I would not choose you, Pikachu!

[Pimppeter2]

I bought my little cousins Pokemon Black, White, and Plantinum a couple days ago. And despite all the cool pokemon they can have, all they fucking talk about is Pikachu

So it got me to thinking, why Pikachu?

Sure, he's a fairly cute pokemon. But dont tell me you can pick at least 15 other adorable starter pokemon from the top of your head. Why did Pikachu become the symbol of all that is pokemon? He's not even as adorable as Richu.

I mean, there's so many others. Look at Charmander, his anime episode is the most heart warming thing ever. It confuses me, because the kiddies love Pikachu because he is so famous, but why is the little yellow rat such a big deal.

There has to be some logic behind it at the head of Nintendo. Is he the most marketable? Appeal to the widest audience? Look non threatening? What?

Bonus topic: If you chose a different pokemon to be the new Mascot of the game, who would you chose?

 

[Radeonx]

I don't know, but the decision was stupid.
Pikachu/Raichu are shitty Pokemon, and there are so many better ones.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

simple: cos he's the one who's always out on the anime.
BT: i would choose Charmander. i wub him and always pick him and he's amazing.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Pikachu is the poster boy/girl/thing of Pokemon. Everyone loves it. I do too but its rarely a focus of my team XD

 

[Pimppeter2]

simple: cos he's the one who's always out on the anime.

I get that, but why? Why did they chose him?

 

[Duskflamer]

Pikachu was the first "rare" pokemon you'd encounter in Pokemon Red/Blue, so I think that's where the obsession originated. After that, it was a matter of Nintendo perpetuating Pikachu's popularity, it was the fist pokemon Ash got in the anime and the only one to remain with him, and in Pokemon Black/White, despite there being no foreign pokemon at first, there's an amusement park with a giant Pikachu balloon on display. It's self-perpetuating.

 

[Risingblade]

because he's awesomely cute and fuzzy

 

[Pandaman1911]

Because he was in the anime, and it just caught on for some reason, I don't know.

I think Charizard would be a pretty damn cool mascot. Can't go wrong with a dragon thing.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

He's basically the mascot just because he's the first and favourite of the Anime series' longstanding protagonist. Now while I do find Pikachu to be adorable, at the time when I was most obssessed with this series being roughly 9-12 or so, I didn't want any of that schmaltzy crap I wanted to capture, the coolest, biggest, baddest and meanest motherfuckers in the land and have them annihilate my enemies. The interesting thing to note is that I get the feeling that kids, or at least young boys (or maybe I'm projecting here) are rather averse to cutesyness and desire things more violent/action based with pretentions to a more mature audience. I mean since this franchise is essentially based around capturing animals, keeping them caged in conveniently portable spherical prisons and forcing them to beat the ever loving shit out of each other for entertainment then perhaps there should be a mascot more pertinent to that mindest. Something that says 'you're going to be 50 different kinds of fucked up when I get through with you' and that is why I would nominate the very incarnation pure rage and badassery that is Gyarados. It's a symbol for the franchise that'll draw in the kids not with saying 'Dawww look how cute' but 'fuck me, that thing is awesome, I'm going to wreck people's shit with this!' Maybe that's just my favouratism towards Gyarados, but I think it would be a more appropriate representation of what the series is actually about at it's core.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

simple: cos he's the one who's always out on the anime.

I get that, but why? Why did they chose him?

Because he's cute and can cause pain without having to be physically dangerous. Also they only had 150 back then, and one point was that Ash had no choice. He was the last pokemon there so he had to pick him.

 

[Shadu]

I like Pikachu, but after Silver, never used him in my party. Even later on in Red, I didn't keep him. I like the anime Pikachu's personality and interactions (mostly in the earlier stuff), but the ones in the game, of course, aren't as dear because they don't have personalities.

If I could have ANY Pokemon as a starter, I would choose Houndour. I love Houndour. What's not to love? He's a dark/fire type, two of my favorites, and a dog that spits flames. And he's darn cute. I don't care much for Houndoom. He's not bad, but I like Houndour better.

 

[Azaradel]

Never really liked Pikachu, to be quite honest. I do like Raichu, though. But not enough to use him when I want an electric pokémon in my party (I'm partial to Ampharos, myself).

A different pokémon as the franchise mascot instead of Pikachu?

Mew.

That is all.

 

[sageoftruth]

simple: cos he's the one who's always out on the anime.

I get that, but why? Why did they chose him?

I don't know all the pokemon out there, but I'd say that Pikachu is possibly the most fitting for a Shonen anime. He's both cute and hot-blooded, just like your standard "I want to be the best there is" Shonen kid protagonist. Lighting (or fire) is also a good element for someone who is hot-blooded.

 

[docSpitfire]

I always assumed they picked pikachu to focus on in the anime because they didn't want to influence people's pick for a starter creature. Pikachu is the first creature you encounter other than a rat a couple birds and a worm... and is the only one that isn't bug, fish, normal or bird for quite a while other than the starting ones.

 

[PureChaos]

originally Ash was going to get a Clafairy but they changed it to Pikachu at the last minute. imagine how different things would have been. and i rarely choose Pikachu. in terms of electric pokemon, Jolteon all the way

 

[Beryl77]

Isn't it just because it's on the anime that's been going on as long as half of my life? It has just become the iconic pokemon because they made Pikachu strong in the anime. I guess they chose it because those Thunderbolt attacks seem strong but still cute. It's also not one of the usual starter pokemon and not the same type as the starter. I think that's important for a shounen character, being different, strong but also nice and cute. I guess it's just fitting and you can find a Pikachu at the beginning of the game.
Anyway, I'd choose charmander as a replacement for pikachu simply because it's one of my favorite pokemon and still small and adorable.

Edit:

You know the alternative was Clefairy, yea, the people who created pokemon were going to use Clefairy instead of Pikachu. Mother fucking Clefairy.

Seriously? Oh god, luckily they used Pikachu.

 

[TeeBs]

You know the alternative was Clefairy, yea, the people who created pokemon were going to use Clefairy instead of Pikachu. Mother fucking Clefairy.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

I guess they didn't want to use any of the standard starters in the anime so that there wasn't a canon starter? But that's a total guess. I have no idea, really.

 

[genericusername64]

I would chose mario
Mario Uses Jump On Goomba, Its Super Effective