Pokémon in Latin America

This article is about the the Pokémon franchise in the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America. For the franchise in Brazil, see Pokémon in Brazil.

Pokémon in Latin America
File:Latin America Flags.png Flags of Colombia, Chile, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Ecuador
Language	Latin American Spanish
Continent	The Americas
Original anime airdates
EP001	September 6, 1999
AG001	January 21, 2004
DP001	February 2, 2008
BW001
XY001
SM001
JN001
HZ001

The Pokémon franchise first reached Latin America on September 6th, 1999, with the first broadcast of Pokémon, ¡Yo te elijo! in Latin American Spanish on Cartoon Network Latinoamérica.

Pokémon video games

All of the main series Pokémon games have been released in Latin American countries, but only Pokémon Red and Blue Versions were available in the Spanish language. All subsequent Pokémon games have only been available as imported versions of the English-language North American releases. Most of the spin-off titles (such as Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Stadium) have been released in Latin America as well, but like the main series Pokémon games, they are only available as English-language imports.

Pokémon video games comercials

As in many countries like USA and Japan, are displayed in television commercials produced by Nintendo, as video games of Pokémon, Mario and others. However, unlike the commercials that are original and made in each country, in Latin America commercials are from the United States and as the only change you have is their Spanish dubbing done in Mexico.

During the decade of the 90s, Nintendo's commercials appeared in all local TV channels from countries of Latin America such as Chile and Mexico. However, due to the rise of piracy in Latin America mainly by illegal sales of video games for consoles such as PlayStation of Sony, Nintendo decided not to invest much money in Latin America and changed many policies on the marketing of Nintendo video games in Latin America. Today, Nintendo's commercials only show cable television channels like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and others across Latin America.

Have been dubbed into Spanish commercials Pokémon video games, Pokémon Yellow, Pokémon Gold and Silver, Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team and Pokémon Platinum.

Pokémon anime

The Latin American dub of Pokémon airs or has aired in the following countries: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. The anime has aired on Cartoon Network Latinoamérica since its debut. In addition to Cartoon Network, which serves many different countries, the anime is also aired on one or more local channels in most regions of Latin America.

Dubbing

The Latin American dub of the Pokémon anime is recorded and produced in Mexico. The series has been dubbed by three different companies. Originally, dubbing production was conducted by the company Audiomaster 3000 of Televisa, which dubbed the series from the first season until the first episodes of the seventh season. Audiomaster 3000 went out of buisness in 2005, unable to complete the Pokémon: Advanced Challenge series. Thus, the series was rushed to Candiani Studios, which dubbed the series until mid-2009. On September 26, 2009, AF The Dubbing House confirmed on their Twitter that they would start dubbing Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Galactic Battles, indicating that they are now the current dubbing company for the series.

The Latin American dub is based on the English dubs by 4Kids Entertainment and The Pokémon Company International, retaining all of their character names, Pokémon names, and any cuts or alterations present in the English dub. 4Kids entirely distributed their dub, but currently, TPCI only licenses the dub while Televix is responsible for distributing the series in the Latin American market.

Movies

Most of the movies were dubbed in Mexico, except for Jirachi: Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys, which were dubbed in Argentina with an entirely different voice cast. The movies Mewtwo Strikes Back, The Power of One and Spell of the Unown were licensed and distributed by Warner Brothers. Celebi: Voice of the Forest, Pokémon Heroes (dubbed in Mexico), Jirachi Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys (dubbed in Argentina) were licensed by The Walt Disney Company. From the eighth movie onward, VIZ Media has been responsible for licensing and distributing the Pokémon movies in Latin America.

Cast and crew

Many different voice actors have worked on the dubbing of Pokémon in Latin America.

Gerardo Vásquez

Gerardo Vázquez was the dubbing director in the series since the first season to sixth season, and from Diamond and Pearl season until Battle Dimension season. He also provides the voices for Team Rocket's Meowth, the Narrator, Koga, Victor, Slowking from The Power of One, and Chatot in AG184. He also dubs in other anime series, such as Raye Penber in Death Note, the Narrator in One Piece, Roberto Hongo in Captain Tsubasa, and other non-anime roles as Dr. Hibbert, Seymour Skinner, Barney Gumble, Sideshow Mel and Jimbo Jones in the dub of The Simpsons from the sixteenth season.

Gabriel Ramos (born September 18, 1986) provided the voice of Ash Ketchum from EP001 until DP090. He quit voice acting due to commitments to the Latin American MTV, which he is a VJ. During the last fourteen episodes from the eleventh season, he was replaced by Irwin Daayán. Gabriel returned to dub Ash from DP105 onward. Although currently residing in Argentina, Gabriel Ash's voice recorded in an audio recording studio called Sonar Studio where they receive through Internet the script of the dialogues translated from English to Spanish and the video of the episodes. Voice recordings of Gabriel are sent to Mexico through Internet. He also dubs in other series, such as Ippo Makunouchi in Fighting Spirit, MegaMan.EXE in MegaMan NT Warrior, Remi in Nobody's Boy: Remi (redub) and Gerald (second voice) in Hey Arnold!.

