Have you ever played a video game in another language? Maybe you understood that foreign lingo no problem and were fine. Maybe it was difficult. Maybe you just wanted to play the game in your native language. Then, you'll understand these Chinese Pokémon fans.
As South China Morning Post points out, there hasn't been an official Chinese language version of Pokemon games. The DS and the 3DS have been released in China under Nintendo's China-only iQue brand. But, alas, no Pokémon.
"I've hoped for [a Chinese version of Pokémon] for many years," one Chinese forum commenter (via SCMP). "So far, I've only played the English translations, and when I couldn't play the English I played the Japanese."
Recently, Chinese fan site 52Poke.com created a petition for a localized version of Pokémon X and Y. Over 8,500 people signed the petition, which was written in Chinese, Japanese and English (you can read the English version here).
On August 17, the petition was apparently given to Pokémon Game Company honcho Tsunekazu Ishihara and Pokemon game designer Junichi Masuda at the Pokémon World Championships 2014 during an autograph signing session. Word is that they promised they would take a look at the petition.
In the meantime, Pokémon fans in China have been uploading photos of their Pokémon collections, along with notes written in Japanese or Chinese or even English. The images feature the hashtag #我为口袋中国版随手拍# (loosely, "I'm Taking Photos for the Chinese Version of Pokémon").
Check this out:
Diehards like this are not screwing around with their Pokémon fandom!
It's somewhat inspiring to see Chinese fans writing messages in Japanese like the above "I love Pokémon. Please release it in Chinese."
As crappy as the political relations are between the countries, you can't help but think if only a room full of Chinese and Japanese Pokémon fans could smooth things over between the two countries.
Nintendo, hopefully, is listening to these fans.
Give us a Chinese-language version of Pokémon', China's passionate gamers proclaim [SCMP]
我为口袋中国版随手拍 [Weibo]
Photos: Weibo
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