Pokémon! Catch Them All! | practice English with Spotlight

00:14 - Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.

00:19 - It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

00:41 - Imagine a world where monsters are real. But these are not the frightening creatures that you see in films.

00:53 - And they are also different from the monsters in traditional stories.

01:01 - Some of these monsters live with humans. Some live in the wild, like animals.

01:10 - These creatures are more intelligent than animals.

01:16 - They even have amazing special powers. Some can fly and breathe fire.

01:25 - One looks like a big black snake, with steel skin.

01:31 - But not all the monsters look so frightening.

01:37 - Some are very cute. Some are even beautiful.

01:43 - One very famous one looks like a yellow mouse with a big round face.

01:54 - This imagined world of strange creatures is the world of Pokémon.

02:01 - And this world exists inside a video game! Today, this video game has grown to include television programs, books, trading cards, toys, and many other things.

02:20 - It is famous around the world. Today’s Spotlight is on the amazing world of Pokémon.

02:40 - Satoshi Tajiri created Pokémon. He was born in Japan in 1968.

02:50 - As a child, Tajiri loved collecting insects.

02:56 - He spent many hours by lakes. There, he observed different animals and insects.

03:06 - Tajiri told Time Magazine Asia: “Every time I found a new insect, it was a mystery to me.

03:19 - The more I searched for insects, the more I found.

03:24 - If I put my hand in the river, I would find water insects there.

03:30 - If there was a stick over a hole, I would find insects underneath it.

03:37 - As I gathered more, I learned more about them.

03:42 - I saw how some even eat each other. ” But Tajiri was also very interested in video games.

03:56 - As a young man, he played them all of the time.

03:58 - Tajiri knew he wanted to make video games as an adult.

04:04 - As young adults, he and a friend began their own video game company.

04:13 - One of their video games was an early version of Pokémon.

04:20 - To make Pokémon, Tajiri combined the two things he loved most: insects and video games.

04:31 - As an adult, he remembered his experiences as a child.

04:38 - He remembered how he liked finding insects in the grass.

04:44 - He thought this could make a good game. People could collect Pokémon creatures like he collected insects.

04:57 - For him, collecting insects had been like exploring a new world.

05:05 - Could he give that experience to other people in a game? In the game of Pokémon, the player plays the part of the trainer.

05:23 - A trainer is a person who works with Pokémon.

05:29 - Trainers travel around the game world. They collect as many different kinds of Pokémon as they can.

05:40 - Together, the trainer and Pokémon also enter competitions.

05:47 - They battle against other Pokémon and trainers.

05:58 - The video game company Nintendo agreed to make Tajiri’s game.

06:06 - Tajiri wanted to make two games, called Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green.

06:15 - People would play them on Nintendo’s Game Boy.

06:21 - Game Boy was a very small video game system.

06:27 - A person could carry it with them. It was very popular with young children.

06:35 - But the Game Boy had another important element that made it very important for the Pokémon game: the link cable.

06:48 - The link cable was a short black wire. It connected one Game Boy to another.

06:58 - Tajiri wanted people playing the game to collect Pokémon.

07:05 - But he also wanted them to trade Pokémon. They could do this through the link cable.

07:15 - Their Pokémon could even battle. This would give people another reason to play the game.

07:25 - Many video games involve only one person. But in Pokémon, many people could play at once.

07:36 - They could share in their experiences together.

07:41 - Tom Battey of Gamasutra. com shared his experience as a child. He says, “It was a process that brought us together.

07:55 - Some children get each other friendship bracelets.

08:00 - Or some come closer by sharing illegal experiences.

08:07 - We traded Pokémon. ” It took six years to create the first Pokemon games.

08:24 - And Nintendo released the games on February 27, 1996.

08:32 - Satoshi Tajiri did not make money on Pokémon in the beginning.

08:39 - It was not an immediate success, even in Japan.

08:46 - People needed time to explore the world of Pokémon.

08:52 - But soon, they told their friends about it.

08:57 - And these friends told other friends. The game had many different levels and layers.

09:07 - Players could explore all parts of it. Nintendo sold more and more Pokémon games.

09:20 - And Pokémon began to spread to other kinds of entertainment.

09:33 - A Pokémon television program began in Japan in 1997.

09:48 - One year later, the television program began in North America.

09:55 - Over one and a half million people watched it.

10:06 - Another famous part of the Pokémon world is the trading card game.

10:13 - These cards are thick pieces of paper. Each one has a different Pokémon on the front.

10:23 - Some are more difficult to find than others, just like in the video game.

10:32 - People can use the cards to play Pokémon, just like in the video game.

10:40 - They can trade their Pokémon and battle. Today, Pokémon is over 20 years old.

10:56 - Nintendo has released over 50 different Pokémon video games.

11:03 - The children who first played the game are adults.

11:08 - Some of them have children of their own. Now, these children can also explore the world of Pokémon.

11:20 - The idea of Pokémon has expanded to include books, television programs, toys and many other things.

11:32 - It continues to grow and become more popular.

11:38 - The world of Pokémon has changed a lot. There are hundreds of new Pokémon.

11:47 - And there are new ways to play through the internet.

11:52 - People can now trade Pokémon online. They can make friends from other countries.

12:01 - But although the game has changed, much remains the same.

12:15 - Do you play Pokémon? What do you like about it most? Do you have a favorite Pokémon? Tell us what you think.

12:29 - You can leave a comment on our website. Or email us at radio@radioenglish. net.

12:39 - You can also comment on Facebook at Facebook. com/spotlightradio.

12:57 - The writer of this program was Dan Christmann.

13:02 - The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States.

13:14 - All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight.

13:21 - You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at www. radioenglish. net.

13:34 - This program is called, ‘Pokemon! Catch Them All!’.

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13:52 - Just download our free official Spotlight English app.

13:58 - We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye. .