According to a recent report, Nintendo of America almost changed the design of iconic Pokemon such as Pikachu before Pokemon’s official launch in the United States. Pokemon currently has 1,025 monsters and is widely praised for its visual design, so this decision could have backfired horribly for Nintendo of America if it was approved.
It’s no secret that Pokemon is immensely popular in Japan. The first games of the franchise, Pokemon Red and Green – the latter of which is known as Pokemon Blue in the west – have sold over 10 million units in Japan alone, claiming the spot as the best-selling games in the country for years. Naturally, Nintendo of America wanted to replicate the success of the popular series in the United States, and one of the first challenges tackled by its team was how to adapt Pokemon to Western audiences.
A talented Pokemon fan completely redesigns Squirtle's evolutionary line, coming up with new ideas for each of the Water-type creature's evolutions.
Now, a Pokemon fan called Jack_Hardin spotted an interesting story originally reported by Time magazine earlier this year. The story covers points such as why the marketing team decided to release Pokemon Red instead of...