History GoddamnedBats / Pokemon

* Tentacool and Tentacruel are the Zubat/Golbat of the sea, attacking every couple of steps on water routes. They have the confusion-causing Supersonic, the poison-inducing Poison Sting, and, worst of all, ''Wrap'', which the target from attacking or running away. Their weaknesses are easy enough to take advantage of and they aren't too difficult to run from, but dammit if they aren't annoying for how frequently they appear.

* Diglett and its evolution, Dugtrio, are hard-hitting physical sweepers with high Speed and Attack. In Gen I, their speed allows them to achieve an insane CriticalHit rate of 20%+, with ''regular moves''. Throw in the "higher critical rate" Slash and they land a critical hit ''almost 100%'' of the time, putting them closer to DemonicSpiders. The Gen III Kanto remakes thankfully reduce their critical hit rates, but add in another frustrating factor - they can now have the ability "Arena Trap", which prevents non-Flying-types from running away. Throw in Sand Attack (reducing your accuracy) and Dig (which makes them all-but invulnerable during the turn it is used), and you've got a recipe for pain. In Alola, players will find Alolan Diglett and Dugtrio; while easier to run away from due to not having Arena Trap and being slower than their regular forms, they're still a nuisance. Their Tangling Hair ability reduces the speed of any Pokémon that makes contact when attacking, and resist several types of attacks thanks to having the Steel-type. While not quite as fast as the regular form, they're still faster than most of the Pokémon available in the game, and appear in most caves. They also get to start an SOS battle and call for help, which forces the player to fight two of them at once. Alolan Dugtrio also appear in the desert in Alola, where a Sandstorm rages at night and activates their Sand Veil, to make them even more annoying, while also giving them a chance to summon a powerful Gabite to attack the player instead.
* When you enter a "power station" level, you'll see the frustrating tendency of them being home to swarms of Magnemite and/or their evolution, Magneton. While they're merely annoying since they're not fast, finding a mon that reliably deals with them is difficult becuase of their dual Electric/Steel-types, [[MightyGlacier good Defenses and high Sp. Atk.]]; the former can prove difficult to tank repeated hits, and they tend to know moves like Sonic Boom (a FixedDamageAttack that will whittle away at nearly anything), Supersonic (that same Confusion-inducing move the Zubat line knows), and Thunder Wave (a Paralysis-inducing move, with it as a secondary effect of other moves they know). It's significantly easier to deal with them if you lead with a Ground-type, which is immune to their Electric-type attacks and can deal 4x damage to them (starting in Gen II), but finding one is rare to begin with. Leading with a Steel-type is also ill-advised, as the line usually has the ability "Magnet Pull", [[YouWillNotEvadeMe making Steel-types unable to escape or switch]]; depending on what Pokémon you're using, this could turn them into DemonicSpiders instead! If you can manage to catch a Magnemite, however, give yourself a pat on the back -- their superb defensive type and offenses tend to make them {{Game|Breaker}}-Breakers starting with Gen IV.

* Bronzor, introdcued in Gen IV, is another bane for players wherever it appears. As a Steel/Psychic type whose only weaknesses are Fire and Ground, each of its potential abilities cancels out one of the two weaknesses, meaning that each time you fight one, [[LuckBasedMission you have no idea which it's weak to]]. They also come with the move Hypnosis [[StatusEffects which can put your Pokémon to sleep]] and have [[StoneWall some of the greatest defense stats in the game]]. And there's only two Fire-type Pokémon (not counting their evolutions) in ''Diamond/Pearl'' [[ExtendedGameplay pre-National Dex]], giving you fewer options to deal with them. Thankfully, they're extremely slow, which makes escaping easier, and they lose their Ghost and Dark-type resistances from Gev VI onward, removing some of the frustration. In ''Legends: Arceus'', not only do they attack the player on sight as "aggressive", but their cries draw attention from nearby Pokémon, meaning players must be wary lest they be swarmed.

** '''Stats and Moveset'''. Zubat are inherently {{Fragile Speedster}}s, meaning they often attack first at lower levels and are difficult to run away from (the Speed difference between your Pokémon and the opponent being a determining factor in escape success). Zubat learn "Supersonic" early on to [[StatusEffects confuse your Pokémon]], causing it to attack itself about half the time. Later in the game, they learn "Confuse Ray," which is like Supersonic but ''100% accurate'', and gain the power to prevent you from running away entirely, or even switching Pokémon, with the move "Mean Look". Beyond their {{Status Infliction Attack}}s, they come knowing Leech Life, a LifeDrain that while weak, can still be frustrating in the early stages of the game when you lack the power to knock them out quickly. Later, they tend to learn Bite, which can cause Flinching.

*** ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'' switch to PreexistingEncounters, but Zubat and Golbat manage remain Goddamned Bats anyway. Zubat are relatively fast on the overworld and fly eratically, meaning they can suddenly veer into your path and disrupt combos. Golbat also have an issue with HitboxDissonance, having large sprites to begin with and even larger hitboxes, meaning you can trigger encounters with them despite visible space between you and them. Finally, both of them tend to move around during catch attempts, making them more frustrating to actually try to capture.
** In [[VideoGame/PokemonSunandMoon Alola]], Zubat and Golbat are again found in nearly every cave. Because most of the Pokémon in Alola are fairly slow compared to other regions, running from them is harder, a problem compounded by the new SOS battles, which cause them to call for help and summon another copy of themselves. This is further exacerbated by both Leech Life, one of Zubat's evolutionary family's signature moves, having its power increased from 20 to ''80,'' as well as the Alolan Diglett and Dugtrio (part Steel-types) that appear in most of the same places, causing use of the Electric-types to be risky. It's to the point where, if you don't think that you can knock out a Zubat or a Golbat in one hit, just ''RUN''.

