Most Popular Pokémon Crowned in Japan

ash-greninjaLong live the King. Although I stuck Dunsparce up top, the results collected in Japan for the most popular Pokémon out of all 720 where as follows:

  1. Greninja
  2. Arceus
  3. Mew
  4. Pikachu
  5. Sylveon

Court jester, ie: least popular Pokémon, went to poor Simisear. Results were perhaps unsurprising given the frequency at which Greninja and Pikachu appear in the anime and promotional goods, along with Sylveon. What do you think of the results?!

<3 PJ

FEATURED DISCUSSION: Shiny Pokemon Stories!

Supporters

Help support our work by becoming a Patron on Patreon! Swadloon Platoon members and above will be added to our site supporters list!

230 thoughts on “Most Popular Pokémon Crowned in Japan”

      • Greninja has knocked Pikachu of its throne in terms of popularity, and is basically now the face of Pokemon in Japan. You’d be surprised how sensitive corporations (in any branche) are to that.

        Charizard has never been as popular as Greninja, and also doesn’t have a unique transformation (not counting mega atm) like Greninja.

        Why wouldn’t be possible?

        Reply
          • Ash’s Charizard is popular, but has never been as popular as his Greninja. Not so hard to figure that one out. Ash’s Greninja is basically Ash but as a Pokémon, not even Pikachu is that similar to him. I think thats why Greninja is so popular, because he truly reflects what Ash stands for.

  1. I don’t think this is entirely a popularity survey. It’s also partially a giveaway survey, which prooooobably explains the multiple mythicals in the top 5. <3

    Reply
  2. I can’t say I’m really all that surprised and can’t say I really care. I will say I’m a little disappointed that Simisear was the least liked…… I actually really like Simisear a lot! and the fact that it’s last makes me sad……lol

    Reply
  3. Hmmm, why can’t amparos or Dialga be there, al least sylveon made it, I wonder what would happen if this went to other countries.

    Reply
  4. Honestly, who is surprised by these results. Greninja is extremely popular in Japan due to his abilities, Protein, and Ash-Greninja. I’m just stunned that Charizard is not on the list or the Top 5.

    Reply
    • You can’t, that’s how

      You should focus on Mega Ninjask
      Hp the same
      Attack +50
      Def +10
      Spdef +10
      Speed +20
      It’s ability would be either Speed Boost or Technician or Adaptability
      It’s body would be relatively the same with the exoskeleton sharper and leaner, it’s “helmet” get two sets of horns facing back, and it’s little arm things grow these cool-ass Katana Blades as claws
      And it gains a third pair of wings and they’re pointy and vaguely resembling a Shuriken

      “After Mega Evolving its speed is off the charts, it can quickly strike an opponent in rapid succession in the blink of an eye”

      Reply
      • That actually sounds nice i would give it a different type than flying BUT its the only type that matches so flying can stay. Ability wise i would give it a new ability that power ups slash and claw moves. Any names?

        Reply
        • I was going to give it Dark typing because y’know ninjas and they’re much more relentless now, they could probably land 100 slashes in the time it takes to blink
          Tough Claws?

          Reply
  5. #BetterNerfGreninja
    Lol i used simisear on one of my black runs. Relooking it i dont like simisear just its stance with its hands to the sides just makes it look weird. But there are worse options but people probably forgot. IE Maractus

    Reply
    • Panpour… Ducklett… and I guess that’s it for early game thingies.

      Panpour is great when it levels up to get Scald or finally grabs Surf but it’ll be really poor for a while.

      Reply
    • I just replayed it, panpour is excellent if you wait for evolution, but you could get a better hm slave out of ducklett for fly and surf, iirc

      Reply
  6. This is also off topic, but if I wanted a shiny starter in XY (literally any) would it be easier to soft reset my X or MM my Y? If O SR it would give me a reason to play through the game again, so I’m leaning toward that, but I haven’t decided yet.

    Reply
    • I imagine it would be faster to do the masuda method. You do have to go through the entire intro sequence if you’re SRing.

      Reply
      • True, but I can save right before the starter selection. I have had no luck with MM so far. I did it one time and it took me ~2500 eggs to get one shiny with the charm and everything.

        Reply
        • The closest you can get to right before the starter selection is before the long conversation with your “friends”, and if you want to nickname your character it’ll take a while too. Then you have to wait till the battle with Shauna.
          It takes a while. Far longer than doing the masuda method. MM is the safer route.

          Reply
    • Masuda is definitely easier, but I think it’s less rewarding. I SR’d for a shiny Fennekin on my X version, Chicorita on SS, and for a shiny Treecko on OR. It’s really up to luck — It took me nearly full odds (7000+ SRs and 4 months) for my Fennekin, 3 days for Treecko. I’ve hatched a shiny Buneary in D/P/PT at full odds in 39 eggs, but seen others take so much longer using the Masuda method.

      It doesn’t help that each SR on X/Y is ~2 mins

      Reply
  7. I feel sad for Simisear. I am using it on my Y Wedlocke playthrough and it’s putting in work. It’s also kind of cute as well. <3

    Reply
      • A Talonflame. Yeah, I know the type pairing is totally bad, but they are my power couple.
        My naming theme is various mythologies/gods, so his name is Koujin and she is named Pele.

        Reply
        • Naming themes are tough for me to come up with. A few of my ideas are flowers, minerals, I don’t really know. I’ve used snack foods, candy, and mythology so far.

