List of references to Pokémon in popular culture: Difference between revisions

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References to the Pokémon franchise are often made in other media. While Pikachu is a common target due to its prominence as the mascot of the franchise, other Pokémon, characters, and elements of the various Pokémon series are often lampooned.

References in TV and movies

• The South Park episode Chinpokomon parodies Pokémon and fad culture in general. The line of toys have additionally made cameos in many subsequent episodes. During the episode Kenny dies of an epileptic seizure as a reference to the banned episode EP038. The episode additionally heavily parodies the anime and video games to a lesser extent. Ash Ketchum and James are both parodied.

• Ling-Ling, one of the main characters of Drawn Together, is a direct parody of Pikachu. He mentions that one of his pastimes is giving children seizures.

• In Osmosis Jones, when Ozzy tries to stop Drix from leaving Frank's body, one of the germs carries a Pikachu, as a joke on allergies.

• In one episode of Arthur, Arthur Loses his Marbles, Muffy has fifty-four Dopémon cards in a pack, in resemblance to Pokémon cards, and with one card a take on a Pikachu called "Stinkachu".

• In the movie See Spot Run, James tells Gordon Smith that he had a nightmare of a Charizard trying to burn him, in resemblance to Ash's Charizard. James also tells him on what a Pokémon is, as some people may not understand.

• In an episode of Jackie Chan Adventures, a franchise called "Gnomekop" appears, which is, Pokémon plus the "G", spelled backwards. It also uses the slogan "Gotta collect 'em all", similar to Pokémon's Gotta catch 'em all!

• Robot Chicken has done two sketches spoofing Pokémon.

• Hayate the Combat Butler features references to numerous anime and manga series, including Pokémon. Pikachu has made background cameos; the pet tiger has referenced Pikachu when assuming himself to be the mascot character and in one episode the cast travel on a plane based on ANA Flights. In the sixth episode, a framed image of a blue Pikachu can be seen near the beginning of the episode. The image was based on one of Pikachu's anime art. In some episodes, various sound effects and background music make a reference to Pokémon.

• The Simpsons have made numerous references to Pokémon.
  • Pikachu has been seen in The Simpsons episode Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade, in Bart's satellite TV-induced hallucination.
  • The effects of Computer Soldier Porygon are also experienced by the family in the episode Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo, after the family watch the local program "Battling Seizure Robots".
  • In the couch gag of The Simpsons episodes 'Tis the Fifteenth Season and Fraudcast News, Maggie was dressed up as a Pikachu.
  • In the episode Postcards from the Wedge, Bart watches the Pokémon anime on TV, with Ash in his Diamond and Pearl attire and his Pikachu; and Bart questions how the series "has managed to stay fresh all these years" (a possible reference to how both the Pokémon anime and The Simpsons have been on the air for over a decade. This episode aired on the same day as the release of HeartGold and SoulSilver in the United States.
  • In the episode Pokey Mom, Pokémon was referenced again. The family were watching an episode of Kids Say the Darndest Things when the host, Bill Cosby, is interviewing a guest:

Cosby: What do you like to play?

Child: Pok-ee-mon!

Cosby: Pok-ee-mon?! With the Pok-ee and the mon and the thing where the guy comes out of the thing...

• In The Simpsons Comics, there is a story called An Anime Among Us, in which Bart has a dream sequence which contains numerous references to Japanese traditional and popular culture, including anime such as Sailor Moon and Pokémon. The most prominent references to Pokémon are Bart dressed like Ash Ketchum, a Pocket Goblins (Pockegob) Trainer, and Santa's Little Helper is a reference to Pikachu (Santa-choo). Bart fights against a trio from "Team Sprocket", with Jessica Lovejoy appearing as Jessie, Nelson Muntz appearing as James, and Martin Prince in a Meowth costume (Cat Scratch-eth). This story is available in Bart Simpson Comics issue #12 as well as the collection book Big Bratty Book of Bart Simpson.

• Two episodes of Johnny Test featured Tinymon, with a Tinydex, Tiny Cubes that contain creatures, a character named Blast Ketchup, and the slogan "Gotta snatch 'em all!". The episodes feature a Tinymon known as "Screechereen," which greatly resembles Shadow Lugia in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. Evolution and attacks are also featured. For example, Screechereen evolves from Cuddlebuns.