** '''Sheer Numbers, Distribution, and Encounter Frequency'''. RandomEncounters are a staple of the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series. There are generally a decent variety of Pokémon in each area, which tend to differ from those in other areas, keeping encounters fresh. The major exception are [[UndergroundLevel caves]], which are ''full'' of Zubat. Unlike outdoor areas, where you can typically avoid random encounters by staying away from the tall grass, ''every single'' tile within a cave can generate a random encounter, and most of the time, it will be a Zubat. Caves with puzzles (darkness, rock-smashing, [[BlockPuzzle rock-pushing]], etc.) add to the frustration, as you'll be traversing the same areas repeatedly, encountering Zubat every stept of the way. Every third step you take, the [[FightWoosh screen flashes]] and you find yourself fighting ''yet another'' Zubat, to the point where you can easily feel {{Zerg Rush}}ed by them. They also tend to be popular picks among the local "Evil Team", whose trainers sometimes have 2-3 Zubat at a time, meaning you'll be seeing them even more while clearing out those teams' hideouts.

* Most games have an inevitable "power station" level, which tend to be home to swarms of Magnemite and/or their evolution, Magneton. While they're merely annoying since they're not fast, finding a type that reliably deals with them is difficult becuase of their own good Defenses and dual Electric/Steel-types. Their high Sp. Atk. can also make it difficult to tank repeated hits, and they tend to know moves like Sonic Boom (a FixedDamageAttack that will whittle away at nearly anything), Supersonic (that same Confusion-inducing move the Zubat line knows), and Thunder Wave (a Paralysis-inducing move, with it as a secondary effect of other moves they know). It's significantly easier to deal with them if you lead with a Ground-type, which is immune to their Electric-type attacks and can deal 4x damage to them as (starting in Gen II), but finding one is rare to begin with. Leading with a Steel-type is also ill-advised, as the line usually has the ability "Magnet Pull", making Steel-types unable to escape or switch; depending on what Pokémon you're using, this could turn them into DemonicSpiders instead! If you can manage to catch a Magnemite, however, give yourself a pat on the back -- their superb defensive type and offenses tend to make them {{Game|Breakers}}-Breakers starting with Gen IV.

* Most games have an inevitable "power station" level, which tend to be home to swarms of Magnemite and/or their evolution, Magneton. They would merely be annoying annoying if you lead with a Ground-type, which is immune to their Electric-type attacks and can deal 4x damage to them as dual Electric/Steel-types (starting in Gen II), but they usually have the ability "Levitate", making them ''immune'' to Ground-type attacks instead. They have good defenses, supplemented by their Steel-typing resisting common Normal-type moves, and they also have a FixedDamageAttack (Sonic Boom) that will whittle away at nearly anything, a Confusion-inducing move (Supersonic), ''and'' a Paralysis-inducing move (Thunder Wave, with it as a secondary effect of other moves they know).

* The early game Bug-types are usually weak LevelGrinding fodder, possessing poor stats and movesets. However, those which can poison your Pokémon qualify due to how irritating that status is early in the games. Weedle (Gen I) and Wurmple (Gen III) are classics, spamming Poison Sting and eventually poisoning you, forcing you to waste an Antidote and rush back to the Pokémon Center. These are also favorite Pokémon of the early game "Bug Catcher" trainers, removing the possibility of simply fleeing from those you encounter.

** '''Typing'''. A dual Poison/Flying-type, Zubat resist the Grass-type, one of the standard StarterMons typing, while being neutral to the other two. A good Electric-type (strong against Flying-types) can fry them easily enough, but as they almost always spawn in caves which also include plentiful Ground-types (immune to Electric-types), leading with an Electric-type is risky. Good Psychic-types (strong against Poison-types) can also trounce them, but these are more rare, especially in the early part of the game. Thus, it's rare to find a single Pokémon who can deal with Zubat and not have a disadvantage to the other Pokémon who spawn along with Zubat.

