Gaming History You Should Know – The History of Pikachu in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade November 26, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Welcome back to Gaming History You Should Know! I know I promised you guys a burger themed history video yesterday, but I happened to find this incredible video earlier today and had to share it with you all.

The Pokémon franchise has endured for nearly twenty-five years. It has had ups and downs over the years but is currently seeing a second Renaissance of popularity thanks to the incredible success of games like Pokémon Go and Pokémon Sword and Shield. You already know its most popular mascot, the adorable Pokémon Pikachu, has appeared in spin-off games, toys of all sorts, and even feature films but did you know Pikachu has appeared in homes every Thanksgiving for the past twenty years?

Department store Macy’s is one of the biggest retail conglomerates in the United States, and for as long as I can remember, they’ve held a yearly parade every Thanksgiving Day featuring floats, balloons, and musical performances by Broadway cast and marching bands from all over the country. Many of these balloons and floats feature the biggest franchises of the time, and as of today the biggest franchise of the past twenty years, Pokémon and its mascot Pikachu, has made an appearance at the parade every year for the past twenty years.

Today, we will be featuring YouTube Channel PatMac, which did a fantastic history video on the history of Pikachu’s appearance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I can’t imagine a better video to watch in anticipation for Turkey dinner than this.

As someone who has been watching the Thanksgiving Parade this morning I can assure you Pikachu was in attendance, marking his twentieth year of appearance. I can’t find video of the appearance online just yet, but from the looks of it, his Thanksgiving reveal just may be the kick off of Pokémon’s 25th anniversary celebration! Stay tuned here if more details are coming!

Pokémon games are available on many platforms including the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, DS, 3DS, Switch and smart devices.