• An episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, It's Hokey Mon!, had a trading card game called "Hokey Mon".

• An episode of The Norm Show had a parody of Pokémon when a boy named Tommy thought he was Ash. The skit featured actors dressed as Squirtle, Pikachu, Butterfree, Charmander, and Meowth.

• In Dustin's Fowl Play, when Dustin the Turkey was wondering what new job he should get, Socky asks "are we going to become Pokémon Trainers?"

• Austin Powers in Goldmember features people in costumes of Charmander and Pikachu among those running from "not Godzilla" in the Tokyo scene. The deleted scenes also feature background appearances of Meowth and Celebi costumes, the Pikachu car and a Dragonite plushie.

• In the season two, episode three of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, two Pikachu masks, a purple Turtwig mask, a yellow Chimchar mask, and an orange Piplup mask can be seen.

• Lucky Star makes several references to Pokémon. In one of the episodes, the characters go to a festival, and Kagami has trouble catching fish, as they just swim away from her. When she finally catches one, she shouts "get da ze!", correctly translated to "Gotta catch 'em all!". In another episode, Konata states that she can name every Po**mon. In a third instance, Konata states that Kinkaku-ji is gold, but Ginkaku-ji isn't silver, referencing both the Bell and Brass Towers, and Pokémon Gold and Silver. She also wonders if they're like Poké***, "with sapphire and ruby and stuff".

• In one episode of the anime Detective Conan, Ash, Misty and Brock make a cameo appearance as kids who were staying in a certain train station. However, the distinct facial features each possess, such as Brock's eyes, their hairstyles, etc., were slightly altered and switched between the three kids.

• In the 2003 movie, Bad Santa, one child asks "Santa" for Pokémon.

• In Codename: Kids Next Door, a character in the background looks like Ash in the episode Operation: A.R.C.H.I.V.E..

• In episode four of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, when Abiru says Nozomu would look good with a tail, he was pictured with various tails including those that resemble the tails of Pikachu and Glameow.

• In the Beast Machines episode Revelations I - Discovery, Jetstorm says, "Gotta catch 'em all!".

• In an episode of Brum some Pokémon plushies can be seen at a stall in a fairground.

• In one episode of Fillmore!, a cheerleading coach instructs her team to build a human pyramid "as strong as a Geodude using its Harden attack".

• In the final episode of the hospital drama ER, a patient says, "I am the Chosen One, I am Lugia."

• In one episode of George Lopez, when George and Benny discuss ways to make money, the former suggests that the latter pretend to be a Pikachu in Mexico.

• In the 17th episode of the Ghost Stories dub, the Pokémon anime is referenced several times.

• In the MAD series, in the "Grey's In Anime" skit, one of the doctors (who wears a hat similar to Ash's) throws a Poké Ball-esque object, and a Pikachu lookalike, known as "Chekaflu", shocks the patient as the doctor says "Clear!"
  • Another reference to Pokémon in the MAD series is the episode that features the rejected Pokémon skit. Among these is a punching mouse with huge arms and small feet. Ironically, its special attack is kicking. Another rejected Pokémon is a Teddiursa-like creature that looks as if it is made out of glass. Its special ability is being fragile. Another reject Pokémon is Your Uncle Frank. His special attack is Confusion, (all he does is get confused and go stand in the corner). The final reject Pokémon was a Hoothoot-like Pokémon that was a dead-beat when it came to battling. When told how exciting battling was all it said was, 'Ehh', and shrugged its shoulders.

• • Another reference is the episode that featured Pokémon Park, a spoof of of Jurassic Park, when a unknown Professor invited Ash (who had black curly hair and glasses), Misty (who is holding a DS and has blond hair), Jessie (who had blue hair) and James (who had green hair). It features a Charmeleon and Charizard reference and a Magikarp reference.

• In a few episodes of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, a toy Poké Ball can be seen on a shelf in Zack and Cody's bedroom.

• In an episode of The Suite Life on Deck, Woody can be seen reading a Pokémon book.

• Pokémon has been mentioned multiple times on the Canadian sketch comedy series That's So Weird.

• In an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ally makes a trade with a boy that Ray doesn't agree with. They trade "Hackidu" cards which are a spoof of Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!.

• In an episode of Eastenders, Doctor Anthony Trueman was explaining Yin and Yang to his ex Kat Slater, who then replied "Yin? Yang? You're not letting Pokémon characters take over your life?".

