In 1998, Nintendo, Creatures, and Game Freak jointly established The Pokémon Company, which manages licensing, production, publishing, marketing and deals for the franchise both within Asia and worldwide through The Pokémon Company International.

Remakes of the games are usually released around a decade after the original versions for the latest console at the time.

[7] By November 24, 2017, more than 300 million Pokémon games had been sold worldwide on handheld and home consoles, across 76 titles, including spin-offs.

These generations are roughly chronological divisions by release; when an official sequel in the main role-playing game series is released that features new Pokémon, characters, and possibly new gameplay concepts, that sequel is considered the start of a new generation of the franchise.

The franchise began its ninth and current generation with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, which were released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch on November 18, 2022.

The Pokémon series began with the release of Pocket Monsters Red and Green for the Game Boy in Japan.

Instead, the song/video was played at the end of an episode of Pokémon, and a CD was made for retail in Japan for a limited time.

New gameplay features include a day-and-night system (reflecting the time of the day in the real world) which influences events in the game; full use of the Game Boy Color's color palette; an improved interface and upgraded inventory system; better balance in the collection of Pokémon and their moves, statistics and equipable items (a new addition); the addition of two new Pokémon types (Dark and Steel) to better balance the strengths and weaknesses of each Pokémon; Pokémon breeding; and a new region named Johto.

[27] The Pokémon Mini is a handheld game console released in December 2001 in Japan and 2002 in Europe and North America.

The third generation introduced 135 new Pokémon (starting with Treecko and ending with Deoxys) for a total of 386 species.

However, this generation also garnered some criticism for leaving out several gameplay features, including the day-and-night system introduced in the previous generation (which was removed due to internal-battery save problems), and it was also the first installment that encouraged the player to collect merely a selected assortment of the total number of Pokémon rather than every existing species (202 out of 386 species are catchable in the Ruby and Sapphire versions).

It was around this time that the franchise was regaining its popularity, managing to ship over 100 million games worldwide.

In 2006, Japan began the fourth generation of the franchise with the release of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl for Nintendo DS.

[31][32] It was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on September 13, 2008,[33] in North America on March 22, 2009,[34][35] and in Australia and Europe on May 14, 2009,[36] and May 22, 2009,[37] respectively.

New gameplay concepts include a restructured move-classification system, online multiplayer trading and battling via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, the return (and expansion) of the second generation's day-and-night system, the expansion of the third generation's Pokémon Contests into "Super Contests", and the new region of Sinnoh, which has an underground component for multiplayer gameplay in addition to the main overworld.

HeartGold and SoulSilver also introduced the Pokéathlon to the Johto region, which consists of many Pokémon based sporting events making use of the stylus.

The games also introduced a new feature, the "Pokémon World Tournament", where trainers can battle gym leaders and champions from older regions, including Unova.

Unlike previous generations, which would introduce some species of Pokémon that were evolutionary relatives of older-generation Pokémon, the fifth generation's selection was all-original, in an attempt to make the primary versions feel like a brand-new game.

On December 24, 2012, Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream posted a greetings card sent out by Game Freak.

Greninja, the final evolved form of Froakie, would later go on to represent the sixth generation of Pokémon in the hit fighting game, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

The two games offer new additions to the story of Pokémon Sun and Moon, including new features, and was released worldwide on the Nintendo 3DS on November 17, 2017.

In total, this generation introduced 88 new Pokémon, Alolan forms, trials, Z-moves, Poké Pelago, and Festival Plaza.

[59][60] On February 27, 2019, on the 23rd anniversary of the franchise, Pokémon Sword and Shield were confirmed for Nintendo Switch, which were released worldwide on November 15, 2019.

On January 9, 2020, two expansion packs titled The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra were announced.

On November 26, 2020, at the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, Pokémon teased its 2021 25th anniversary logo and details for its special celebration "soon".

[64] On February 27, 2022, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were announced for the Nintendo Switch, with a late 2022 release date.

On February 27, 2023, a two-part expansion pack was announced titled The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero.

The anime series has run for over 900 episodes, accompanied by 19 feature films, with a twentieth in production.

The extent of global toy and merchandise sales since 1996 cover broad markets and high quantities.

[143] IGN ranked Pokémon as the 17th greatest desired game series: "the basic gameplay premise boasts solid, addictive play mechanics, and several of the handheld RPGs deserve to be in every gamer's collection.