Not sure if this has been discussed but why do you think Pokémon took off in 1998/1999?
From the popularity of the video games spawned a tv show and a trading card game.
Why has it continued to do so well?
Why is it more popular as opposed to say Yugioh?
Off the top of my head it was just firing on all cylinders. Games, cards, anime, toys etc. Pokémon was everywhere in a young kids life and it really immersed you in the world. The games format and the amount of unique monsters let you choose your own adventure, be your own trainer, and become your own Pokémon master! Not only that it was very interactive and let you connect to friends in a way that not many IPs did at the time through trading and link battles. And on top of it all the Pokémon themselves are freaking awesome!
Kids identify with it, adorable, speaks to our collecting gene, attack from multiple angles: vgc-tcg-tv-merch, vgc and tcg were largely unexplored areas for kids this age, different than anything seen before,
As to why it continues is I think like the brand the Pokémon world is ever growing and very layered. There are always more places to explore, gym leaders to beat, evil teams to battle, and more importantly Pokémon to catch! And not only that there is always something to be done in an already established part of the workd game freak has made.
From a real world perspective it always feels like my journey in Pokémon is never ending. New games, cards, shows, and products are constantly coming out for me to experience. On top of that I still have billions of things I haven’t done in already releases gens. From the card side there are so many cards I want to collect for a binder or slabbed that are from years ago. I’ve also barely dipped my feet into playing the tcg which I’m excited ti get started on. From a game side I haven’t completed every dex, shiny hunted all I wanted to get in all past gens, played spin offs I haven’t, and just experienced mons I haven’t used. From the show side I’m still running through the Johto anime and haven’t watched the bulk of advanced either.
Pokémon is a brand that is so deep and dense that you can devote your whole life to it and I bet you’d still miss out on something. There is always something for somebody to like. Couple that with nostalgia and you have just this great franchise we know today.
It was super hyped in magazines. Back then many people didn’t have always on internet so magazine reviews mattered.
The trading was a cool idea for the era and encouraged you to play with friends. It had a bit of scarcity in the UK which made it more appealing as well.
Then after all that they brought out all the products, it was on everything. Trading cards (topps and wotc) just cemented the gotta catch em all aspect and the anime was pretty good.
Throw in the devil worshipping mini backlash and everyone wanted it.
My older brother imported his copy of pokemon blue from the USA. It sounds so simple today but back then it wasn’t a website, you had to phone a company and place an order over the phone.
Makes me feel ancient
What captured me (pun totally intended) about Pokemon when it came out when I was 4/5 years old were the Pokemon. Each one had it’s own personality and that made me feel connected to them. I imagined cuddling Pikachu, riding on a Charizard, battling with Pokemon and watching them evolve. It really just allowed my imagination to run wild, more so than anything else I watched at the time.
Then you combine that with the games/TCG where you can collect the monsters and that’s where the craze comes in. Kids like to collect stuff, every cultured child at one point had a cool rock or twig collection. With Pokemon I could feed that collecting need while also having an emotional collection.
Yu-Gi-Oh! on the other hand had monsters but they only existed as tools to play the game. I remember getting into it when I was in 1st grade and I didn’t imagine the monsters the same way I did with Pokemon. I imagined playing the game like they did in the show and beating my opponents by outwitting them. I collected the cards because I enjoyed playing the game. If a kid doesn’t like the game aspect of Yugioh then it probably wasn’t going to be something they would get into. I also think a big difference were the tv shows. Pokemon had an overarching story but each episode for the most part had it’s own contained story so it was very easy for any kid to jump into a random episode and understand it. Yugioh on the other hand would be much harder to understand if you were to jump into a random episode since it relies on you knowing what’s happened before.
Something that’s hard to appreciate nowadays is that in 1998 there was absolutely nothing like Pokémon outside of Japan. The prospect of a sprawling adventure that you could play anywhere that was host to 151 unique monsters (a huge number at the time, which is funny to look back on) for you to find and develop relationships with was unprecedented. When you weren’t playing the games, you could collect the cards. There was a TV show. Kids had so many simultaneous methods of interacting with Pokémon that they could keep it close to their heart at all times. Pokémon was deeply personal.
There was no other game like it. But not just games, there was nothing like it. No other cartoons, no other movies, no other books, no other comics, the entire idea of childhood monster hunting - especially at the scale Pokémon provided - was unmatched. And just when you thought you’d seen it all, there were 100 more. Utterly jawdropping stuff.
Pokémon quickly started a craze and lots of other properties started participating in the explosive trend. There were quickly other things “like Pokémon”, but nothing else could match that seismic first impression that provided that unparalelled multimedia experience.
