Pikachu is the mascot of the Pokémon franchise, which began as video games in Japan in 1996 and became a long-running animated series. The character rarely speaks in full sentences, communicating instead through its name and short, expressive sounds, which fans quickly learned to read as happiness, curiosity or confusion. Clips of those tiny vocalisations spread through soundboards, reaction videos and meme edits, where a single squeak can carry a whole joke. That instant recognition keeps Pikachu sounds popular with creators long after their original episodes aired.