>>37264952>but because of heavy shilling on animeCharizard was definitely the most popular starter of its generation even before he debuted in the anime. Although you do have to take into account he and Blastoise were on the cover of their games, so they got extra exposure. Even then, you can't attribute all his popularity solely to the anime, although he did end up debuting in the anime less than a year after the game released.
Greninja is an even more extreme version of that. It didn't appear in the cover or had any other significance in the games. As a matter of fact, he was instantly the most popular of his generation 2 years before his anime debut and plenty of months before the Smash announcement, so once again, the anime had little to do with it.
Incineroar has had some exposure, but always in small doses, although his popularity was always middling at best. It took until Smash for him to become somewhat noticeable.
The anime had little to do in their overall popularity and i honestly can't believe people use the Post-DP seasons as examples of mainstream opinion influencers when the anime has been pretty irrelevant since then.
