--- description: The first Pokémon game launched 20 years ago, on Feb. 27, 1996 title: Pokémon at 20: The Story Behind the Game image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e1de817c48b906/69887f03f887dcf4b7e94c48/1101991122_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Video Games](/tag/video-games/) ## Video Games Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Is How the Pokémon Craze Started 20 Years Ago by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 26, 2016 6:00 PM CUT  The Nov. 22, 1999, cover of TIME The Nov. 22, 1999, cover of TIMETIME by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 26, 2016 6:00 PM CUT On Feb. 27, 1996, a trio of quirky creatures crept out of Japanese designer Satoshi Tajiri’s head and onto Nintendo’s crazy popular Game Boy: Bulbasaur, Squirrel and Charmander became the first of development studio Game Freak’s exotic monster-pets you had to catch, then train to do your bidding in disarmingly cute, tactically intricate battles. In the two decades since, the Pokémon series has soared to become second in record-holding franchise sales only to games starring Nintendo’s indefatigable mustachioed plumber, Mario. And it’s still going strong, poised to finally land on smartphones and tablets later this year with _Pokémon GO_, an augmented reality game about deploying players to hunt Pokémon in the real world, and a critical part of Nintendo’s delayed foray into the wild and wooly mobile-verse. _In 1999, a TIME cover story explained how the whole thing started:_ --- > “” --- **_Read the rest of the story here, in the TIME Vault:_** [Beware of the Poké-mania](http://time.com/vault/issue/1999-11-22/spread/92/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4236157/pokemon-20-anniversary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4236157/pokemon-20-anniversary/"},"headline":"This Is How the Pokémon Craze Started 20 Years Ago","datePublished":"2016-02-26T18:00:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:30:28.012Z","description":"The first Pokémon game launched 20 years ago, on Feb. 27, 1996","url":"https://time.com/4236157/pokemon-20-anniversary/","keywords":["Video Games","Newsfeed","Tech","Pop Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e1de817c48b906/69887f03f887dcf4b7e94c48/1101991122_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt Peckham","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/matt-peckham/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e1de817c48b906/69887f03f887dcf4b7e94c48/1101991122_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nov. 22, 1999","caption":"Nov. 22, 1999","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/video-games/","name":"Video Games"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4236157/pokemon-20-anniversary/","name":"This Is How the Pokémon Craze Started 20 Years Ago"}}]}] ```