The creator of Pokemon

Satoshi Tajiri (田尻 智 Tajiri Satoshi, born August 28 1965) is the creator of Pocket Monsters, which later became shortened to 'Pokémon'. As a child, Satoshi lived in a suburb of Tokyo and loved to collect Insects, hunting them in Ponds, fields and Forests, constantly looking for new insects and coming up with new ways to attract insects like beetles. He was so attracted to insects, in fact, that his peers used to call him Dr. Bug. Satoshi did not like school. His father wanted him to be an electrical utility repairman, but this is not what he wanted. In the late 1970s, the fields and ponds that Satoshi loved as a child were paved over by apartments and parking lots, and his idea for Pokémon grew, as he wanted to give modern children the chance to hunt for creatures as he did. Satoshi got into games when he was at technical school, spending all his time in arcades. He was such a big fan that one local arcade gave him a Space Invaders machine to take home. In 1982, Satoshi and his friends formed a games magazine under the name of Game Freak. One of his Game Freak friends was Ken Sugimori, who drew all of the Pokémon's images. In 1991, Satoshi discovered the Game_Boy. When he first saw Link Cables, he imagined insects creeping along them, and the Pokémon idea was born. The game was given some initial funding and concept work from another game design studio, "Creatures." Satoshi named his development company Game Freak, after the magazine, and thus it can still be seen at the start of Pokémon games. Satoshi went to work for Nintendo and spent the next six years working on Pokémon. He became friends with Shigeru_Miyamoto, the genius behind Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pikmin, and Donkey Kong, who also became a sort of mentor to Tajiri. As a tribute to Tajiri and Miyamoto, Ash Ketchum (or "Red" in the Blue, Red and Yellow versions of the series) is named Satoshi and Gary Oak (or "Blue" in Blue, Red and Yellow) is named Shigeru in the Japanese version of Pokémon. Satoshi Tajiri has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.

Appearance of Ash Ketchum in other media

The only video game that Ash has truly appeared in to date is Pokémon Puzzle League, where he tries to become a Pokémon Puzzle Master. While Ash is loosely based on Red, the protagonist of Pokémon Red and Blue, the protagonist in Pokémon Yellow is based on him. Furthermore, in Pokémon Gold and Silver, Red acts a sort of "final boss" of the game, residing in Mount Silver. He carries a team comprising of Pikachu and the final evolutions of Pokémon that Ash had caught and used in the anime (with the exception of Espeon, a Psychic-type evolution of Eevee). As a nod to how powerful Ash's Pikachu is, Red's Pikachu is at level 81.

The portrayals of Ash in the manga The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Pocket Monster Zensho, and Ash & Pikachu, are very simlilar to the one in the anime. There are key differences in the manga, though. In The Electric Tale of Pikachu, it is based on Ash's journey up until the end of the Orange Islands travel. Ash is usually seen traveling by himself during the course of this manga although he is joined by Misty and Brock in Indigo sometimes. Misty is the only one to join Ash in the Orange Islands and at the end of the series, Ash travels with Gary Oak. Ash has other Pokémon in addition to the some of the ones above including Fearow and Oddish. The Ash & Pikachu manga is similar, although it has the episodes from the anime like "The Fortune Hunters" and "A Goldenrod Opportunity" combined, but with a couple of changes. In Pocket Monsters Zensho, Satoshi (as Ash is known in Japanese) starts with Charmander instead of Pikachu. The manga ends at the Indigo Plateau, where Satoshi defeats the Elite Four.

Pokemon Trading Card Game

The Pokémon Trading Card Game was first introduced to North America in 1999, and in Japan at an earlier date. It is a collectible card game based off the famous Pokémon video game. At the time, it was published by Wizards of the Coast, the company most famous for Magic: The Gathering.

However, with the release of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Game Boy video games, Nintendo took back the card game from Wizards of the Coast and started publishing the cards themselves. The latest incarnations of the card games is known as Pokémon-e Trading Card Game, the cards of which (for the large part) are compatible with the Nintendo e-Reader.

In 1998, Nintendo released a Game Boy Color version of the trading card game. This game included cards from the original set of cards, the Jungle and Fossil expansions, and several GBC-exclusive cards. While the cards are still being produced, it is highly unlikely that there will be another video game rendition of the card game because of the drop in popularity the series has experienced.

Controversy and Criticism of Pokemon

In the view of Islam world

Pokémon has only belatedly made its way to the Islamic world, at this point, in Saudi Arabia. The driving point behind this factor is the belief that the trading card game promotes gambling with cards. This declaration is been made official by Mufti, the most influential conservative religious group in Saudi Arabia. In most other moderate Islamic countires it poses no threat.

Despite assurances from the Nintendo that the trade name stands for "Pocket Monsters," the video games and related items have been stripped from store shelves in Saudi Arabia and turned away at ports. Schools in Saudi Arabia have set up collection points to turn in clothing decorated with Pokémon figures.

A fatwa, or religious edict, issued by a Saudi sheik urges all Muslims to beware of the game, noting that most of the cards bear "six-pointed stars, a symbol of international Zionism and the state of Israel."