When you think of Pokémon, you immediately think of Nintendo. After all, since 1996, the Big N has been working with Game Freak and Creatures Inc. to develop and distribute the games of this huge multimedia franchise. However, you might be surprised to learn that not all the games in the series have been released for Nintendo consoles. What’s even more shocking is that some of them were released for platforms developed by SEGA, the company that once was Nintendo’s #1 rival. Here, we will tell you everything about the forgotten educational Pokémon games that were released exclusively on a SEGA console.
Pokémon appeared on Nintendo’s direct competitor’s consoles?!
Sega Pico is the name of a long-forgotten SEGA console focused on “Edutainment” (Education + Entertainment), which was aimed at a very young audience and often had games based on intellectual properties from other companies, such as Disney or Sanrio. Although it is clearly an unconventional console, different from what we usually expect in 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 the anime, which makes sense due to its popularity with children during that time. They are educational games with a focus on Mathematics, Language and Reading respectively, with simple mini-games that could be enjoyed by the youngest children. As if that wasn’t enough, SEGA even released a special version of the Sega Pico with a Pikachu theme. So not only did Pokémon appear on the platform of who used to be Nintendo’s competition, but they also 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. On this occasion, they released 4 new games between 2005 and 2010, covering the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Generation of Pokémon. 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 essential aspects.
This is fascinating because one might expect that the collaboration with SEGA would have been a one-off occasion in the early 2000s, when Pokémon was still defining itself as a franchise, but this continued to happen until 2010, with characters and creatures from the Black & White anime. It should be noted that none of these games were released outside of Japan, because the Sega Pico was a complete 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 Bulbapedia’s page or check out this video by DidYouKnowGaming on the topic.
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