Details from a recent meeting at Nintendo has revealed one reason that mainline Pokemon games are built to be released two at a time. There have been nine generations of paired mainline Pokemon games released so far, but the nature of their dual releases is tied to an even more timeless Nintendo mascot.
Starting with the Japanese release of Pokemon Red and Green in 1996, the monster-catching franchise has become an incredibly powerful pop culture force over the span of nearly three decades, having reportedly hauled in more than $103 billion from the time of its launch through 2024. As its most recent mainline release in 2022, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's sales, including related merchandise, have accounted for an estimate of $2.5 to $3 billion of that amount as of October 2025, following the time-tested formula of Nintendo releasing two nearly identical games with monsters exclusive to one version or another.
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Mario's Success Influenced Pokemon's Two-Game-Release Format
Now, with the release of a transcript from a recent Nintendo shareholder meeting, Mario franchise creator Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed one of the reasons behind how the two-game format of mainline Pokemon games came to be. Responding to a question about the sales potential of the Mario Kart series on Switch 2, Miyamoto anecdotally described a conversation he had with Pokemon creator Satoshi Tajiri before the first pair of Pokemon games had been fully developed. During this conversation, Miyamoto remembers Tajiri quipping that in order for another game to surpass the Mario series' success, Nintendo would need to figure out a way to sell two copies of the same game to the same customer. While Miyamoto didn't expressly state that this conversation was the catalyst that led to the duality of Pokemon Red and Green, that was the end result, and the mainline series has followed this formula ever since.
Pokemon isn't the only Nintendo-published franchise of its kind to attempt a two-game release strategy. In 2015, Fire Emblem Fates' controversial release on Nintendo 3DS upset fans by dividing the game's story between two different cartridges, with each placing the game's protagonist one the side of one of two dueling kingdoms, Nohr and Hoshido. Though it was a financial success, the two-game strategy was heavily criticized by fans and seen as a money grab, and Fire Emblem has since returned to a single-game release strategy.
But for Pokemon, the two-game strategy has worked out well, encouraging community-building through trades of version-exclusive monsters and special evolutions. The franchise is popular enough now that the format doesn't seem to be needed, as the newly released spin-off game Pokemon Legends: Z-A's sales already hit the fifth-highest spot in franchise history after just one week. However, the next mainline entry is rumored to still be split into two different games named Pokemon Wind and Waves.
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- Satoshi Tajiri
Source: GamesRadar+