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Home Page > Pokemon : Pokemon in the World - The Red Blimp

Pokemon around the World

How popular is Pokemon around the world? Are the Pokemon games sold in Africa? What exactly is the deal with Pokemon in the Middle East? Is it true that Oceania rarely gets game events? This article will answer all of those questions... and more. Pick your region below to see just how popular Pokemon is around the world.

Japan: Need I mention that Pokemon was (and remains) a big hit in Japan? There's a lot of Pokemon merchandise over there. The TV show remains popular among kids from what US Americans call Elementary School to High School (six to eighteen years).

Anglo-America: Pokemon was very popular from 1998 to around 2002. The Pokemon fad was on during that time in the United States. Everyone knew about Pokemon; parents were annoyed by it, kids loved it, and everyone wanted to cash in on it. The show and trading card game were far more popular than the game to the point that many who grew up watching Pokemon only remember the show and TCG. The first two Pokemon films (Pokemon: The First Movie and Pokemon: 2000) had advertisements for some sort of TCG club where you could apparently play the Pokemon TCG with other people. After 2002, the game's popularity died and Pokemon started to be seen as a kiddie thing (in line with the general opinion of Nintendo games; Sony was the cool thing now). After a while (perhaps starting in 2008-09) Pokemon started to become acceptable again (at least in my experience). Pokemon remains popular among people who like video games with Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire being the top-selling games for the Gameboy advance and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl having sold 17.39 million units. Toys 'r' Us and Gamestop host many events, much to the chagrin of Pokemon fans who live far from these locations.

I assume that Pokemon is also popular in Canada, although Canadians do not get as many events as US Americans do. Wi-fi events work for both Canada and the United States, but the Toys 'r' Us and Gamestop events do not cross the border.

Europe: The Pokemon games and anime are translated into German and French. The anime is also available in plenty of other European languages as well, being dubbed in Iberian Spanish, Iberian Portuguese, Dutch, Catalan (Valencian), Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Czech, Croatian, and so on.

The United Kingdom has a lot of Pokemon fans (although, like the rest of Europe, they receive the games later than in the US). In early 2000, there was a crime wave related to Pokemon cards. Children attacked each other for cards. In one case, a store was robbed and in another, a boy was robbed at knifepoint by another boy for Pokemon cards. The series was so popular that the media played on this to pressure officials to not advertize so strongly.

In December of 2000, the Pokemon anime was temporarily banned in Turkey after a girl fell off a balcony because she believed she was a Pokemon. Pokemon: The First Movie has been dubbed in Turkish.

Latin America: The Pokemon anime is translated into Spanish and Portuguese seperate of the Spain and Portugal translations. The most recent series, Diamond and Pearl, is being translated. Pokemon merchandise in Latin America is also seperate from Spain's. The Pokemon games are sold in Latin America.

Russia: In November of 2002, the Russian Ministry of Education attempted to ban the Pokemon franchise. There aren't any news pieces about the outcome, but I've heard here and there that Pokemon is still available in Russia. The Pokemon anime (first season, at least) was dubbed into Russian.

Middle East: Pokemon was banned in March of 2001 in Saudi Arabia, for "promoting non-Islamic values", such as "gambling, as well as using religious imagery from Christianity, Zionism, and Free-Masonry". I am completely shocked. I've been a Pokemon fan for eight years now, and never have I noticed any Christian, Zionist, or Free-masonic symbolism! I am clearly a failure as a fan.

A fatwa (religious ruling) was issued in the United Arab Emirates against Pokemon, though it is technically not illegal to play.

The show was also banned in Kuwait, once again for promoting Zionist values. Once again, this proves just how much I fail as a Pokemon fan. I mean, these people have probably never looked at the games and can see evidence of Zionism in it, yet try as I may, I cannot see the dastardly propapaganda. Guess I'll have to go back to POKEMON CAMP to complete the indoctrination~!

In Israel, the Pokemon anime is dubbed in Hebrew.

Pokemon was not banned in Egypt, where it continued to play for a while longer. There was, however, some propaganda in newspapers against it. Pokemon cards were available in potato chip packages, showing that NoA has some serious catching-up to do if they want to have merchandising that is literally everywhere.

Asia: In China, the Pokemon anime is translated into Mandarin and Cantonese (for Hong Kong). The First Pokemon movie seems to have received a separate dub for Taiwan. In September of 2006, the Republic of China forbid foreign cartoons to show on TV during prime-time hours, a ban which includes Pokemon.

In India, the Pokemon anime was very popular (and translated into Hindi and supposedly Tamil), as was Pokemon merchandising. Indeed, the merchandising fad grew into a craze. The RSS, a Hindu revivalist organization in India, have declared Pokemon to be against Indian culture. The games are not as well-known since game consoles tend to be rather expensive. The Pokemon anime is shown in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as well.

The Pokemon anime is dubbed in Filipino for the Philippines.

Africa: In South Africa, the Pokemon games and cards are sold, and the anime is shown. Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver's release dates coincided with the UK release date of March 14.

Oceania: The games are sold in Australia and New Zealand (though much later than in the US and even Europe), but events are very infrequent. The anime is also shown. Events are very infrequent. Oceania gamers can use the Wi-Fi events.