In 1996, a pair of cute monster-collecting roleplaying games launched on the Game Boy, giving birth to one of the biggest entertainment franchises on the planet. Over the last 25 years, Pokémon has continued to be a massively popular RPG series, but it has also spawned plentiful spinoff games, movies, shows, and more — from the early days of Red and Blue to the phenomenon of Pokémon Go to the surprise hit Detective Pikachu. At The Verge, we’re using this anniversary as a chance to explore how Pokémon evolved over the years and where it may be headed.
