Pokemon Watch Order - Complete Guide 2026

Watch Pokemon (ポケットモンスター) in release order, starting with Pokemon: Indigo League (1997, 82 episodes) and finishing with Pokemon Horizons (2023). This guide covers 12 entries — 11 essential to the main story and 1 optional side story, spin-offs or recaps — released across 1997 to 2023. By format that is 12 TV series, 1286 episodes in all, roughly 600+ hours of viewing. The essential run is Pokemon: Indigo League, Pokemon: The Johto Journeys, Pokemon: Johto League Champions, Pokemon: Master Quest, Pokemon: Advanced Generation and Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl, plus 5 more. It is a complex watch order: the franchise branches, and the sequence below is the one that keeps the story readable. The numbered list underneath is the short version; the timeline after it gives every entry its year, episode count, essential-or-optional status and the notes that explain why.

1. Pokemon: Indigo League (82 episodes)
2. Pokemon: Adventures in the Orange Islands (36 episodes) (Optional)
3. Pokemon: The Johto Journeys (41 episodes)
4. Pokemon: Johto League Champions (52 episodes)
5. Pokemon: Master Quest (65 episodes)
6. Pokemon: Advanced Generation (192 episodes)
7. Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl (191 episodes)
8. Pokemon: Black & White (142 episodes)
9. Pokemon: XY (140 episodes)
10. Pokemon: Sun & Moon (146 episodes)
11. Pokemon Journeys (147 episodes)
12. Pokemon Horizons (52 episodes)