Many cultural brands and movements have been ‘just a phase’ over the course of the last half-century or so. Grunge, BlackBerries, Sidekicks, Myspace, you get the idea. One gaming franchise that seemed to just be a phase in the mid ‘90s, was Pokémon.
However, Pikachu, alongside their ever-expanding roster of pals, endure to this day. In fact, they’re more popular than ever. Initially debuting in Japan for Nintendo’s Game Boy in 1996 (the first generation of games didn’t land on North American store shelves until 1998), Pokémon developer Game Freak’s mainline series has only continued to grow. There are currently nine ‘generations’ of these flagship games, landing on increasingly shiny and powerful handheld consoles.
For the purposes of this article, we’ll only cover off these main titles. While there’s many a spin-off that’s more than worthy of the Pokémon name (we love you, Stadium, Mystery Dungeon, and Detective Pikachu), that list would be absolutely vast. So – to keep things simple, here’s every single mainline Pokémon game, in the order they were released in the U.S.
Related: The Best Pokémon Games Of All Time – Ranked on Attack of the Fanboy
Every main Pokémon game in release order
It is worth noting that some of the games listed in the table below are remakes of earlier titles, usually developed for more modern hardware. The titles of the games alone should be a dead giveaway, however to minimise any confusion, the remakes have also been marked with an asterisk. If you’re using this list in an endeavor to catch ’em all, or become the very best that no one ever was (or perhaps both), we wish you the best of luck. Happy training!
Game | Release Date | Platform |
Pokémon Red, Green and Blue | Sept. 28, 1998 | Game Boy |
Pokémon Yellow | Oct. 18, 1999 | Game Boy |
Pokémon Gold and Silver | Oct. 15, 2000 | Game Boy Color |
Pokémon Crystal | July 29, 2001 | Game Boy Color |
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire | March 19, 2003 | Game Boy Advance |
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen* | Sept. 7, 2004 | Game Boy Advance |
Pokémon Emerald | May 1, 2005 | Game Boy Advance |
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl | April 22, 2007 | Nintendo DS |
Pokémon Platinum | March 22, 2009 | Nintendo DS |
Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver* | March 14, 2010 | Nintendo DS |
Pokémon Black and White | March 6, 2011 | Nintendo DS |
Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 | Oct. 7, 2012 | Nintendo DS |
Pokémon X and Y | Oct. 12, 2013 | Nintendo 3DS |
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire* | Nov. 21, 2014 | Nintendo 3DS |
Pokémon Sun and Moon | Nov. 18, 2016 | Nintendo 3DS |
Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon | Nov. 17, 2017 | Nintendo 3DS |
Pokémon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!* | Nov. 16, 2018 | Nintendo Switch |
Pokémon Sword and Shield | Nov. 15, 2019 | Nintendo Switch |
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl* | Nov. 19, 2021 | Nintendo Switch |
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet | Nov. 18, 2022 | Nintendo Switch |
Published: Nov 2, 2023 12:48 am