Hint: The most-played Pokémon games are part of the Game Boy family of games.

In Japan, it would be nearly impossible to find anyone under 50 who hasn’t at least heard of Pokémon, the massively successful Japanese franchise introduced to the world in 1996 through a pair of games developed by Game Freak. As one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, it’s also certainly one of the most beloved by children and adults around the world. With over 25 years of game releases at this point, we were curious to know which specific games have touched the most people’s lives.

Gameage R&I, a top Japanese marketing research and consulting firm specializing in the game industry, recently released the results of a December 2022 internet survey they conducted to determine the most-played games in the Pokémon universe. 2,604 men and women between the ages of 15-59 responded to their questions.

▼ Used Pokémon games for the Game Boy at a shop in Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood

1,029 people, or 39.5 percent, of survey participants responded that they have played some kind of Pokémon game, which also includes those outside of the core RPG series and even the Pokémon Trading Card Game. They were then asked to list which individual games they have played, resulting in a ranked list of 27 total games. While all core Pokémon RPG games feature commonalities such as the player’s goals of defeating the Elite Four to become the Pokémon Champion and complete…