POKEMON 2

Anime production launched

By August 1996, Kubo had become convinced of Pokemon's potential, and believed Shogakukan should create a Pokemon anime.[158] Nintendo was hesitant, realizing that if the anime would flop, it would negatively affect the popularity of the game.[159] Ishihara initially opposed the idea, because he thought it would overly hasten the 'consumption' of the property: he feared that if the series would end, people would assume that Pokemon has ended, and move on to the next thing.[160] At the time, Creatures and Game Freak were planning the sequel(s) to Red and Green, Pokemon Gold and Silver, and Ishihara did not want the anime to end before they could release their new game(s).[161][162] Kubo was ultimately able to resolve the concerns of all parties involved. An important aspect of Kubo's bargaining power was the then-ongoing Mini 4WD craze and its accompanying hit series Bakusō Kyōdai Let's & Go!!. Kubo had an important role in the creation of both, which impressed the stakeholders.[163] To appease Ishihara, Kubo promised him that Pokemon would last for at least one and a half year. This was unusually long for a debuting anime, and required a big investment.[161][164] Kubo's proposal for Pokemon was officially approved on September 26, 1996.[165] For Nintendo of Japan, it was the first time they licensed a TV series.[166] Kubo assigned independent producer Choji Yoshikawa [ja] to lead the project.[167]
Shogakukan Productions, commonly called ShoPro, was Shogakukan's production company. The animation company they commissioned was OLM, Inc. (Oriental Light and Magic), on Kubo's suggestion.[168] Pokemon's director became Kunihiko Yuyama, one of OLM's founding members. ShoPro assembled a team of five writers, plus two supporting writers.[169] All key people involved with the production of Pokemon were well-experienced and had proven track records within Japan's anime industry. Yoshikawa felt that the team got lucky. "The probability of so many great people coming together at the same time is very low", he said.[170] Per Tajiri's explicit condition,[171] every anime team member had to play the game extensively, including the illustrators and voice actors.[170] The anime staff "unanimously agreed that the game was interesting"[172] and "felt connected with each other through the world of Pokemon",[170] feeling positively challenged to make an anime that would match the game's quality.[173]
A production council was formed to produce the Pokemon anime. Different people appeared at different meetings, but four individuals usually present were Ishihara of Creatures, Sugimori of Game Freak, Yuyama of OLM, and independent producer Yoshikawa. Yoshikawa had the final say. The council decided on the anime's worldview, characters, general storyline, and various important details. The early meetings, which were also attended by Tajiri, usually started with a Q&A session in which Tajiri and Ishihara were asked about the Pokemon universe.[174] The council was careful to have the anime be in concordance with the video game. Inevitably, there had to be differences between the two, but all agreed that the overall worldview as envisioned by Tajiri should not be disturbed.[175] At the start of the video game, the player has to choose one of three starter Pokemon: Fushigidane, Hitokage, or Zenigame (Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle). The council didn't want to unfairly popularize any of them, and wanted the protagonist to start out with a different Pokemon.[176][177] Hatakeyama & Kubo (2000) wrote that, by coincidence, three people independently suggested to the council that a Pikachu should be a main character in the anime: Kubo, Yuyama, and Keisuke Iwata of TV Tokyo's Film Department.[178] In the end, all council members agreed that Pikachu should be one of Pokemon's central icons. They expected Pikachu to appeal to both boys and girls, as well as their mothers. This would expand Pokemon's audience, which was considered a core objective of the anime.[179][180]
During the council's very first meeting, Yoshikawa brought up the issue on whether the Pokemon in the anime could speak, and if not, how they could communicate. In the video games, each Pokemon has a specific cry. In Anakubo's CoroCoro manga, most Pokemon could speak. At first, the council believed there should be a mixture of Pokemon that could talk and Pokemon that could not. However, this idea was eventually discarded: the Pokemon had to make a specific cry. The council agreed that Pokemon were like animals, and while the humans and the Pokemon should be able to understand each other in the series, they should not speak each other's language.[181] It was decided that Pikachu would repeatedly say its own name in various intonations. The role of Pikachu was given to Ikue Otani. During try-outs, Yuyama had Otani voice Pikachu in normal Japanese, as well as in 'Pikachu talk', in which it only said the syllables of its name. Yuyama realized that, even in the latter style of limited communication, Otani was experienced enough to still convey the messages and emotions needed.[182]
ShoPro paid half of the production cost of Pokemon. TV Tokyo paid the other half and was granted co-ownership of the anime.[183] The ads during Pokemon's commercial breaks were managed by advertisement agency JR Kikaku [ja], which was in turn paid by sponsors buying advertisement space.[184] In negotiating with TV Tokyo, Kubo managed to secure the 19:00 – 19:30 timeslot on Tuesdays.[185] Pocket Monsters premiered on April 1, 1997. By November, it had become the highest-rated program on TV Tokyo.[186] The anime succeeded in its goal of widening Pokemon's audience. Although the video games and the cards remained mostly of interest to boys, the anime also got more girls interested in the franchise, and girls' purchases of Pokemon products increased.[187] This has been partly credited to Pikachu, who gained widespread popularity among children.[188] The success of this character would later lead to the game Pokemon Pikachu, released in Japan on September 12, 1998 (it would be released in the West as Pokémon Yellow).[189][190] An adaptation of Pokemon Blue, this 'Pikachu version' was made to resemble the TV series more.[191]