Irwin Daayán

Irwin Daayán (born November 9, 1978) was responsible for the voice of Ash in the absence of Grabriel from DP091 until DP104. Irwin also provides the voices for Ken, Drew (starting from Pokémon: Advanced Challenge), Conway, Dome Ace Tucker, and Tate. Irwin is a well-known voice actor, voicing numerous role in other series including the main roles of Yugi Mutou/Yami Yugi in Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters, Mugen in Samurai Champloo, and Goku in Monkey Typhoon and Pegasus Seiya in Saint Seiya: Hades - Chapter Sanctuary and Hades - Chapter Inferno (TV version dub).

Misty is dubbed by a longtime voice actress Xóchitl Ugarte (born April 21, 1979), who also voices for Andi, Kenny, and Angie. She also is famous for voicing in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch is Sabrina Spellman (played by Melissa Joan Hart) amd Diva in Blood+.She is the sister of Gaby Ugarte and Victor Ugarte.

Gaby Ugarte

Gaby Ugarte (born December 22, 1983) who provides the voices for Dawn, Melody, Jasmine and Giselle. She also dubs in other series, such as Kuki Sanban (Numbuh Three) in Codename: Kids Next Door, Zatch Bell and Zeno Bell in Zatch Bell!, Saya Otonashi in Blood+ and Gwen Tennyson in Ben 10 and Ben 10: Alien Fotce.

Gabriel Gama provided the voice of Brock from the character's introduction until DP020, after which he left for unknown reasons. He was replaced by Alan Prieto, who has provided Brock's voice from DP021 onward. Brock is voiced by Arturo Mercado Jr. in Celebi: Voice of the Forest and Pokémon Heroes.

Ana Lobo

May was voiced by Ana Lobo from AG001 until AG044. Starting from AG045, May has been voiced by Mariana Ortiz. Ana also is famous for voicing in Inuyasha is Kagome Higurashi.

Diana Pérez

Mariana Ortiz has also provided the voices for Nurse Joy, Erika, Lisa, and Marble. She also dubs in other series, such as Fuu in Samurai Champloo, Kaoru Matsubara in Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z and Meg Griffin in Family Guy from the fourth season.

Mariana Ortiz

May's younger brother, Max, is voiced by Diego Ángeles. In Jirachi: Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys, May was voiced by Agustina Priscila and Max was voiced by Enzo Fortuny.

José Antonio Macías

For most of the series, James has been voiced by José Antonio Macías (born September 19, 1967). However, for episodes AG105-AG110, he was voiced by Gerardo García, who also provides the voices of Paul and Harley. Jessie has been voiced for the entire series by Diana Pérez. She also dubs in other series, such as Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece.

Tracey Sketchit was voiced by Alfredo Leal from EP084-EP116. Starting from EP225, he has been voiced by Gerardo García.

Gary Oak has had five different voice actors in the Latin American dub. He was voiced by Gerardo del Valle up until the end of Pokémon: Master Quest. For the Advanced Generation series, he was voiced by Ricardo Bautista. He was voiced by Benjamín Rivera in DP045 and by Noé Velásquez in DP085. In Pokémon Chronicles, he was voiced by Victor Ugarte, the brother of Xóchitl and Gaby. Gary's grandfather, Professor Oak, is voiced by Hugo Navarrete.

Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny have both had several voice actresses over the course of the series. Nurse Joy has been voiced by Christine Byrd, Georgina Sánchez, Mildred Barrera, Liliana Barba, and Mariana Ortiz. Officer Jenny has been voiced by Ana María Grey, Mayra Arellano, Isabel Romo, Erika Edwards, and Cristina Hernández.

Music

All of the theme songs used in the Latin American dub are translated versions of the songs from the English dub. A Spanish-language translation of Pokémon 2.B.A. Master was released, entitled Pokémon: ¡Para Ser Un Maestro!. A translated version of Totally Pokémon was also released, entitled Pokémon: The Johto Journeys. This album did not contain any of the karaoke songs from the English release, but it did include an extra song, Pokémon Johto 2.

Pokémon Trading Card Game

Both English- and Spanish-language cards for the Pokémon Trading Card Game are sold in Latin America. Spanish-language cards are recognized as tournament legal for Pokémon Organized Play.

External links

• Pokémon on Cartoon Network Latinoamérica's website (in Spanish)

This article is part of Project Globe, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon franchise around the world.