People dont give Pokemon credit because the games have barely changed from Red to Heart Gold, so people dont really care as much now.

@scabab90

If that's true, then why are they still amongst the best selling games with each new release? People still care and people still love pokemon. The core mechanics hasn't changed much it's true, but there have been some good additions. Personally I've haven't had as much fun since Gold as i've had with Platinum.

Thats because the original was great and if the sequels barely change then there still gonna be good, so theyll still sell.

The Modern Warfare 2 wont differ much from COD4 but everyone will buy it because COD4 was awesome.

@scabab90

They did change over the time. Of course the main mechanic of catching pokemon, evolving them, battling with them and trading them hasn't changed, it's the primary reason for the game. That's like saying FPS's haven't evolved because they still involve shooting things...

Yeah but really the new Pokemon added are the only reason worth buying a sequel.

Every game sees a young boy in a small village that just so happens to have the greatest Pokemon mind habiting there, who tells you to explore Pokemon for him, you have a rival, you collect Pokemon, get badges, stop some Team Rocket organization, enter Pokemon league and become Pokemon master.

Same every time

Going by sales, Pokemon and Mario win. But going by Popularity...there's a question to which would win. You have to remember, there's still less games in the Dragon Quest series than Mario and even Pokemon, even with Dragon Quest come out some 10 years before it (and influencing it greatly).

There could be an argument made that Dragon Quest takes more time (and puts more quality) into making its games than some other series, even Pokemon. And, while I'm a fan of both Pokemon and Dragon Quest, I'd say Pokemon has been a series divided, with one 'main' series and a number of spin-offs of varying quality and range of sales. Whereas Dragon Quest has been a rather stable series with every game getting a large amount of attention put to it, because the same 'core' team works on all the games (even the spin-offs).

Ultimately, the argument comes down to popularity however. And I don't know if that question can be answered. In terms of sales, Pokemon definitely wins. But in terms of popularity...I'd have to say Dragon Quest still wins simply because when a Pokemon game comes out, other games still sell around it. When a Dragon Quest game comes out, the nation shuts DOWN and other companies clear their schedules for 3-6 months (okay, exaggeration, but Japan really does see an impact).

An interesting fact is that Dragon Quest is the only old japanese franchise that grows in popularity. Pokemon's popularity has greatly decreased compared to the Gameboy installments, same happened with Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Gran Turismo, Dynasty Warriors and so on. That is by no means a surprise considering that japanese videogame market has been continiously shrinking during this console generation.

Yet Dragon Quest somehow manages to be growing.

Do you mean in Japan?

WHile I agree with you, there was actually one generation where Dragon Quest seemed to have a slight decrease in popularity, at least in sales numbers.  And that was in the PS2 gen.  Dragon Quest VIII sold about 15% less than DQVII on the PSX.  And the last gen also saw a decrease in 'spin-off' titles, as well as high sales for the ones which did come out.  But as for wither the PS2 title was less popular than the PSX title, that's debatable.  Many magazine polls and other sources place Japanese opinion for Dragon Quest VIII as being one of the series favorites, right under DQIII and V.

And of course, everything has changed this gen, with the DS and Wii and the return of ever rising sales, and the seemingly popularity for the series as it returns to its roots.

I have to day DQ.