Why Pokemon FireRed is Likely Outselling Pokemon LeafGreen (& It Has Nothing to Do with Charizard)

As soon as The Pokemon Company and Game Freak confirmed that Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen were coming to Switch, the two games have been at the top of sales charts. There’s a clear demand for easy ways to play classic Pokemon games, and price is of little contention. Combined with the inclusion of Event-specific legendary and mythical Pokemon in FireRed and LeafGreen, as well as quality-of-life upgrades, it seems safe to say that Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are safely raking in solid sales.

Interestingly, Pokemon FireRed takes the #1 spot while Pokemon LeafGreen takes the #2 spot. It’s unknown what the totals will look like in the end, but history says that FireRed will outsell Pokemon LeafGreen. This is interesting because it flies directly in the face of typical Pokemon sales. For whatever color association fans have with it, every Pokemon game that is red, has a touch of red, or has hues similar to red, is outsold by its counterpart. There are only 3 known exceptions to the rule, with Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen being one of them.

Nintendo typically packages Pokemon version sales together, so it’s pretty much impossible to know worldwide figures for independent versions. However, certain regional and Japanese sales data (via Bulbapedia) make this color association clear and can be extrapolated outward. For example, Pokemon Sapphire and SoulSilver outsold their more red-oriented counterparts, but FireRed and LeafGreen stand out as an exception. By January 2, 2011, the original release of Pokemon FireRed had sold 1.6 million and Pokemon LeafGreen had sold 1.2 million in Japan.

Approximate Pokemon Sales by Version (Where Applicable)

Red (5.02m)

Blue (4.83m)

Gold (3.4m)

Silver (3.5m)

Ruby (2.5m)

Sapphire (2.6m)

FireRed – 1.6m

LeafGreen (1.2m)

Diamond (3.1m)

Pearl (2.6)

HeartGold (1.8m)

SoulSilver (2m)

Black and White (Irrelevant)

Black 2 (1.6m)

White 2 (1.4m)

X (2.2m)

Y (2m)

Omega Ruby (1.4m)

Alpha Sapphire (1.6m)

Sun (1.9m)

Moon (1.7m)

Ultra Sun (1.3m)

Ultra Moon (1.2m)

Sword (2.3m)

Shield (1.7m)

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet (Unknown)

Pokemon FireRed Stands Tall While Nearly Every Other “Red” Version Lags Behind

In nearly every instance, the equivalent “red version” was outsold by its companion: Sapphire outsold Ruby, Diamond outsold Pearl, SoulSilver outsold HeartGold, Black 2 outsold White 2 (Zekrom fusion had red), X outsold Y, Alpha Sapphire outsold Omega Ruby, and Sword outsold Shield. There are only a handful of exceptions, with Red outselling Blue, FireRed outselling LeafGreen, and Sun/Ultra Sun outselling Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon.

In other words, the “red version” sells less than its counterpart across every mainline game except for Gen 1 and 7, with FireRed being the only remake version to outsell its non-red counterpart. In some cases, the difference was as few as 20-100K copies, but sometimes the distinction was in the millions. The big picture is simple: the version associated with any hue of red sells less, for whatever reason, except in three cases across 9 generations. It remains to be seen, if it is even confirmed, how the FireRed and LeafGreen versions sell on Switch, but they are selling well at least.

It will most likely hold true to history with Pokemon FireRed outselling LeafGreen once again. In theory, it could buck this exception and mold itself to the trend, which would require Pokemon LeafGreen to outsell FireRed. But with FireRed taking the top spot in sales charts, this seems less likely.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Sales Are Unknown

While Pokemon sales are typically paired worldwide, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are the first gen with no known difference in sales in Japan or any region. That said, they are the best-selling Pokemon games in series history in Japan, selling over 8.3 million units together. This makes it highly likely that no distinct data will be given for Pokemon Winds and Waves either.

There’s no real reason to believe that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are exceptions to the rule, with it highly likely that Pokemon Violet has outsold Pokemon Scarlet.

Pokemon Winds and Waves Cannot Accurately Contribute to this Trend (Yet)

Pokemon Black and White are excluded from this data for obvious reasons: neither box art nor legendary has any touch of red to them. With Zekrom fusions on the Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 box art, the trend returns to normal. Pokemon Black 2’s black and blue color association outsold Pokemon White 2’s white and red color association. The first games are excluded, so too will the next generation, it seems.

Obviously, the next generation of games has neither color (yet). Pokemon Winds’ color scheme is seafoam green, while Pokemon Blue is a general sea blue. One of the box art legendaries may have some red to it, with reliable Pokemon Winds and Waves leaks saying there is a “wind grandpa and wave grandma vibe” at play. Should either legend have red to them, then they would count and factor in, but as of this writing, neither game seems to have any red association with it.