You know I realized something when I had a discussion with a friend of mine. Pokemon is technically one of the few legit “safe” franchises, as in that it continuously makes a lot of money whenever a game comes out. The fact pokemon stuck to the same general although they did make a lot of specific changes is even more amazing. What do you think of pokemon popularity then and now? Although the craze disappeared long ago, how would you guage its popularity then and now?

I’m sorry I’ve taken so long to get around to answering this one; it’s been sitting here for goodness knows how long and I keep thinking I’ll come up with a good answer if I sleep on it, but I never do.  Honestly, I don’t really have my finger on the pulse of the Pokémon community, so to speak, so I don’t know that I’m qualified to judge how its popularity has waxed and waned over the years, or talk about the reasons for it.  I suppose I would guess that Pokémon ‘works’ as a franchise for two main reasons.  The first is that its game mechanics are easy to learn (good for the little kids) but difficult to master (you can keep getting better and better at it as you grow up).  The second is the sheer variety and whimsicality of all the different creatures (an impressive selection even in the first generation, let alone now), which manages to capture, I think, just a little of the bewildering complexity of nature.  I don’t think it’d be bold to say that there really is a Pokémon for everyone now, and a fan for every Pokémon (even if I do like to spend an inordinate amount of time bashing some of them).  I suppose it makes sense, when you look at it that way, for Game Freak to focus so much of their efforts on continuing to expand the Pokédex.

Hmm.  I will think on this.