The way in which Pokémon has soaked into the fabric of pop culture is incredible. There probably aren’t many people who have never heard of the series. Or haven’t, at least, seen a picture of Pikachu. The character is simply iconic, and you don’t need to have watched the series to have some familiarity.
I haven’t watched a lot of it, personally. But as a kid, I always thought Pokémon was cool. I caught a few episodes here and there, but I’ve never watched the (many) series from the beginning. So, I thought it would be interesting to see where I should start, and continue, if I’m ever ready to fully dive in. If you have no clue in which order to watch—keep on reading.
Note: the animated specials and spin-off series are not required watching, but are fun.
How to watch Pokémon in order
- Original run (1997-2002)
- Advanced Generation (2002-2006)
- Diamond and Pearl (2006 – 2010)
- Spin-off series: Pokémon Chronicles (2006)
- Animated special: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out Of The Gate! (2006)
- Animated special: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness (2008)
- Black & White (2010-2013)
- Spin-off series: Pokémon Origins
- Animated special: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Animated Shorts (2015)
- XY (2013-2016)
- Sun & Moon (2016-2019)
- Journeys (2019 – )
As far as animated films, there have been quite a bit. But so far, there’s only one live-action to date—Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019). There’s legitimately no escaping this franchise if you wanted to. It’s everywhere. There’s the anime, the live-action movie, toys, cards, and collectibles, etc. If you wanna catch ’em all, you better start now.
(featured image: The Pokémon Company)
