It was exactly 30 years ago when "Pokémon Green" and "Pokémon Red" first hit shelves in Japan. 

Since then, the franchise has grown to become a global powerhouse, often cited as the highest-grossing media franchise of all time. To date, it is valued at over $115 billion (₱663B) and is beloved by millions of fans worldwide. Aside from a successful run of multiple video game releases over the years, fans also enjoy its trading card game, manga series, anime series, plush merchandise, and more. How did this come to be?

Satoshi Tajiri, the brains behind the beloved franchise, drew inspiration from his childhood experiences discovering various critters and catching insects and tadpoles near his home in Tokyo. Looking back on those times, he decided he wanted to pass on those childhood feelings to other kids. Working closely with his friend, Ken Sugimori, he formed the game development company Game Freak and the design studio Creatures. After seeing the massive popularity of the Game Boy, he envisioned insects crawling through the link cables used to connect the handheld console with other Game Boy units. He was also inspired by the "Ultraman" series "Ultra Seven," where the main character made use of monsters contained in capsules to help him fight. His original working title was "Capsule Monsters," but his pitches to Nintendo weren't getting greenlit. Eventually, he befriended Shigeru Miyamoto of "Super Mario Bros." and "The Legend of Zelda" fame, who helped pitch his idea once again. Once Nintendo finally let them work on the game, it took six years to create and had its name changed to "Pocket Monsters" due to trademarking issues. This was then changed to Pokémon for its worldwide release. 

"Pokémon Green" and "Pokémon" became an instant hit in Japan. For the worldwide release, "Pokémon Blue" ended up replacing Green, as market research showed that the color blue paired better with red in Western markets. In the same year, the trading card game and manga adaptation also came to fruition. Kosaku Anakubo's manga adaptation followed the story of Red and his Clefairy. By 1997, an anime series was created centering around Satoshi and his rival Shigeru. These names were later changed to Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak for the global release. Ash's story proved to be a popular one, as him and his Pikachu became the star protagonist of the series for over 25 seasons. His run ended in 2023, with the release of "Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series." 

In its three-decade run, Pokémon has gone through nine generations of Pokémon games with over 1,026 unique Pokémon to catch. With how much hype the franchise continues to receive, it's certain that fans can expect more to come. Here's to wishing Pokémon a happy 30th anniversary!