[[folder:The ''LITERAL'' Goddamn Bat]]
* In almost every installment of the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, you will have different RandomEncounters in different areas of the map. Pokémon that are numerous in one place are often unknown in another, and even then, you have a decent mix of what Pokémon you'll encounter in said route... except when it comes to the bats. '''[[TropeCodifier Zubat]]''', that is. Each and every [[UndergroundLevel cave]] is filled with them. Unlike the great outdoors, where you would usually be able to avoid random encounters by staying away from the tall grass, when you're in a cave ''everywhere'' is a danger zone and you find yourself traversing vast underground mazes laden with complex rock-smashing and [[BlockPuzzle rock-pushing]] puzzles while every third step you take, the [[FightWoosh screen flashes]] and you find yourself fighting yet another [[GoddamnedBats Goddamned (Zu)bat]]. These things are very fond of using a move called "Supersonic" to [[StatusEffects confuse your Pokémon]] into attacking itself half the time. Later in the game, they learn "Confuse Ray," which is like Supersonic but 100% accurate, and even gain the power to prevent you from running away, or even switching Pokémon, with the move "Mean Look" (They're hard to run away from even when they don't use Mean Look, because running is determined partially by speed, and the bats have pretty darn good speed stats), quickly turning them into borderline DemonicSpiders. To exacerbate things further, they happen to be unusually popular among whatever evil team you're foiling. Popular enough to warrant carrying three or four of them. In Gens 3 and 4, they (logically, but frustratingly) even appear when you're surfing over water.
** Zubat example expressed neatly [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRrRp49iILU in song]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFlAzzApiWs form]].
* In later games, Zubat's evolved form, Golbat, is even worse: gets Poison Fang at high levels, which has a decent chance of [[StatusEffects inflicting high-strength poison]] on its target. If you didn't stock up on Antidotes or don't have the extremely rare "Aromatherapy" or "Heal Bell" moves on any of your Mons, you'll either have to leave the cave to visit the [[TraumaInn Pokémon Center]] and start the dungeon over again or just watch as your monster's HP is slowly whittled down while you walk (and in earlier games, they ''will'' faint from this). Golbat also gets Air Slash and Bite, which have a 30% chance of making the target ''flinch'', essentially forcing it to skip a turn. Bear in mind that Zubat and Golbat do not learn too many moves while leveling up, so they can still be expected to have Confuse Ray and Mean Look at those levels. With all those Textbook Annoyer moves, it's almost like Zubat was ''designed'' to be such a pest. The saving graces are that it isn't ridiculously fast (Base 90 Speed), will more than likely be a lower level than the Pokémon in your team, its flinch moves can only trigger the secondary effect if the user is faster, has poor defenses (75/70/70), and poor typing.
** There is one small upside that applies in certain games. Golbat may be frustrating to engage, but they also [[PinataEnemy tend to give fairly good amounts of EXP]].
* [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Kalos]] only has Zubat in one small cave (called, appropriately enough, "Zubat Roost"), and even there they are rarer than a Pokémon fan may have come to expect -- but the Woobat are all over the Coastal portion's caves. They like to swoop down at you if you cross easy-to-overlook shadows on the floor, and ''Repels have no effect on this''.
* You thought it couldn't get any worse? ''HOOOOO BOY.'' In [[VideoGame/PokemonSunandMoon Alola]], Zubat and Golbat are again found in nearly every cave. Because most of the Pokémon in Alola are fairly slow compared to other regions, running from them is harder, a problem compounded by the new SOS battles, which cause them to call for help and summon another copy of themselves. This is further exacerbated by 1.) Leech Life, one of Zubat's evolutionary family's signature moves, having its power increased from 20 to ''80,'' and 2.) the Alolan Diglett and Dugtrio that appear in most of the same places, causing use of the Magnemite line to be risky; however, the Zubat and Golbat outnumber them, even in Diglett's Tunnel. It's to the point where, if you don't think that you can knock out a Zubat or a Golbat in one hit, just ''RUN''.
* Just when you thought that "Dexit" cut them for good in ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'', the Zubat line returns in the Crown Tundra ExpansionPack. Here, though, they appear in PreexistingEncounters rather than random ones, so they're much more avoidable.
* While Zubat itself isn't too bad in ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'', its evolution Golbat can be frustrating to deal with. They're common to find in the Wayward Woods of the Coronet Highlands, are aggressive, and fly around quickly, so they can distract you while you're trying to sneak up on a more valuable wild Pokémon. In battle, they're fast enough to outspeed slower Pokémon, and while they don't have Zubat's usual annoying trick of Supersonic, they instead pack Air Slash to deal surprisingly high damage to less specially bulky Pokémon, so Rock-types like Graveler aren't a surefire answer to them.
* Here's a bit of trivia: The Zubat line has appeared in ''every'' regional Pokédex as of ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus''.
* They're worse in ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'', where their constant Supersonic attacks confuse you and mess your controls around.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonGo'' eliminates needing to battle anything (there is battling, but all of it is optional), so how bad can Zubat be? Just as awful as any of its previous appearances. For one, when encountered, it's far from the player, making it difficult to aim at properly, particularly with curved throws (which give a bonus to catch rate when they connect), so it's naturally tricky to hit at all, let alone in the target circle to get a bonus to experience/catch rate. Plus, they fly a bit erratically even when not performing their dodge/attack animation, so it's even harder to connect with a throw. Finally, their dodge animation involves them zipping around the screen randomly, making it nigh impossible to connect with a throw if they start it (and woe betide the player if they start spamming their dodge). It's rather telling that, despite having much lower base catch rates, players rather would attempt to catch Golbat and Crobat (its evolutions) because the latter two are much easier to target with throws due to eliminating pretty much all of the things that make Zubat so frustrating. There are other Pokemon in the games with similar behavior (like Yanma), but Zubat is still the game's gold standard for frustrating catches.

