's mind.
He had felt something similar when he bought "Pocket Academy" back in the day.
Whenever Pokeni started getting any funny ideas about making all-ages games, nothing good ever came of it.
Could Pokémon be another flop?
Should he buy it or not?
Hirozawa Furukawa couldn't help but frown.
He knew just by looking at it that this game was made by that scoundrel Aoki Haruhi. Although "Diablo" had been quite successful, it was hard to guarantee what kind of weird stunt this producer would pull next.
Among P Corporation's two producers, only Master Kogahara Tsubakiaki's works were consistently stable.
As for the others, Hirozawa Furukawa didn't dare to try them lightly.
"Store Manager, why are there two different versions of Pokémon?"
Hirozawa Furukawa noticed the Pokémon boxes on the shelf; one was fire-red, and the other was green.
On the cover of the fire-red one was Charizard, and on the green one was Venusaur.
"Ah, that," the store manager recalled, then took out a notebook from the drawer to look it up.
Although he was the store manager, he didn't have much time to play games, but he had records of the manufacturer's requests and introductions.
Apparently, Pokeni knew well that customers would ask such questions, so they thoughtfully provided an introduction manual when the cartridges were sent over.
"Although both games are Pokémon, the red one is called Pokémon FireRed, and the green one is called Pokémon LeafGreen," the store manager explained with a smile. "The gameplay is basically the same, but the corresponding Pokémon are not entirely the same."
The difference between Pocket Monsters Red and Green lies in version-exclusive Pokémon; FireRed and LeafGreen each have some exclusive Pokémon, but other content is exactly the same.
FireRed exclusive Pokémon: Ekans, Arbok, Oddish, Gloom, Attack Forme Deoxys... and so on.
LeafGreen exclusive Pokémon: Sandshrew, Sandslash, Vulpix, Ninetales, Bellsprout, Weepinbell, Defense Forme Deoxys...
"Huh?" After hearing the store manager's explanation, Hirozawa Furukawa was even more confused.
"Why do it like this? To make players buy both versions?"
But...
If the game progression is exactly the same, then why would I want to experience it all over again?
Is it just to collect different Pokémon?
He couldn't understand it.
However, Hirozawa Furukawa instinctively smelled the scent of money.
Is Pokeni really not afraid of offending players by doing this? It reeks of greed.
He never thought this guy, who once seemed so innocent, would start to degenerate like this.
Thinking of this, Hirozawa Furukawa couldn't help but feel a sense of disgust.
"It seems it's because the game has battle and trading functions," the store manager said, adjusting his glasses as he read from the instruction manual. "The spawn rates of Pokémon differ between the two versions, and each has its own exclusive Pokémon, so the Pokémon players collect will differ.
This way, children can use their unique Pokémon to battle other players.
They can also trade Pokémon, fully enjoying the fun of the game."
After finishing, the store manager added:
"That's what the manual says."
"Huh?!"
This explanation completely shocked Hirozawa Furukawa.
Battle?!
In this era where games without online battles were the norm, hearing this term for the first time was bound to be a bit baffling.
Hirozawa Furukawa really couldn't imagine what a battle scene would look like on his own.
However, this concept truly astonished him.
What kind of weirdos are the producers at Pokeni?
To actually come up with the idea of battling and trading through different handheld consoles and game cartridges?
What kind of genius could possibly think of this?
Hirozawa Furukawa raised his head, closed his eyes, and imagined the battle scene.
No, no.
I can't imagine it.
He shook his head.
After hesitating for a long time, Hirozawa Furukawa decided not to buy it.
I'll wait and see for a while.
The main reason is that he felt the game was too juvenile, not at all like Pokeni's style.
To be precise, it wasn't the style of Kohara Tsubaki that he liked.
Meanwhile, at the home of elementary school student Sugita Noboru.
"Happy birthday!"
His parents shouted in unison.
Sugita Noboru, immersed in happiness, made a wish and blew out the candles.
"Noboru, what kind of birthday present would you like?" his mother asked with a mysterious smile.
"Hmm..."
I want a Pokémon game.
But if I say it out loud, it won't come true.
Sugita Noboru shook his head. "I'm not telling you."
His father smiled gently from the side, then took a gift box from behind him and placed it in front of him.
"Take a look. I'm not sure if it's what you wanted."
He unwrapped it to find, to his surprise, a Sega GP, along with a brand-new game cartridge—
Pokémon FireRed!
"Wow! Hooray! Hooray for Dad!"
Sugita Noboru shouted.
Please Support me by becoming my patreon member and get 20+ chapters.
[email protected]/Ajal69
change @ with a
Thank You to Those who joined my Patreon