The Best Idea Yet - 🐲 Pokémon: The Little Monsters that Played Their Cards Right | 41

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

What do you get when you mix a passion for collecting bugs with an obsession for video games? For Satoshi Tajiri, the answer is the world's largest media franchise (over $92 billion revenue ��� more than Star Wars and Harry Potter combined). Tajiri dreamed up a new kind of video game: one built not just on battling monsters, but trading them. What followed was a full-blown cultural takeover with TV shows, trading cards (global market value $6 billion), more video games, and so much merch. Find out how Pikachu got his spark, why there was fierce debate over America’s cuteness threshold, how Pokémon Go took over your smartphone — and why Pokémon (our MOST requested episode to date) is the best idea yet.Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterFollow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting www.wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to the best idea yet early and ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Jack, this is our 41st episode. That is really cool. I remember when we pitched this series two years ago. Yeah, we were pitching the Happy Meal. That's what we started with. And then we were like, okay, we could do Birkenstocks.

I was excited about the Jeep episode, the Super Vario Brothers episode. The Kelsey Brothers love the Reese's Peanut Butter episode, we know. True. But Nick and I, I'll be honest, we only had like 20 ideas as we were preparing for this show. Yeah, we were like building as we go. But the fact that we're into episode 41 shows that we're crowdsourcing ideas a little bit here. Yeah, we are. And every episode, we end with this request.

What's a viral product we haven't done yet? Today, we have a special episode because Alexis Nunez, Natasha 50 plus her 11-year-old son who listens to every episode. Atticus and Jay, Victoria Miranda, 2Tool15, and Jack, BeefBoss123, they all requested this episode. We heard your requests, and today we're bringing you the epic story of Pokemon! Gotta catch em all!

Gotta catch em all! Pokemon, these colorful cartoon creatures, they originated 29 years ago as tiny monochrome pixels on the Nintendo Game Boy, the great-great-great-granddaddy of the Nintendo Switch. But even if you can't tell your Blaziken from your Snorlax, there's one thing you do know. Pokemon is a global phenomenon. Each monster has its own powers. Pikachu shoots lightning, Charmander breeds fire, and Bulbasaur... he brings the subtle but formidable power of photosynthesis.

But Pokemon's real superpower is building the highest grossing media franchise of all time. Across video games, playing cards, television, and more, Pokemon has raked in over $100 billion since it first appeared in Japan in 1996. That's more revenue than Star Wars and Harry Potter. Combine! You heard that right. The most valuable fictional IP creation of all time

isn't Super Mario, it isn't the Marvel superheroes, it isn't Mickey Mouse or Star Wars. It's Pokemon. Shockingly, two-thirds of all that money Pokemon has generated did not come from video games or the spinoff trading cards or even the anime series. It actually came from the merch. Lunch boxes, school bags, pop tarts, I guarantee you there was even a Pokemon box of Band-Aids for sale at the pharmacy

right around the corner. If you can fit a surprise Pikachu face on it, there's probably a Pokemon merch version of it. But of course, Jack, there's the trading cards. With a global market worth over $6 billion, some of those cards are even more valuable than your house, Nick. Add it all up, yetis, and there are so many

viral touch points in the Pokemon story, we honestly couldn't catch them all if we tried. But we will hear in this episode how Pokemon almost didn't happen. No one, not even its creator, thought it was gonna catch on like this. We'll explain why habits are like trains

and how the genius of Pokemon was that the only way to collect them all is to give them away. Okay, Jack, I'll trade you my Snorlax for a Weedle. Throw in a Knocked Owl and sweet-nit with a Dunkaroo from your lunchbox and you've got a deal. You drive a hard bargain, my friend. Here's why Pokemon is the best idea yet. From Wandery and T-Boy, I'm Nick Martell. And I'm Jack Kraviche Kramer.

And this is the best idea yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who made them go viral. We got it coming to you. I got that feeling again. They changed the game in one move. Here's how they broke all the rules. Navigating family matters can be tough. At Learners, we understand the challenges you face. Whether you need help drafting a prenup, filing for divorce, or making support arrangements,

at Learners, our team of experienced family lawyers are here to guide you every step of the way. These are life-altering events that come with many questions and concerns. Trust Learners to help you move forward. Visit LearnersFamily.com or give us a call at 1-800-263-5583 today. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle III, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder.

But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand view's shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in the supernatural thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist?

The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. We are in the quiet Japanese countryside of Machida, just outside Tokyo in the early 1970s. The sun is low in the sky, the cicadas are buzzing, and a small kid is crouched in a field next to a fishing pond.

