Pokémon has built up a legendary status in mainstream media ever since the franchise's debut in the '90s. It became a global phenomenon, exceeding fame outside of its native country of Japan. The franchise evolved--no pun intended--into a multitude of mediums. There are, of course, the video games, trading cards, anime series and anime movies, toys, etc. With video games arguably being one of the most recognizable.
However, in regards to the anime, they have maintained their own separate canon from the video games. But given the high quality of the Pokémon Origins anime miniseries, there is high potential in making anime films out of the franchise that takes heavy inspiration from the games, especially considering that there are eight generations of Pokémon games now. That being said, here are 10 Pokémon games that should be made into anime movies.
10 FireRed & LeafGreen
Now, yes, Kanto has been done to death in the Pokémon franchise in practically every medium that the franchise occupies. However, with FireRed and LeafGreen being arguably the definitive Kanto experiences in video game form, there is something that sets it apart from other Kanto entries and warrants an anime movie, or movies.
Red, Blue, Green, and Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! were quite bare-bones games. They featured very little post-game content and exploration outside of the main story areas. Meanwhile, FireRed and LeafGreen included the "Sevii Islands," featured new areas and species not native to Kanto.
9 HeartGold & SoulSilver
With these being some of the best games in the series, HeartGold and SoulSilver undoubtedly deserve some love and attention in the form of an anime movie(s). A fan favorite rivaling the status of even the Kanto region, these games feature 100 new Pokémon species, the Johto region to explore, and, of course one of the most beloved features in the entire video game series; the ability to travel back to the previous region.
Having two of the best regions to explore, 16 gyms to challenge plus the Elite Four, and, since these games were released during the fourth generation of the series, features 493 total species. Imagine an anime movie, or movies, that feature the protagonist battle against Red from the first generation.
8 Emerald
Unlike HeartGold and SoulSilver, the most complete and content-rich Hoenn region experience wasn't in the remakes, those being Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. While the Hoenn remakes did feature a post-game story revolving Rayquaza, Deoxys, and the myserious Zinnia, it wasn't enough to make up a content-rich post game.
Meanwhile, Emerald featured the Battle Frontier and some more species that weren't native to Hoenn. A game-accurate anime movie in the style of Pokémon Origins with the original protagonists and antagonists featuring this region and the daunting, challenging Battle Frontier would be a sight to see.
7 Platinum
Another great example of a more complete, content-rich Pokémon game. And yet another reason to think that the Nintendo DS was the "golden era" of sorts for the franchise. While keeping in mind that the traditional anime has covered all of these regions, for those that are more so inclined to play the games than consume the other mediums the franchise delves in, it's more important to keep in mind that, for those who at least dabble in anime, it would be great to see an Origins-like adaptation.
Platinum, in addition to featuring the Battle Frontier as well, included the new (at the time) Sinnoh region and 107 new species. An anime adaptation of the plot surrounding Team Galactic and Dialga and Palkia in the style of Origins would be entertaining.
6 Black & White
By the general consensus of the franchise's fanbase, these entries, and the first adventures through the Unova region, were by far the best entries in the video game series, and perhaps even in the history of the whole franchise, plot and story-wise. The plot of the games follows the game's protagonist to battle and defeat Team Plasma who are led by "N," a young man who grew up seeing Pokémon as friends rather than tools for sporting events.
This created an interesting question: were the protagonists the ones in the wrong? Or did Team Plasma and N have trainers pegged wrong? This was the first time the franchise took a deeper level in storytelling in respect to the video games.
5 Black 2 & White 2
Again, by general consensus of the fan base, this was one of the best entries into the video game series story-wise next to the original Pokémon Black and White. The setting is in the new Unova region featuring the 156 species from the predecessors two years after the events of Black and White.
Team Plasma is only half as strong as it once was when N left the organization due to conflicting ideals and after the intervention of the original heroes, Hilbert and Hilda. Anime movie adaptations of these games, following adaptations of the original Black and White, would be interesting plot-wise as well.
4 X & Y
Meanwhile, these entries can arguably be regarded as one of the weakest entries so far. This is due to a mix of factors. It had, by far, the lowest amount of new species, its story, characters and evil team left something to be desired, and it was pretty bare bones in terms of overall content.
However, it is for those reasons that it deserves anime movie adaptation(s) due to the facts that an movie or two could really flesh out and improve the story as well as introduce new and more interesting characters, or revitalize those that are already there.
3 Sun & Moon
Probably the most colorful of the video game entries so far due to its Hawaiian inspired setting are Sun and Moon. While still featuring a relatively low amount of new species, 88 after Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon as opposed to the Kalos region's 72 species, they were certainly improvements on X and Y.
They featured the aforementioned handful more new species than X and Y did and introduced some "quality of life" features as well. An anime movie adaptation could do well to capture the colorful and lively nature of the Alola region.
2 Colosseum
The first entry on this list to fall under the series' "spin-off" category. Pokémon Colosseum has generally been looked upon kindly by fans since it was a rare sighting of a series entry on a console that was also a role-playing game. However, the game wasn't without its limitations. The game only featured 52 obtainable species.
The reason an anime movie or two would be interesting is because of the fact this this game introduced the concept of "shadow" Pokémon. With some tweaking by including a bigger variety of shadow Pokémon, possibly even some that exceed the three generations of species that existed at the time, an anime movie could be interesting story-wise.
1 Ranger
This has to be, by far, the most unorthodox entry to this list. Definitely a spin-off game, it was nonetheless an interesting entry to the franchise in terms of video games. The first game takes place in the Fiore region where the protagonist temporarily captures Pokémon species with a "capture styler."
This being, of course, controlled by the Nintendo DS stylus. It was an interesting gimmick that shook up the way people played the Pokémon franchise. Technically, "Rangers" were in the mainline games as well, appearing as a class of trainer you can battle. However, an anime movie adaptation based on any of the Ranger games would be a fun twist on the formula.