Detective Pikachu: Top facts about the gaming phenomenon Pokémon

In a whirlwind of lightning, Detective Pikachu has hit our cinema screens.

Based on the wildly popular gaming series, the film sees Ace detective Harry Goodman go mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son, Tim, to find out what happened.

Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth Detective Pikachu.

Finding that they are uniquely equipped to work together, as Tim is the only human who can talk with Pikachu, they join forces to unravel the tangled mystery.

To celebrate the release of the film, we take a look at some top Pokémon facts for you to take a ‘Pika’ at…

• Pokémon is short for ‘Pocket Monster’.
• He’s known to Western audiences as Ash Ketchum, but to Japanese fans, his name tells a different story. In Japan, he’s known as Satoshi, a direct reference to Pokémon’s creator and the head of Game Freak, Satoshi Tajiri.
• Rhydon was the first Pokemon ever created by the original team.
• Pikachu’s name is Japanese onomatopoeia for sparkle and squeaking.
• Drowzee is based on a tapir. According to Japanese folklore, tapirs eat dreams and nightmares.
• Psychic-type Pokémon are weak to bug, ghost, and dark type because they’re common fears of humans.
• Slowbro is the evolution of Slowpoke with Shellder on his tail but if Slowpro somehow loses Shellder, he’ll devolve back to Slowpoke. Of all the Pokémon, he’s the only one that devolves.
• Cubone wears the skull of his dead mother.
• Poliwag’s swirl is based on tadpoles intestines.
• Venusaur is a combination of the words Venus which refers to the Venus Flytrap plant, and the Greek word saur, meaning lizard.
• As fighting type Pokémon, Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee get their names from famous fighters. Hitmonchan is a reference to Jackie Chan while Hitmonlee is a reference to Bruce Lee.
• Originally, the developers planned to have Arcanine be a legendary Pokémon.
• Diglett has been shown to have no feet however it is mentioned as being one of the seven mysteries of Pokémon.
• Gengar is theorised to be a shadow of a Clefable.
• Oddish has a scientific name, which is Oddium Wanderus. It was first shown in the FireRed Pokédex entry.
• Sandshrew is based on an animal called the pangolin, it’s a mammal that curls up into a ball, has sharp claws, and lives in desert regions.
• Koffing and Weezing were originally going to be called ‘NY’ and ‘LA’ because of the persistent smog in America’s two largest cities, New York and Los Angeles.
• Raichu can be male or female, the difference in appearance is the female has smaller, blunted lightning bolt at the end of its tail.
• Mew was a little-known secret when Pokémon Red and Green were first released in Japan. Even Nintendo was not initially aware that Mew was programmed it into the game.
• Pikachu and Meowth are exact opposites in almost every way. Pikachu looks like a mouse while Meowth looks like a cat. They’re both mortal enemies in the Pokémon cartoon. Also, Pikachu is #25 in the Pokedex while Meowth is #52.
• Originally in the comic book, Clefairy was the face of Pokemon. But, when it was being adapted from the video game to a cartoon, the producers decided they wanted Pikachu to be the face of Pokémon, thinking it would be more relatable to young viewers.
• In the Pokémon mythos, humans were desperately trying to copy Mew and in their failed attempts created Ditto, the pink slime, instead.
• If you’re ever playing the old Pokémon red or blue games, go to one of the gyms and try to fish near the statues. Supposedly, the statues have an identity crisis and think they’re water.
• Charizard was voted as the favourite Pokémon by Official Nintendo Magazine readers in February 2012.
• Some beta versions of Red and Blue list Machamp’s original name as ‘Ju-Doh’.
• Of all Pokémon, Eevee has the highest number of possible evolutions by far.
• The names of the three legendary birds each end with the first three Spanish numbers. ArticUNO, ZapDOS, MolTRES.
• The Nidorino that appears in Professor Oak’s introduction in Red and Blue has the cry of a Nidorina.
• Caterpie was the first Pokémon to be seen evolving in the animé.
• The move ‘Splash’ Is A Mistranslation Of The Japanese Word For ‘Hop’.
• Pokémon is so popular, it’s even bleeding into the world of science and research. In 2008, Japanese scientists discovered a new protein and named it Pikachurin.
• You can find the previous Nintendo console in the players’ bedroom in every single one of the main pokémon games to date.
• In 2001, at the height of Pokémon’s popularity, Pikachu’s image was stamped on official government issued coins on the island of Niue in the South Pacific.
• Game Freak, the company that first developed Pokémon, didn’t always make video games. When it began, in the 1980s, it was actually a video game magazine.
• Pokémon, despite its wild popularity, is still only the second best selling video game franchise of all time. The first is Mario.
• Pokémon is the only video game franchise to appear on the front cover of TIME magazine.
• Very early on in its creation, Nintendo passed on the idea for Pokémon, known then as Capsule Monsters. They turned Tajiri down several times before Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto himself pushed Nintendo to give it a chance.
• Red and Blue only use 37 completely unique sound clips for cries. The sounds are played back in different ways for each Pokémon.