''Pokémon Project Studio'' is a creation studio package for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

, released on November 9, 1999, in North America. It was licensed by Nintendo of America, Inc., developed by

Leisure Concepts 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as Leisure Concepts, Inc. and later known as 4Licensing Corporation; stylized as 4K!DS ENTERTAINMENT) was an American licensing company. The company was previously also a film and television production ...

and published by

The Learning Company The Learning Company (TLC) was an American educational software company founded in 1980 in Palo Alto, California and headquartered in Fremont, California. The company produced a grade-based line of learning software, edutainment games, and ...

, with their then-parent

Mattel Interactive Mattel Interactive (Known as Mattel Media until 1999) was a video game publisher and software distributor. History Mattel originally founded the company as Mattel Media in February 1996, as an aim to expand into the multimedia unit by producing ...

handling distribution and publication in Europe. The package has two versions, ''Pokémon Project Studio Red'' and ''Pokémon Project Studio Blue'', and includes the Pokémon from the

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

games ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'' along with art of human characters from the ''Pokémon'' anime series.

Gameplay

From the main menu users can choose the type of media they wish to create including greeting cards, signs, birthday kits, banners, photos, stationery, envelopes, calendars, paper crafts, certificates and stickers. The user can use several included images and templates or they can import custom images into the picture. Each CD contains 81 different Pokémon. The kind of Pokémon they get depends on whether they are running the ''Red'' CD or the ''Blue'' CD. For example only the ''Red'' CD has

Mewtwo Mewtwo (; Japanese: , Hepburn: ) is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's ''Pokémon'' media franchise. It was first introduced in the video games ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'', and later appeared in subsequent sequels and spin-off ...

, while

Raichu Raichu (; Japanese language, Japanese: , Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ) is a List of Pokémon, Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon, ''Pokémon'' media franchise, and the Gameplay of Pokémon#Pokémon evolution, evolved form ...

only appears in the ''Blue'' CD.

Educational goals

The package was targeted at families with the aim of introducing the Pokémon franchise to parents unfamiliar with it, while children enjoy exercising their creativity and imagination.

Reception

Critical reception

The game received favorable reviews, from parents and children alike. Kids Domain praised the game for its easy navigation and attractive look, while irritated by the inability to access the ready-made content. One disappointment highlighted by a ''

PC Accelerator ''PC Accelerator'' (''PCXL'') was an American personal computer game magazine that was published by Imagine Media (currently a subsidiary of Future plc). It was known for its ''Maxim''-like humor and photography. History and profile ''PC Accele ...

'' reviewer was the inability to use all the available Pokémon without having to swap CDs.

Commercial performance

In November 1999, the ''Red'' and ''Blue'' editions of ''Pokémon Studio'' were both among the top ten best-selling

PC games ''PC Games'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine published by the Computec Media GmbH in Germany. History ''PC Games'' was founded in 1992 and included a 3½-in floppy disk, which was changed to a CD-ROM in 1995. By 1999 it became the ...

of the month. By mid-2000,

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

held a Pokemon ProjectROM Contest, which required contestants to write essays on their two Pokémon characters, with the prizes including the two ''Pokémon Project Studio'' CDs. Both the ''Red'' and ''Blue'' versions were also sold together as value packs. By December 2000,

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

sold DJ840C ink-jet printers with free copies of the games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pokemon Project Studio 1999 video games Children's educational video games The Learning Company games Pokémon games Video games developed in the United States Windows games Windows-only games Single-player video games