• In the Sex and the City episode Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl, while looking at pictures at Charlotte's gallery, Samantha says, "You know, women dressing like men is very popular right now," to which Carrie replies, "And here I thought it was Pokémon."

• In the American Dad! episode A Pinata Named Desire, while Steve Smith was remembering about he and his friends use to have sleepovers when they were little, a pink Pikachu is seen on the t-shirt worn by his friend Toshi.

• In the The Cleveland Show episode Ain't Nothin' But Mutton Bustin, while Cleveland and Rallo visit the County Fair, one of the fair stands has Gengar plushies.

• In Toradora! episode 21, Minori Kushieda finds Ryūji Takasu thinking and says 「ため息ゲットだぜ！」 Tameiki getto da ze! ("I caught your sigh!"), a shout out to the Japanese slogan of the Pokémon franchise, 「ポケモンゲットだぜ！」Pokémon getto da ze!. She also referenced other popular franchises, such as Yu-Gi-Oh!.

References in non-Pokémon games

• In Yoshi's Story, the stages Stage 2-3 and Stage 2-4 are made out entirely out of newspaper clippings, the text: Pikachu, among others, is seen. So far, it has only been seen in one or two areas.

• In Mario Artist: Paint Studio, one of the official pictures shows somebody drawing a silhouette of Pikachu.

• In Animal Crossing, one of the random items a villager may ask players to collect is Pokémon Pikachu (but the model is actually Pokémon Pikachu Color)

• In Wario Land 3, one of the game's 100 treasures is a Pokémon Pikachu, however, the player cannot interact with it.

• In Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, there's a skill point titled "Gotta Catch Them All", a reference to the franchise's now defunct slogan.

• In the Zelda series, the Keaton Mask introduced in Ocarina of Time bears a strong resemblance to Pikachu. It is mentioned in the game that Keaton "has been really popular lately", the game was released in 1998 when the fad level of Pokémon was still sharply on the rise. The item returned in Majora's Mask where wearing it in certain areas would lead to Keaton himself appearing, though this version of the character was revealed to be a kitsune. The mask also has a background cameo in Wind Waker.

• In Super Mario Galaxy, there is a Poké Ball-shaped planet in the Buoy Base Galaxy. Inside it is a Power Star, which is needed to finish the level, possibly a reference to the Poké Ball's importance in the Pokémon games.

• In Harvest Moon 64, if the characters Karen and Kai were to marry and have a child, their child will be dressed in a Pikachu costume.

• The Simpsons Game features "Sparklemon" in its Japanese level. Homer and Lisa must travel to three temples where they fight the Sparklemon in turn-based battles before they can collect them in a "capturing ball". The first two Sparklemon are based on Pikachu and Squirtle.

• In the Steampowered game Sid Meier's Civilization V, there are several Pokémon themed achievements. These include achievements named "It's Super Effective!" and "Gotta Catch 'Em All".

• In Poker Night at the Inventory, Strong Bad asks Max if he's a Pokémon (pronounced as Poke-mon).

Other references

• Starting in 2000, Pikachu has made an yearly appearance in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade along with a Poké Ball.
  • In 2010, Reshiram and Zekrom was also seen in the parade.

• Homestar Runner has made a number of references to the series, usually playing on Pikachu's similar appearance to the character of The Cheat. In particular, Pikachu appears on screen during "The Cheat Theme Song," when the lyrics are "Who's the man that looks like The Cheat?"

• Parts of the insert song in part three of the popular flash cartoon series Charlie the Unicorn bear resemblance to the original Pokérap.

• In the book Babymouse: Cupcake Tycoon, Pikachu is one of the many "people" seen watching an interview. It is later assumed that the same Pikachu was one of the two thousand "people" to buy Babymouse's cupcakes, as referenced by the narrator asking Babymouse how she was going to get her cupcakes to Japan.

• In Neil Gaiman's novella Coraline, the illustration on page 88 shows a Pikachu head among several other toys.

• On an episode of Winter Wipeout, John Henson said that Mika was Jigglypuff'd about the height of the hurdles.

External links

• Charlie the Unicorn 3

This article is a part of Project Fandom, a Bulbapedia Project that aims to write comprehensive articles on every aspect of the Pokémon Fandom.