He's holding a magnifying glass, peering into a jar filled with fireflies. In a tattered school book, he writes notes, like serious in-depth notes. How they move, how often they light up. And he's excited to learn that in America, some people even call these insects lightning bugs. He starts imagining what it would be like if these insects really could shoot bolts of electricity.

This is Satoshi Tajiri, though his schoolmates affectionately call him Dr. Bug. That's because Satoshi has built a friendship network around his quirky hobby. He gets his friends into bug collecting, and if they catch a beetle a buddy really wants, maybe they'll even trade for it. But as Satoshi gets older, the Machida countryside changes.

The forests and the fields that he loves are replaced with strip malls and pavement. Rivers get rerouted, natural habitats shrink, and most of the six-legged bugs that he loves so much, they sadly disappear. And then one day, the fishing pond where Satoshi used to collect fireflies gets bulldozed and replaced with

a video game arcade. They paved paradise and put up a Pac-Man lot. Yeah, they literally did. But Satoshi doesn't spend too much time mourning the end of his bug's life, because he quickly replaces his love of creepy crawlies with a brand new obsession. Video games. Mornings, evenings, weekends, even during recess, there's one place you can find Satoshi. In the arcade, cramming yen after yen into space invaders.

Pretty quickly, he earns a new nickname. From Dr. Bug to Game Freak. Game Freak, a new nickname for a new obsession. Satoshi doesn't just live to play games. He studies these video games. He's taking notes. He's finding out what makes them tick. He's the type of kid who, once he gets into something, he becomes obsessed.

As a teenager, he creates a handmade magazine and names it Game Freak. This magazine is part review, part strategy guide, part obsessive love letter to early arcade games. His first issue is all about the new game that he's falling for, Donkey Kong. He's putting out issues through high school and college where he studies electronics and computing. Game Freak grows from a small, handcrafted labor of love side hustle

into a full-on professional magazine. And by 1983, Game Freak's circulation hits a solid 10,000 copies per month. And after years of playing and writing about games, Satoshi decides, you know what? In 1983, Game Freak's circulation hits a solid 10,000 copies per month. And after years of playing and writing about games, Satoshi decides, you know what? It's finally time to get off the sidelines and make a game himself. In 1989, gamers around the world are humming this distinctive 19th century Russian folk song because Tetris and Nintendo Game Boy

have arrived. The Game Boy. Nintendo's revolutionary handheld console. It wasn't sleek, it wasn't sexy. But in this pre-smartphone, pre-internet heyday of the early 1990s, Nick, the Game Boy transformed gaming as we know it, because it was portable. Well, by this point, Jack, Satoshi has involved Game Freak from a scrappy fanzine to a scrappy video game studio. And they're now creating games for the monster of the industry, Nintendo. This is 1989. The games may be monochrome. Compared to your TV, the screen is tiny. But Satoshi sees an

expansive blank canvas in the Game Boy. And there's one type of game in particular that inspires him, role-playing games. These RPGs, they've got names like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. They're basically the digital offspring of Dungeons & Dragons. Except instead of rolling a 20-sided die, like the kids in Stranger Things, you're mashing buttons on your Game Boy. The popularity of these role-playing games makes Satoshi realize you don't need flashy graphics or high-octane action to make a great game.

What you need is thoughtful and fun game mechanics that let the players be part of creating the story. And Jack, there's also something else about the Game Boy that really inspires Satoshi. And it hits him one day when he's sitting in the Game Freak break room. His eyes are glued to his Game Boy. Across the table from him sits Game Freak's illustrator,

Ken Sugimori, who's also staring at his own Game Boy. They're both immersed in an RPG called Dragon Quest. Suddenly, Satoshi lets his Game Boy drop out of his hands to the table in frustration. There's a rare in-game item that he wants, but he just can't get it. It's called the Mad Cap. It's a wizard's hat that will give him the power to cast more spells. Ken casually mentions that he already managed to collect two of these mad caps. So tough luck Satoshi, them's the breaks in the RPG land. Satoshi sulks for a few seconds. Then he sits up, his eyes sparkling. What if there was

a way for Ken to trade his spare wizard's hat? Perhaps in exchange for a magic potion, some gold coins, or some other mystical items that Satoshi has and Ken wants. Ken listens to Satoshi's idea and his interest is piqued. But then he reminds Satoshi that trading items between different players, between different Game Boys, that is simply not possible. Remember, we're in the pre-internet era. Yeah, no Bluetooth, no Wi-Fi, and definitely no AirDrop. But Satoshi realizes, technically, it would be possible for a game developer to make a game that lets you trade items just like that. Because the Game Boy has a special piece of hardware called the Link Cable.

