While the first Pokemon games released in Japan 30 years ago in 1996, it would take another two years before they would make their way to the west, taking the world by storm and growing into the multimedia giant we know today.

Now, thanks to the Video Game History Foundation, we have footage of Nintendo showing off Pokemon at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 1998. This was a few months before the official release of Pokemon Red/Blue in the west, and was likely many people’s first exposure to the concept outside of Japan. The promo explains what the games are all about, as well as just how big a deal Pokemon was in Japan prior to its western release. One wonders if anyone attending the presentation at the time could have guessed how big of a phenomenon it would be overseas.

You can check out the Pokemon part of Nintendo’s 1998 E3 presentation below, or view it in full here.

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