Pokémon in Latin America

This article is about the Pokémon franchise in the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America. For the franchise in Brazil, see Pokémon in Brazil.
Pokémon in Latin America
Pokémon logo English.png
File:Latin America Flag.png
Flag of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
Language Latin American Spanish
Continent The Americas
Original anime airdates
EP001 June 14, 1999*
September 6, 1999*
AG001 January 21, 2004
DP001 February 9, 2008
BW001 March 17, 2012
XY001
SM001
JN001
HZ001

The Pokémon franchise first reached Latin America in an article that was published and appeared on the cover of the October issue of the Club Nintendo magazine in 1998[1] and with the release of Pokémon Red and Blue Versions in English in the same month.[2] The Pokémon anime followed after with the first broadcast of Pokémon, ¡Yo te elijo! in Latin American Spanish on Canal 5 in Mexico in June 1999, followed by the debut on Cartoon Network Latinoamérica on September 6, 1999, reaching the rest of Latin America.

¡Atrápalos ya! is the Latin American Spanish slogan of the Pokémon video games. The slogan is often referenced throughout the Pokémon canon, much like the English slogan "Gotta catch 'em all!" is.

Pokémon video games

All of the main series Pokémon games have been released in Latin American countries. Most games are available in English only, imported from the United States; however, Pokémon Red and Blue were also available in Spanish, using the translation from Spain. The Spanish versions of Red and Blue were not available until 1999, months after the original release in English in October 1998. No other Pokémon games were available in Spanish in Latin America until the release of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, which also uses the Spanish translation from Spain.

Most of the spin-off titles (such as Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Stadium) have been released in Latin America as well, but like the majority of the main series Pokémon games, they are only available as English-language imports.

Commercials

In the late 1990s, Nintendo aired many commercials in Latin America for video games such as Mario and Pokémon. These commercials are not unique to Latin America, they are simply Spanish-dubbed versions of the commercials aired in the United States. However, due to the rise of video game piracy, Nintendo has decided not to invest much money in promoting their franchises in Latin America. This may be a reason why few recent games receive Spanish releases in Latin America. Despite this, Spanish commercials for Pokémon games still appear on cable networks such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.[3]

Events

Local events rarely occur in Latin American countries, particularly in a single country exclusively. The events are usually announced on the Pokémon.com website but in Generation V, the events are announced on the web sites of the stores hosting the events.

The distribution of local Pokémon events has only been in the countries of Mexico and Chile in 2010 during Generation IV. However, two local distributions have occurred in Generation V, Keldeo and Meloetta, in more Latin American countries.

Pokémon anime

The Latin American dub of Pokémon airs or has aired in the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The anime has aired on Mexico's Canal 5, with the Pokémon series premiering in early 1999. Only the first 52 episodes were broadcasted. The series has aired on Cartoon Network Latinoamérica since its debut in the rest of the Latin American countries. In addition to Cartoon Network, which serves many different countries, the anime is also aired on one or more local channels in most regions of Latin America.

Beginning on January 1, 2010, the first season began to air on Tooncast, a sister network of Cartoon Network and Boomerang Latin America[4].

Country Channels aired
Cable Network Locals
Argentina Cartoon Network Latinoamérica
Tooncast
Bolivia
Chile Chilevisión, Mega, Etc...TV
Colombia Caracol TV, Canal Capital, CityTV
Dominican Republic
Ecuador Gamavisión, Ecuavisa, Teleamazonas
El Salvador Canal 2
Guatemala
Mexico Canal 5
Panama
Paraguay
Peru Frecuencia Latina, Panamericana Televisión
Uruguay Montecarlo Televisión (Canal 4)
Venezuela Televen

Cartoon Network

 
Cartoon Network logo

Cartoon Network is one of the most popular children's television channels in Latin America due to its original productions such as Cartoon Cartoons as well as international acquisitions like Dragon Ball, Naruto, Inuyasha and other anime series, including Pokémon. Since Pokémon debuted on September 6, 1999, it has become one of the most popular shows on Cartoon Network.

