2016 is the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise and Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have plenty to celebrate, having sold 279 million games since 1996.

That figure includes spin-off titles such as the Mystery Dungeon games, but even ignoring those spin-off games they have still sold 210 million games.  That's a truly impressive figure and one that is bound to ensure we get plenty of Pokémon games going forward.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary The Pokémon Company have released the original games on the Virtual Console, will be releasing Pokkén Tournament, which we reviewed this week,  and have promised that the new games Pokémon Sun and Moon will be released by the end of the year.  Presumably they'll also be thankful they learnt Pay Day.

Last month we spoke to Serebii.net founder Joe Merrick about what to expect in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Pokémon.  Find out what he reckons is in store in the video below.  We've already had one surprise in the form of Sun and Moon! 

Original information is from Famitsu, with the translation courtesy of Kotaku.