The Link Cable. A thick, clunky, gray wire that lets you connect two Game Boys for multiplayer action. You can use the Link Cable to play Tetris head to head with your bestie. There is no reason why you couldn't make a game that lets you trade items with the Link Cable as well. Suddenly, Satoshi is transported back in time to the idyllic hours he spent as a kid collecting bugs and the fun he and his friends had not just catching the bugs, but trading them. Nick, could this be the basis of a brand new game? Satoshi and his team are brainstorming.

They want to build a game from the ground up, one that puts an ancient human activity at its very core, trading. This focus on trading was the first piece of the Pokémon puzzle. He's picturing a game where players find monsters and collect them in magical capsules, and then pit the monsters against other players' monsters in an epic battle. Just like in Dungeons & Dragons, Satoshi wants his monsters to have special abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Nick and D&D, there are warlocks who cast powerful spells, but are just an embarrassment when it comes to sword fighting. And then there

are barbarians. Physical fighting is their thing, but they can't do anything against magic. Another feature Satoshi is going to borrow from role-playing games is the turn-based fighting. Winning won't be about who has the fastest thumbs like Mortal Kombat games, but instead Satoshi thinks combatants could take turns like well-behaved children. Winning will be about knowing which of your monsters will do best in a given matchup. So it's kind of like chess. It's your turn, then it's my turn. It's less of a physical experience, more of a mental experience.

Satoshi and his team put together a pitch deck for their weird, ambitious, and completely original idea with the working title of Capsule Monsters. Satoshi is pumped! After all, Game Freak already has a working relationship with Nintendo. They've worked together on a few modestly successful games already. So there's a chance here. Together, he and his team head down to Kyoto where Nintendo is based.

And they get in the room and pitch the executives of the world's most influential gaming brand. No one understands the psychology behind the gaming business like our buddies over at Nintendo. If Nintendo gets on board, their creativity, their financing, their influence, and their distribution will give Satoshi everything he needs to make his dream game a reality. But Nintendo passes. They can't get their head around the idea. Nintendo built its success on a

mushroom-loving plumber who fights an evil turtle, but they draw the line for some reason when it comes to capsule monsters. Haha yeah well let's just say these Nintendo execs were the first in a long line of grownups who didn't fully understand Pokemon. So for that reason Nintendo's out. And without that funding it looks like capsule monsters will never happen. That is until a legend of video gaming takes an interest in this particular project. He's a fellow game maker over at Nintendo. In fact, he's game making royalty.

He actually helped transform Nintendo from a sleepy card company into a global gaming powerhouse. All thanks to his creation of a mustachioed plumber from Brooklyn. Satoshi finds a friend in the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto. Yahoo! If you didn't catch our Super Mario Brothers episode, here's the short version for you. Shigeru Miyamoto grew up deep in nature, exploring bamboo forests and underground caves, making toys out of wood and string.

Shigeru is basically the Henry David Thoreau of Nintendo. If Thoreau had invented Donkey Kong and then Super Mario. This guy's a legend. Shigeru is the guy responsible for taking Nintendo from an obscure toy maker to the most influential video game company ever. And this is why that's so important. Shigeru was not in that pitch meeting when Nintendo passed on Capsule Monsters. But when he hears about this rejected idea later on, well, Shigeru almost spits out his matcha because Shigeru loves it. He's drawn to one detail in particular, the idea of trading monsters through the link cable.

It's the part that other Nintendo execs didn't get, because it had never been done before. But Shigeru sees that that idea is groundbreaking. So, thanks to the pressure from Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo does a total 180, and greenlights capsule monsters. But there is still one problem, Jack, we gotta point out. The name. Nintendo hates capsule monsters.

Oh, yeah, also, they think capsule monsters is just gonna be too hard to trademark. So Satoshi starts brainstorming again. Someone points out that these Game Boy games are small, so you can keep them on you at all times. At school, at home, at dinner. Like in your pocket. I mean, as you're saying it, Jack, I can picture this. They're pocket monsters,

which in Japanese is Poketo Mansuta, a name they kinda like. And then they take it even further when they shortened it to Pokemon. So Satoshi and his Game Freak team have the concept, they have the name, and they have the green light from Nintendo. But here's the kicker.

