Today is Pokemon Day!

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the original Japanese release of Pokemon Red and Pokemon Green, the first two installments of the popular and long running Pokemon game franchises. Game Freak, the developer of Pokemon, released a third "revised" game called Pokemon Blue later that year, which became the basis for the English translations (which we know as Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue) released over two years later in America and Europe.

The Pokemon games were unique for a few reasons. The original games utilized the Game Boy's link cable feature, adding a multiplayer and community function to what's typically a first player game. Players also couldn't catch all 151 Pokemon with just one version of the game, which meant you needed to either buy a second Game Boy and Pokemon game or find a friend that also played. And the collecting aspect of Pokemon was addicting, leading to millions of players spending countless hours trying to catch them all.

Of course, Pokemon became an international phenomenon and remains one of Nintendo's most popular franchises. To date, there have been 24 "core" Pokemon games, with two more on the way later this year. But Pokemon isn't just a video game franchise. Not only have there been countless spinoff games like Pokemon Pinball, Pokken Tournament, and Pokemon Conquest, there's also an 18 season long Pokemon anime, a popular trading card game and tons of toys and merchandise.

To celebrate Pokemon Day, Nintendo announced Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon, which mark the start of Pokemon's seventh generation of games. Toys R' Us and GameStop also have promotions running throughout the game, with special card and posters giveaways. Finally, Nintendo re-released the original Pokemon Red, Pokemon Blue and Pokemon Yellow games for the 3DS Virtual Console, giving a new generation of fans the chance to start their own Pokemon journey from the very beginning.

Whether you started playing Pokemon back in the 1990s or only recently discovered the franchise, I hope you spend your Pokemon Day battling, training and exploring the wonderful and mysterious world of Pokemon.