20 Mind-Blowing Things You Didn’t Know About Pokémon

There aren't many video game franchises out there which are as influential and immediately recognisable as the Pokémon series. Starting with Red and Green on the Game Boy in 1996, it has grown exponentially since - and at this point, it's only a matter of time before somebody makes a real one.

The games started off pretty simple, but the mechanics became more sophisticated in later generations. The Pokémon Video Game Championships were started in 2009 (that's Platinum Version, for those of you keeping track) - bringing the series into a more competitive light. If you're a Championship winner, Nintendo will even give you a scholarship to a college of your choice.

The original games weren't forgotten though, and have become some of the most loved and best selling titles in gaming history. There was a recent spike in interest and popularity for them when Twitch played through Red in 2014 - an experiment which single-handedly proved that given a sniff of a chance, the Internet will create a new cult in a heartbeat.

A cultural phenomenon, knowledge of Pokémon has become pretty commonplace in the West and even more so in Japan - but there's loads of interesting obscure stuff about the franchise. So here's a list of some awesome Pokémon factoids that you might not be aware of.

The overlap between Pokémon and football (or soccer to our American friends) seems at first glance to be fairly minimal - there isn't much football in Pokémon and there certainly isn't much Pokémon in football. Well, at least until last year, at any rate.

Japan went to Brazil in the summer of 2014, having qualified for the World Cup finals - and they took along a fair few characters for the ride. In total, 11 of the characters were featured as official mascots of the Japanese football team, due to an agreement between Nintendo and Adidas, who were Japan's official kit sponsor and provider.

Unfortunately for Pikachu and friends, Japan went out at the group stages - but the idea of Pokémon Football is fantastic and should definitely be re-explored.