Word: pokemon
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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HERE COME THE POKEMON...
Beanie Babies? Ho-hum. Tamagotchis? No way. This year's toy craze could well be the Game Boy game Pokemon ($30), which challenges kids to collect up to 150 funny-looking creatures with names like Charmeleon and Squirtle while traveling through a mazelike virtual landscape. Each Pokemon has different strengths and can help players capture more creatures in battle. With more than 9 million Pokemon games sold in Japan, Nintendo is betting that U.S. kids will be equally impressed...
Imagine what would happen if they watched The Nanny. Last Tuesday 600 Japanese children were hospitalized after going into convulsions triggered by the optical effects of an episode of POKEMON, a cartoon based on a Nintendo game. Later that night 100 more kids went down after the news showed clips from the program. Flashing lights have long been known to trigger photosensitive epilepsy. In this case the reaction seems to have been brought on by the combination of the graphics, the children's age, and the way many Japanese TV viewers sit really close to giant screens...