Doctor Oak
Can't Touch Dis.
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2004
- Messages
- 2,757
- Reaction score
- 3
Gamefreak = Game Developers, they make the games, create the Pokemon and characters, compose the original music etc.
Genius Sonority = A subsidiary company of Game Freak responsible for extensions to the original games that Game Freak makes - they essentially exist so that Pokemon can have more released games but Game Freak can focus on the main series. They're also now a fully established development company and are co-developing Dragon Quest for the Wii. But they are owned by Nintendo and therefore wont be developing for their competitors' machines.
Ambrella = The company that made Hey, You! Pikachu!, Pokemon Channel, Pokemon Dash and a Pokemon themed typing tutor for the PC - and will presumably continue making Pikachu centric games. Their mandate is to make 'kiddy' games specifically just as Genius Sonority are lisenced to make more 'mature' games. Also owned by Nintendo, they're a pretty small studio.
Hal Labs - Owned by Nintendo too, but not dedicated to Pokemon. They originally did the Stadium Games (and provided the Pokemon models for Genius Sonority to use in Colosseum and so on) and more recently made Pokemon Ranger. It's assumed that their original involvement was down to the lack of experience on GameFreak's part concerning the N64 - which is why they weren't called upon again for a Gamecube installment, which Genius Sonority was formed exclusively for. They probably aren't all that important concerning Pokemon but they could possibly continue making Ranger games and as developers of the SSB series obviously dictate which Pokemon will appear in those games.
Chunsoft - will not have any further involvement with Pokemon except for the remote possibility of a Mystery Dungeon 2. The Mysterious Dungeon series is a long running series in Japan though, and Pokemon is not the first big game to have a version of it, nor shall it be the last. Chunsoft, however aren't all that important to Pokemon.
Nintendo = Publishers (Under the umbrella of the Pokemon Company - which helps keep Nintendo's finances balanced) - they take the game code, lisence it for use on their systems and make the games. And then they sell them.
Nintendo of America/Europe = Localisers/Publishers - translate the games and republish them - this means they come up with all the translated names of all the characters and places in the games.
Pokemon USA = Lisence Control basically (and just the US branch of the Pokemon Company in general, all of which this applies for globally) - and as of now, they completely control the lisencing of Pokemon merchandise in the Americas since they took the rights originally belonging to Wizards of the Coast and 4Kids back from them (which were, in turn lisenced to them). PUSA also controls every toy, dvd or anything that has the word Pokemon on it in the USA.
Taj Studios = The Dubbers - PUSA does not dub the anime, they hire Taj to do that and while I have no idea how much PUSA actually does use their power to influence the dub itself, it is not PUSA that is responsible for dub errors etc.
Oriental Light and Magic = The original animators/writers/etc of the anime.
Shogakukan = The publishers of the anime (And CoroCoro and the Pocket Monsters (Clefairy) Manga), globally as well as specifically in Japan as they own:
Viz Media = The publishers of the anime and movies (and the Pokemon Adventures Manga past and compilation'd present) all across America. Miramax used to release the movies in America and Europe (as of 4Ever) but when PUSA took over lisencing for the anime again, they apparently took this away from Miramax and gave it to Viz, who released the 8th movie and will be releasing the 9th. Miramax only ever released the 4th and 5th movies in Europe (both rather late) and I haven't the foggiest who released the 6th movie as I'm pretty sure Viz has no European arm - if anyone here got it, I'd be happy to learn.
Jakks Pacific = The main toy manufactuers in the USA with a lisence to make Pokemon toys for, at least, the 9th and 10th series of the anime.
Tomy = The original main toy manufactuers in Japan - and presumably still is making stuff for America too. Though, key to note now is that while Tomy's Pokemon figures were once upon a time released in Japan and then repackaged for America - Jakks Pacific is now releasing their own figures instead (Which I'm sure most people have seen now from the Toy Fair).
... and I think that's pretty much all the companies presently responsible for all things Pokemon...
Edit: Yup, forgot one
Creatures, Inc: A Nintendo subsidiary toys company - responsible for "the Pokémon card games and toys." says Wikipedia. Couldn't really tell you what overall influence they have as they don't really get their name across much. More than likely, they're responsible for the lisencing of the card games and toys across Japan while the Pokemon Company is in charge of marketing these - and presumably also in charge of Creatures too. Presumably, the reason they are listed in the credits for the games is 'cos they're working with the character designers for merchandise's sake.