Nintendo sets a really ambitious release date of December 1991, which gives Satoshi and the Game Freak team just over a year to get this done. However, Satoshi is a confident dude and he thinks a year, that's more than enough time. In fact, he thinks it'll just take six months to build a genre-defining game from total scratch. How hard could it be? And how wrong could he be? Well, it turns out the answer to both those questions is very. Today's show is brought to you by Amazon Small Business.

Nick and I are obsessed with this hot, crispy chili oil called Boone. Yeah, it's great. Spicy, crunchy, goes on everything. Pasta, pizza, even paella. Total game changer for my fridge. Okay, but yetis, here's what's wild. This incredible chili oil is actually from a small company in Los Angeles.

And when I ran out recently, I was amazed I could get it delivered the very next day. Because this small business chili oil, it's on Amazon. And that's part of a bigger story. Did you know more than 60% of sales in Amazon store are from independent sellers? Most of which are small and medium sized businesses. That means your next go-to sauce, soap,

or skincare routine might come from a local small business, not a big corporation. Here's the thing besties, most small businesses want to focus on what they do best, making amazing products. But handling the storing, the packing, the delivery, that's the tricky part. And that is where Amazon steps in. By handling fulfillment and shipping logistics, Amazon helps small businesses get their products

out into the world fast. It's a partnership that goes together like, well, boon, chili oil, and just about everything. So the next time you're shopping, think small. Check out amazon.com slash support small. It is red alert over a game freak headquarters and Satoshi calls an emergency meeting. He needs to build an entirely new programming team because all three of his programmers, the people who write the code for Pokemon, all of them just quit. This triple resignation is just the latest in a long line of crises that have plagued the development of Pokemon.

It's been so bad that they've blown through that original deadline of 12 months by nearly three years. Turns out building an entirely new genre of video game is a lot harder and more expensive than Satoshi expected. But right now, Jack, Satoshi has just one question for his team. Um, does anyone here know how to code? This is not what the Game Freak team wants to hear. It's like being on a flight and an announcement comes over the intercom asking if anyone knows how to fly the plane. Yeah, no thank you.

But in this case, a hand actually goes up. And so do eyebrows from around the room. Because the volunteer is Junichi Masuda, Game Freak's resident musical composer. He's actually something of a renaissance man, because he loves techno and classical. He's into Stravinsky and synthesizers. This guy plays the trombone when he's not playing the piano, and he does a little bit of programming on the side. It's like, hey, you play a mean horn

and know a little bit of JavaScript? Great! You can now be our co-lead on this hugely important project. Good luck. Well, meanwhile, Nintendo has been shockingly patient. I mean, Jack, they've let Game Freak extend the deadline multiple times. But, Nick, remember in our Super Mario Brothers episode,

we talked about the infinite game at Nintendo? This is actually a Nintendo concept. The company is notoriously relaxed with their staff. They don't do mass layoffs because they want creatives to feel comfortable creating, even if it takes them three years of extra time. Despite all the setbacks, Satoshi and his Game Freak mass layoffs because they want creatives to feel comfortable creating even if it takes them three years of extra time. Despite all the setbacks, Satoshi and his Game Freak team make progress on Pokemon.

As the list of different Pokemon grows, the team realizes they need to build depth into the game. So they divide the Pokemon into 15 types with names like Fire, Water, Electric, grass, psychic, and ghost. Then they add in more depth by giving the types different strengths and weaknesses. Fire beats grass, water beats fire, kinda like a rock, paper, scissors situation, but with way more variables and more adorable violence. The team recognizes that there must be a logic in order to gain buy-in from users. If rules of this new world are arbitrary, people just aren't going to find it compelling.

Also, Pokemon don't get injured. They do like to fight, but when they lose, instead of dying, they faint from exhaustion. Nothing more PG than needing a nap after a monster fight. Satoshi really does hate violence. He actually won't put any of it in his video games. This guy, he wouldn't hurt a fly. Some Pokemon are easy to find, others are rare or even legendarily rare. So trading isn't just about ticking names off your Pokédex, which is your digital Rolodex

of all the Pokemon you've caught. By creating such depth to such a range of characters, Satoshi's team doesn't just make the interactions more satisfying, he introduces a whole new behavior, collecting. And collecting becomes its own kind of adventure. And then to crank that trading drive even higher, Satoshi decides to release two versions of the game, Pokemon Red and Pokemon Green. The games are almost identical, except each one has a slightly different set of Pokemon. If your friend has red and you have green, you must trade with each other if you want

to catch them all. That single choice of two different colors takes Pokemon from solo game, played independently, to social treasure hunt. And finally, in October of 1995, four years past its deadline, Pokemon is ready to launch. All Satoshi needs now is Nintendo's final sign-off, and then he can unleash his Pokemon on the world. So, he submits the game to the headquarters over in Kyoto. And soon after, he gets a call from Nintendo.

