What games inspired the Pokemon franchise?

[Mr Dizazta]

I am writing a term paper on Pokemon X. One of the topics I must talk about in the paper is the history of its gameplay mechanics. My professor asks that we try to avoid using previous games in the same series as an example. So what games inspired Pokemon?

EDIT: Maybe not inspiration per say, but the evolution of its gameplay mechanics.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

You should be able to find more info on Bulbapedia regarding the franchise's origins. All I remember is that it was originally going to be nothing but hundreds of collectible insects. I forget if Tamagotchi, Barcode Battler or Pokemon came first, but it was the most popular of a great many franchises released in the 90s which were built on taking care of pets which could also fight for you, as well as collection.

 

[Dragonbums]

The odd thing about a lot of Nintendo franchises is that they weren't inspired by other games, but rather things in real life.


Pokemon is no different.

From what I remember reading, the creator was inspired by his childhood. Back when he was a kid, he and his friends would always go into the forest behind their houses and catch the various insects there and trade amongst themselves. As they got older though, those forests were flattened down to make way for apartment complexes.

He really missed those days and wanted kids to experience something similar so he created Pokemon.
Granted the thing was rejected by Nintendo 8 times and went through financial hell, but it finally pulled through.

I'll see if I can find a post about it.

I'll edit this comment when I do.

EDIT: http://www.evancarmichael.com/Famous-Entrepreneurs/1952/The-Bug-Boy-The-Early-Years-of-Pokemons-Satoshi-Tajiri.html

Excuse the shitty layout of the site.

 

[Mr Dizazta]

I understand that Pokemon was inspired by Satoshi Taijiri's childhood collecting bugs, I was more interested in the whole turning you opponents into allies aspect of the games. I mean Pokemon isn't the first game series to have this feature. I mean there is the Megami Tensei series which had this feature prior to Pokemon's first release. Also looking at the history of GameFreak, the company originally started out as a magazine company dedicated to videogames. So to say that Pokemon didn't take inspiration from Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei.

 

[Dragonbums]

I understand that Pokemon was inspired by Satoshi Taijiri's childhood collecting bugs, I was more interested in the whole turning you opponents into allies aspect of the games. I mean Pokemon isn't the first game series to have this feature. I mean there is the Megami Tensei series which had this feature prior to Pokemon's first release. Also looking at the history of GameFreak, the company originally started out as a magazine company dedicated to videogames. So to say that Pokemon didn't take inspiration from Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei.

But if you read the article, Satoshi never really said Pokemon was inspired by videogames.

He created Gamefreak because he loved the shit of games, and there were ABSOLUTELY no gaming magazines really out at the time.
His first business venture by all rights was magazine publishing.

I mean...I'm not sure what your asking now.

Rivals turning into allies, isn't a game mechanic. It's a plot point. A sort of unused trope basically.

Oh. I see your edit now.

Well Pokemon has an intense metagame underground. So there change in mechanics range from silly, to necessary.

Fairy types were introduced because Dragons were becoming to powerful.

Of course, they never really talk about where they got their inspiration from. Perhaps they didn't get any sort of inspiration. They just saw a problem in the metagame and decided to simply get together to solve the issue.