Pokémon in Norway

The Pokémon franchise arrived in  with the launch of the Pokémon Trading Card Game and the release of. Bergsala A/S is Nintendo's distributor in Scandinavia, and as a result the company also owns the Pokémon franchise in Norway.

Pokémon games
The games are released in Norway at the same time as all other European countries. They are not localized to Norwegian, but are in English. The only game released in Norwegian is Pokémon Trading Card Game Online, but only the interface had been translated and the cards themselves remained in English.

Events
Norway receives the same Wi-Fi events as the rest of the PAL region.

Local events do not occur often in Norway. Events were announced at the official Pokémon forums of Norway before its shutdown in 2013. From March 5 to April 2, 2010, players could receive as a Wonder Card at GameStop. In February 2011, was available at GameStop and in Spaceworld stores across Norway.

The third generation received most of the same events as the rest of Europe. Events for the Game Boy Advance games were given out at the national championships for the TCG, but also on other occasions. was given out the first time in fall 2007, and at the TCG championships in 2008 and 2009. The top 10 most wanted was given out the first time in 2006, and the last time before it was sent back to Nintendo was in 2008. Eon Ticket and AuroraTicket have also been distributed in Norway, taking place at several TCG championships. At some national championships, Jirachi has also been given away, although unofficially, via a GameCube bonus disc.

Pokémon anime
The Pokémon anime is broadcasted on Disney XD (previously known as Fox Kids and later Jetix) and TV2 Junior. Most of the Johto saga was skipped and never shown on Norwegian television. The 9th season, Battle Frontier, has never been shown on television, but was streamed online on TV2's streaming service TV2 Sumo the summer of 2009.

Most episodes of the series were simply the American broadcast version with an added dub track, and for certain early episodes, a list of key dub voice actors shown after the American credit roll. Starting with the TV2 broadcast of season 12, which had previously aired on Jetix, actual video edits were done to the episodes, with the English title replaced with a Norwegian one, a new "To be continued" message in Norwegian, and a new set of credits properly crediting the entire Norwegian dubbing staff.

When Pokémon first aired on TV2, the series was accused of marketing Pokémon merchandise. Since commercials and marketing towards children is illegal in Norway, per episode 30, TV2 was forced to edit out Who's That Pokémon?, in addition to the bonus clips at the end of some episodes, such as the Pokémon rap and Pikachu's Jukebox. The ban was lifted after the anime came back from its hiatus with season 6, and some unedited versions of early episodes were also released on home video.

In Norway, the anime is available on Netflix.

Movies
Almost every Pokémon feature film has at some point been distributed to the Norwegian audience. The eighth and the ninth movie have not yet been released in a Norwegian dub. Apart from those two, all movies have been known to be purchasable as home video, either in DVD-format or even VHS for movies prior to Spell of the Unown: Entei. It has not yet been determined whether distributions will arrive in the near future, giving the Norwegian audience access to Pokémon in High Definition. Only the first three movies experienced a theatrical release, as well as being available on home video later on.

The first four Pokémon movies featured the Norwegian dubbers known from the Pokémon anime famous from television, keeping the franchise faithful to its audience. However, this was changed in the next three movies, where the cast of dubbing was partly replaced. In the fifth movie, Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias, the protagonist received a different dubber than earlier. This followed for the next two movies, where additionally Ash's travelling companion was voiced by different actors in each movie. None of them were a part of the original cast known from the Pokémon anime. It was not until the tenth movie saw its debut when the main cast finally was reintroduced. As of today the original Norwegian cast is still responsible for voicing the Pokémon movies.

Cast and crew
The main character, Ash Ketchum, is dubbed by Nils-Martin Crawfurd (born August 19, 1983). 's role was given to Anine Kruse (born November 1, 1977), and was originally voiced by Eirik Espolin Johnson. Even though he passed that role to Erik Skøld (who also voiced Gary Oak and Tracey Sketchit), Eirik continued to voice characters in the anime, such as Hank,, Samuel, Scott (season 8), , Robin, and more recently Trip.

Team Rocket's Jessie, James, and were voiced by Lena Meieran, Ola Fjellvikaas, and Tommy Karlsen (born June 9, 1975), respectively. Karlsen, who is most known for his role as the protagonist Proffen in the popular movie serial Pelle og Proffen, also had many other roles in the series, including Drake,, Maron, , Raoul Contesta (from AG160 and up), and other minor roles. His performance as Meowth is heavily based on Nathan Price's interpretation of the role. In the, he also voices Paul. Ola Fjellvikaas eventually passed the role of James to Kim Fangen, who later passed the role to Simen Sand in the beginning of season 8. Sand's interpretation of James is notably much more flamboyant than Fjellvikaas' rendering, taking inspiration from Eric Stuart's later work in the role. He also took over the roles of Professor Oak (who was originally dubbed by Even Rasmussen) and Harley.