What's the verdict, Nick? It's not great. Turns out Nintendo likes the game itself, but the story around it? They don't get it. Now, we don't know exactly what the original storyline was, but Nintendo's feedback is blunt. It's confusing.

And, even more of a gut punch for Satoshi, they say it just has no soul. They're polite about it, but the message is clear. Even though the game is already way overdue, Nintendo is telling them to tear up the story that holds the game together, start over, and try again. So Satoshi drags his V1 into the recycle bin, he opens a new dock, and he starts writing like his life depends on it. Because remember, the game was meant to launch in 1991, back when the Game Boy was the hottest new game console. But now, it's 1995. The Game Boy is six years old. That is practically ancient when it comes to technology. Japanese sales of the Game Boy console are down from three million in 1990 to just one million in 1995. There are even rumors

that Nintendo is planning to phase it out. The very device their game is intended to be played on could become obsolete by the time Pokemon finally launches. Satoshi and his Game Freak team have got to get this game out as quickly as possible to get any kind of return on this huge investment. But here's the problem, man. Satoshi is a perfectionist. He spent six months coming up with a whole new story for this rewrite. In the new story, you play as a young Pokemon trainer,

leaving your home to explore the fictional region of Kanto. You roam the world, catch wild Pokemon, battle other trainers, and try to climb the ranks. It's part quest, part coming-of-age story, and it gives players a reason to care about more than just the battles. And Satoshi has a little fun with the characters. He names the hero Satoshi after himself, and then he names his rival Shigeru after the Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto. And the execs over Nintendo? They are into this whole new storyline. So on February 27, 1996, five years after Capsule Monsters was first pitched, Pokemon Red and Green finally launches in Japan.

But here's the thing, Jack. Nobody expects it to be more than maybe a minor hit at best. Because remember, Game Boy is past its prime. Also thanks to that last minute rewrite, they miss the 1995 holiday season. And Jack, how important is a holiday season if you are in the business of selling stuff to kids? Very important. Holidays typically account for 40% of a toy brand's annual sales.

This may be one of the worst product launches we've seen in all the business stories we've covered on the show. It's four years late, it missed the Christmas sales rush, and the platform it's being made for, the Game Boy, is on its last legs. I mean, Jack, I think Satoshi let Perfect be the enemy of good. Very much seems that way. So Satoshi's a little sad, but not surprised, when Pokemon sales are underwhelming. It's not a total flop, but it's not a smash hit either, and definitely not worth five years of his life.

For weeks, the game barely worth five years of his life. For weeks, the game barely hangs on in the top ten. After more than half a decade of arrested development, it looks like Pokemon might fizzle out before it ever catches fire. But don't give up on Pokemon quite yet, because buried deep inside the game is a secret that only Satoshi and a handful of people at Game Freak know about. The secret? It's pink. It's got psychic powers.

And it's about to turn Pokemon from a has-been into a world-conquering phenomenon. In a quiet corner of a Tokyo schoolyard, a girl sits cross-legged, transfixed by the glow of a 2.6-inch greenish-greyish Game Boy screen. And then suddenly she freezes, and with a shout that cuts through the playground chatter, she leaps to her feet and yells, MEEEWWWWW! In seconds, her classmates are swarming around her, jostling for a look over her shoulder. They cannot believe what they are seeing. They've heard the rumors, stories passed around in hand-drawn fanzines, but now finally

someone they know has done it. Someone has caught the mysterious secret Pokemon known as Mew. Mew is the 151st Pokemon. He is a little pink psychic type creature said to contain the DNA of every other Pokemon, meaning it can pull off any of the other Pokemon's special abilities. Mew has been mentioned in the game in passing, but here's the thing, he wasn't supposed to be there at all. Right before launch, one Game Freak developer notices there was just enough room left in

the code to squeeze in one more Pokemon. So that developer sneaks in Mew right at the last minute. But because the game has already been written, there's actually no official way to catch Mew. There's no quest, there's no boss fight, there's no big reveal. Pokemon Red and Green is also full of glitches. Turns out all those late night coding crunches mean there are a lot of holes in the code, which means sometimes by pure chance players activate Mew and then they can add him to their Pokemon roster. And once Mew is in your Pokédex, you can use him in battles and in trades.

