Nintendo Shuts Down Fan-Made Pokémon Documentary Series PokéNational Geographic
- Sagar Mankar
- 36 minutes ago
- 3 min read
A popular fan-made YouTube series called "PokéNational Geographic" has been forced to shut down after Nintendo of America issued multiple copyright strikes against its channel.
The series was created by an animator known as Elios, who spent three years crafting what can only be described as a labor of love. PokéNational Geographic presented the world of Pokémon through the lens of a nature documentary, imagining how these pocket monsters might actually survive and behave in the real world. The videos gained a massive following thanks to their unique clay-like animation style and surprisingly detailed, educational approach to Pokémon lore.
The series debuted back in 2023 and quickly went viral, growing the channel to nearly 92,000 subscribers. Elios even expanded the content into multiple languages, including Spanish and Chinese versions, with teachers and parents reportedly using the videos in classrooms. It was more than just fan content. It was genuinely educational material that resonated with audiences of all ages.
Unfortunately, that journey has now come to an abrupt end. According to Elios, Nintendo of America began filing copyright strikes against his channel in batches, with over 20 videos being struck down within a span of roughly 12 hours. YouTube's policy is clear: any channel that accumulates more than three strikes faces termination, and Elios confirmed he ended up with four strikes, leaving him with just seven days before the channel is scheduled to be deleted entirely.
The complaints cite the use of Pokémon video game "works, characters, and imagery," but Elios maintains that nearly everything in his videos was created by hand. The only audio borrowed from the games were the in-game creature cries, each lasting under three seconds, which Elios believes falls under fair use. Every visual, every animation, every environment was original work crafted by the animator himself.
Elios addressed the situation directly in a video uploaded on April 26. "I can't really fight this," he said. He also expressed his frustration at the lack of communication, noting that he was open to simply removing the offending videos. "I kind of just wanted to continue this channel at least making stuff for people," he added.
The personal impact of this decision goes beyond just losing a YouTube channel. "I've gotten internships, I've gotten jobs because of PokéNational, because I showed people my animation skills through that," he said. Losing the channel means losing a key piece of his public portfolio.
Elios also pointed out an uncomfortable irony in all of this. Several AI-generated channels had reportedly copied the nature documentary format he pioneered, producing similar Pokémon content using AI tools trained on potentially copyrighted material. Yet those channels appeared to remain untouched while his original, hand-crafted work was the one being taken down.
As of now, YouTube and Nintendo of America have not publicly responded to the controversy. Elios has been downloading his videos to preserve them personally, but he will not be permitted to re-upload them.
"PokéNational is dead," Elios stated.
He does plan to continue creating content on a separate channel called Elias's Entertainment YT, though it will not feature any Pokémon-related material going forward. It is a tough but understandable call given the circumstances. Three years of work, 25 episodes of the main series, plus additional language versions, all gone in what felt like overnight.