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Within the fictional Pokémon World, Pokémon Centers are special places where Pokémon Trainers take their Pokémon to be healed free of charge. The Pokémon Anime also shows they serve as an inn for them to spend the night before continuing their journey the next day. They have varying architectural designs, but always have a red P on or near them. In the animated series, every Pokémon Center is operated by a family of nurses, all named Joy (hence, the term Nurse Joy refers to one or all of these such nurses), as well as the Pokémon Chansey or Blissey.
If all of a Trainer's Pokémon fall unconscious and are unable to continue the battle, they are taken urgently to the last Pokémon Center they visited.
Real-world Pokémon Centers
Outside of the Pokémon world, Pokémon Centers are huge stores where Pokémon merchandise is sold. There was only one Pokémon Center in the USA, located at Rockefeller Center in New York City. This store closed down in February, 2005 for remodling and reopened on May 14, 2005 as a full-fledged Nintendo store that will continue to sell Pokemon merchandise.
In Japan, there are currently four of these, found in the following cities:
These stores are managed by The Pokémon Company, a subsidary formed by Pokémon's copyright holders for the purpose of managing the franchise.
External links
- Japanese Pokémon Centers page (http://www.pokemoncenter-online.com)
- USA's Pokémon Center page (http://www.pokemoncenter.com) (also an online store)ja:ポケモンセンター