[[folder:Other Pokémon (multiple games)]]
* There is also the equally frequent Geodude and its evolution, Graveler (often in the same caves, at that), which are a combination of this and DemonicSpiders depending on their levels. While they tend to go down quicker, they have an inexplicable tendency to use the insanely powerful [[TakingYouWithMe "suicide" moves]] "Self-Destruct" and "Explosion" before you manage to land the final blow on them. This usually screws you out of experience points and a usable Pokémon (especially if you're using the "faint = death" rule of a Nuzlocke SelfImposedChallenge). Lovely. Fortunately, they are [[NonElemental Normal-Type moves]], so sending out a [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghost-Type]] would mean that they'll have blown themselves up [[NoSell for]] [[AllForNothing nothing]]. Do keep in mind, though, that Ghost-Types tend to be [[GlassCannon Glass Cannons]] and that Geodude and Graveler are (in)famous for their [[MightyGlacier high physical Attack and Defense.]]
** They're quite fond of the move Defense Curl, which increases their already-high Defense stat and powers up Rollout (a STAB snowballing move). They're slow enough that you can generally easily run away from a fight with one in the wild, though.
** They're even more fun from Gen V on, where they have a 50/50 chance to have the Sturdy ability, which ensures they can't die in one hit. There's nothing so annoying as bringing a Graveler to 1 HP and then to see it [[SpitefulAI blow up and take your own Pokémon down with it.]] Thankfully, Gen V also weakened Self-Destruct and Explosion by eliminating their Defense-halving quirk, so they're not as irritating. Unlike Zubat, however, Geodude was completely excluded from the Galar Pokédex even after the Crown Tundra.
** They're a plague in ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'' as well, as they're found in every map and frequently attack the player while they're mining Tumblestones for Poké Balls. Additionally, they exhibit "aggressive" behavior in the overworld, meaning their species attacks humans on sight and hinders exploration.
* Speaking of Pokémon who are a little bit too trigger-happy with suicidal moves, the Pokémon Koffing (whose original Japanese name is "Dogas", possibly partially derived from the onomatopoeia for explosions and the word for "poison gas") and its evolution Weezing are similarly loathed.
* Voltorb (and its evolution, Electrode) is a pain in the butt as well: in the Power Plant, they appear on the field looking identical to Poké Balls; and Trainers with them love to use them to spam Self-Destruct and Explosion. They also have extremely high Speed (in Gen I, Electrode has the highest base speed of ''any Pokémon''), which not only makes them difficult to escape from, but also gives them the ability to move first and blow up in your face before you can do anything.
* Another example is the Tentacool and Tentacruel in watery areas. Aside from also learning Supersonic, they learn a move called Poison Sting, which come with [[StatusEffects a possibility of poisoning your Pokémon and eating its HP every turn while battling]], and once every four steps while moving about the world. The fact that the screen does this flashy-glitchy thing every other second to remind you adds to the irritation.
** For even more fun, Tentacool often know Wrap, which can prevent you from fleeing/switching, causes damage at the same time, and lasts 2-5 turns. This was even worse in the first generation of games, as Wrap prevented the target from doing ''anything'' (though it ironically didn't prevent switching).
* Also in watery areas (starting from the third generation) are Wingull, who can learn Supersonic, like Zubat, but fortunately can't naturally learn Confuse Ray or other status moves. They are also fast. Fortunately, due to their typing, they are extremely weak to Electric attacks -- meaning that strong Electric Pokémon can engage in Wingull massacres.
** Wingull's evolution, Pelipper, isn't much better, as it's going to use Roost repeatedly and restore whatever HP your mon takes from it. You're in for a long fight if you can't OHKO it or at least knock it down into the red. In later games, such as Ancient Poni Path from ''Sun and Moon'', wild Pelipper up their game to also spamming Protect (wasting your PP) and often Stockpile. Stockpile is usually paired with Spit Up (for damage) or Swallow (for healing), but wild Pelipper will often just have Stockpile by itself in order to waste your time.
* Diglett in ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]''. Diglett's Cave is full of them, they're fast, and there's a 50/50 chance of them having an ability that prevents you from switching or running way. Add in Sand Attack to lower accuracy and possibly Dig to avoid nearly all attacks for a turn and they get to be a pain.
** Diglett and Dugtrio were even worse in Generation I. Not only did they have good physical sweeper stats (high speed and attack) and powerful attacks, but the game mechanics at the time based critical hit rate off of speed. Diglett's moves crit 18.6% of the time and Dugtrio crits 23.4% of the time with regular moves. If they have Slash, a crit is almost guaranteed. If you didn't level up your bird, these guys become DemonicSpiders.
** In Alola, players will find Alolan Diglett and Dugtrio; while easier to run away from due to not having Arena Trap and being slower than their regular forms, they're still a nuisance. Their Tangling Hair ability reduces the speed of any Pokémon that makes contact when attacking, and resist several types of attacks thanks to having the Steel type. While not quite as fast as the regular form, they're still faster than most of the Pokémon available in the game, and can appear in most caves. They also get to start an SOS battle and call for help, which forces the player to fight two of them at once. Alolan Dugtrio also appear in the desert in Alola, where a Sandstorm rages at night and activates their Sand Veil, to make them even more annoying, while also giving them a chance to summon a powerful Gabite to attack the player instead.
* Continuing the trend in the fourth generation, there is Bronzor, which is a Steel/Psychic type whose only weaknesses are Fire and Ground, and both of its abilities can cancel out one of the two weaknesses, meaning that each time you fight one, [[LuckBasedMission you have no idea which it's weak to]]. In addition to that, they also come with the move Hypnosis [[StatusEffects that can send a Pokémon to sleep]], and have [[StoneWall some of the greatest defense stats in the game.]] And there's only two Fire-type Pokémon (not counting their evolutions) in ''Diamond/Pearl'' [[ExtendedGameplay pre-National Dex]]. Luckily, they're rather slow, so you can get away. Thankfully, they lose their Ghost- and Dark-type resistances in games from [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Gen VI]] and onward, making them easier to take down. In ''Legends: Arceus'', not only do they attack the player on sight, but their cries draw attention from nearby Pokémon, meaning players must be wary lest they be swarmed.
* And then there are the inevitable power station levels, in which the Magnemite are customarily flying so thick it's amazing your character can actually walk through them. This would be merely annoying if you lead with a Ground type, which is immune to their Electric attacks... if they didn't have one move that does a flat 20 damage with no resistances ([=SonicBoom=]) and a confusion move (Supersonic). Did we mention that the Geodude family, the easiest Ground types to locate (seriously, they're everywhere), has a fairly low HP stat because [[ArmoredButFrail it depends mainly on good Defense]] and resistance to Normal-type damage?
* If a game has a ghostly area, expect Gastly and sometime Haunter to be infesting the place, as well as Trainers that use said family. This line comes with the [[SarcasmMode lovely]] combination of Confuse Ray and Hypnosis, the latter of which [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard always seems to hit you despite its poor accuracy]]. They're also pretty damn fast, so expect to be locked in a loop of hitting yourself and sleeping before you can land a hit on them. Haunter is even worse, as it hits stupidly hard for a middle-stage Pokémon and has even greater speed. Thankfully, they're offset by their [[FragileSpeedster poor defenses]], so if you do manage to get a hit off of them, chances are they'll go down rather easily.
* '''Any''' Pokémon with the ability Cute Charm (of which there are mercifully only 12...), which has a 30% chance to make a Pokémon that just hit it with a physical attack infatuated. Conveniently enough, the Pokémon that can have it (with the exception of Milotic) also have skewed gender ratios in favor of females...
* While Trapinch only appears in about one area for every game it's in, it will appear every third step you take, and most will have the ability Arena Trap, which prevents your Pokémon from running away. Most likely they will also know Sand Attack, making killing them painful in and of itself. This is even worse in Emerald, as you have to climb Mirage Tower, which is full of the things.
* Kanto and Johto veterans will cringe when you ask them about the first forest areas they encounter. That's because Ilex Forest in ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' and Viridian Forest in ''Red'', ''Blue'', ''Green'', and ''Yellow'' have a VERY well known and unbelievably annoying Bug-type there. Weedle. This damn thing will use Poison Sting on you the first chance it gets and once you're poisoned you either have to use an Antidote from the store or go right back to the Pokémon Center (except if you chose Bulbasaur, which is half Poison-type and thus cannot be poisoned). On top of that, in the Kanto region, Bug Catchers are everywhere in that forest so you have to deal with the Bug Catchers, your own poisoned Pokémon, and being forced to walk through the tall grass due to the fact that you don't have any Badges yet (the first Gym is THROUGH the forest). This gets unbelievably annoying really fast!

