Pokémon: The First Movie Uploaded to YouTube by The Pokémon Company, Next Two Movies on the Way

The Pokémon Company has uploaded 1998’s Pokémon: The First Movie to YouTube for a limited time. Free for all viewers, you can stream the first Pokémon film that hit theatres and became a seminal part of the franchise.

Pokémon: The First Movie, as indicated by the name, was the first theatrical film of the Pokémon franchise. Spun from the anime series, Pokémon: The First Movie is a full-length film, depicting the encounter between anime star Ash and the nefarious Mewtwo, serving as an origin story of the cloned Pokémon.

As of now, Pokémon: The First Movie can be viewed in its entirety on YouTube. If you have never seen the film, it’s worth checking out simply for its emotional beats and storytelling. As someone who saw it in theatres back in 1998, I vividly remember witnessing the epic scale of the film on the big screen while thinking about how cool it was that a Pokémon movie was actually a real thing.

“The adventure explodes into action with the debut of Mewtwo, a bio-engineered Pokémon created from the DNA of Mew, the rarest of all Pokémon,” the YouTube video’s description reads. “After escaping from the lab where it was created, Mewtwo is determined to prove its own superority. It lures a number of talented Pokémon Trainers—including Ash and his friends—into a Pokémon battle like never before. Mewtwo vs. Mew. Super-clones vs. regular Pokémon. It’s the ultimate showdown…with the very future of the world at stake!”

The Pokémon Company will continue to upload films from the franchise throughout the summer. According to the company, the ‘Pokémon Movie Summer Watch Party’ continues with Pokémon The Movie 2000 and Pokémon 3: The Movie. These films will be uploaded in the coming weeks to watch and enjoy.

Based on the wording from The Pokémon Company, these films will only be available to watch for free on YouTube for a limited time. There’s no official word on when the films will be removed from the YouTube channel so enjoy them while you’re able.