Cartoon Network has aired every episode and season of the anime that has been dubbed into Spanish, including Pokémon Chronicles and all the movies except for 4, 5 that were issued on Jetix, and 6 and 7 that were issued on DVD. The special episode Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters out of the Gate! debuted on February 8, 2008, and The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon debuted on July 13, 2008.

Year Season(s) aired Movie(s)/special(s) aired*
1999–2000 Pokémon: Indigo League
2000 Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands
2001 Pokémon: The Johto Journeys
2002 Pokémon: Johto League Champions
2003 Pokémon: Master Quest
2004 Pokémon: Advanced
2005 Pokémon: Advanced Challenge
Pokémon Chronicles
2006 Pokémon: Advanced Battle
2007–2008 Pokémon: Battle Frontier
2008 Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Lucario and the Mystery of Mew
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters out of the Gate!
The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon
2009 Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea
2010 Diamond and Pearl: Galactic Battles The Rise of Darkrai
Giratina and the Sky Warrior
Arceus and the Jewel of Life
2011 Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Sinnoh League Victors
2012 Pokémon: Black & White Zoroark Master of Illusions
Black—Victini and Reshiram
2013 Pokémon Black & White: Rival Destinies

With the premiere of each season, the channel performs special promotions such as marathons of older episodes and, in years past, contests and other events. In December of 2002, to commemorate the premiere of Pokémon: Master Quest on January 1, 2003, the channel held a contest called "Los Elegidos Pokémon". To participate, viewers would vote for their favorite episodes on Cartoon Network's website, the most popular of which would be aired in a marathon on December 31, 2002.[5]

Original series

On Cartoon Netowrk, Season 1 premiered September 6, 1999. Season 2 premiered in 2000, Season 3 in 2001 and Season 4 in 2002.

Advanced Generation series

Season 6 premiered on January 21, 2004, but only the first episode. It continued in March 2004 until the finale on December 6, 2004. Season 7 debuted on January 22, 2005 and broadcasted until the finale on September 19, 2005. Season 8 premiered on August 8, 2006 and ran until the finale in October 2006. Season 9 premiered on March 3, 2007 at 2:30pm and ran until the finale on February 2, 2008.

Diamond & Pearl series

The Season 10 premiere February 9, 2008 but only 3 episodes, the show continue in June 2008 and finale September 24, 2008, Season 11 is Premiere in January 5, 2009 at 7pm and finale May 27, 2009, the Season 12 premiere in January 10, 2010 at 7pm in Sundays but in Wednesay at 6pm from June 2010 and finale January 19, 2011, the Season 13 primiere in April 2, 2011 at 12:30pm Saturdays and Sunday but only 26 episodes from July 2011 but return in October 8, 2011 at Saturdays and finale November 26, 2011, Zoroark Master of Illusions premiered on March 10, 2012

Best Wishes series

Pokémon: Black & White premiered on March 17, 2012 at 2pm. On May 5, 2012, the schedule was changed to broadcast at 7am, causing much criticism by fans. On January 4, 2013, the schedule was changed again to Friday at 12:00pm until the finale on February 8, 2013. The movie Black—Victini and Reshiram aired on November 29, 2012 at 12pm in Mexico and 2pm in the rest of Latin America. Pokémon Black & White: Rival Destinies is set to premiere in April 19, 2013.

Dubbing

The Latin American dub of the Pokémon anime is recorded and produced in Mexico. The series has been dubbed by four different companies. Originally, dubbing production was conducted by the company Audiomaster 3000 of Televisa, which dubbed the series from the first season until the first episodes of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge. Audiomaster 3000 went out of business in 2005, leaving the seventh season incomplete.

Thus, the series was rushed to Candiani Studios, which dubbed the series until mid-2009, with many errors of pronunciation and changing voices of several characters, without changing the names of cities and attacks.

On September 26, 2009, AF The Dubbing House confirmed on their Twitter that they would start dubbing Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Galactic Battles, indicating that they were the new dubbing company for the series. This company changed the voices of several main characters and terminology used (attack names and city names from the Iberian Spanish translation), but was able to return Gabo Ramos to the role of Ash Ketchum, because this actor has spent a recurrence in Argentina. However, Televix was unaware that Gabriel Ramos recorded from Argentina, because they thought that Ramos was in Mexico. Upon hearing this they became angry with Dubbing House and Televix stopped distributing the series.

