Uri Geller, the millionaire paranormalist, is suing the computer giant Nintendo for more than £60m for allegedly using his image in its best-selling Pokemon game without his permission.

He claims that a Pokemon card he discovered while Christmas shopping in Tokyo is based on him. The "pocket monster" portrayed on the game card and collected avidly by children all over the world, carries two bent spoons in its hands, and is described on the card as a magician and "psychic".

But the most telling similarity between the Japanese monster and the Israeli psychic is its name. While in the west the monster is called Alakazam, in Japan its name is "Un-geller" and comes in two versions, Good Un-geller and Evil Un-geller.

Geller said he was never asked permission for the use of his name and image by Nintendo, whose computer game monsters have spawned a worldwide toy industry valued at £60bn.

If Geller is proved right and the character is based on him, even if by carelessness or accident, he could be due vast damages from Nintendo.

Japanese Pokemon cards are highly sought-after and traded the world over. The Un-geller cards are worth around £20 in specialist shops and internet sites. British shops sell the English version for around £10.

"They can't just make money out of my name and image and try to get away with it by changing the name of the card outside Japan," Geller said yesterday. "I've already had several emails from people asking is it really me on the card and saying how I must have been given a fortune by Nintendo for using my name.

"I'm very angry about this. I wouldn't have given permission for an aggressive and, in one case, evil character to be based on me. This is not even anything to do with the old question of whether I'm a magician or a real psychic. It's a straight theft of my persona."

Pokemon are pocket-sized Japanese monsters with strange names. In the Pokemon playing cards, computer games and cartoons they are now acknowledged as the world's greatest toy craze.

There are 151 Pokemon monsters, but none is based on a real person.

Uri Geller's Tokyo lawyer, Yoichi Kitamura, is convinced the Un-geller card is a clear breach of copyright and will this week issue the first writ against Nintendo. Geller is also instructing lawyers in Europe, America, Latin America and Australasia. In the US his lawyer is filing a suit for $100m damages.

Geller discovered the Un-geller cards last week while Christmas shopping at the Pokemon Centre, a store in Tokyo devoted entirely to the Pokemon phenomenon.

At first, he said, he was simply bemused when the store manager rushed out from his office continuously bowing, as hundreds of children thrust Pokemon cards at him to autograph while chanting what sounded like Uri Geller.

Surrounded by controversy since he started bending spoons at the age of three, the 53-year-old former Israeli paratrooper has always guarded unlicensed use of his name. His lawyers are also considering action against the furniture chain Ikea over a stool called Uri, which has bent and twisted legs.

Nintendo in Japan said it would not comment before it had received an official complaint.

A British spokesman for the company said: "I can't imagine Uri Geller would have such a following in Japan that they would name a Pokemon card after him."

Two groups of American parents are suing Nintendo under racketeering laws. They claim that by deliberately making some Pokemon cards rarer than others, the company is promoting illegal gambling.