The Pokémon series is celebrating its 24th birthday in Japan today since it’s Feb. 27 in the Land of the Rising Sun.

On this day 24 years ago, the first games in the Pokémon series, Red and Green, were released. This was just the start of what’s become one of the biggest video game franchises in the world.

Fans in the West, however, still have to wait a bit before celebrating when the games first made it over to the U.S. and Europe. The original Pokémon Red and Blue didn’t launch in the U.S. until September 1998, two years after the Japanese release.

When the first two games were launched, nobody could’ve predicted Pokémon’s influence on the world. There have now been eight different generations of Pokémon titles over two decades.

The series has gone from strength to strength with over 1,000 episodes of the Pokémon anime airing and millions of Pokémon cards circulating the globe. The franchise doesn’t seem to be slowing down much either, so we expect Pokémon to be around for a long time.

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