When you think of Pokemon, you immediately think of Nintendo. After all, the Big N has been collaborating with Game Freak and Creatures Inc. since 1996 to develop and distribute the games of this huge multimedia franchise. However, you may be surprised to learn that not all titles in the saga have been released for Nintendo consoles. What’s even more shocking is that some were even released for platforms developed by SEGA, the company that was once Nintendo’s #1 rival. Here we’ll tell you all about the forgotten Pokemon educational video games that were released exclusively on a SEGA console.
Pokemon appeared on Nintendo’s direct competitor’s consoles?!
Sega Pico is the name of a long-forgotten Sega console focused on “Edutertainment” (Education + Entertainment), which was intended for a very young audience and used to have video games based on intellectual properties from other companies, such as Disney or Sanrio. Although clearly an unconventional console, different from what we usually expect within the industry, it is still surprising that several Pokémon games were released for it during the 2000s. Specifically, there were 3: Pocket Monsters: Catch the Numbers!, Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation: I’ve Begun Hiragana and Katakana!, and Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation: Pico for Everyone – Loud Battle!
These titles used images, music and voice actors from anime, which makes sense given their popularity with children during that era. They are educational video games with a focus on Math, Language and Reading respectively, with simple mini-games that younger children could enjoy. As if that wasn’t enough, Sega even released a special Pikachu-themed version of the Sega Pico. So not only did Pokemon appear on the platform of what used to be Nintendo’s competition, but they even had their own special console.
But that’s not all! A few years later, Sega released the Advanced Pico Beena, the successor to the original Pico and a much more advanced educational platform. This time, they released 4 new games between 2005 and 2010, covering the Third, Fourth and Fifth Generation of Pokemon. These titles were Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation: Number Battle!!!, Intellectual Training Drill – Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl: Letter and Number Intelligence Game, Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl: Adventure in the Maze!, and Pocket Monsters Best Wishes: Intelligence Training. These games were similar to the previous ones, with simple mini-games that helped children learn different essentials.
This is really interesting because one would perhaps expect the collaboration with Sega to have been a one-off in the early 2000s, when Pokémon was still defining itself as a franchise, but this continued to happen until the 2010s, with characters and creatures coming from the Black & White anime. It should be clarified that none of these games were released outside Japan, due to the fact that the Sega Pico was a resounding failure in the United States and Europe, being discontinued in 1998, years before they were created. If you are interested in knowing more about these forgotten games, you can visit the Bulbapedia page or check this video by DidYouKnowGaming on the subject.
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