News – Greninja Crowned Japan’s Favourite Pokémon
Who exactly is the most popular Pokémon? With 20 years of history and 720 to choose from with more coming soon, it’s certainly not an easy question to answer. Yet, that’s exactly what The Pokémon Company recently set out to answer in Japan, when it asked Pokémaniacs from across the country to vote for their favourite Pokémon.
What’s more, with over half a million votes being registered, it proves that the Japanese public certainly are passionate about their favourite Pokémon. So, out of the entire Pokédex, which one was crowned the winner? Well despite being able to choose from classics such as Charizard, Mewtwo, and of course the series mascot Pikachu, it seems like the Japanese public have other ideas about who is the greatest.
Don’t believe me? Well just check out the list below which names the top 12 as voted for by the Japanese public.
Here are the top-12 Pokémon:
12th – Eevee
11th – Mewtwo
10th – Meloetta
9th – Charizard
8th – Zygarde
7th – Rayquaza
6th – Genosect
5th – Sylveon
4th – Pikachu
3rd – Mew
2nd – Arceus
1st – Greninja
So there you go, surprisingly it’s not Pikachu who’s the nation’s favourite Pokémon. Of course, there are definitely some fan favourites in the list, but there’s also some shocks, none more so than the Ninja inspired water / dark type frog Pokémon Greninja who took 1st place.
What’s more, it wasn’t even a close call, with Greninja taking just over 15% of the overall vote, something which constituted a wide lead over 2nd place Arceus. As such, to celebrate Greninja’s victory, The Pokémon Company will be giving everyone who attends the latest Pokémon movie in Japan a commemorative Greninja for Pokémon X & Y / Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire.
Nevertheless, this list only represents the top 12. So if you’re wondering where your favourite Pokémon placed, The Pokémon Company also revealed the next 88 placed Pokémon, in order to collectively reveal Japan’s 100 favourite Pokémon. As such, places 13-100 can be seen in the image below.
So, do you agree with the result? Would you have voted for Greninja, and if not, did your favourite Pokémon chart in the top 100? Personally, I thought it was a shame not to see some of my favourites in the list, such as Pelipper, Crobat, and Poliwhirl. Though some of my other favourites such as Gengar and Salamence are there so it’s not all bad. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.