Contrary to populer belief, the Pokemon TV series isn't how the craze was started. It was actually started with the Game Boy game called "Pocket Monsters" in jepang in 1995. It was an instant hit and it eventually got it's own TV series of the same name in April of 1997.

The TV series itself was a huge hit in Japan, at least.....until the infamous December 16, 1997 incident which left about 700 some people sick and forcing the cancellation of the series until the following April (1998). It has continued onward with no further incident.

Also in 1998, 4Kids Entertainment, with Summit Media Group...