History ScrappyMechanic / PokeMon

* Auctions, first introduced to the player via the aforementioned Cascarrafa gym challenge, have few fans. On the surface, its simple, as you the player compete by bidding with 2 [=NPCs=] over 1 or more of an item. The problem is, things get stupidly expensive very quick, especially since even the cheapest rivals, the children can singlehandedly bring things up many multiples of the base price of the item, with the elderly bidders being the absolute worst. Even more so, this is one of the few methods of getting apricorn balls, and the only method of getting items associated with legendary pokemon [[spoiler:and Atticus's special clothing items.]]

** If you're lucky, certain events may be repeated. Some, however, are done only once and then never again. Had you missed the initial Genesect [=Wi-Fi=] event when ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' were first released in America/Europe, you weren't getting it ''ever'', since unlike Victini, Keldeo and Meloetta, it never got a rerelease during Generation V.

* In the first two games, in addition to the PlayerPersonalityQuiz determining which Pokémon you start with, certain choices of starter are restricted based on your gender. If you're a male player who wants to play as Vulpix, Eevee, or Skitty, or a female one who wants to be Phanpy, Shinx, or Riolu, you're out of luck unless you enter the other gender for your character. Fortunately, you can choose these Pokémon as your partner regardless of your gender, unless they share a type with the Pokémon you did get.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' got rid of this mechanic entirely, replacing it (as well as the Bicycle and Dowsing Rod items) with the much more convenient "Poké Rides", Pokémon that are completely separate from your main party and can be instantly called at any time. This however comes with the cost of removing ''all'' usage of moves in the overworld, even beneficial moves learned from [=TMs=] and level up such as Dig and Sweet Scent. It also came with another annoyance: while Surf, Waterfall, and Fly are still available as [=TMs=], Surf and Waterfall ''are not available until the postgame'' (and Strength, the other somewhat-decent [=HM=] move, is nowhere to be found, with Machamp, the Poké Ride that is used to fill Strength's original overworld use, being the only Pokémon that can learn the move naturally).
** While the mechanics return in ''Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl'' (as since the games are a near 1:1 remake of ''Diamond and Pearl'', the progression obstacles are back), [=HMs=] themselves are still gone, with all of the former [=HM=] functions being built into the Pokétch, and the in-universe explanation given is that the player is calling on wild Pokémon for help. (Amusingly, the Pokémon summoned is more often than not a member of the Bidoof line, which were prime examples of [=HM=] slave candidates in the original games.)

* Mirage Island. It is the only way to obtain the Liechi Berry, but getting to it is frustrating. You have to go to an old man in Pacifidlog Town and hope he sees it on a given day. For him to see it, the ID of one of your party Pokémon has to match a randomly generated number. The chance of getting there is quite small. Fortunately, the Liechi Berry was also held by a Shiny Zigzagoon... in ''giveaways''. What makes this a little better than normal giveaways is that the Zigzagoon with the Liechi Berry is a prize given when you get the Berry Program repaired, one of the ways being directly from EB Games or GameStop at a roughly 3-year campaign (from 2004 to 2007) or from a couple of specific versions of [=GameCube=] Interactive Multi-Game Demo Discs. You can see the problems here: on top of the same problems that physical events that distribute Mythical Pokémon have, you also needed to make sure that the version of the Demo Disc (which rotated) is the one that has the Zigzagoon.

* Unlike many other {{Role Playing Game}}s, ''Pokémon'' games only have one save file. While a natural consequence of the original games pushing the UsefulNotes/GameBoy's limits, it becomes less and less excuseable with [[TechnologyMarchesOn the passage of time]], and this, alongside the ever-growing number of Pokémon to collect -- including all the Pokémon and items that exist only as TemporaryOnlineContent -- actively discourages players from starting a new game, lest all their hard work be gone forever with a lot of effort necessary to completely restore it (and if you have Mythicals? Better get out your hacking tools, because you'll never get legit ones again). The advent of ''Pokémon Bank'' soothes the pain somewhat (you can simply send all your precious Pokémon there and withdraw them after starting a new save), but event-only items like Mewnium-Z will still be lost. The nature of save files on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch gave players a way around this in ''Sword and Shield'', but there's no reason to believe future games will go out of their way to keep this change if it's not inherently built into the console.

* ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'''s evolutionary system is this to many people - before you obtain the National Dex, if you have a Pokémon that attempts to evolve into a Pokémon introduced after Generation I (e.g. Golbat attempting to evolve into Crobat), it will automatically cancel the evolution. Eevee is also incapable of evolving into Espeon or Umbreon due to the fact that the games have no time system, meaning it can only evolve through RSE or XD. Ironically in the latter, you're given the opportunity to receive an item that allows you to evolve Eevee into its Generation II evolutions - a Sun Shard for Espeon or a Moon Shard for Umbreon. They sure sound like the kind of items you wish were in FRLG, and what makes this worse is that the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, and thus XD ''already has an internal clock system anyway''.

* ''VideoGame/MyPokemonRanch'': This UsefulNotes/WiiWare program is basically a Pokémon storage system for Generation IV. There's one problem -- any Pokémon deposited into the ranch ''can only be withdrawn to that same file!'' The program warns you of this repeatedly, showing that this was not an oversight. This means that if you delete your D/P save file after depositing Pokémon, they are trapped in the ranch permanently! This makes it virtually useless for preserving your hard-earned Pokémon when you start your Sinnoh adventure over, something for which previous storage systems were quite useful. Fortunately, Pokémon Bank for Gen VI and (in January 2017) VII has no such restriction, allowing withdrawal of any stored Pokémon to any compatible game.

* With the release of the Pokémon Bank upgrade, you can now transfer all the Pokémon that can be stored in the Bank to ''Sun and Moon''. However, some discoveries were made where certain Pokémon, after being transferred to ''Sun and Moon'' cannot be traded online or Wonder Traded, only locally (most likely, these are poorly-thought-out attempts at hack detection that will eventually be patched out, rather than deliberate exclusions):

** Fossil Pokémon that are found in Alola (Cranidos, Shieldon, Tirtouga and Archen) cannot be traded if they've hatched in ''Sun and Moon'' and have their Hidden ability. Ones that originated from XY/ORAS and earlier are fine for trading.

* Starting in the ''Let's Go'' games, online battles are limited to 20 minutes, down from 60 minutes in the previous games, with no way to increase it or turn it off. The time limit doesn't pause for animations (which cannot be turned off in multiplayer), including the 40-second Dynamax animation, which rarely leaves enough time to complete a 6-vs-6 battle. Alleviated somewhat by ''Scarlet and Violet'' patch 1.2.0 adding the ability to host competitions with battles up to 60 minutes long.

* Blueberry Quests in the Indigo Disk DLC is the only way for you to farm BP (you can earn BP from other sources, but they are one-time only), which is needed to procure certain goods and services in Blueberry Academy, some of which can't be obtained elsewhere (such as the opportunity to catch past starters) thus making BBQ indispensable for players who want those things. However, BBQ comes with a slew of problem that can drive players up the wall.

* Aegis Cave is a mandatory mission that ends up being incredibly tedious if you aren't lucky. All you do is try to solve three word puzzles by spelling out the words ICE, ROCK, and STEEL. To do this, you have to collect stones with the correct letters on them from the Unown. Unfortunately, the Unown that drops the letter you need must be randomly chosen for the list of available {{Mon}}s, then it has to randomly spawn, then you have to ''find it'', and then, after all that, it only drops the damn stone 1/4 of the time! If you don't get the stones you need, you will have to redo the same few floors over and over until you do. You will have to do this again if you want to go back to recruit the legendary Golems, potentially multiple times because only Regigigas is a guaranteed recruit.

* Auctions, first introduced to the player via the aforementioned Cascarrafa gym challenge, have few fans. On the surface, its simple, as you the player compete by bidding with 2 NPCs over 1 or more of an item. The problem is, things get stupidly expensive very quick, especially since even the cheapest rivals, the children can singlehandedly bring things up many multiples of the base price of the item, with the elderly bidders being the absolute worst. Even more so, this is one of the few methods of getting apricorn balls, and the only method of getting items associated with legendary pokemon [[spoiler:and Atticus's special clothing items.]]