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

With its themes of evolution and depiction of "monsters", the Pokémon games were seen by some devout Christians as a bad influence to children - especially in the very conservative parts the world. In the late 90s, religious institutions would often put a blanket ban on the franchise.

That changed when the Pope himself put in a word for the series. In the year 2000, just before the release of the first Pokémon movie, Pope John Paul II gave the series his blessing, stating that it was "full of inventive imagination", didn't contain "any harmful moral side effects" and were based on "ties of intense friendship".

You know your games are special if even the Pope is taking an interest.