Copyright council formed, merchandising expands

In the early months of the franchise, Nintendo was the contractual representative for Pokemon, and thus the central contact point for all Pokemon-related licensing (the approval of branded products).[192] Around the time that planning of the Pokemon anime begun, licensing requests for Pokemon started to increase, which Nintendo had difficulties handling due to a lack of (experienced) staff.[193] Nintendo consequently granted ShoPro exclusive licensor rights. This was the first time that NoJ (Nintendo of Japan) granted licensor rights to another company, aside from its overseas subsidiaries NoA (Nintendo of America) and NoE (Nintendo of Europe).[194]
A copyright council was formed, headed by Ishihara. Beginning in April 1997, the council met every Tuesday, in the conference room of Creatures' office, at the Nintendo Kanda Building in Sudachō, Tokyo.[110][195][196] Attendees usually included Ishihara and his secretary, representatives of Nintendo, Game Freak, ShoPro, TV Tokyo, and JR Kikaku, as well as head of the anime Yoshikawa.[197] Broadly put, every meeting had three types of agenda items: discussing Pokemon-related events and basic policies in Japan, discussing Shogakukan publication plans, and considering merchandise proposals.[198] For merchandising, the council set the bar high. Fiercely protective of Pokemon's brand equity, Ishihara was unwilling to greenlit an item just because it had a picture of a Pokemon printed on it. To avoid the market being flooded with low-quality goods, Ishihara put very specific demands on the products he evaluated.[161][199] Furthermore, in most cases, the council opted to contract one company for each product category.[200] Because of this, most merchandise proposals were rejected: of the approximately 7,500 applications submitted in 1997, only about 5% was approved.[201]
By March 1998, 35 companies offered licensed Pokemon goods, and there were approximately 700 Pokemon products.[125][202] Tomy manufactured Pokemon toy figures and plush dolls.[203] Bandai made Pokemon gashapon, dolls and ramune-flavored candy in a plastic box in the shape of a Game Boy.[204] Meiji Seika produced Pokemon chocolate snacks and pudding.[125][205] The lucrative franchise provided a much-needed boost to Japan's economy, which was stagnating in what would later be called the Lost Decade.[206][207] An example of a firm that benefited greatly from Pokemon was food manufacturer Nagatanien [jp]. From May 1997, the company began selling Pokemon-branded curry, furikake, and baking mixes.[125][208] In December 1997, Nagatanien was hit hard by the collapse of one of its biggest sales channels, Toshoku, in what was then the third-largest bankruptcy in Japan's postwar history.[209][210] Nonetheless, due to their Pokemon-licensed products, Nagatanien reported net profits in fiscal years '97 and '98, despite having forecasted losses.[208][209][211]