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%%[[folder:Gen II]]
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[[folder:Gen III]]
* Volbeat and Illumise. While they're not that strong, they specialize in annoying the hell out of you by spamming Confuse Ray and Double Team. Just when you think you can hit them, you miss, and if your confusion expired last turn, you get a faceful of Confuse Ray again. And again. ''AND AGAIN.'' This is even worse if there's a Double Battle involving BOTH of them as the enemy, and if there's one, don't expect to get out of there shortly.
* Oddish are very common in R/S/E's Safari Zone ''despite'' the fact that they can be encountered in five different routes and are not rare at all. Even worse, Route 120 is right next to the Safari Zone and said route already has a lot of them (Oddish in general learn annoying powder moves that either poison you, paralyze you, or put you to sleep). Why do you have to encounter them in the Safari Zone again, a place where you can catch Pokémon you shouldn't be able to encounter outside of the zone (or at least not as often)?!

[[folder:Gen IV]]
* Fearow in the later areas of ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' is another pain in the rear, because more often than not, you can't get away from them even when you hit the run button and they love to spam the hell out of [[HealThyself Roost]].
* Staravia can be this if the Pokémon you're trying to level can't OHKO it. If it gets down into the red, it'll use Endeavor and bring you down to the same amount of HP as it. The only thing that keeps it out of DemonicSpider territory is its pathetic defenses to begin with, so thankfully this won't happen too often. A further issue is that Staravia get the ability Intimidate, which lowers your physical Attack, so unless you have Clear Body or Hyper Cutter, you'll do less damage to them.
* Wild Floatzel in ''Diamond'', ''Pearl'', and ''Platinum''. It's already quite fast and has moderately high Attack. But then it uses Agility, which raises Speed two levels, and Aqua Jet, where it always attacks first. It wouldn't be so bad if your chances of running away weren't partially determined by the Speed of the opponent... And before you throw out a Grass-Type, bear in mind that there's a chance it knows Ice Fang.

