The 2008 Pokémon World Championships took place this past weekend, along with the first-ever Video Game Showdown. Over 400 players from nearly 30 countries qualified for and competed in the Championships, but the United States swept first place in all three divisions of the Trading Card Game (TCG) finals. Additionally, the U.S. won the Junior Video Game Showdown title, while a kid from Hiroshima, Japan, won the Senior division (though I’m not sure if it was revenge-driven or if his mutated genes gave him an edge).

The top TCG dork of each division (Junior, Senior, and Masters) received a $7,500 scholarship, which really makes me wonder why 62-year-old people are even competing in this (the youngest was 6, if you were wondering). I also don’t understand exactly how the divisions are broken up. I assumed it was by age, but unless their is some crossover, it doesn’t make sense. Check out the results:

2008 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Champions – Junior Division

First Place: Tristan Robinson (11) from Denver, CO USA

Second Place: Takuto Itagaki (11) from Japan

Third Place: Simone Zucchelli (10) from Italy

2008 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Champions – Senior Division

First Place: Dylan Lefavour (14) from New England USA

Second Place: Paul Atanassov (11) from Canada

Third Place: Nicholas Kolibas (14) from Boston, MA USA

2008 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Champions – Masters Division

First Place: Jason Klaczynski (22) from Chicago, IL USA

Second Place: Khan Le (15) from Norway

Third Place: Gino Lombardi (18) from Johnston, RI USA

I suppose it’s possible that some of these kids had a birthday between the time they signed up and the time they competed in the finals, right? Yeah, that’s gotta be what it is. I know you probably don’t care about my thought process there, but some people may have had a similar confusion of the divisions, so shut your face.

The Video Game Showdown featured the top 64 players of the videogames Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl from the United States and Japan, which were all flown to Orlando to compete in the finals. The top geek in each division won a “six-day vacation package for four to New York City, Honolulu or Tokyo” and a customized Nintendo DS. The winners include:

Pokémon Video Game Showdown Junior Champion

Knight Silvayne (11) from Chicago, IL USA

Pokémon Video Game Showdown Senior Champion

Izuru Yoshimura (21) from Hiroshima City, Hirsoshima Pre. Japan

I don’t know why there wasn’t a Masters division in the Video Game Showdown, but that conundrum won’t be in my head by the time I finish writing this sentence… yup, it’s gone. Speaking of conundrums, the popularity of Pokémon itself is a real mystery. Want to read some crazy Pokémon facts?

• The Pokémon comic book outsells every other comic book on the shelf.
• After the original Pokémon was released, sales of Nintendo’s GameBoy system jumped 249%
• The Pokémon animated series is broadcast in more than 30 countries in over 25 languages.
• Pokémon episode number 35, “The Ledgendary Dratini”, got banned in the U.S. because too many guns were shown in the episode.
• Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl sold more than 1 million copies in the first five days and more than 14 million copies since their launch.
• Total Pokémon videogame sales of 175 million copies are second only to the Mario series.
• The Pokémon Trading Card Game is the number one collectible trading card game in the world.
• Pokémon is blamed for youngsters becoming materialistic and developing gambling problems.
• Pokémon is banned in Saudi Arabia.
• There are Pokémon commercial airplanes that are painted with a Pokémon motif and the insides are plastered with Pokémon — Pokémon headrests, Pokémon cups, the flight attendants wear Pokémon outfits, etc.

Pokémon scares me.

Tags: airplane, Nintendo, Pocket Monsters, Pokemon, TCG, Trading Card Game, Video Game Showdown, World Championships

• Dueling Dorks Get Their Hands On WarCraft Replica Frostmourne Swords
• Pokémon ‘Dragonite’ Free Giveaway at Toys ‘R’ Us
• Lost Planet Multiplayer Demo Hits PSN
• New Lost Planet PS3 Trailer
• Gears of War Movie of “EPIC” Proportions
• Ripten Real-Time: Capcom Press Conference
• Lost Planet Movie Confirmed
• The Biggest Explosion in Gaming History (Video)

5 Comments »

1. Abaddon on August 22, 2008 3:57 pm

   Well,pokemon is a pristine case of marketing bombarding youngsters and then saying “hey,it is them who keep asking for it” Of course they are consuming it;you are Literally raping their minds.

   The anime,the cards,the toys,the games,the whole package was prepared and then launched with one of the most agressive campaigns since jurassic park,1966’s batman or TMNT.

   Maybe saying this is a sign of aging,but boy,are the kids stupid nowadays…

2. Rafael on August 24, 2008 6:23 pm

   How can you possibly joke with something as serious and Hiroshima and the Atom Bomb? You are disgusting

3. Dan Landis on August 24, 2008 11:11 pm

   Um, because it was 50 years ago (63 to be precise) and none of us were likely alive then. My parents weren’t even alive then. If you really think that not enough time has gone by that we can joke about it, then I feel sad for you and your future heart attack from taking life too seriously. Good day.

4. c&m on September 23, 2008 1:11 pm

   we would like to vs you on pokemon video game so if you can we would like to. to the pokemon masters.

5. Grimerstown on October 14, 2008 5:39 pm

   Tthat was funny about the 62 year olds participating :D

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Comment Now

Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks.

Notify me of followup comments

Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.