And word spreads fast about Mew's existence. Rumors start flooring about how you can get a Mew of your own. And Satoshi Tajiri sees a perfect opportunity. With the Pokemon game struggling after launch, he publicly confirms that Mew is in fact real. And then he holds a competition. 20 lucky winners will get the opportunity to send their Pokemon cartridges to Game Freak so that Mew will be added to their game for free. 78,000 people enter that competition and press coverage of the event explodes. Pokemon suddenly shoots to number one in the video game sales charts.

People are even buying Game Boys just to get in on the Pokemon action. So by the end of 1996, Game Boy sales in Japan almost matched their original peak from 1990 of 3 million units. A console that had been considered dead, one whose sales had fallen 70% from their all-time high is suddenly back, baby. This may be the greatest turnaround story in the history of the video game business, and Pokemon is a double dip for Nintendo, mind you. Great point, Jack.

It's driving both game sales and console sales. By 1998, Game Boy sales hit 4.5 million in Japan, and it's all thanks to a psychic pink Pokemon who isn't even meant to exist, combined with that core trading mechanic that Satoshi baked in from the beginning. And the Pokemon hype machine? It just keeps on building from there. There's merch and then a hugely popular anime series on TV. But then Nintendo makes a move that was arguably anti-video game.

The company pivots from digital to physical by creating Pokemon trading cards. They're like baseball cards, except instead of stats for real-world athletes, they've got electric mice, fire-breathing dragons, and psychic cat monsters. And unlike baseball cards, Pokemon cards aren't just for collecting. They're made for battling, kind of like Magic the Gathering cards. Exactly. This game's blend of strategy, luck, and collectability catches on fast. And pretty soon, kids, and plenty of adults too, they're hooked on the thrill of gently

tearing open packs, building killer decks, and chasing down rare, powerful carts. Satoshi and Game Freak have done the impossible. They've turned an overlooked Game Boy game into the biggest phenomenon in Japan. Now, Nintendo wants to see if they can go even further and take Pokemon Global. Even with Pokemon blown up in Japan, the American arm of Nintendo isn't convinced it's going to work in the US. And there are actually two big cultural reasons why. This first Pokemon game, it's got a lot of text in it. You spend more time reading than you do battling.

You move your character around a simple two-dimensional map. You talk with people, you challenge them to battles, and then the battles themselves are turn-based. American kids are crushing fast food. Why would they want a slow game that you have to read? What is this, homework? I mean, Jack, if you look at the original Pokemon game, it's like a battle entails a series of text messages appearing on the screen. Enemy Squirtle, use Tackle. Charmander, Groot, a level eight. Critical hit. Now, Jack, let's compare that to the games that are hot in America at the time, 1998. Zelda, 007 GoldenEye, WWF Warzone, which is a wrestling game I used to own.

They are all about one thing and one thing only. Action! Smashing skeletons with your sword, shooting odd jobs with your laser rolex, or bashing your opponents over the head with a folded metal chair. Nintendo just isn't sure that a cute electric Pikachu will survive in the ring against 007 or stone cold Steve Austin. Which brings us to the second problem, the cuteness factor. The exacts over Nintendo's US arm think American gamers don't want adorable little creatures.

They want aggression. They want attitude. Have you seen the biceps on Street Fighter, my friend? So Nintendo of America tries to fix it, and they mock up tougher, edgier designs for the Pokemon. This includes a reimagined Pikachu that looks, well, let's just say Nana won't be crocheting this onto a blankie. Yeah, it's giving like saber-toothed tiger who has an exclusive diet of monster energy drink. They've somehow taken Pikachu from cute to could-give-you-rabies.

Yeah, so Satoshi's team look at the American redesigns and they say, Arigato, but no Arigato. And they figure if Pokemon is going to flop in America, America well it may as well be on their own terms. When Pokemon launches in America in September 1998 more than two and a half years after debuting in Japan it's an instant viral hit. Despite everything the researchers said about Americans wanting aggressive characters the cutenesseness just kills with U.S. consumers. But it's not the game that goes viral across America first. It's actually the animated series on TV.

This cartoon had been airing in Japan. In the Japanese original, the main character is named after Satoshi himself. But in the English version, he becomes Ash Ketchum, a play on the Pokemon slogan, you gotta catch them all. He becomes Ash Ketchum, a play on the Pokemon slogan, You Gotta Catch Em All. And after a few weeks of Saturday morning hype on the TV, kids just have to get their hands on the Pokemon game. And the American versions are called Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue, not Red and Green like in Japan and Jack.

