22-Year-Old Pokemon Games Outsell Everything on Switch

Two Game Boy Advance remakes from 2004 are sitting at #1 and #2 on the Nintendo Switch download-only eShop charts this week, beating out Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades 2, Disco Elysium, and basically every other game you'd expect to see at the top. According to the latest eShop charts for the week of May 23, 2026, Pokemon FireRed holds the top spot with Pokemon LeafGreen right behind it.

On the overall eShop chart, which includes physical releases, FireRed sits at #7 and LeafGreen at #15, both ahead of games like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pokemon Violet, and Hogwarts Legacy. These are enhanced remakes of the original Pokemon Red and Green that launched on the GBA over two decades ago, and they're outselling titles that cost three times as much to make. I love that this keeps happening. Nintendo puts a classic up on the eShop and it immediately reminds everyone that a tightly designed 20-hour RPG with zero microtransactions still has pull against modern releases padded with battle passes and seasonal content.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream still holds the overall #1 spot, which at this point is less like news and more like a weather report. The download-only chart is where things get interesting: Subnautica at #3, Stardew Valley at #5, and the entire Devil May Cry trilogy scattered across the bottom half. Silksong landing at #16 while two GBA Pokemon games dominate the top says a lot about what Switch owners are actually buying right now. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, but FireRed and LeafGreen also happen to be excellent games that hold up without any caveats.