Who’s that Pokémon? The top 10 most asked Pokémon questions answered (mostly)

With Pokémon Day right around the corner, complete with a new Pokémon Direct, fans around the world will be tuning in to see how the franchise evolves in 2023. While they’re hoping that questions surrounding future releases and DLC for Scarlet and Violet will be answered, digital marketing agency The Audit Lab were interested to see which Pokémon related questions are most asked online. So, they used keyword search data to find their answer.

Starting off nice and easy, the 10th most asked question is simply people wanting to know where they can buy cards. Toy stores are your best bet if you want to pop in and buy a pack, otherwise there are plenty of specialist card retailers to choose from online. Given the immense popularity of the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) at the minute, still maintaining the jump of around 50% in searches we saw during lockdown in 2020, it won’t be too difficult to start hunting for some rares.

Continuing the trend for questions about the TCG, we have people wondering what the most expensive Pokémon card is. While the first thought for many will be the original base set Charizard, the answer actually lies in Illustrator Pikachu, a promo card from Japanese publication CoroCoro. A Pokémon art competition was held, in which the winners were given these special edition cards which occasionally appear for sale, always fetching high prices. Thanks to the antics of internet personality Logan Paul, this card smashed all records when he purchased it for $5,275,000 last year, crowning it the single most expensive Pokémon card ever sold. Not one you’re likely to add to your collection any time soon.

On the surface, the 8th most asked question on the topic of Pokémon is a simple one – when was it released? Pokémon Red and Green were released on 27th February 1996, which is why Pokémon Day is held on the 27th, and why 2021 saw the series celebrating its 25th anniversary. However, this is far from when we saw the games released in the west. Those outside of Japan never saw the release of Red and Green versions, instead receiving the updated Pokémon Red and Blue games on 28th September 1998 in North America, and 5th October 1999 in Europe. This is a far cry from the simultaneous releases you would expect today.

Linking back to question nine (the most expensive Pokémon card), the title of rarest card is once again held by Illustrator Pikachu. It’s a title I doubt we’ll ever see taken away!

Our first Pokémon GO related question of the list sees people clamouring for how to evolve their Eevee into Umbreon. This is a Pokémon that’s much loved by the community, and the favourite ‘Eeveelution’ for many, until the introduction of a certain bow tie wearing entry that shall remain unnamed (for now). The answer? Just walk 10km with Eevee as your buddy and evolve it at night! There’s also a trick involving nicknaming your Eevee specific names that are references to the anime to get the specific Eeveelution you want, however these can only be used once per account. For Umbreon, you can nickname your Eevee ‘Tamao’ and then just evolve it using candy. In doing this, you’ll skip the 10km walk distance and nighttime requirements.

The 5th question sees fans looking for the method to get Sylveon in Pokémon GO, the most recent Eeveelution released alongside Pokémon X and Y to promote the new fairy typing. Sylveon was an instant hit for many, regularly appearing in lists for most searched and favourite Pokémon ever since its introduction. Like Umbreon, in Pokémon GO, Sylveon requires a few hoops to jump through before you’re able to evolve your Eevee; you have to set the Eevee you wish to evolve as your buddy and earn 70 buddy hearts with it. This isn’t an easy task, requiring a few days of walking, feeding and battling before you can safely use 25 Eevee candies to evolve it. Of course there is also the nicknaming trick, with the one for Sylveon being ‘Kira’ if you can’t wait!

While there’s plenty of fan-made editions, you can actually do this on Nintendo’s website. Here, you can do the quiz at the start of the spin-off title Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: DX to find out which of the playable Pokémon you would be, although there is a limited selection.

Thankfully, The Pokémon Company have come to our aid with their own expansive series of video guides. The guides cover every aspect of the card game in a much more accessible way than we could explain here. While it can be daunting, once you’ve grasped the basics, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a Pokémon Master. We’ve recently even seen a brand new online version of the game, Pokémon Trading Card Game Live, which makes it easier to get into than ever before. Plus, it allows you to get a taste of the game before you invest in some cards.

There are countless tutorials online on how to draw Pokémon in all manner of styles. Amongst these are official-looking artwork, to pieces with a bit more creative freedom, as well as beginner tutorials if you’re just starting out your Pokémon art journey. Pokémon has one of the most active and thriving artistic communities, full of other artists to learn from and engage with to help constantly evolve your art. If you have a 3DS lying about, there’s even the Pokémon Art Academy game if you want a step-by-step guide on the whole process before you put pen to paper.

And here we have it, the most searched Pokémon-related question. Just how many Pokémon are there now? After 27 years and nine generations, the official count now stands at an impressive 1,008. But this is just for distinctive species. Adding in the 59 regional forms, 48 mega evolutions, and 32 Gigantamax forms, you’re left with 1,147 Pokémon – an amount no one could have predicted when the games were first released. The beauty of the series lies in the fact that every Pokémon is somebody’s favourite, with every new reveal and release having adults and children alike saying “I love it”. It may only be a few short days until we see this number increase again, with the possibility of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC introducing new Pokémon. This prospect is very likely considering what we saw in the expansions for Sword and Shield, or perhaps we’ll see a new entry in the Pokémon Legends series. We know you’ve gotta catch ‘em all, but this is getting ridiculous.