Mew is so cute that even guys are attracted to its cuteness. 
-Colorful and strong character design, and a lot of. Plus the evolution thing that really was proven successful (remember the supersaiyan and frieza forms?)
-straightforward, unoriginal maybe, but easy to understand at all age and very well executed game design, that became the industry standard for the monster capture genera
-relatable (which kid doesn’t want to live a journey like that?)
-a game super customizable that truly enhanced children imagination (for example satoshi taijiri really wanted to give pkms nickname, this help kids to be engaged)
-the right time/platform to be launched on (the inexpensive and sturdy gameboy)
-well, the perfect recipe to be a marketing machine (tcg, anime, memorabilia, bags, pins…) → so it was burned on everybody’s minds
-not divisive among the parents like maybe yugioh, or more mature franchises: just some fluffy characters that don’t even speak human language
-trading with friends (link cable, cards, stickers) helped the brand to spread like a virus
-good management and pretty damn cool consistency until gen 4th imho allowed the brand to survive
-probably a favorable economic situation in 1995-2000?
Strong concept + aggressive marketing + neutrality + gambling + good timing
What about Digimon? When was that?
I thought I would have clearer recollections when I saw the topic title, but now I can’t remember how I even got sucked into the world of Pokemon. I know I knew the 151 before the card game came out, but was it the anime, the toys or the game itself that got to me? I don’t even remember. Yikes.
I only started playing Yellow but watched my cousins play Red/Blue so it could be the gameboy first.
The other part of it is I like animals and collecting so Pokemon was kind of both. I think I either played or watched Digimon too, but not sure why it didn’t go anywhere.
Perfect storm
Digimon debuted a year later in the US, but it was notably only a television show on a B-Tier Network. It didn’t have a popular video game to support it either. Regardless of the quality of Digimon content, it just could not compete with the Pokémon megabrand. It was a niche alternative at best.
It seemed to be the perfect storm.
It came at the perfect time, and in hindsight as an adult it was marketed beautifully.
It addressed every area of media you could think of.
A beautiful and beloved ip which stood up as a unique concept, not the only monster capture rpg but certainly the most inviting one with a totally individual style and much wider appeal than the existing smt series.
It got kids into gambling with physical loot boxes before it was cool, there were toys, movies cds etc and it invaded every single playground and became inescapable for parents everywhere.
It’s still massive now, though originally it was played perfectly by marketing and with genuine massive appeal from the product which then organically spread.
It didn’t hurt that Nintendo was synonymous with wholesome family fun and the American gaming scene back then.
It’s still a niche alternative in my opinion
I would give Digimon some more credit. It’s more successful as its own non-competing brand.
When Pokémon released in Japan, it was an underdog. If I remember correctly, it took some time in Japan before it became a hit there. Then it became such a bug hit that they were certain that this concept will work overseas as well. This lead to Pokémon having an immensely huge advertisement budget in the west and blasting kids with it on every channel imaginable. Edited out to uncertainty of factual correctness
Fun fact. Several Nintendo and Gamefreak employees stated in interviews they think that the mystery and schoolyard rumors surrounding Mew and how to get it made the game so popular in Japan amongst kids.
I don’t know if y’all remember, but the late 1990s and early 2000s were very gendered in terms of toys and products made for girls vs. boys. Pokemon was one of the major franchises that encouraged both girls and boys to play with their toys, games, cards, etc. Compared to Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon, MTG, etc., Pokemon was enjoyed equally across the “blue/pink” toy line.
I definitely remember, at least 10-15% of the girls at my school were into it at some point, including one of my best friends. That was a pretty big number compared to other things.
I think there’s a variety of factors involved. PCs were still quite expensive in the 90s and so a lot of kids were only able to access entertainment through TV or a game console or books/magazines. Compare that to today where literally everyone has a computer (PC, laptop, smartphone, etc) and so something like Pokemon covered a lot of ground for kids. Not only did you have the TCG, you had the game, TV show/anime, regular toys, etc. It was also highly marketable and blended in well and was generally liked by all ages of people (and still is). Back then you could throw Pokemon on to anything and it would probably sell out during the height of the popularity.
It’s interesting that it did so well, because from what I read the Pokemon creators didn’t think it would appeal to a Western audience as much because it was potentially too “cute” compared to many of the other cartoons and toys that came before it. Turns out it was a huge success though, well beyond what probably anyone had imagined going in to it all.
So yeah, I think it’s just really a great columniation and the peak of the 90s in so many ways. I think that’s also why it has such a strong pull in terms of nostalgia and other factors. Not only are a lot of people nostalgic for Pokemon itself, but also just the time we lived in and how life was back then compared to now.