[[folder:Gen V]]
* The fifth generation has Roggenrola and Boldore, commonly found in caves. A Rock-type with good attack and defense, accuracy-reducing attacks, SELF-DESTRUCT, EXPLOSION, and the ability Sturdy. However, Sturdy has been buffed into giving the Pokémon a LastChanceHitPoint if it was hit with lethal damage when its health was full. Yes, that would mean that you would take ''at least'' two turns to kill one unless you had some form of multi-hitting move or the ability Mold Breaker, and if you're unlucky, it blows up in your face on that first turn.
** Here's the clincher -- in the Challenger's Cave, accessible after the Elite Four, you can find Boldore ''and'' Graveler ''together''. Both have Sturdy, and Graveler still has its insane tendency to explode at the tiniest provocation. Enjoy your stay.
** Keep in mind, Roggenrola and Boldore aren't Rock/Ground-types, they're just Rock-types, meaning they don't have a double weakness to Grass and Water.
* Patrat are a royal pain early in Unova because they learn Detect at level 11, which allows them to negate any attack; most Pokémon that learn either it or the functionally identical Protect don't get the move until the twenties at the earliest. While the majority of wild Patrat are too weak to know Detect, the sheer number of them used by Trainers (including Team Plasma) ensures you'll be dealing with rats that refuse to take damage for a while.
** Its evolution, Watchog, can learn Hypnosis (puts your Pokémon to sleep), Confuse Ray (see Zubat examples), AND Super Fang (slashes your Pokémon's HP down to half). Have fun.
* Looking for Pokémon in Unova's lakes, rivers, oceans, etc.? Hope you like [[PiranhaProblem Basculin]]! Trying to get rare/strong Pokémon from the special fishing/surfing spots in the same areas? Hope you like a slightly different Basculin.
** Oh, and were you planning to simply run away from said Basculin, especially if your lead Pokémon has anything but top-shelf Speed? Hope you like being trapped while that Basculin pounds the crap out of you -- the stupid little fish are ''fast'' and have surprisingly good Attack and pack a number of strong moves, like Aqua Tail and Double-Edge. And don't forget [[TakingYouWithMe Final Gambit]], if you happen to run into one above Level 51.
* Durant. There's a 40% chance of seeing them in all floors of Victory Road, and you will be seeing a lot of them. The little jerks pack a punch with their 112 base Attack, and have a nice 109 base Speed to strike first with. They have some strong moves in Iron Head and Crunch when you find them, and they hurt. Woe to those who don't bring [[KillItWithFire its one weakness]], or catch a Heatmor along the way, because the little bugger has ''nine'' resistances, and an immunity to Poison. The only good thing about them? Base 48 Special Defense means any strong Special attacker will take it down in no time flat. Base 58 HP doesn't help either...
* Emolga. It's lightning-quick (no pun intended) and naturally learns ''Double Team'', which raises evasiveness. Thankfully, they only appear in shaking grass.
* Tranquill as of ''Black 2'' and ''White 2'' falls under this. Not only are they relatively common mid-game, but they are also annoyingly hard to fight due to their high speed. And, to make matters worse, they have a nasty habit of spamming moves like Roost (which restores a good portion of their HP), Quick Attack (which allows them to hit first every time), and Detect (which causes your Pokémon to instantly miss whatever attack you selected that turn). This makes battling them (even with using Pokémon that have a type-advantage against it) an utter annoyance.
* The ''entirety'' of Chargestone Cave in ''Black 2'' and ''White 2''. The encounter rate there is the definition of ridiculous. It won't be long before you'll hate seeing the Pokémon that swarm here (unless you run into Tynamo with its 2 or 8% appearance rate), and in BW the place is swarmed with Team Plasma grunts the first time you enter. [=B2W2=] doesn't, but it trades them for a few Ace Trainers with powerful Pokémon who fight you in Triple or Rotation Battles instead. To quote Marriland: "My best advice for going through the Chargestone Cave in any generation is to just use the stinking Repels!". Please, heed this advice.
* Zebstrika from both pairs of Unova games certainly applies. For one thing, it has high Speed and Attack status, meaning it's likely to go first and hit hard. Second, it just '''loves''' to spam the move "Spark" in the wild, which has a chance of paralyzing your Pokémon. And, just to make matters worse, it also loves to spam "Flame Charge", a move that's not only super-effective against Grass-Types (which normally have a resistance against Electric-Type Pokémon), but it also ''increases'' Zebstrika's already high Speed stats '''every''' time it uses it.
* Minccino. While they can be defeated pretty easily, they can be rather annoying to battle. One reason is that one of the Abilities that they have increases the number of times a multi-hit attack strikes the opponent (So moves like Double-Slap and Tail-Slap are more likely to hit 4-5 times in a row instead of just 2). Not only that, but it can learn the move "Attract" (or some of them simply have the Ability "Cute Charm"), which causes its opponent to be Infatuated. What would otherwise be an easy battle is rendered '''annoyingly cheap''' thanks to your Pokémon being slapped silly while it's unable to fight back due to being ''in love'' with its opponent. Then they start learning [[ThatOneAttack Encore]] and [[StatusEffects Sing]]...
* Oh, Liepard. Not only is it (like Watchog) found once the wild mons hit level 20, it's all over the place. They're very fast, and learn a lot of annoying moves like Fake Out (instant flinch, but only if used in first turn), Torment (keeps you from using the same move twice in a row, which can be bad if your options are limited), and Night Slash (increased CriticalHit chance on top of being a 70-base power STAB move). Until you've got a faster mon or some Bug or Fighting-type attacks, these cats will irritate you to no end.
* Mienfoo are somewhat fast and difficult to run away from, and have quite high attack stats for being unevolved. Plus, they have very strong attacks like Jump Kick and Drain Punch, the latter of which [[LifeDrain heals them.]] And they probably know U-Turn, which is strong against any Psychic-types you'd want to use against them. To make them even more troublesome, they have such poor experience yields that fighting them in the wild isn't worth it.

