What are the Best Selling Pokemon Games in history? Have you ever wondered which are the best-selling Pokémon games in history? If you are a fan of the franchise Game Freak, Nintendo and Creatures, without a doubt, you have surely asked yourself the question.
Pokémon is currently the most profitable entertainment franchise in history, not only for game sales but for all spin-off material: movies, cartoon series, letters, merchandising (stuffed animals, figurines, disguises), mobile applications, etc.
Pokemon, according to 2018 data, reportedly raised a total of $59,100 million since its appearance in 1996. In comparison, Star Wars is second with $42.9 billion and Hello Kitty is third with $41.1 billion raised since its inception. But we’re going to focus on the best-selling video games on consoles, whether handheld or Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or Nintendo 3DS, where the license has always been stronger. Also desktop consoles like Light switch where we have always seen a few episodes, even if they are sold less because they are often spin-offs.
Best Selling Pokemon Games
These are best selling pokemon games by version. That is, counting separately the versions like Pokémon Yellow from Pokémon Green, Red and Blue. The figures appear in millions of copies sold:
Pokémon Green/Red/Blue – 31.38 million
Pokémon Sword/Shield – 24.27 million
Pokémon Gold/Silver – 23.10 million
Pokémon Diamond/Pearl – 17.67 million
Pokemon X/Y – 16.62 million
Pokémon Sun/Moon – 16.28 million
Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire – 16.22 million
Pokemon Black/White – 15.64 million
Pokemon Shiny Diamond / Shiny Pearl – 14.65 million
Pokémon Yellow – 14.64 million
Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee – 14.53 million
Pokémon Omega Ruby / Pokémon Alpha Sapphire – 14.5 million
Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver – 12.72 million
Pokémon: Legends Arceus – 12.64 million
Pokemon FireRed / LeafGreen – 12.00 million
Pokémon: Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon – 9.09 million
Pokemon Black 2 / White 2 – 8.25 million
Pokémon Platinum Version – 7.69 million
Pokémon Emerald – 7.06 million
Pokémon Crystal – 6.39 million
Pokémon Stadium – 5.46 million
Pokemon Pinball – 5.31 million
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness – 4.88 million
The Best Selling Pokemon Games for generations
You can also look at the millions of units sold of Pokémon according to the video games of each generation, that is, joining the titles that were launched much later than the others but in the same generation. We will only focus on the main franchise titles. Here are the 5 most successful generations of Pokémon in terms of sales:
Pokemon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow – 46.02 million
Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal – 29.49 million
Pokémon Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon – 25.37 million
Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum – 25.36 million
Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald – 23.28 million
It is true that many games have several versions and this increases sale, and it is also true that Nintendo franchises such as Mario Kart or Wii Sports have higher gross figures given that they do not have different versions, but there is no doubt that a Pokémon release week celebrated by Nintendo and its fans with millions of guaranteed sales. This is one of those licenses that increase machine sales.