"GOTTA catch 'em all," they say, so why is Pikachu the only one who's all over the place? Many stores are crowded with the little mouse pokémon's familiar cute face (Pikachu is a mouse-type pokémon, in case you didn't know) though a few of his other pocket-monster buddies grin on the shelves with him.

Nowadays, it seems like no matter where you look there'll be at least one kid wearing a pokémon T-shirt (or socks or even hairclips!), toting pokémon bags, trading pokémon stickers or cuddling some kind of pokémon toy. One time, we even heard a kid sneeze and it sounded a lot like, "Pikaaaaa--CHUUU!!" Sheesh.

No doubt about it, pokémania has caught up with Pinoy kids faster than you can name all 152 (yup, there are two more now) pokémon. Those of you who actually haven't heard of these critters yet probably need to get out of their Squirtle-shells more often.

A little "Pokéhistory"

Pokémon began in 1996 as the latest Game Boy craze in Japan. In the game, the player is an 11-year-old kid who wants to be "The World's Greatest Pokémon Master." To do that, he must catch as many unique and powerful pokémon as he can and defeat other strong pokémon trainers too.

Almost overnight, just about every Game Boy-wielding Japanese wanted to be great pokémon masters and soon all kinds of other pokémon goodies came out followed by a hugely popular animated series.

In 1998, the animated series was released in America and just like in Japan, the show (and all the merchandise that came with it) became an instant hit. Last year, Pinoy kids finally got to see pokémon on TV too and we all pretty much know what happened after that.

Cute stuff: I choose you!

We'd probably need to wait for Guyito to evolve into something like a Charizard before we can fill the pages of JI with all the pokémon toys and collectibles there are around. There are simply too many! A few neat things are more interesting than most though. In Virra Mall, which is practically a pokémon palace because there are more stores there selling pokémon than you can hurl a pokéball at, we found Ash 'n Pikachu kites for only P80.

You can also get fluffy pokémon pillows, three to a pack, for P160 or P320 depending on the size. A bit pricier at P350 and higher are the Palm Pets, pokémon models that react when you put them on your palm. Each character reacts differently like Charmander's tail lights up and Pikachu squeals his name.

Be sure to ask the salespeople for help because the toys are labeled in Japanese and it's easy to confuse Palm Pets with soft dolls or even these little figurines called Pocket Collection.

What we found to be the most expensive of all is the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Basically, it's a game where you and your opponent play trainers and your deck represents the pokémon you have. The deck also has other cards that make your pokémon stronger or cause your opponent's pokémon to bite the dust.

The starter box, containing two 30-card decks and the rulebook for the game costs at least P1,200 while the booster packs, which contain 11 cards and are used to make your starter decks more powerful, are priced anywhere from P350 to P450. There are even individual rare cards with a holographic design that can cost as much as P1,000! Because it's so expensive, many kids just buy the boosters and collect the cards with pokémon pictures without playing the game at all. By March or April, though, retailers say the price of the cards could go down because the Philippine distributors would already get their license to bring more cards here.

Pokémon for everyone

Ralph Emil "Ram" Lee, 12, and his younger sister Armi were shopping for Pokémon stuff at Skybucks in SM Fairview when we decided to ask them who they thought was the most popular pokémon. Ram started ticking off, "Pikachu, Charmander, Blastoise..." while Armi kept chanting "Bulbasaur!"

"Boys like pokémon that look good and are more powerful and girls like the pokémon that are cute," Ram explained, trying to ignore Armi who was bobbing up and down like a Clefairy behind him, "but there are so many pokémon, there are enough for everyone to like."

Pokétrivia anyone?