Pokémon (Japanese: ポケモン, Hepburn: Pokemon, Japanese: [pokemoɴ]; English: ) is a media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, a Japanese consortium between Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. The franchise copyright is shared by all three companies, but Nintendo is the sole owner of the trademark. The franchise was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995, and is centered on fictional creatures called "Pokémon", which humans, known as Pokémon Trainers, catch and train to battle each other for sport.
The franchise began as a pair of video games for the original Game Boy that were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo. It now spans video games, trading card games, animated television shows and movies, comic books, and toys. Pokémon is the second best- selling video game franchise, behind only Nintendo 's Mario franchise, and the highest-grossing media franchise of all time. The franchise is also represented in other Nintendo media, such as the Super Smash Bros. series.
Cumulative sales of the video games (including home console games, such as Hey You, Pikachu ! for the Nintendo 64) have reached more than 300 million copies.