"Dennō Senshi Porygon" incident

See also: Pokémon episodes removed from rotation
In the evening of December 16, 1997, the Pokemon franchise was hit by a crisis related to the broadcast of the anime's 38th episode, "Dennō Senshi Porygon" (Computer Warrior Porygon). It was watched by approximately 4.6 million households.[212] In the episode, Satoshi (Ash Ketchum) and his friends are transported into a virtual world, accompanied by a Porygon, a digital, human-made Pokemon. While flying through cyberspace, they are attacked by an anti-virus program which mistakes them for viruses, shooting "vaccine missiles" at the group resulting in explosions of bright, rapidly swapping red and blue flashes.[213]
The intense stimuli brought about by the episode triggered a variety of adverse health effects in more than 10,000 viewers,[214] primarily irritated eyes, headaches, dizziness, and nausea.[215] A small part suffered a photosensitive epileptic seizure, manifested in loss of conscious and/or convulsions.[215][216] Hundreds[f] of children were brought to hospitals, although a part of them had recovered enough upon arrival and did not need to be hospitalized. No one died. Broadcasting of Pokemon was halted, and new guidelines were implemented to help prevent similar events from happening.[222] With the show on hiatus, ShoPro and OLM worked on a feature Pokemon film. By the time the incident occurred, its script was already written, and the movie was in the storyboard stage. In mid-January, the staff resumed creating new episodes.[223] The Pokemon anime series returned on April 16, 1998.[224] The film, titled Pocket Monsters the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back, premiered on July 18, 1998 (it would later be released in the West as Pokémon: The First Movie).[225][226]
Ultimately, the incident did not damage the Pokemon franchise – it in fact grew further during and after the anime's hiatus. While video rental tapes were removed from shelves,[227][228] all other Pokemon products continued to be sold as usual, and customer demand for them remained high.[229][230] Helping matters was a general understanding among businesses that the Pokemon anime was not canceled, but rather suspended, and many executives (correctly) expected the show to be resumed after precautions had been taken. Supermarkets and other distribution outlets responded calmly to the crisis, and did not remove Pokemon products from their sales floors.[231]

1998–2000: International expansion

North America

"When we started this project in Japan, one of the first things I was told was that this kind of thing would never appeal to American audiences. They said, 'Because the characters are in a very Japanese style, you cannot sell them to Americans'. So from the very beginning, I never thought there would be an English version. Now, it's just as popular in the United States [as in Japan], and I realized that we shouldn't always believe the opinions of conservative marketers."