[[folder:Gen VI]]
* Generation VI has some old and new faces for annoyance. Horde Encounters will take the troublesome encounters to new levels of annoyance, and the infamous Zubat, Geodude and Graveler can appear in such formations, as can a few others. It is not only deceptively dangerous, especially after being repeatedly debuffed and chipped away at by a bunch of lower-leveled Pokémon, but can be very time-consuming without area-of-effect attacks that can hit the whole formation.
** Weepinbell and Spinda occur in respective hordes later in the game. Spinda will always spam Hypnosis or Teeter Dance to cause sleep and confusion, respectively, and Weepinbell uses Poison Powder to poison you.
** Weepinbell deserves special mention for having a moveset seemingly tailor-made to cause aggravation: Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Poison Powder, and Acid. This means that it has ''three'' StatusEffects to throw around -- enough to cover just about anything you throw at it -- and if you send in a Grass-type to soak up the powder moves, you get hit with a super-effective Acid attack instead. Unless you take out the entire horde in one shot, expect a long, hard fight.
* Route 12 also has Miltank, with great defenses and a really annoying movepool, and Tauros, with its annoying tendency to spam Rest, making it surprisingly hard to knock out. In fact, it's nearly impossible to level grind before facing Korrina, as all nearby locations have more than their fair share of goddamn bats/DemonicSpiders.

[[folder:Gen VII]]
* ''Sun and Moon'' presents Trumbeak. Any common Pokémon with both Supersonic and Roost cannot be good for your sanity. To make things worse, these games also introduce the ability for wild Pokémon to call for backup... which may very well include Trumbeak on the routes where they are found. Which in turn leads to situations where a Pokémon you're trying to catch calls in a Trumbeak which then takes forever to take down because your Pokémon is hurting itself half the time, and any damage dealt during the other half is promptly healed off.
* Crabrawler is quite annoying if you're collecting berries in Generation VII, as they often interrupt you and fight you, and must be defeated in order to collect the berries. The fact that they're the only Pokémon to be triggered like that adds the annoyance. Granted, this is also the only way to encounter Crabrawler, but once you've caught one there's no reason you'd ever want to see one again unless you're Shiny hunting.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' turns Sharpedo into this when you're doing the Mantine Surf. While the Tentacool and Wailmer sit still and can be avoided, Sharpedo will chase you even if you pass them by. And if you're trying to get to and from Poni Island, you have to deal with them attacking in groups of ''three''.
** Wailord is another annoying encounter in Mantine Surf, for two reasons. One, they're really freaking huge, making them hard to avoid when the waves are low. Two, unlike every other obstacle which simply slows you down, hitting a Wailord instantly sends you into the drink, costing you a lot of speed and therefore points.

[[folder:Gen VIII]]

* ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'' has a number of examples in addition to Geodude, Graveler, and Bronzor above:
** ''Paras'', [[LowTierLetdown of all Pokémon]]. They spawn virtually everywhere, at any time of day, during the first third of the game. They are hard to spot, especially in tall grass, and they have a deceptively wide line of sight. Every probability exists they '''will''' see you first, and inflict you with poison or paralysis. Not your Pokémon. ''You''. Meaning if you have just escaped a close shave with an alpha, or barely survived a fall, Paras can easily scuttle in and chip you to death. Heaven help your satchel.
** Carnivine. Similarly to Paras, they love to inflict status conditions on the player character, and also spawn in large clusters. While they are larger than Paras and Parasect and are therefore easier to spot, they otherwise share many of the same problems.
** While Starly and Staraptor avoid humans by running away or sticking to the skies, Staravia are actively hostile and attack the player on sight in many areas of the game. Thankfully they're diurnal so they're gone by nightfall, which would be a relief if not for the fact that they're ''immediately'' replaced by Drifloon and Drifblim who are just as bad, if not worse since they attack the player in the ocean as well.
** Stunky and Skuntank, especially in the Crimson Bog area. Prepare to be constantly poisoned the entire time you’re there.
** Croagunk and Toxicroak are even worse. They're absurdly common, have a high aggro range, and are fast runners. Toxicroak also now gets Earth Power, an insanely dangerous move that'll send any Steel-types you may have sent out in a feeble attempt to fight it packing. They're at their worst in the Holm of Trials, where they practically infest the place and ''will'' interrupt your attempts at catching the powerful Alpha Torterra.
** Drifloon and Drifblim. Contrary to how absurdly rare they were in the modern-era Sinnoh games, Hisui is completely littered with these ghostly balloons at night, spawning in three of the game's five areas. Like many species, they are immediately hostile when they spot the player, and possess a few long-range attacks to hit any players that are trying to keep their distance.
** Murkrow. Like Drifloon, they only spawn at night and have a long-range attack. However, they can see the player from much farther away than other Pokemon, making it difficult to get by them without being seen, and they possess a unique behavior that will make them call for help, rallying any nearby Murkrow or Honchkrow to come help them harass you. They are very common nighttime spawns in the Crimson Mirelands and Cobalt Coastlands, making exploration of these areas a hassle once the sun goes down.
** Shinx and its evolutions, Luxio and Luxray. They're very common and quite aggressive (in fact, Shinx is the example of an aggressive Pokémon in the tutorial to contrast with the cautious Starly and the passive Bidoof), but what makes them particularly annoying is that they always seem to be around in areas with rare and cowardly catches, such as the west end of the Obsidian Fieldlands, where the cautious Abra and Mr. Mime families propagate, and they aggro very easily, making a StealthBasedMission twice as difficult.
** Gligar can be extremely annoying when trying to walk around the Coronet Highlands especially if you're trying to scale the mountains on Sneasler. They can spot you from miles away, they are often found in ''very'' large groups, and they can spam attacks from a long distance away. Not to mention they often follow the trainer around for a very long time and this doesn't help as they're mainly found around the mountains where there is not too much room to run around to avoid their attacks without risking falling off the mountain.
** Riolu, the pre-evolution of BreakoutCharacter Lucario, during mass outbreaks. Generally, Riolu aren't found in large clusters, but mass outbreaks show how annoying they can get in groups. This is because of how easily they're alerted to you, combined with the potency of their attacks; even when hiding in the grass near them, using Stealth Spray, baiting them with food and using Smoke Bombs, they will often notice you as soon as you catch or defeat one of their brethren ([[GameplayAndStoryIntegration likely due to their aura abilities]]) and start pelting you with near-unavoidable and extremely damaging ''homing'' Aura Spheres. ''Then'', if you pick one off to fight it, the other Riolu will run away and you have to scour the area of the map you're in to find where the others went off to, all while they all continuously aggro you one after the other. Have fun shiny hunting!
** The good news is that wild Dartrix and Hisuian Decidueye can't be found until the post game, and even then they're exclusive to mass outbreaks and space-time distortions. The bad news is that they're insanely aggressive, and ''will'' aggro you if you so much as breathe the wrong way. Even if you use Stealth Spray and Smoke Bombs, be prepared to get sliced and diced by flocks of these irritable owls. They're at their worst in mass outbreaks, due to their tendency to spawn on the slopes of the Coronet Highlands, essentially making Smoke Bombs useless thanks to the uneven terrain.

