What is Pokemania?

Pokémon started as a video game, well, two video games to be exact. Pokémon Red and Green in Japan 1996. Three years later, the world would go bonkers for Pokémon. Kids everywhere played the games, traded cards, and watched the TV anime series. Everyone knew what Pokémon was and everyone loved it. It was Pokémania.

The term Pokémania describes the globally widespread hype surrounding the Pokémon franchise, most notably in 1999. Some refer to the 2016 Pokémon GO release as the second Pokémania.

Pokemania 1999

On February 27, 1996, the first Pokémon games, Pokémon Red and Green Versions were released on the Nintendo Gameboy. The games sold modest numbers at first, but soon gained traction and a third version was released. Pokémon Blue Version boasted updated graphics and sound. 

In October 1996, the first expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game was released and immediately became popular. 

On April 1, 1997, the hit TV anime first aired, and on April 25th, 1998 was the day the first Poké Center opened in Tokyo, Japan.

In just over a year, Pokémon had gone from a modest Gameboy game to a full-time franchise with mangas, magazines, a physical store location, and of course, an incredibly popular TCG.

In September 1998, North America received the Gameboy Games (Red and Blue Versions) as well as the anime. A few months later in January 1999, the TCG was released.

This is when things really started to heat up. By the end of 1999, Pokémon had completely taken over North American pop culture. Numerous spin-off games were announced for the Gameboy Gameboy Color and Nintendo 64, an animated feature film was released and broke records, every magazine had a Pikachu on the cover, and everyone was talking about Pokémon.

The hype did eventually die down, but slowly. Pokémon had buried its roots deep, and ever since Pokémania, kids everywhere anticipated the next installment of the video game series, anime, and TCG.

Pokémania 2016/2020

Pokémon as a franchise dipped in popularity a few times, but hit a second wind in the summer of 2016, following the release of the mobile game Pokémon GO. 

The game was incredibly popular, breaking records and rehydrating the Pokémon franchise in those who grew up with it. Furthermore, the younger generation became increasingly obsessed with the new ‘coo’ thing- Pokémon.

The peak Pokémon GO hype was short-lived, however. By the summer of 2017, the game lost the attention of many of its players. But even though people weren’t playing the game, the Pokémon fire was rekindled.

In 2019, a famous Youtube personality, Logan Paul, purchased a first edition booster box of the original cards released in North America in 1999 and opened it live on Youtube. With millions of subscribers watching, Pokémania began to creep back.

In 2020 the COVID19 pandemic shook the world, forcing everyone into lockdown. If this had happened five years earlier, the results may have been different. But the lockdown came on the tail-end of the Pokémon GO hype and immediately after the Logan Paul box-break hype.

People were stuck at home with nothing to do and Pokémon on the brain.

It seems as though everyone had the same idea because the Pokémon TCG suddenly exploded to record heights. People were bored, and so they climbed into their attics or rummaged through their basements, and by mid-2020, everyone had dug up their old Pokémon card collections.

Shortly after, people began receiving stimulus cheques, and found themselves with vacation pay but unable to travel. As you’ve already guessed, the Pokémon card market exploded. Some card prices increased by over 1,000%. 

It was a perfect storm, and just like that, Pokémon was the most popular that it had ever been.

Will it happen again?

The dust has settled, and card prices have relaxed. You can find cards at the stores again and you and your brother are no longer fighting over the dusty old Pokémon Yellow Version.

But will it happen again? Probably. 

It is a matter of time though. It took 20 years for Pokémania to return, and that was only due to a series of events that all happened within a few months of each other.

Final thoughts 

Pokémania was nuts the first time and nuts the second time. People are anticipating another spike in the franchise’s popularity, but will it come? Now may be the time to invest in some rare cards or memorabilia, or perhaps not.