Shigeru Miyamoto, August 1999[232]
Possibly the first person to show interest in a North American launch of Pokemon was Minoru Arakawa, founder and then-president of Nintendo of America (NoA). Arakawa visited Japan to participate in Shoshinkai 1996, held November 22–24. It was around this time when he first played one of the three Pokemon titles. He thought the games were promising, but Nintendo of Japan (NoJ) had no plans at the time to release them elsewhere. He returned to America with a few cartridges and tested the game on his employees – they did not believe it would work in the US.[233] At the time, role-playing games (RPGs) were not very popular outside Japan,[234] and NoA executives believed that American children did not have the attention span for such a complex title.[235] Americans were said to be more interested in sport- and action-oriented games, preferably with realistic graphics.[10][236] Japanese people, by contrast, were alleged to care more about characters and plot.[237] Up to that point, few Japanese properties had been successfully mainstreamed in the US, and if they were, it was alleged to be on account of having been properly Americanized: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was considered a prime example of this.[238] Visually, Pokemon was believed to be too kawaii, or cute. It was assumed that Pokemon could not succeed on cute alone – it must also be cool.[239][240] In an effort to enhance the franchise's coolness, NoA considered a graphical redesign and contracted a few external artists to create some test-designs for the American market.[235][240] The mockups they proposed included 'graffiti style' drawings,[240] 'beefed-up' and more muscular looking Pokemon,[241] and a new Pikachu that looked like "a tiger with huge breasts".[239] Arakawa concluded that it "didn't work",[240] and by that time, the anime had begun its production in Japan, leading NoA to conclude it was too late for a graphical revamp anyway.[235]
Of pivotal importance to Pokemon's global expansion was Alfred R. Kahn, CEO of US-based 4Kids Entertainment, NoA's licensing agent since 1987.[242][243] Convinced of Pokemon's potential, Kahn agreed to invest an undisclosed sum in return for both the anime and licensing rights.[234] Pokemon became one of the first Japanese media franchises in which both the localization of the anime and the licensing of merchandise was handled by a single company, as well as a non-Japanese company.[244] Kahn suggested the name "Pokémon", adding an acute accent to the e to assist with pronunciation and to "give it a little flair".[9] NoJ president Hiroshi Yamauchi officially approved the project in late November,[245] and subsequently announced it at Space World 1997.[246] However, three weeks later, the "Dennō Senshi Porygon" incident happened, which Kubo felt made even more people resistant to the idea of an overseas introduction.[247]
Market research turned back negative: American kids reportedly did not like Pokémon.[248] Arakawa ignored the study and, convinced of the franchise's potential, allocated an enormous budget to Pokémon's launch. The exact amount was not disclosed, but was reportedly equal to or more than $50 million (roughly $93.47 million in 2023), approximately the same amount as the launch budget of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. Arakawa admitted that it was "quite a bit of money", but NoA "had been doing well for several years, so we had a lot of money to spare". He opined that if Pokémon would be as successful in the US as it had been in Japan, "an investment of 1 would turn into 100."[249] NoA and 4Kids proceeded to devise a strategy on how to localize Pokémon for the United States.[235] Arakawa appointed Gail Tilden to lead the project, prompting her to leave her position at Nintendo Power magazine.[250] Tilden said that they "decided to make an all-out effort to repeat the phenomenon in the Western world".[119] In two press releases, NoA self-described Pokémon's marketing campaign as "aggressive".[251][252]
The localization of the Pokémon anime was done by 4Kids, and directed by Norman J. Grossfeld. Grossfeld strongly believed that the anime should be Americanized.[253] At NATPE 1998, he asked ShoPro for a "kind of carte blanche, to let me change the show as I think would work for this market," to which ShoPro agreed.[254] However, no national TV station was interested in buying the anime or financing its localization.[9][234] Kahn then decided to self-finance Pokémon's production costs, despite realizing this "could very well bring down 4Kids" if the show would fail.[254] According to Kahn, they "spend a fortune" on the localization.[19] To have it broadcast in syndication, 4Kids offered the show for free to local TV stations across the country, in exchange for a portion of the advertising revenue.[234][9] NoA assisted, persuading dozens of stations to carry the series by offering to buy some of their advertisement space, spending a total of $5 million (c. $9.35 million in 2023).[236][254] Despite all this, most broadcasters were still reluctant to carry Pokémon, with Grossfeld experiencing difficulties getting through their "preconceived notions or their snobbery for Western-produced animation over something from Asia".[254] At the time, anime had not yet found mainstream popularity in the West. Contemporary news reports cited Sailor Moon[IV] as an example of an anime that had failed to catch on with American youth.[g] Still, with NoA's help, 4Kids ultimately succeeded in contracting 112 broadcasters for Pokémon,[260] reaching "about 85 to 90 percent"[261] of television households. However, many broadcasters gave it off-peak time slots, with starting times like 06:00 or 06:30.[9][236] Prior to the late 1990s, this was the case for many anime in the US.[244]
Grossfeld came up with the advertising slogan "Gotta catch 'em all!" as the English equivalent to the Japanese Pokemon GETTO daze~! (ポケモンゲットだぜー！, Get (the) Pokémon!).[262][263] The phrase "miraculously managed to gain approval" by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which normally prohibits the use of injunctions in ads directed at children (e.g. "You must buy this!"). While the tagline does sound commanding, the FCC reasoned that the act of catching is at the core of Pokémon's play. Therefore, the phrase was allowed.[264] The series' theme song was written by John Loeffler and John Siegler.[265] In commissioning the track, Grossfeld specifically requested the song's chorus to be written around the "Gotta catch 'em all" phrase, firmly embedding the slogan into the theme.[263]
While NoA and 4Kids were allowed a fair degree of liberty in their localization of Pokémon, the Japanese copyright council, headed by Ishihara, had the last say over it. All decisions regarding adjustments and promotion had to gain final approval of the Japan side.[266] This included all of the merchandise, for which a 'two-step system' was created. All (aspiring) licensees in North America were to send their merchandise proposals to 4Kids.[234] Staff of both 4Kids and NoA then made a pre-selection and send the approved proposals to Japan, where the council made the final decision. Many submissions were bounced at the US stage, and thus never got sent to Japan. Tilden noted that processing all license applications, and mailing all approved prototypes and their documentation to Japan, was a lot of work. Arakawa did consider streamlining the process by moving someone from Japan to the US, but no person could be found who was as competent as Ishihara.[267]
The Pokémon anime was first broadcast on September 7, 1998.[268][269] Pokémon Red Version and Blue Version were released three weeks later, on September 28, 1998.[270] To localize the card game, Nintendo contracted Wizards of the Coast, the creator of Magic: The Gathering.[271] The Pokémon Trading Card Game was officially launched nationwide on January 9, 1999, although pre-sold in select stores in December.[272] Coinciding with the North American launch of Pokémon was the release of the Game Boy Color on 23 November 1998.[273]

