2016 is setting up to be a huge year for the Pokemon franchise with not just the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the series, but also major new entries in the series with Sun and Moon. As with every year, there is also a new Pokemon movie coming out as well and Nintendo is planning to do a special event distribution for that event in Japan, which will be decided by vote.
As compiled by a poster on NeoGAF, Nintendo and the Pokemon Company are holding a “Pokemon General Election” that is exclusive to Japan to decide who is the best Pokemon of all 720 that are out so far. The only one that is being left out of this is Volcanion itself, because it is being given away separately with the release of the new movie Volcanion and the Mechanical Magearna.
The voting is not being done online in any way, but rather in person at Pokemon Center Stores and Toys R Us in Japan, which is likely done as a way to avoid internet spamming for people to get their favorites.
The voting for this starting on April 18 and will run through May 8, but the current top 100 has been revealed, which contained sort of a surprise at the top. You might have expected an old classic like Pikachu or Charizard, but instead one of the modern favorites is on top in Greninja. It is also kind of shocking that the following two are Arceus and Mew, with Pikachu and Sylveon directly behind them. Charizard then comes in after that at #6.
Hopefully Nintendo and The Pokemon Company do something like this in the US, but for now this is a Japanese exclusive content and distribution. Who would you vote as #1 in this contest if you could vote? Make sure to let us know in the comments below.
