Pokémon fans treated to massive freebie that's a true blast from the past

Nostalgic Pokémon fans can now enjoy a big freebie all from the comfort of their own computer.

Pokémon as a franchise has been around for nearly 20 years. Debuting in 1996, the craze has spawned countless games, TV series, movies, and merchandise.

Outside of games, fans may associate Pokémon more closely with the anime series and its movie tie-ins. My first exposure to the franchise happened with that anime series, and I still enjoy it to this day.

In total, there have been 1,336 episodes of the anime and 23 animated films to date. And now, Pokémon fans can enjoy one of the series’ most significant releases all for free.

The YouTube channel Pokémon TV has uploaded the entirety of Pokémon: The First Movie that you can watch for free.

Prior to this, the movie was pretty difficult to watch. I couldn’t find it on any streaming services available in the UK, so it seemed like grabbing a DVD copy was the only way.

Check it out by clicking play below.

The movie has been uploaded to YouTube in 1080p quality, and offers voice acting dubs in multiple languages. Interestingly, it doesn’t include the original, far superior Japanese dub though. There’s presumably a legal reason there.

Originally released in 1998, Pokémon: The First Movie was a spin-off of the animated series and featured Mewtwo luring a number of Pokémon, including Ash and his friends, into a showdown.

It was directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, who went on to direct pretty much all of its sequels over the next 20 years, as well as continue his work on the animated series.

It’s a good dose of nostalgia if you fancy checking it out, and it’s pretty cool to see something like this uploaded in its entirety for free.

It makes me wonder if The Pokémon Company plans on releasing the other movies onto YouTube for free too. I think my favourite when I was a kid was The Rise of Darkrai, so it’d be neat to see that again after all this time.