Other regions

The American version of the Pokémon anime started broadcasting in Australia and New Zealand on September 28, 1998. Red and Blue were subsequently released there on October 23. Various territories in Asia followed: the anime series debuted in Hong Kong on November 16, in Taiwan on November 23, in Shanghai on November 24, in Beijing on January 10, 1999, and in South Korea on July 14, 1999.[274]
Outside North America, 4Kids distributed the anime in cooperation with Brian Lacey of Lacey Entertainment.[275][276] The series was presented at MIP TV, in Cannes, France, from April 3–8, 1998.[277] Broadcasters were initially not interested due to its Japanese origins, and preferred to wait and see how the anime would fare in the US. After its American success, Lacey received inquiries about the series throughout 1999 from multiple international broadcasters.[275][278] Lacey noted that, in Europe, this was a stark contrast compared to previous years: "I was trying to sell this sort of stuff for years and buyers would tell me they were moving away from Japanese animation shows", he said.[278] In October 1999, the franchise was launched in the European key markets of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain.[279] The anime started broadcasting in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden in December 1999.[278] In 2000, broadcasting rights for the first season were secured by TV stations in South Africa, Russia, Iceland, and Finland.[280] In Israel, the anime debuted in February 2000. For unclear reasons, Red and Blue were not officially released there. Thriving only on the strength of the TV series, The First Movie, the cards, and imported video games, the Israeli Pokémon still became a success.[281][282]
By the end of 2000, Pokémon games had been released in 70 countries, the anime was broadcast in 51 countries, the films were released in 33 countries, and the cards had been translated into 11 languages.[283]

1999–2000: Pokémania

In North America, the debuting Pokémon franchise quickly rose to success. Red and Blue sold 200,000 copies in its first month. By December, the Pokémon anime had become the highest-rated syndicated children's show during the weekdays.[275] This attracted the attention of two media companies: Warner Bros., co-owner of The WB channel; and Saban Entertainment/Fox Family Worldwide, owners of the Fox Kids channel. A bidding war ensued between the parties, which was won by Warner Bros.[284] On February 13, 1999,[285] Pokémon debuted on The WB's Kids' WB block, where it was broadcast exclusively from then on.[234] The debut episode became the most watched premiere in Kids' WB's history.[285] In European countries, the anime received similar levels of success. For example, in Germany, "a highly competitive kids market", Pokémon was purchased by RTL 2. The show's popularity bolstered the entire program block, more than tripling its viewers. Andrea Lang, RTL 2's editor of cartoons and children's programs, said: "We were speechless. We've never had a comparable success".[278] By March 1998, half a year before Pokémon's overseas launch, 499 million Pokémon cards had been produced. By March 1999, the total number of cards shipped reached 764 million. By March 2000, this figure would grow further to 4.255 billion cards, manufactured in both Japanese and American factories.[157]
By April 1999, there was a general consensus in the US that Pokémon had become a phenomenon and the newest children's fad.[V] By some, the fad was referred to as "Pokémania",[VI] including journalists of Time[119] and USA Today.[293] In the US, severe scarcity occurred of Pokémon goods,[18] especially Pokémon cards,[294] causing companies to miss profits.[295] A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, published on August 3, 1999, cited a Toys "R" Us manager as saying that a supply of 600 booster packs would last 24 hours. The CEO of one card distributor stated that they were "thousands of boxes behind" on orders. In the same article, a Wizards spokeswoman stated that more employees and printers had been hired to increase card production.[296] However, near the end of the month, a different Wizards spokeswoman told The Washington Post that they had "exhausted most of the card-printing capacity of the United States".[10] Similarly, USA Today reported in November 1999 that factories making Hasbro's Pokémon toys had expanded production by 20 times, but demand still exceeded supply.[297] In Europe, scarcity of Pokémon merchandise also occurred.[278]
In part due to the Pokémon craze, Nintendo saw a 250% increase in profits in 1999 compared to the previous year,[10] reaching a six-year high.[298] The Pokémon franchise accounted for over 30% of Nintendo's revenue that year.[299] Pokémon's popularity also caused a sharp increase in sales of the Game Boy line.[235][300][301] The financial windfalls came at a time when Nintendo lost dominance in the home console market, with the Nintendo 64 being outsold by Sony's PlayStation.[302][303][304] The global success of Pokémon compensated this loss somewhat.[VII] Buckingham & Sefton-Green went even further, writing in 2004: "while Nintendo is now among Japan's most profitable corporations, it could be argued that the company would have struggled to survive without Pokémon".[309]
4Kids, initially a little-known firm,[234][242] expanded thirty times in revenues,[310] and was named the fastest-growing company in America in the September 4, 2000 issue of Fortune magazine.[243][311][312] Many businesses that timely obtained a Pokémon license reaped considerable profits.[310][313] In the summer of 1999, a massive run on stocks of publicly traded Pokémon licensees caused their value to increase dramatically. However, by November, most investors were shorting their shares. Realizing that Pokémon was a fad that would peak and fall at some point, investors were bearish about its prospects.[314]
Pokémon: The First Movie premiered in North America on November 12, 1999, and in Europe the following year. Despite being negatively received by many Western critics, it became one of the most successful Japanese animated films of all time.[315] In the United States, November 1999 was estimated to have been the peak of Pokémania.[VIII] Supporting the American release of The First Movie was a promotional action with Burger King, one of the largest in the history of the fast-food industry.[320][321][322] The success of the promotion resulted in supply issues; restaurants often ran out of Pokémon toys to include with their meals.[323][324] On December 27,[325] Burger King recalled its Poké Ball toy after a 13-month-old girl died suffocating on one.[326][327]
Pokémon Gold and Silver, the successors to Red/Green/Blue, were released in North America on October 15, 2000.[328] In Europe, they were released on April 6, 2001.[329]

