>>50407028The Johto games didn't pay enough respect to Charizard.
The Kanto games have Charizard on the cover, you can get Charizard as a starter, and the champion can have a Charizard as his ace. They are the best selling games in the series.
Sword and Shield also gives the champion a Charizard as his ace, in addition to giving Charizard a special snowflake form and jerking it off at every opportunity. They are the second best selling games in the series.
You might think that because the Johto games have two champions, both of whom have a Charizard, that should have made them the best selling games in the series, but Charizard is not their ace. Lance's Charizard is weaker than all 3 of his Dragonites, and Red's Charizard is not only weaker than Pikachu, but it's... *shudders* ...equal to the other 2 Kanto starters.
While having Charizard as an ace undeniably boosted the sales of Gold and Silver making them the third best selling, forcing it to endure such humiliation knocked the games down a peg. This lack of respect is also the reason why Crystal is the lowest selling Pokemon game in the series. The lack of Charizard worship in GS soured the public's opinion on Johto and made nobody want to buy the third version.