Legitimate question and hopefully some good responses. Every game in the series is always the highest rated on this site and many others and even the hacks are in higher regard than other franchises. From my experience every game is the same formula of gameplay, you use your character on your overworld to challenge other trainers and then go in the turn based 4 option attack mode with your pokemon.

Also the story is always mediocre and generally about a new kid moving to town and he wants to become the best trainer and he encounters some problems on the way. So my question is why is a franchise that is the same game reskinned very time with bad storylines and eyes shut easy difficulty the most popular among nintendo gamers if not all.

I think it's because everyone can enjoy the games, there's no real "age" the game is seemingly made for anymore.

I played my first pokemon game when I was a little kid, and I still play it from time to time. The games are easy and there is barely any plot, but it's a good time waster, and a quality one at that. There's just something to be said for a game being accessible.

Its because there is a lot of ways to create a hack and you can enjoy it. More ideas are being sprung to action and more aexciting roms are being uploaded.

I think it is because people love the ability to create their own character or team and not be forced to have these abilities instead of these ones.I also think people love it because it is an easy game to hack.

I have personally never understood the appeal of Pokemon games, but I do appreciate the fact that they draw a lot of the younger generation into gaming.  The more gamers there are, the more money pumped into the industry which creates more opportunities for the gaming community to thrive and grow.

   Well, Pokemon is popular is because you can discover tones of Pokemon around the Pokemon Universe! Plus, its really fun and addicting to kids 6-13.

I would have to say that it's because of the fantasy aspect. You go to a land where all of these magical creatures are (I know they aren't literally magical) with cool abilities. Also, a lot of gamers love collectibles in games. Finally, at it's core, Pokemon is a big collection game: Collect badges, collect pokemon, etc.

I don't enjoy it, but that's a few reasons why I used to.

Well is like raising a pet but making them into fighting animals to become stronger than anybody else.

I, as a fan of the series, find it difficult to really pinpoint one aspect about it that I like, so this question is usually difficult to answer. So I'm going to try the best I can to list why I, a Pokémon fan, like the series:

In no particular order:

1) Nostalgia - When I was a child, me and my friends would play Pokémon together all the time. We built fond memories and those come back, even when playing the newer Pokémon games. Since the overall game feels very samey, it's easy to think of previous games. You know what to expect and you get the same feeling when you play.

2) Collecting - As Eirinn: said before, people like me enjoy collecting things. In all of my games, I have worked really hard to collect all of the Pokémon, which you can only accomplish after you collect the eight badges and defeat the elite four (basically, beat the game). It used to be a fairly easy task if you had a friend with the opposite game you had (for example, red and blue) but now, it's a fairly difficult task.

3) Control - Though you have a lot of restrictions, awesomeguy279: pointed out that you can do whatever you want with your team. Instead of being restricted to certain characters that you may or may not like (like in many RPGs), you're able to select from TONS of characters (Pokémon), choose their abilities, and watch them grow up and mature (erm...evolve).

4) Storyline - Yes, the storyline is very samey throughout the series. However, there is one big thing that you know to expect: the good guys win. No matter which Pokémon game it is, if Nintendo releases it, you will always beat the bad guys in the long run. There are scenes where you will encounter trouble, but overall, there's no drama. People don't die, people don't get divorced, the people are more open to giving you free things because you're there. It's basically the ideal society and a predictable good-guy-beats-bad-guy scenario.

5) Appeal - Frankly, each Pokémon has a form of appeal designed to attract people to like them. Some Pokémon are strong, some have interesting types and abilities....I find that I prefer Pokémon because they're cute. They look cute and that is the appeal that I lean towards. If someone sees a creature/Pokémon and thinks: "Awww, that's cute." They're more likely to show interest in it.

Erm....that's all I can think of, but I'm sure there is more to it. And I understand that not every game is for everyone, Pokémon included, so hopefully I have informed my standing on why I like it? ^^;;

Babby's first RPG, a great example of the Game Boy's tech, plus it had an awesome anime series. Had. It died after the first series. Back to the game (I just lost the game), it helps people interact with others since you need to trade Pokemon, and you can battle, etc. There's also breeding for perfect IV's and natures, then EV grinding. It's an easily accessible franchise, but it's Meta game is deep

For me, I like the feeling of power that the games give you.  Otherwise, it's a bandwagon effect. Lots of people love them, so why not you? It's pretty effective in deciding things like this.

Because it deserves to be. It is a very successful franchise, ranking in on the second most popular video game franchises of all time (behind Mario),and the games are fantastic; they require skills and strategy.

Because Pokemon is a fun game that has online battle and it gives you that sense of wanting to be best.

because its a fun game in a world filled with werid creatures that all kids and adults can enjoy. completing the pokedex or finding every creature

Well I think the main reason is because of all you can do. It's one of those games where you want to collect everything and become more powerful. Therefore you end up playing more and more. It's the addictiveness of it. He story is also quite interesting where you travel different areas trying to catch new Pokemon and get them stronger.

I think that the Pokemon series is so popular is because there are many purposes in the game which makes it more fun and challenging. I guess competition is the key. There is competition like beating the gym leaders then going to the Pokemon League to beat the best in the game. Also, people collect Pokemon to complete their pokedex or make the strongest team ever in order to beat other people in battle. The series appeals to everyone throughout all ages which boosts up Pokemon's reputation more. There is just many aspects that keep people motivated in games and that's why Pokemon is so popular.

I think it's because the game was made for all ages. It has also been out for years and it always stays unique and fun to most older players hearts. The game is based to play for anybody so it opens a wide variety of all kinds of people to play it.

The biggest appeal is probably that anyone can learn to play it. You honestly could give a copy of any of the games to your friend and you wouldn't have to know the previous storyline or what bad guys there were last time. You could just jump right in and play the game without thinking about it. It's also a great start to get into video games and well, it was wonderful for the time as well. Honestly, the biggest appeal of the Pokémon games is that anyone can get into them. Another thing, who wouldn't want a five foot tall puppy? The biggest appeal has always been its fantasy and the wide open sandbox and the idea of being the "best". So of course it's a widely popular game.

I guess it's that the idea of these games are so simple, you will be a young boy or girl who wants to become the "Master" by catching" mythical creatures in the fantasy world. Those kind of things just lure the kids to play these games (and of course older people too.)

By training some little bird it evolves bigger, better looking, stronger etc. So that is also a good reason, people wants to see what will be it's next form, what will it learn etc.

Don't really know what else to say.....

I think there are too many reasons for its popularity to really mention. However, I kind of thought of another reason earlier in another thread, and I think it's worth consideration.  Although many people complain about the lackluster plot, it's really a good thing for busy people or people that aren't serious gamers. It's easy to get into the game, play it, put it down and not touch it again for awhile... then pick up exactly where you left off.  I think this is a major positive aspect of the game that sort of gives it a timeless feel.