The following article is a broad timeline of the Pokémon franchise, also known as Pocket Monsters in Japan, a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, a company founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. The Pokémon franchise is divided into generations. In each new generation, a new set of Pokémon and a new region are introduced for the first time. The first generation began in Japan with the release of Pocket Monsters Red and Green on February 27, 1996. As of 2022, there are currently nine generations of main series video games.