The worldwide Pokémon craze of the late 1990s was called Pokémania.
Pokémania describes the explosive popularity of Pokémon as the games, anime, trading cards, toys, and films spread beyond Japan. The original games had launched there in 1996, but the franchise expanded internationally from 1998 onward. This coordinated growth helped Pokémon become a major presence in children’s entertainment and popular culture.
The English-language anime, the release of Pokémon Red and Blue, and the arrival of the trading-card game all helped drive the phenomenon. Pokémon: The First Movie also became a major theatrical event after its North American release in 1999. The term captured not just game sales, but the unusually broad reach of the entire brand.
Pokémania is sometimes used loosely for any period of Pokémon popularity. Historically, however, it most specifically refers to the late-1990s international boom. The accent mark in “Pokémania” follows the franchise’s stylized spelling, although informal writing sometimes omits it.