There is a very strategic reason behind that color selection, isn't there? Market research showed Americans just like blue better. Yeah, by the end of 1998, Pokemon Red and Blue sells over 4 million copies in the US. And just like in Japan, Game Boy sales spiked too, hitting almost 9 million units the next year. That's more than double what it did in its first full year on the market. In 1999, the Pokemon Trading Card Game officially launches in America, and kids go bananas for that too. If you are nine years old, cards become your currency. The craze got so big in some schools, they actually had to ban the game.

And the frenzy really never does go away. Some cards have reached Rolex status. Today, rare Pokemon cards are still worth serious money. We're talking half a million dollars for a mint condition first edition Charizard. This Poke flywheel of new video games, new cards, new shows, it works together to keep the Pokemon alive. What could have been a highly lucrative yet short-lived fad becomes something way bigger. Or as we like to call it, it becomes a permafad. A franchise that didn't just survive,

but like the strange little creatures at its heart, kept evolving. Pokemon becomes something that crosses generations and appeals to not just kids, but to the adults that grew up with those monsters right there in their pockets. The basic universe of Pokemon has stayed the same, as have the mechanics of the video game and the rules of the card game. As for Satoshi Tajiri, he's still president of Game Freak, where he oversees his Pokemon empire. But Nick, we're not finished with our story yet.

In 2016, Pokemon had a second viral moment, and this one was maybe even bigger than the first. It's the summer of 2016, and something weird is happening. Across the world, people are roaming streets and parks, their heads down, phones out, moving in slow zigzags. A guy in a suit hops a fence into a cemetery in hot pursuit of a wormhole. A teenager almost catches a garchomp before they realize, no, they've walked into a lake. Meanwhile, someone's just trying to catch a squirtle inside a

police station. Jack, what's going on here, my friend? This is Pokemon Go, a mobile game that uses GPS to scatter Pokemon across the world, and nowhere is off limits. To catch your Pokemon, players need to physically move around so you're sniping little monsters with your phone on the subway. It's an early instance of augmented reality, layering virtual elements on top of the real world. Few know that this augmented reality evolution of Pokemon actually started as a joke.

Jack, this is maybe the best example we've ever seen in business of executives having a sense of humor and it paying off. Because in 2014, Google and the Pokemon company actually teamed up for an April Fools stunt. They scattered virtual Pokemon across Google Maps for players to catch as a joke. It was meant to be a one-day gag. Real-life humans running through the streets trying to photograph fictional characters. Hilarious prank on all of society. But John Hanke saw something bigger.

Hanke is the co-founder of Keyhole, the company Google acquired and turned into Google Earth. But before that, he was a game developer, and he sees that there's way more potential to this April Fool's gag than just April Fool's. Hanky pitches the idea of making an actual location-based Pokemon game. And Nintendo and the Pokemon Company, they like it. So two years later, Pokemon Go officially launches. And for the third straight time in Poke history, Jack, the new product is a hit. In the first seven days after launching, it racks up 10 million downloads. It broke Apple's record for most downloads in a single week on iPhones.

At its peak, 15% of Americans with smartphones play Pokemon Go every day. Once again, a Pokemon viral craze has exploded, and this time it's borrowing a strategy from Captain Blackbeard himself, the treasure hunt. Just like when you go shopping at TJ Maxx or Costco today, consumers love the mystery in searching and the thrill of finding an unexpected item. Well, Pokemon Go is hitting at that same dopamine response. But instead of turning up a bargain pair of Levi's, you're finding an ultra rare Larvesta or a Pikachu Libre. Yeah, one out of seven Americans are doing that on a daily basis.

Pokemon Go is such a hit, Starbucks even launches a Pokemon Go Frappuccino. Okay, and how does that taste? Just like Pikachu smells. Makes sense. So as well as being a viral hit, Pokemon Go quickly turns into a financial monster thanks to in-game purchases and advertising. Pokemon Go becomes the fastest mobile game in history to ever hit 500 million dollars in player spending. And eventually, Pokemon Go crosses over 4 billion bucks in lifetime revenue. There's been no case of augmented reality as successful as Pokemon Go.

So Jack, now that we've satisfied the Yetis with the much desired story of Pokemon, what's your takeaway? Habits are like trains. It's easier to hop on one than to build your own. Pokemon felt like something entirely new. A video game where you collect fantastical monsters to stage duels with. But in reality, Pokemon is simply a modern form of collecting and trading valuables. And trading is an activity older than capitalism.