          Reply
          • I usually like naming themes, I just like that part about Nuzlockes, but yeah they can be pretty tough.
            I’ve used this one plus Disney characters, Colors, Band/Music, and ATLA/LOK. I’m definitely gonna have to do food, dessert, gems, and flower themes soon. I think I will save the flower theme until I do a SM Nuzlocke/Wedlocke, since I think it fits so much.

          • I have considered colors, but I always thought it would be bland. Especially since some of the more exotic colors are towns in Kanto.

          • True, but there are a ton of shades of colors. I haven’t even used half of them, so I might revisit the theme once I run out of ideas.
            The fav of that playthrough was a Minccino/Cinccino named Alabaster. Sadly a crit Aqua Tail from a Basculin did him in. I stopped playing for the day, that’s how bad it was.

          • I think it is more difficult for wedlockes because I would want polar opposite categories for different genders and that’s harder to come by.

      • I like them better than a standard Nuzlocke, it’s the story aspect (I’m kind of a shipper myself)
        But I play both of them depending on the game/what I feel like doing.

        Reply
        • I’m bad enough at a nuzlocke. Isn’t a wedlocke the one where you can only switch between two pokemon?

          Reply
          • Yeah, only one pair in battle at a time. Basically your team is divided into 3 pairs of two Pokemon.

          • In my noob days(emerald) I had truoble getting past the game normally, as I was only training sceptile like an idiot. So it was like lv 75 at the elite 4 and my other pokes were in their 30’s(exp share)

        • If you read the next few comments, it says, but I’ll explain it.
          Nuzlocke is just a standard one, when it faints, it is gone, nicknames, and one per route.
          Wedlockes, however, are a variation started by Marriland, one of the first Poketubers I know, really. Basically, it’s standard rules plus you pair one female and one male Pokemon togeher. So your team is divided into 3 pairs of two Pokemon of opposite gender. In battle, you use only one pair until they faint (you can switch between pairs between battles but not during a battle). It makes it a little difficult.
          If you look up Wedlockes, you can get more info 🙂 Google is your friend.

          Reply
  8. Hey you guys. .. I posted this really late in another article but..

    I think we need a Signature flying Pokemon this Gen. Especially because some may prefer to fly from island to island if possible.

    Lapras is the Surfer, Gogoat you ride, both have special animations for this..
    Now we need a big Bird who does and has the same.

    Reply
  9. Watch, because the top 50 or so pokemon are bursting with legendaries, Gamefreak will be like, “They must want a ton of legendaries in the next gen! They’re all so popular! Let’s make twice as many more!”

    Reply
  10. I got an interesting idea for a gym, it will never happen, but here goes:
    The gym leader is a cop and the gym is a prison, you have to get to the cop by finding a jail key which one of the officers has, who are the gym trainers. You could put past villians in the series into the cells which will mention little blurbs of their life or teams. (Like the arrested Sages from plasma or Charion from platinum)

    He would be a steel type gym leader with these appropriate pokemon:
    Magnezone, Klefki, Aegislash, Lucario, and a new Pokemon.

    The cop turns out to, once you beat him, reveal some info related to an old friend who helped arrest all these criminals, revealing he was in fact Looker, except he would use his real name!

    This concept is entirely for fun, do not take any of this as fact, but feel free to leave your thought on the concept~

    Reply
  11. Alas we are but a mere week until E3
    So a better question remains, will Corocoro beat E3 to the punch with leaks

    Reply
  12. You know what I’m Really looking forward to.. .
    Those Epic Animation Trailers they’ve been making Since black and white…
    I think they skipped making one for X & Y but I’m sure they will fit these with all the Hype!

    Reply
  13. I finished Y version today and made a little review thing about it on the forums. But it was cool! I love that ending so much. I love AZ and his backstory and all that. I want more of him!

    Reply
  14. I can not understand for the likes of me how or why greninja has become anyone’s favorite Pokemon let alone voted the new most popular. It’s tongue is WRAPPED AROUND ITS OWN NECK. How is that apealing? Mind. Fucking blown.

    Reply
  15. Maybe Children have voted Greninja as the number 1 Pokemon in hope that Ash’s will become available, I mean there is a lot of event Pokemon on this list.

    Reply
  16. So I had a very obscure idea for a Fakemon
    i wanted to experiment with Pokemon consisting of multiple entities
    I.E. a small school of piranhas
    So basically three of the same ravenous eating machine that work with its triplets to take down much bigger prey

    Reply
        • My thoughts exactly imagine three feeding frenzy fish that just go wild, latching on to prey and quickly tearing off chunks of the prey all working together
          But the problem is writing the biology on how they always stay together

          Reply
          • Uhhhhhh that’s more of detecting objects
            I need more of a instinctive bond or unity

            My original concept was literally a stack of them, they would be conjoined at the top and bottom and they would just feed

          • Fish like the anglers for example use chemical colors, maybe they line up according to colors which mean different things. Like green means “ok, swim together” (idle), Purple Means “Scatter!” or Blue means “Defend us!” or red means “Attack!” and they could be markings more or less than Lumineon’s or Finneon’s.

          • Hmmmm maybe I’ll up the anti
            They would consist of three-four deep sea fish cross between a Piranha and a Fangtooth
            Dark green and grey coloration with bright white teeth, on top of their faces is dorsal fin tipped with a flashing lure, they communicate and send battle formations by flashing various colors
            They work together to take down their prey

          • If you want, i got some free time, i could design your fakemon if you can link me to the fish you wanna use and tell me how many of each.

Leave a Comment