We all know Pokémon as the cute and cuddly game in which pocket-sized monsters fight for your approval. However, according to Nintendo president Saturo Iwata, the worldwide smash hit could have been an entirely different beast. An altogether more disturbing one, at that.
When Pokémon was being readied for its big Western debut, the localization team were incredibly skeptical, claiming that in no way, shape or form would such adorable little creatures ever be successful in the US. Apparently, all we care about in America are huge, rippling muscles. That's almost what we got, too.
"We were sent a proposal of muscle-bound characters to use if we wanted to do well in the U.S," reveals Iwata. Luckily for us, Nintendo never went ahead with the idea of making American kids train, trade and battle with pint-sized Chris Benoits. The Pokémon never bulked up, thanks to former Nintendo boss Hiroshi Yamauchi. He felt Pokémon could be successful in the United States because it was something different, and he relished the challenge. His gamble paid off bigtime.
Would Pokémon have been such a huge craze in the States if all the monsters looked like Machamp? Something tells me it wouldn't have had the same charm.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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PS2, iPod Touch, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Dynasty Warriors 3
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Contest:
12:00 PM on 05.19.2009
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I never scrambled so fast to hit the scroll wheel on my mouse.
You do realize some of Dtoid's audience has a full time job right?
The Economy is bad enough as it is Jim.
no one posted "hey man im at work wtf" on the other post... hmmmmmmm...
alright, soap box time is over for me. dont worry, im leaving im leaving.
XP
This is the same country with Cho-Aniki for christ's sake.
Guys, maybe your research was DEAD WRONG.
Also, for some reason, over half of the Google Image Search images from Cho Aniki are tied back to Destructoid. Uh, maybe we should knock off the muscle-dude stories for awhile...
And Brad Nicholson needs to be in it, or just his pecs.
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lower Machamp....lower.....loooower......ONNN TOP OF OLD SMOOOKEYYYYY
Parents may aprove pocket monsters fighting for their child pleasure, but HOMOEROTIC pocket monsters is a completely diferent thing.
While we're at it, I've got this terrific treatment for Sailor Moon that'll go big in the states: A live-action multicultural team of 9th graders! There's the black one, the Hispanic one, the handi-capable one...