Genius Sonority = A subsidiary company of Game Freak responsible for extensions to the original games that Game Freak makes - they essentially exist so that Pokemon can have more released games but Game Freak can focus on the main series. They're also now a fully established development company and are co-developing Dragon Quest for the Wii. But they are owned by Nintendo and therefore wont be developing for their competitors' machines.
Ambrella = The company that made Hey, You! Pikachu!, Pokemon Channel, Pokemon Dash and a Pokemon themed typing tutor for the PC - and will presumably continue making Pikachu centric games. Their mandate is to make 'kiddy' games specifically just as Genius Sonority are lisenced to make more 'mature' games. Also owned by Nintendo, they're a pretty small studio.
Hal Labs - Owned by Nintendo too, but not dedicated to Pokemon. They originally did the Stadium Games (and provided the Pokemon models for Genius Sonority to use in Colosseum and so on) and more recently made Pokemon Ranger. It's assumed that their original involvement was down to the lack of experience on GameFreak's part concerning the N64 - which is why they weren't called upon again for a Gamecube installment, which Genius Sonority was formed exclusively for. They probably aren't all that important concerning Pokemon but they could possibly continue making Ranger games and as developers of the SSB series obviously dictate which Pokemon will appear in those games.
Chunsoft - will not have any further involvement with Pokemon except for the remote possibility of a Mystery Dungeon 2. The Mysterious Dungeon series is a long running series in Japan though, and Pokemon is not the first big game to have a version of it, nor shall it be the last. Chunsoft, however aren't all that important to Pokemon.
Nintendo = Publishers (Under the umbrella of the Pokemon Company - which helps keep Nintendo's finances balanced) - they take the game code, lisence it for use on their systems and make the games. And then they sell them.
Nintendo of America/Europe = Localisers/Publishers - translate the games and republish them - this means they come up with all the translated names of all the characters and places in the games.
Pokemon USA = Lisence Control basically (and just the US branch of the Pokemon Company in general, all of which this applies for globally) - and as of now, they completely control the lisencing of Pokemon merchandise in the Americas since they took the rights originally belonging to Wizards of the Coast and 4Kids back from them (which were, in turn lisenced to them). PUSA also controls every toy, dvd or anything that has the word Pokemon on it in the USA.
Taj Studios = The Dubbers - PUSA does not dub the anime, they hire Taj to do that and while I have no idea how much PUSA actually does use their power to influence the dub itself, it is not PUSA that is responsible for dub errors etc.
Oriental Light and Magic = The original animators/writers/etc of the anime.
Shogakukan = The publishers of the anime (And CoroCoro and the Pocket Monsters (Clefairy) Manga), globally as well as specifically in Japan as they own:
Viz Media = The publishers of the anime and movies (and the Pokemon Adventures Manga past and compilation'd present) all across America. Miramax used to release the movies in America and Europe (as of 4Ever) but when PUSA took over lisencing for the anime again, they apparently took this away from Miramax and gave it to Viz, who released the 8th movie and will be releasing the 9th. Miramax only ever released the 4th and 5th movies in Europe (both rather late) and I haven't the foggiest who released the 6th movie as I'm pretty sure Viz has no European arm - if anyone here got it, I'd be happy to learn.
Jakks Pacific = The main toy manufactuers in the USA with a lisence to make Pokemon toys for, at least, the 9th and 10th series of the anime.
Tomy = The original main toy manufactuers in Japan - and presumably still is making stuff for America too. Though, key to note now is that while Tomy's Pokemon figures were once upon a time released in Japan and then repackaged for America - Jakks Pacific is now releasing their own figures instead (Which I'm sure most people have seen now from the Toy Fair).
... and I think that's pretty much all the companies presently responsible for all things Pokemon...
Edit: Yup, forgot one
Creatures, Inc: A Nintendo subsidiary toys company - responsible for "the Pokémon card games and toys." says Wikipedia. Couldn't really tell you what overall influence they have as they don't really get their name across much. More than likely, they're responsible for the lisencing of the card games and toys across Japan while the Pokemon Company is in charge of marketing these - and presumably also in charge of Creatures too. Presumably, the reason they are listed in the credits for the games is 'cos they're working with the character designers for merchandise's sake.
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