Pokémon may be famous for its games, but it also has some great gadgets

Pokemon May be renowned for its cooperative gameplay, delicious spinoffs, and intimidating genre approach, but the franchise has a long history of creative and interesting gadgets as well.

The series is packed with technology. The original in-game pokédex is clearly inspired by the first Palm Pilot type devices, for example. And if you think about it, pokeballs are technological marvels: they sort of turn living creatures into particles that can be carried around the world (and on the TV show, pokeballs can even shrink). It is therefore not surprising that there have been many Pokemon– toys and material on the theme.

We have gathered some of the many Pokemon gadgets in honor of the 25th anniversary of the series. IRL devices range from gamified pedometers and custom video game consoles to actual pokéball replicas (although they cannot yet turn living things into particles). There is a lot of gear you can get if you want to catch them all.

A real pokédex

Tiger Electronics and Hasbro released a pokédex toy in the late 90s, and I still consider it one of my all-time favorite toys. It was modeled after Ash’s pokédex from the TV show’s first season, but with a few different features to allow it to function like an actual toy. It had a keyboard and a number pad to search for information, a small screen that showed the pokemon you were looking at and could display information about each pokemon like its size, weight, type, and certain attacks that it could learn. It made me feel like a real pokemon trainer, and I remember spending hours reading about different pokemon with my pokédex.

Pikachu pokemon

My Pokémon Pikachu was a staple from my childhood. Released in 1998, it was a pocket gadget that looked a bit like a Tamagotchi, except you were dealing with a digital Pikachu. But it also had a built-in pedometer that you could activate by simply shaking the device up and down. (Or, as in the ads embedded above, skip.)

This jerk meant that I was constantly bounce the little device to earn a coin called watts. You can gift watts to Pikachu or, oddly enough, play them on a slot machine. You can learn more about it on this lovely Nintendo Japan website which is still here.

Nintendo released an improved model, the Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS, in 1999 in Japan and 2000 in North America and Europe, according to Bulbapedia. It had a color screen and could connect to Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal via the Game Boy Color’s infrared port, allowing you to exchange watts for items.

A Pokémon-themed camera

Just look at this point-and-shoot camera. He’s got a giant Pikachu on one side, two poke balls hold the flash and lens, and an adorable Diglett is the trigger. The camera filmed 35mm film, and each photo would also have a pokemon-themed border, according to the manual. (You can see this border, which featured Pikachu, Meowth, Squirtle, and Blastoise, in this album.) A few eBay listings set its release date as 1999.

Image: The Pokémon Company

Hey You, “Voice Recognition Unit” by Pikachu

Hi you, Pikachu was a Nintendo 64 game that allowed you to talk to Pikachu with the help of the Voice Recognition Unit, or VRU, that came with the game. It was released in 1998 in Japan and in 2000 in North America.

You can see the VRU in the image above – users attached a large microphone to their controller, plugged it into a special module (which stored Pikachu’s 256-word vocabulary, according to Popular science), then plugged in this module in the Nintendo 64 itself.

And speaking of Pikachu-themed material …

Image: Nintendo.co.jp

The Nintendo 64 on the Pikachu theme

The Pikachu-themed Nintendo 64, released in 2000, brought a fun twist to the console design by making the on-off switch a Poké ball and Pikachu’s right foot the reset button. I love how giant Pikachu is – he dominates almost half of the console. And while I don’t remember ever using any of these myself, I imagine it must have been very satisfying to press Pikachu’s tiny foot to reset a game.

Mini pokemon

The Pokémon mini was a tiny portable console designed specifically for playing Pokémon themed games from cartridges. It was released in 2001 in North America and Japan and in 2002 in Europe. It measured 74mm x 58mm x 23mm – described on the still-active Pokémon mini Nintendo UK website as “well under half the size” of Nintendo’s iconic Game Boy Advance – and was available in three colors. . There was even motion detection and built-in rumble.

Pokéwalker

Pokémon Pikachu devices were replaced with the Poké Ball-themed Pokéwalker in 2009, which came with every copy of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Like the Pokémon Pikachu, the Pokéwalker was a pedometer, allowed you to accumulate watts, and allowed you to take care of pokémon. But unlike Pokémon Pikachu, you can transfer Pokémon back and forth within the Pokéwalker, which means you don’t have to worry about Pikachu alone. You can also find new wild pokemon and items right on your Pokéwalker by spending watts to play mini games.

Nintendo downloaded the Pokéwalker manual online, if you want to know more.

Poké Ball Plus

Nintendo released another poke ball themed device in 2018 alongside Pokémon: Let’s go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s go, Eevee!: the Poké Ball Plus, a real functional game controller compatible with the Nintendo Switch. You can play both games with the controller and catch pokemon by doing a throwing motion with your arm. Similar to the Pokéwalker, you can also store pokemon inside the Poké Ball Plus, and they will even cry from the inside if you shake it. The controller is also compatible with the huge mobile hit Pokémon Go.

This Poké Ball replica that “must never be thrown”

It hardly counts as a gimmick, but I had to include it. Last November, The Pokémon Company International and The Wand Company announced this $ 99.99 die-cast replica of the Poké Ball. As realistic as it sounds, don’t toss it at your cat as a joke; it weighs 10.5 oz, which is double the weight of a baseball. And in fact, The Wand Company says it “must never be thrown” and that “throwing the Poké Ball will damage it and could hurt someone.”

But if you’ve always wanted to hold a poke ball, buying one of these might be the closest you can get. It even shines.