Since the thirteenth season, the series is being dubbed by SDI Media de Mexico as reported in November 2010 via Eduardo Garza's Twitter, which reported that he would be the dubbing director and asked for help to the fans to return to each character's original voice except for Ash's. The thirteenth season had more errors than the previous season, due to the terminology used (attack names from the Iberian Spanish translation), but several of these errors were corrected in the fourteenth season.

The Latin American dub is based on the English dubs by 4Kids Entertainment and The Pokémon Company International, retaining all of their character names, Pokémon names, and any cuts or alterations present in the English dub. 4Kids entirely distributed their dub, but currently, TPCI only licenses the dub while Televix Entertainment was responsible for distributing the series in the Latin American market from 1998 to 2010 and SDI Media Poland from 2010 on.

Pokémon movies

As the series, most of the films have been dubbed in Mexico, the films Mewtwo Strikes Back, The Power of One and Spell of the Unown were dubbed by Audiomaster 3000 under license and distribution of Warner Brothers.

Celebi: Voice of the Forest and Pokémon Heroes (dubbed in Mexico by MADE Productions), Jirachi Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys (dubbed in Argentina by Media Pro Com) were licensed by The Walt Disney Company.

Televix Entertainment was responsible for licensing and distributing in Latin America of Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea and The Rise of Darkrai by Candiani Studios and Giratina and the Sky Warrior and Arceus and the Jewel of Life dubbed by AF The Dubbing House. All this was dubbed in Mexico.

Cast and crew

Many different voice actors have worked on the dubbing of Pokémon in Latin America.

Main cast
 
Gerardo Vásquez

Gerardo Vázquez was the dubbing director for the series from the first season until the sixth season. He was also the director for Diamond and Pearl.

He provides the voices for Team Rocket's Meowth, the Narrator, Koga, Victor, Slowking from The Power of One, and Chatot in AG184. He has worked on several other anime series, dubbing characters such as Raye Penber in Death Note, the Narrator in One Piece, Roberto Hongo in Captain Tsubasa, and other non-anime roles such as Dr. Hibbert, Seymour Skinner, Barney Gumble, Sideshow Mel and Jimbo Jones in The Simpsons (starting from the sixteenth season).

 
Gabriel Ramos

Gabriel Ramos (born September 18, 1986) was chosen by the Nintendo authority in charge of the dubbing in Mexico at that time and so, he provided the voice of Ash Ketchum from EP001 until DP090. He then quit voice acting due to commitments to the Latin American MTV, where he works as a VJ. From DP091-DP104, he was replaced by Irwin Daayán. Ramos made a little returned to dub Ash starting from DP105 thanks to his fans. Although Ramos currently resides in Argentina, he was able to record Ash's voice at a recording studio called Sonar Studio and send the recordings over the internet to the dubbing company in Mexico. However, he is later replaced by Miguel Ángel Leal from DP158 on because the new client did not want Ramos to keep voicing Ash while living in Argentina, since he wouldn't have any voice direction there. Other series Ramos has dubbed for include Ippo Makunouchi in Fighting Spirit, MegaMan.EXE in MegaMan NT Warrior, Remi in the redub of Nobody's Boy: Remi and Gerald (second voice) in Hey Arnold!.

 
Irwin Daayán

Irwin Daayán (born November 9, 1978) was responsible for the voice of Ash in the absence of Gabriel Ramos from DP091 until DP104. Daayán also provides the voices for Samurai, Ken, Drew (starting from Pokémon: Advanced Challenge), Conway, Dome Ace Tucker, and Tate. Daayán is a well-known voice actor, voicing numerous roles in other series including the main roles of Yugi Mutou/Yami Yugi in Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters, Mugen in Samurai Champloo, Goku in Monkey Typhoon and Pegasus Seiya in Saint Seiya: Hades - Chapter Sanctuary and Hades - Chapter Inferno.

 
Xóchitl Ugarte

Misty is dubbed by experienced voice actress Xóchitl Ugarte (born April 21, 1979), who also voices Andi, Kenny, and Angie. She also is famous for dubbing Sabrina Spellman (originally played by Melissa Joan Hart) in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Diva in Blood+. She is the sister of Gaby Ugarte and Victor Ugarte.

