Before The Game Awards became the Oscars of the video game industry, E3 was the major gaming event that took place annually from 1995 to 2019. It allowed video game developers to showcase their products and captivate the interest of an audience, be it from people within the industry or players. Many gamers looked forward to watching their favorite company’s E3 presentations, as they knew that they would either make exciting announcements, show new trailers, or reveal gameplay for upcoming games.
Nintendo was present at E3 from the very start. Its panels were some of the most anticipated, as those interested knew they would get news on beloved franchises, such as Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda. Pokémon wasn’t part of these presentations from the start, as the game series was a purely Japanese phenomenon in its early years. That ended in May 1998, when the franchise was officially announced and introduced in the United States for the first time at an E3 presentation back. The Video Game History Foundation has made public several early E3 events, including the one where Nintendo reveals the launch of the Pokémon anime and games outside of Japan.
Fans can watch all Pokémon announcements between minutes 23 and 29. Many gamers and anime fans were certainly anticipating the franchise’s arrival in the US, as it is mentioned how word of the series had already reached various parts of the world. To attract the attention of potential consumers, the presentation featured a promotional video with information on its popularity in Japan. It reported these impressive stats in Japan within two years of the franchise’s creation:
- Over 8 million Pokémon copies sold for the Game Boy
- Over 1 million CDs sold
- Over 2 million readers of Pokémon comics
- The Pokémon anime series became the number one cartoon on TV
- Pikachu became the best-selling plushie
- Over 300 million Pokémon trading cards sold
Considering the franchise was only two-years old at the time, these are impressive stats. Over 27 months, not only the games became best-sellers, but the franchise was immediately consolidated with an anime series that’s still going on today and a trading card game that is currently one of the pillars of a multibillion-dollar industry. And of course, merchandise. Nintendo immediately recognize the potential for the franchise to go beyond video games, and capitalized on it.
Pokémon went on to become just as popular in the United States, and eventually, a worldwide phenomenon. How much of that success was forecast we might never know, but it’s clear that Nintendo didn’t wait much to consolidate this vision. Those first two years of explosive success in Japan became the cornerstone on which Pokémon’s history was built.
It is worth noting that the entire presentation is quite interesting in itself. Most Nintendo fans will surely enjoy watching all of it. Before the Pokémon segment, Nintendo introduced the Game Boy Color and noted that it would be available before the holiday season for a whopping $79.95 and that its screen would now feature a total of 56 colors.
Zelda fans will be delighted to know that Shigeru Miyamoto was invited on stage to talk about the upcoming game in his series, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. E3 1998 was the first time that the American public was able to try out the game for themselves, so it was a major promotional event as well.
It is particularly interesting looking back at this presentation now that players are eagerly waiting for an Ocarina of Time game — this time, its remake. It is still unknown when The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will launch on Nintendo Switch 2, except for the fact that it will be available in 2026. Nevertheless, there is a chance that it will come out on the same day as it did back in 1998.
Pokémon is such a fundamental part of million of people’s childhoods that’s impossible not to look back at the story of the franchise with nostalgia. Whether you heard of the “Pocket Monsters” back in 1996 from overseas rumors, you played the games when they made it West, or you’ve become a fan of the franchise only in recent years, the Nintendo 1998 E3 presentation is nugget of history worth being preserved.
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