Playing through all nine Pokémon generations would cost you nearly $900

With Pokémon‘s 30th anniversary on the horizon, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A just around the corner, I’ve been thinking a lot about the series’ storied history, and our various adventures through the nine distinct regions we’ve visited so far. Of course, many of us started our journey in childhood, collecting games as we aged, but how much would it cost someone to play through all nine generations in 2025?

When embarking on this thought experiment, it’s important to note that I didn’t just want to work out the cost of playing every Pokémon game in order. As a series, Pokémon isn’t afraid of a remake or two, so playing each individual game isn’t necessary to get a full picture of the story so far. Instead, I set out to find the cheapest route for a newcomer to visit all nine Pokémon regions (and Hisui), including the price of the hardware.

So, let’s start with the handhelds. To cover the series’ history, you need handhelds from the Game Boy Advance, 3DS, and Switch families of devices. Based on my research, you can nab an original Game Boy Advance for around $70 (or $190 if you want it refurbished with a backlit screen), an original Nintendo 2DS for around $125, and Amazon has a great deal on a turquoise Switch Lite for just under $155. That brings the total hardware cost alone up to $350, but, of course, you’re not limited to just playing Pokémon on these devices, so they’re worth it, in my opinion.

What about the games? Going into my research, I assumed that the recent number of Pokémon remakes for newer consoles would come out on top as the cheapest options for their respective generations. My prediction was right for all generations except for gen two. HeartGold and SoulSilver aren’t just heralded as some of the best Pokémon games of all time, but as some of the best DS games ever made, too, so it’s actually significantly cheaper to get your hands on an old Game Boy Color cartridge of Pokémon Silver than it is to buy either of the remakes.

However, other remakes like Brilliant Diamond, Let’s Go Eevee, and Omega Ruby make the earlier Pokémon generations significantly more accessible. Plus, if you’re playing the games in order, Let’s Go Eevee is a wonderful introduction to the series for beginners, incorporating Pokémon Go-inspired motion controls, local co-op, and the follow-along buddy system that helped Pokémon Yellow stand out all those years ago. According to our Pokémon Let’s Go review, Holly thinks it still holds up in 2025.

As for the Hoenn stories, as much as I’d love to recommend playing Emerald rather than ORAS, you can’t deny the price difference, with ORAS averaging out at $40, and Emerald selling for around $200 without the box or manual. Understandably, the more recent the generation is, the cheaper the games typically are, but generation five is a notable outlier. Both Black and Black 2 are going for roughly $60 each, and you need to play both to get Unova’s full story, as Black 2 serves as a direct sequel, rather than an alternate storyline. Their inflated prices reflect just how beloved they are in the community, but also the fact that Nintendo didn’t print as many Black 2 and White 2 carts on release, as the game launched towards the end of the Nintendo DS’s lifecycle.

After generation five’s games, the price fluctuations calm down, with the remaining games going for $50 or less, thanks to low resale value and frequent sales on new copies. The barebones approach means I haven’t included the DLC for the Pokémon Switch games, but, as much as I love the Kitakami region, these areas aren’t exactly essential. Once you bundle all of these games together along with the required hardware, the rough cost of the cheapest route through all of the Pokémon regions is $855.91 – somehow still less than the price of all the Sims 4 expansions.

Here’s a detailed price breakdown based on my research:

There you have it, the cheapest way to experience the full Pokémon story. Honestly, people love to complain about remakes, but if they make older Pokémon games more accessible, I’m all for them. As Pokémon Black and White remake rumors continue to surface, I’m praying they actually come about, as I’d love to visit Unova on my Nintendo Switch 2.