Pokémon may be known for its cooperative gameplay, delightful spin-offs and approaching an intimidating genre, but the franchise also has a long history of creative and interesting gadgets.
The series is bursting with technology. For instance, the original in-game pokédex is clearly inspired by early Palm Pilot-esque devices. And when you think about it, pokeballs are technological wonders: they somehow transform living things into particles that can be transported around the world (and in the TV show, the pokeballs can even shrink). So it is not surprising that there have been many Pokémon-themed toys and hardware.
We’ve collected just a few of the many memorable ones Pokémon gadgets in honor of the series’ 25th anniversary. The IRL devices range from gamified pedometers to custom video game consoles to real Pokéball replicas (although they can’t turn living things into particles just yet). There is a lot of equipment you can get if you want to catch them all.
A real pokédex
Tiger Electronics and Hasbro released a toy Pokédex in the late ’90s, and I still consider it one of my all-time favorite toys. It was modeled after Ash’s Pokédex from season one of the TV show, but with a few different features to make it really function like a real toy. It had a keyboard and numeric keypad for searching for information, a small screen showing the Pokémon you were looking at, and could show information about each Pokémon such as its height, weight, type, and some of the moves it could. to learn. I felt like a bona fide Pokémon trainer, and I remember reading different Pokémon for hours with my Pokédex.
Pokémon Pikachu
My Pokémon Pikachu was a staple of my childhood. Released in 1998, it was a pocket-sized gadget that looked a bit like a Tamagotchi, except you provided a digital Pikachu. But it also had a built-in pedometer that you could activate just by shaking the device up and down. (Or, as in the commercials embedded above, jump.)
That shakiness meant that I was constant bounce the tiny device to earn a currency called watts. You can donate watts to Pikachu or, oddly, gamble them away from a slot machine. You can learn more about it at this great Nintendo Japan website that still exists today.
According to Bulbapedia, Nintendo released an upgraded model, the Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS, in Japan in 1999 and 2000 in North America and Europe. It had a color screen and could connect to Pokémon Gold Silver, and Crystal via the Game Boy Color’s infrared port, so you can trade watts for items.
A Pokémon themed camera
Just look at this camera with point and shoot. It has a giant Pikachu on one side, two Poké balls hold the flash and lens, and a cute Diglett is the shutter release. The camera made 35mm film and according to the manual, each photo would also have a Pokémon themed border. (You can see that line with Pikachu, Meowth, Squirtle, and Blastoise in this album.) A few eBay listings link the 1999 release date.
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Hey You, Pikachu’s “Voice Recognition Unit”
Hey you, Pikachu was a Nintendo 64 game that allowed you to talk to Pikachu using the Voice Recognition Unit, or VRU, that came with the game. It was released in 1998 in Japan and 2000 in North America.
You can see the VRU in the image above – users clipped a large microphone to their controller, which plugged into a special module (which stored Pikachu’s 256 vocabulary, according Popular science), and then connected Which module in the Nintendo 64 itself.
And speaking of hardware with a Pikachu theme …
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The Nintendo 64 with Pikachu theme
Released in 2000, the Pikachu-themed Nintendo 64 put a fun twist on the console’s design by turning the power switch into a pokeball and Pikachu’s right foot the reset button. I love how gigantic Pikachu is – it dominates almost half the console. And while I don’t remember ever using one myself, I can imagine it must have been very satisfying to press Pikachu’s foot to reset a game.
Mini pokemon
The Pokémon mini was a small portable console designed specifically for playing Pokémon-themed games with cartridges. It was released in 2001 in North America and Japan and 2002 in Europe. It was 74mm x 58mm x 23mm – described on the still-active Pokémon mini Nintendo UK website as “well under half the size” of Nintendo’s iconic Game Boy Advance – and came in three colors. It even had motion detection and rumble built in.
Pokéwalker
The Pokémon Pikachu devices were succeeded in 2009 by the Pokéball-themed Pokéwalker, which comes with every copy of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilverLike the Pokémon Pikachu, the Pokéwalker was a pedometer that could collect watts and take care of Pokémon. But unlike the Pokémon Pikachu, you could move Pokémon back and forth from the Pokéwalker, meaning you didn’t have to take care of Pikachu alone. You can also find new wild pokémon and items right on your Pokéwalker by spending watts to play minigames.
Nintendo has uploaded the Pokéwalker manual online if you want to learn more about it.
Poké Ball Plus
Nintendo released another Pokéball-themed device in 2018 Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!: the Poké Ball Plus, a real, functional game controller that is compatible with Nintendo Switch. You can play both games with the controller and catch Pokémon by throwing your arm. As with the Pokéwalker, you can also keep Pokémon in the Poké Ball Plus, and they’ll even howl from the inside if you shake them. The controller is also compatible with the huge mobile hit Pokémon Go.
This Poké Ball replica that “should never be thrown”
This barely counts as a gadget, but I did have to add it. Last November, The Pokémon Company International and The Wand Company announced this molded replica of the Poké Ball for $ 99.99. As realistic as it may seem, don’t throw it at your cat for fun; it weighs 10.5 oz, which is double the weight of a baseball. And in fact, The Wand Company says it “should never be thrown” and that “throwing the Poké Ball will damage it and could injure someone.”
But if you’ve ever wanted to hold a pokeball, it might be the closest you can get to buying one of these. It even glows.