 
Gaby Ugarte

Gaby Ugarte (born December 22, 1983) provided the voices for Dawn (from DP001-DP104, DP158-DP191), Melody, Jasmine and Giselle. She also dubs in other series, such as Kuki Sanban/Numbuh Three in Codename: Kids Next Door, Zatch Bell and Zeno Bell in Zatch Bell!, Saya Otonashi in Blood+ and Gwen Tennyson in Ben 10 and Ben 10: Alien Force. Ugarte left the show when dubbing production was moved to AF The Dubbing House, right at the beginning of the Galactic Battles season, coming back in the next season, although she was replaced in the fifteenth season because she was in France at the time.

Leyla Rangel voiced Dawn after Gaby Ugarte left in the 12nd season. Besides giving her voice to Mars during the previous season, Leyla's prominent dubbing roles include Kagome Higurashi in InuYasha, Kimberly Ann Possible in Kim Possible, Estella Malone in JONAS, Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series (from The Goblet of Fire onwards), Ami in Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi, and several of Raven-Symoné's TV and movie roles like That's So Raven and The Cheetah Girls, returned to voice Dawn in the fifteenth season since Gaby Ugarte was in France.

Gabriel Gama provided the voice of Brock from the character's introduction until DP020 (except for DP010), , and stopped because they had problems with Candiani but came back in the 13th season. During the break between Gabriel Gama's return to the cast, Alan Prieto voiced Brock in DP010 and from DP021 until DP157.

Brock was voiced by Arturo Mercado Jr. in Celebi: Voice of the Forest and Pokémon Heroes.

 
Ana Lobo

May was voiced by Ana Lobo from AG001 until AG044. Lobo also is famous for voicing Kagome Higurashi from Inuyasha.

 
Mariana Ortiz

Starting from AG045, May has been voiced by Mariana Ortiz. Ortiz has also provided the voices for Nurse Joy, Erika, Lisa, and Marble. Her other voice acting work includes characters such as Fuu from Samurai Champloo, Kaoru Matsubara from Powerpuff Girls Z and Meg Griffin from Family Guy (starting from season four).

 
Diana Pérez

May's younger brother, Max, is voiced by Diego Ángeles.

Alfredo Leal was the voice for Tracey Sketchit from EP084-EP116.

 
José Antonio Macías

For most of the series (except for AG105-AG110), James has been voiced by José Antonio Macías (born September 19, 1967).

Gerardo García dubbed the voice of James for AG105-AG110. He is also the voice of Harley, Paul (DP002-DP100, DP163-present) and has voiced Tracey Sketchit since EP225, He was also the director for Battle Dimension.

Jessie has been voiced for the entire series by Diana Pérez. Pérez is also well-known for her role of Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece.

Supporting cast

Gary Oak has had five different voice actors in the Latin American dub. He was voiced by Gerardo del Valle up until the end of Pokémon: Master Quest. For the Advanced Generation series, he was voiced by Ricardo Bautista. He was voiced by Benjamín Rivera in DP045 and by Noé Velásquez in DP085. In Pokémon Chronicles, he was voiced by Victor Ugarte, the brother of Xóchitl and Gaby.

Professor Oak is voiced by Hugo Navarrete.

Aside from Mariana Ortiz, Nurse Joy has also been voiced by Christine Byrd, Georgina Sánchez, Mildred Barrera and Liliana Barba.

Officer Jenny has been voiced by Ana María Grey, Mayra Arellano, Isabel Romo, Erika Edwards, and Cristina Hernández.

Argentinian cast

Unlike previous and subsequent movies, Jirachi: Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys were dubbed in Argentina with a completely different voice cast.

May's Argentinian voice actress was Agustina Priscila.

 
Cover of Pokémon: Para Ser Un Maestro!

Music

All of the theme songs used in the Latin American dub are translated versions of the songs from the English dub.