In season 9, Professor Oak's role was given to Trond Teigen, a veteran actor and one of the most prominent voice actors in the Norwegian Pokémon dub, best known for being the voice of the narrator since the first episode. He is also the vocalist for several of the Norwegian opening themes, including the opening to the first season, Pokémon: Battle Frontier and Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension. Teigen voiced many other characters in the series, including, Archie, Bill, , Butch, Conway, Dee Dunstan, Drew, Fitzwilliam, Forrest, , Isaiah, , , , Kerrigan, Nando, Nicholai, Professor Birch, Professor Proctor, , , Sigourney, Tate, , and Wallace.

was voiced by Marit Berg, while her brother Max was voiced by Even Løken Bergan. 's role is performed by Eline Høyer.

Other notable voice actors in the Norwegian dub include Siv Klynderud as Officer Jenny and Hanne Dancke Arnesen as Nurse Joy, with Katrine Blomstrand and Scott Maurstad providing the voices for other characters.

Music
In 2000, the soundtrack album Pokémon 2.B.A. Master was translated into Norwegian under the title . The lyrics are most likely based on the Danish translation as some of it are nearly identical. It could also be the other way around as both the Danish and Norwegian albums are the only known to be released in 2000. Pokémon 2.B.A. Master is the only known Pokémon soundtrack that has been adapted and released for the Norwegian audience. The Pokémon Theme song is the only song with an original cast member from the Norwegian anime dub. It is in fact the same vocalist as in the TV-theme. Furthermore, this signifies that the Norwegian rendition of the album version of Double Trouble does not consist of the voices of Team Rocket.

The Pokérap is the only song which have two versions. The one known from the Norwegian anime dub uses the original cast as vocals, whereas the version on the album Pokémon 2.B.A. Master does not. Pikachu's Jukebox in Norway contains songs from the album, just as in the original English dub.

Some Pokémon soundtracks can be bought from a selection of online stores in Norway, but as a commodity from foreign countries.

Trivia

 * In the beginning episodes of the first season, commands  to use the move, which is not a real attack. ,  and  were later on used.
 * from is the main character whose voice has been changed the most. Just two episodes before the finale of the first season, James received a new dubber also known for the Norwegian voice of . Not until the eighth season his voice was given to an other voice actor.
 * With the beginning of the Battle Frontier season, attacks were not anymore dubbed into Norwegian names. For instance, the move got its English name  instead.
 * that do not follow the anime timeline have not been adapted with a Norwegian dub, although some have been made.
 * There are only three known Pikachu shorts that have been dubbed to Norwegian. These are the specials included in the distributions of the Pokémon movies. This ended with the third movie.
 * The feature length special Mewtwo Returns was released on VHS with a Norwegian dub, using the voice staff from Pokémon the First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back.
 * The Norwegian adaption of the anime has skipped several seasons, partly or entirely. Only 24 episodes from the Adventures in the Orange Islands were dubbed. The Johto Journeys and Johto League Champions were skipped entirely, as well as 52 episodes of Master Quest.
 * The reason why just the last 12 episodes of Master Quest, beginning with EP263, were dubbed is unknown. It may be because the first of these is considered as the first episode in broadcast order for the sixth dub season, despite not beeing called . An other reason may just be for covering 's participation in the Silver Conference.
 * Because of this huge gap between seasons, the only references to the Johto region are via the shortened fifth season, the movies Spell of the Unown: Entei, Celebi: The Voice of the Forest, Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias, and the special Mewtwo Returns.
 * Season nine, Battle Frontier was not aired on television, but was available for free on 's streaming client TV 2 Sumo.
 * There is a recognizable dubbing mistake in episode EP263, where the Pokémon got a misspelling. This also happened in the Norwegian dub with the name.
 * The setting of the Pokémon movie Giratina and the Sky Warrior is based on Norway's nature. Three places were used as inspiration; (the second largest  in the world),  (the largest glacier in Europe), and  (the second largest city in Norway). The scene with the Glacier threatening to destroy the town was based on a little town of, which is threatened by a collapsing mountainside in real life.
 * The song and single Don't Say You Love Me, promoting the official soundtrack for Pokémon the First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back, was performed by the Norwegian group.

Related articles

 * List of Norwegian Pokémon themes
 * List of Norwegian Pokémon home video releases