I'm So Glad I Grew Up with Pokemon's Controversial Release Schedule, and Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest Deserved The Same

I got Pokemon Red for my eighth birthday, and I don’t think I’ve ever really left that world since. There’s a specific kind of magic to being introduced to a franchise at exactly the right age. For me, that moment came with the worldwide release of Pokemon Red and Blue, or more specifically, the red cartridge that booted up my journey through Kanto, from choosing my first ever starter all the way to believing there was actually a Mew under the truck. What I couldn’t have known at the time was that Pokemon wouldn’t just be my favorite game for a year or two. It would become the backbone of my entire childhood and adult life, and my favorite franchise ever.

Unlike many other RPG franchises, Pokemon never disappeared between entries. It operated on a release cadence that felt almost perfectly calibrated for growing kids: new generations every two to four years, mid-gen enhancements, remakes, and spin-offs filling the gaps. By the time I had fully explored one region, another was already on the horizon. That rhythm mattered more than I realized at the time, and I’m sure it worked similarly for other young players, who grew up alongside the series rather than with a one-time childhood entry as in games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

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How Pokemon Became The Biggest Franchise in Gaming

The early years of the Pokemon franchise established a pattern that defined an era. After Red and Blue came Pokemon Gold and Silver, expanding the map and effectively doubling the sense of scale. Then came Pokemon Crystal, the ultimate Gen 2 experience with the first playable female protagonist in the series. After that, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire on GBA progressed the series’ technological feats further and gave fans yet another beloved region.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)

How I Grew Up With Pokemon Games, TCG, Movies, and Anime

Pokemon Fan Makes Surprise Discovery in Dad's Shed

Each generational shift coincided almost perfectly with a new stage in my life. Elementary school became middle school, shifting from Gen 1 and Gen 2 to Gen 3, all while Nintendo’s handheld hardware evolved, too, and so did I. What made Pokemon different wasn’t just the mainline entries, but rather it was the ecosystem surrounding them:

A weekly anime broadcast that kept the world alive year-round
A massively popular trading card game that dominated playground culture
Spin-off Pokemon games like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Pokemon Ranger
Movies, guidebooks, toys, and constant promotional tie-ins

Funnily enough, English is not my native language, but I started learning it on my own because Pokemon TCG cards were initially only available in English in my country, and my motivation to understand the game drove me to practice the language all the time.

There was never a true “Pokemon drought.” Even in quieter years, something new was always happening, and that steady presence transformed Pokemon from a simple game series into a cultural phenomenon, a constant in many kids’ lives. I still remember the year the first Pokemon movie came out, as its release date was close to my birthday, so my mom arranged a party for me where all the kids in my elementary school class went to see the movie with me. I’m still upset I was one of the only kids not to get the special promo Mew TCG card, but the experience was amazing, and everyone loved the movie.

Why Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest Felt Different in The 90s and 2000s

By comparison, JRPGs like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest operated on much wider development timelines. A single entry often had to sustain an entire phase of a fan’s life. Final Fantasy 10 could carry someone through middle school on its own, and for me, it was the best game in the series, and one that I still played several times through the first year of high school. Likewise, Dragon Quest 8 probably defined a whole generation of players. Yet, the following games arrived after such long development cycles that hardware ecosystems had fundamentally shifted.

That model isn’t inherently flawed. In fact, it often produces technical innovation and ambitious reinvention. But as a kid, it meant that one game had to last for six or more years, and sometimes, that was a child’s whole childhood. The chance to retain that child’s attention and love was then diminished, and it may be why Pokemon is the biggest franchise in the world right now. Pokemon never asked one entry to shoulder that burden alone. Instead, it maintained momentum through carefully timed releases and cross-media expansion. It would have been incredible to see Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest enjoy that same level of multimedia saturation. Imagine if they had:

Consistent anime adaptations tied directly to mainline launches
A trading card game like Pokemon and an ensuing phenomenon of comparable scale
Frequent handheld spin-offs between flagship releases

How Pokemon’s Cultural Phenomenon Couldn’t be Replicated by FF and Dragon Quest

But the reality is that not every developer in the late 1990s and early 2000s had the infrastructure to sustain that model. The collaboration between Game Freak, Nintendo, and Creatures Inc., operating as The Pokemon Company, created a synchronized production pipeline that few studios could realistically replicate at the time. Pokemon‘s early success and multimedia strategy weren’t accidental, but that same level of structure couldn’t be easy to recreate and handle.

Why Pokemon’s 3-Year Release Schedule Has Become a Huge Problem After Gen 9

Of course, this model hasn’t been without consequences. Pokemon‘s relatively short development cycles have drawn increasing scrutiny in recent years. The launch of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet reignited debates about technical performance, polish, and whether the franchise needs more time between mainline entries. Pokemon Legends: Arceus‘ water texture is still a sore sight to this day, to the point that recent leaks of a Switch 2 upgrade for Legends: Arceus have me excited.

Those criticisms are valid. Scarlet and Violet demonstrated the risks of maintaining an aggressive schedule in an era where open-world RPG development is more complex than ever, and performance is not something that can take a hit to shorten the pipeline. But from my perspective, a kid who unwrapped Pokemon Red on her eighth birthday, that consistent cadence was a blessing.

I Wouldn’t Trade Pokemon’s Early Release Schedule For Anything in the World

Every few years brought a new region, new starter Pokemon, new secrets to obsess over with paper magazines about the lore of Pokemon games, as well as tips and tricks for new players. It felt like the franchise was aging alongside me, rather than pausing for half a decade at a time, and I could take it with me wherever I went. When I think about growing up with Pokemon, I don’t think about isolated titles. I think about continuity, I think about momentum, and I think about a franchise that never truly left the stage. And that steady presence — imperfect as it may be — is something I’ll always be grateful for, especially as I look forward to the big Gen 10 reveal in just a few days.