| February, 1996: Nintendo launches a Pocket Monsters video
game for Game Boy, with a corresponding comic strip in Japan.
| November, 1996: Tamagotchi ("Lovable Eggs") are introduced
in Japan. They are not Pokémon products, but their popularity "paved
the way" for "electronic pocket monsters."
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| April, 1997: The animated TV series "Pocket Monsters"
debuts in Japan.
| December, 1997: The animated TV series, very popular, was
"temporary discontinued" in Japan after more then 700 children suffered
from seizures from a 5-second flashing light in one episode of the cartoon.
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| December, 1997: Tamagotchi held "massive appeal" for
Holiday shoppers in the United States.
| March 27, 1998: The newly released "Pocket Pikachu" had
the people in Japan "lining the streets of a rainy Tokyo."
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| August, 1998: The U.S. "marketing blitz" begins on the 27th,
when a yellow Volkswagen Beetle drives into Topeka, Kansas. It was
officially renamed "ToPikachu" for the day. PokéPatrol moves on to
10 U.S. cities, introducing Pokémon, "a name created for U.S.
audiences. Wizards of the Coast, the Trading Card company, gets the license
for the Pokémon card game. The cards were printed in English by
January, 1999, with the "Jungle" and "Fossil" expansions following later.
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| Sept. 7, 1998: The Pokémon animated series airs in
the United States.
| Sept. 28, 1998: The Pokémon Game Boy video game was
released in the United States, in which Nintendo has sold more than 11
million copies of the game in Japan.
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| August, 1999: Trading-card leagues begin at Books-A-Million
stores around the country.
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October, 1999: Nintendo releases Pokémon Yellow in
the United States on the 18th, and Nintendo sold over a million copies
during the first 2 weeks. During the week of Oct. 17-23, Pokémon
games held the top 5 spots on the video game sales chart for all platforms:
No.1-Pokémon Yellow, No.2-Pokémon Pinball, No.3-Pokémon
Red, No.4-Pokémon Blue, and No.5-Pokémon Snap.
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| November, 1999: "Pokémon: The First Movie" comes to
the United States, premering Nov.6, 1999, Hollywood Boulevard is blocked for
trading and game tournaments. Warner Bros. Studio's ticket giveaway
resulted in a crash in the phone system after receiving 70,000 calls-per-
minute. Nationally released Nov. 10, 1999, the movie sets a new 5-day
record of $52.1 million, "higher than any other animated movie in history."
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| Future Views: February, 2000: Nintendo will release
a Game Boy video game based on the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
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| Summer, 2000: The 2nd movie will be released in the
United States. The Gold and Silver versions are expected to be released in
the United States in the 2nd half of 2000. A new set of cards, introducing
100 new Pokémon, will come to America sometime in 2000.
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