The Pokémon games came first, then the anime (show).

Quick Scoop

  • The original Pokémon video games, Pocket Monsters Red and Green , were released in Japan on 27 February 1996 for the Game Boy.
  • The Pokémon anime started later, with its first episode airing in Japan on 1 April 1997.
  • So if you’re wondering “what came first Pokémon game or show” , the answer is: the games launched about a year before the TV series.

Mini Timeline

  • 1996 – First Pokémon games release in Japan (Red and Green on Game Boy).
  • 1997 – Pokémon anime begins airing in Japan.
  • 1998 – Pokémon anime and games reach North America a bit later, but the original order (games then show) is the same.

Why People Get Confused

  • In many countries, the anime aired around the same time the first games released locally, so it felt like they arrived together.
  • Marketing heavily pushed the show, trading cards, and games all at once, which blurred the sense of which was actually first.

TL;DR: If you’re comparing what came first, Pokémon game or show, the Game Boy games are the original start of the franchise, and the anime was created afterward to ride that success.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.