The Pokémon Company and Pokémon USA established

On April 23, 1998, Pokémon Center Co. Ltd. was founded as a joint venture by Nintendo, Creatures, and Game Freak.[330] It was initially formed for the management of specialized merchandise stores called Pokemon Centers, of which the first location opened in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, on July 18, 1998.[331][332] Throughout the years, multiple Japanese Pokémon Centers would open and close. As of January 2024, a total of 24 Pokémon merchandise shops exist in Japan.[333] An American Pokémon Center also existed in New York City from 2001[334] to 2005.[335] It then reopened as Nintendo World,[336] later renamed Nintendo New York.[337]
After the release of Gold and Silver, Tsunekazu Ishihara began setting out a number of long-term goals for the Pokémon franchise, which included releasing a movie every year (a condition which Shogakukan mostly kept). As part of Ishihara's plan, the Pokemon Center Co. Ltd. was reformatted into The Pokémon Company (TPC), and officially renamed in October 2000.[331][338] The goal of TPC is to centralize and streamline the global management of Pokémon.[339] Satoru Iwata, who had joined Nintendo of Japan in June, was involved with the company's creation, which was one of his first jobs at Nintendo.[338]
In February 2001, Pokémon USA (PUSA) was established, an affiliated firm of The Pokémon Company.[331] The company's first president was Tatsumi Kimishima (who would later become president of NoA, and subsequently president of NoJ).[340] In 2002, Kimishima was succeeded by Akira Chiba.[341]

2001–2006: End of the craze, business reforms

In North America, Pokémania peaked in 1999, slowing down throughout the next year.[342] On April 29, 2000, the anime was bumped off Kids' WB's #1 spot after holding it for 54 weeks. Around the same time, Pokémon was surpassed at Fox Kids by its rival Digimon.[343] In Europe, the craze peaked in 2000.[344][345] On January 20, 2001, The New York Times reported that Pokémon's trading card market had collapsed in the US.[346] A June 2001 survey in the United Kingdom confirmed that Pokémon's popularity was waning there.[347] Tobin (2004) wrote: "By the summer of 2001, Pokémon's shelf space in Japanese and U.S. toy stores was but a fraction of what it enjoyed in the fall of 1999".[348] By the end of 2001, Pokémania was fading globally, and by 2002, the fad was largely over.[349]
From 2000 to 2002, Game Freak developed Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, the successors to Gold and Silver, for the newly released Game Boy Advance. Masuda, who was appointed to assistant director during Gold and Silver,[350] was promoted to director for Ruby and Sapphire, with Tajiri making himself executive director.[351] Masuda was concerned that the end of Pokémania indicated the end of Pokémon as a whole: "After Gold and Silver came out, it was a huge hit around the world, but shortly after everyone was saying, 'That's it. The Pokémon fad is over! It's dead!'."[352] Determined to keep the franchise going, GF not only wanted to "prove people wrong" with Ruby and Sapphire, but already started planning their sequels: Diamond and Pearl (2006). They also began planning remakes of older installments, starting with FireRed and LeafGreen (2004), remakes of the original Red and Green.[352]
Ruby and Sapphire were released in Japan on November 21, 2002, and in the rest of the world the next year. The games introduced 135 new Pokémon, bringing the total amount to 386. Because of this, Golin Harris, NoA's ad agency,[235] advised them to move away from the