The team behind Pokemon knew that you were trading candies, sandwiches, and anything else with your buddies at recess. So why not trade digital Pokemon? And now there was, of course, a technical hurdle here, right? Like back then, electronic devices were not connected to the internet. But Pokemon's creator, Satoshi Tajiri, realized that Game Boy's link cable could overcome that hurdle and let them tap into that age-old human habit to trade, trade, trade. And once people were already furiously trading digital Pokemon, the team thought, why not add physical Pokemon trading cards into the mix? Trading again? Suddenly, those recessed trading sessions looked like the New York Stock Exchange trading pit. If you're developing a product and you want to

enhance its success, don't try to force or create a new habit. Hop on one that already exists. Don't build your own train. Just get on the train that's already running. So Nick, what's your takeaway? There is a fine line between adapting and blending. Pokemon nearly ruined that launch in its biggest market, the United States of America, by Americanizing the characters. Sometimes adapting your product to local tastes and customers makes sense. Look at Disneyland Shanghai, which killed Main Street USA because the concept didn't translate to Chinese society. But other times it's best to stick to your product's original recipe and not try to

adapt to where you're going. Pokemon was told by consultants that Pikachu and his pals were too cute for an American audience, that they needed more biceps and more abs. Well, if the Pokemon creators had followed this advice, it would have blanded the product, not adapted it. And Pokemon may have never conquered the U.S. Yeah, Jack, a Pikachu that can do pull-ups? Not a Pikachu I want to catch.

Me neither. Now time for our absolute favorite part of the show, the best facts yet. These are the hero stats, facts, and surprises we discovered in our research but couldn't fit into the story. Well, Jack, you are channeling some big Charizard energy right now. So why don't you kick us off over there? Forget Pikachu, Nick. Kids in the town of Kawara, Japan are collecting cards featuring real life grandpas from their community.

Here's the deal. The more community service a grandpa has performed in their lifetime, the rarer his card. The game was created by the town council to strengthen the bond between kids and the older generations. Turns out the hottest card in town isn't a Charizard, it's Mr. Fuji, a kind-hearted old man with a bunch of community service. It's Mr. Fuji, a kind-hearted old man with a bunch of community service. Hahaha. Alright Jack, I got another one for you. Remember how we said Satoshi got the idea for Pokemon from his days as a kid catching bugs? Yeah, of course, Dr. Bug.

Well, it turns out there are now bugs named after Pokemon. Really? Meta. Yeah, there's actually a spider called the Alistra Pikachu. And there is a bee called the Chilacola Charizard. There's also a wasp called Stencorsep's Weedle, named after Weedle, the spike-headed caterpillar Pokemon. I don't know what the word is for study of insects,

but I love that they're paying their respects to cetacean. Apparently, when you study enough bugs, you eventually start seeing Pokemon everywhere. And that, my friends, is why Pokemon is the best idea yet. Coming up on the next episode of The Best Idea Yet, it's the DIY surfboard for sidewalks that gave us Tony Hawk, scraped knees, and the kickflip. It's the skateboard. And don't forget to rate and review the show right now. Yeah, five stars helps us grow the show.

And when you leave comments, we actually read them. Like, that's why we ended up doing this episode on Pokemon, right, Jack? Yeah, we hope we lived up to your expectations. Beef Boss, one, two, three. We see you, Beef Boss. We see you. The best idea yet is a production of Wandery, hosted me Nick Martel and me Jack Kraviche-Kramer.

Our senior producers are Matt Beagle and Chris Gaultier. Peter Arcuni is our additional senior producer. Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan and Taylor Sniffin is our managing producer. Our producer and researcher is H. Conley. This episode was written and produced by Adam Skuse. We use many sources in our research including How Pokemon Conquered America by Courtney Mifsud and Treglia in Time Magazine and Why Pokemon Red and Green Almost Failed by Remton Games. Sound design and mixing by Kelly Kramarik. Fact checking by Erika Janek. Music supervision

by Scott Velazquez and Jolina Garcia for Freesan Sync. Our theme song is Got That Feeling Again by Black Alack. Executive producers for Nick and Jack Studios are me, Nick Martel, and me, Jack Ravici Kramer. Executive producers for Wondery are Jenny L Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of the best idea yet early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. Navigating family matters can be tough. At Learners, we understand the challenges you face.

Whether you need help drafting a prenup, filing for divorce or making support arrangements. At Learners, our team of experienced family lawyers are here to guide you every step of the way. These are life-altering events that come with many questions and concerns. Trust Learners to help you move forward. Visit LearnersFamilyLaw.ca. That's L-E-R-N-E-R-S-FamilyLaw.ca.