Three Pokémon soundtracks have been released in Latin America. The first, Pokémon: ¡Para Ser Un Maestro!, is a Spanish translation of Pokémon 2.B.A. Master. This soundtrack included a bonus video of the Pokérap that could be played on a computer. It was released by Tycoon Music in Mexico in association with 4Kids Productions (catalogue number 16-KO-001).

A translated version of Totally Pokémon was released as well, entitled Pokémon: The Johto Journeys. This album did not contain any of the karaoke songs from the English release, but it did include an extra song, Pokémon Johto 2.

The soundtrack to Pokémon the First Movie was also released in Latin America. This Latin American version contained all the same songs as the English North American release, but with an added bonus track: Pokémon Theme performed in Spanish by Álvaro Véliz.

Pokémon Trading Card Game

Both English- and Spanish-language cards for the Pokémon Trading Card Game are sold in Latin America. Spanish-language cards are recognized as tournament legal for Pokémon Organized Play.

Pokémon merchandise

 
Pokémon Evoluciones, the latest sticker album of Pokémon that has been published in the country of Peru
 
Different sticker albums, along with an illustrated book of the TCG, released in Chile.

During the height of Pokémon's popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a great number of collectibles and other merchandise based on the Pokémon franchise was available in Latin American countries, including sticker albums, postcards, plush toys, and figurines.

Books from the Pokémon anime novelization series such as I Choose You!, Island of the Giant Pokémon, and Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon have been serialized and translated into Spanish by Norma Editorial in several countries of Latin America.

Pokémon Tazos, collectible discs which resemble Pogs, were available in bags of Frito-Lay chips. These Tazos, which have featured other franchises besides Pokémon, grew in popularity to a level greater than or equal to the early popularity of the Pokémon Trading Card Game in North America.

The Corporación Gráfica Navarrete S.A., based in Peru, is a company known for publishing a wide variety of Pokémon sticker albums. Stickers for these albums are sold separately and are distributed randomly in packs. Each sticker is numbered and is intended to be glued to its assigned spot in the album.

 
Pokémon Mirinda

The album will often have artwork and descriptions that compliment the artwork on the stickers. These sticker albums have been published in several Latin American countries such as Peru and Mexico since the late 1990s. The most recent sticker albums are "Pokédex", which was published in 2007 and was available in Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Puerto Rico; and "Pokémon Evoluciones", was published in 2008 and was only available in Peru.[6]

Burger King has also brought a few of its Pokémon promotions to Latin America, including the recent TCG promotions.

File:Mangastoukan.jpg
Covers of Pokémon Adventures and Magical Pokémon Journey published in Toukan Manga magazine

In Argentina, Mirinda soda released a limited-edition Pokémon soft drink. It was the same as regular orange-flavoured Mirinda, but featured Pokémon characters on the packaging.

Pokémon manga

Pokémon Adventures and Magical Pokémon Journey were both translated into Spanish in Mexico by Toukan Manga magazine. However, neither series was completed and all translated volumes are now out of print.

Community

Most of the Spanish-speaking Pokémon fandom is located in Latin America, as it is a region of countries who speak the same language with the same (or similar) accents. Usually, the fans are followers of the anime and video games because they are governed by the translations of video games (in English) and dubbing (Spanish in the anime dub) in reaching these because they are faithful and are not altered in contrast to other countries. The Latin American fandom is very active in everything that has happened since the release of the first Pokémon video games, even throughout the voice cast changes made in the dubbing of the anime.

One of the largest Spanish-language Pokémon sites is Pikaflash. With 10 years of existence, Pikaflash has become one of the most popular forums in Latin America because of the huge variety of discussion topics, even to the point of being mentioned twice during Team Rocket's motto in the dub. During its early years, Pikaflash focused only on Pokémon, but over time has expanded to include other topics such as other anime dubbed in Latin America, such as Dragon Ball and InuYasha.

Another important Pokémon fansite in Latin America is Pokémon Project. Pokémon Project offers Pokémon-related news, game and anime information. It is one of the most visited fansites because of the content it offers and its interaction with the community of fans who follow the web site. One of the major events made by the community of Pokémon Project was a protest and request for Gabriel Ramos to come back to the Latin American dub.

Trivia

References

External links


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  This article is part of Project Globe, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon franchise around the world.