[[folder:Gen IX]]
* ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'':
** Extremely small Pokémon such as Flittle, Capsakid, or worse, Floette[[note]]who is an evolved Pokémon unlike the previous two[[/note]] are difficult to see on the map and can be encountered by accident. Foongus can even disguise themselves as Poké Balls too!
** Tauros can be found in massive herds early-game, and are extremely annoying due to their aggressiveness and high (for that point in the game) stats. Worse still, their high Speed stats make it hard to run away from them, and they're much faster than even your mount in the overworld.
** Varoom are small, aggressive, and very fast in the overworld, meaning that if you stray into their line of sight they will run you down at breakneck speed. They also pack a bunch of resistances to early attacking types, so they can take a couple of hits to bring down if you don't have one of their two weaknesses handy.
** Veluza (commonly found in Casseroya Lake and other late-game water areas) are '''extremely annoying''' in the overworld. Once they acknowledge you, they will swim at a breakneck speed to encounter you, and it's possible to have one ambush you out of nowhere just because of this. This can be annoying if you're trying to focus on other Pokémon for auto battles, especially for shiny hunting. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Ironically enough, their speed isn't even their highest stat]] (in fact, it's their second lowest). Fortunately, they're a JackOfAllStats Pokémon with slightly higher attack and as long as you have something that counters Psychic and/or Water types (most notably Meowscarada, for those that picked Sprigatito as their starter), they're not hard to take down at all.
** Despite having been welcomed by the fandom for their design and endearing backstories, Greavard and Houndstone can be problematic for players not interested in encounters while standing in one place, especially when exiting the pause screen or a Tera Raid menu, as they spawn from underground almost anywhere and have the aggressive overworld personality of chasing the player down and initiating a battle upon contact. It also doesn't help that Greavard's candle flame, while still buried, can be mistaken for a sparkling hidden item, triggering a sudden battle instead of expecting to make a quick pick-up.
** Lokix of any level tend to have priority moves in their arsenal, ranging from the weak Feint to the rather powerful Sucker Punch and First Impression, the latter two of which Lokix gain STAB on. Farming Lokix for their Attack EV can become tedious as they will whittle down your Pokémon's health, forcing you to heal in between farming.

** Shedinja deserves special mention. Unless you have an item to throw at it, or a team member with a super-effective move, it is notoriously annoying to defeat in battle.
*** Made arguably worse in '' Rescue Team DX'' since other enemies will attack and KO Shedinja to gain the Empowered status. Have fun with the newly mega evolved opponent.
** The Finneon and Shellos lines in the games are the bane of Water-type players everywhere. To put it bluntly, these relatively common dungeon enemies have the ability "Storm Drain". Use a Water-type attack, and they'll absorb it and increase their Special Attack. Did we mention this happens ''every'' time you use a Water-type attack, even if you're not directly fighting them? That's right, a dungeon floor just needs '''one''' Finneon/Lumineon and/or Shellos/Gastrodon to be in the area and it will screw you out of using your Water-Type moves. Now keep in mind that a floor can have ''several'' of these Pokémon at once.
** Nidoqueen. While not as common as other foes, she has the [[SarcasmMode lovely habit]] of spamming the move "Earth Power". Not only does this cause '''a lot''' of damage to you (and your partner), she can also do it while she's out of your sight or in an area where you can't fight her back. By the time you even get ''close'' to her, she will have already made you waste tons of Reviver Seeds just from the sheer amount of times she uses Earth Power against you. And that's not even getting into times when there are multiple Nidoqueen.
** Lampent, because they just ''love'' to hit you with [[ThatOneAttack Memento]], which gives a ''huge'' offensive debuff to '''everyone in the room''', and Flame Burst, which is a long-ranged attack that hits everyone around you for 10 damage. And unlike in the main games, they merely teleport away to use Memento again if they so wish after using it. They also know Night Shade, which deals damage to everyone in the room equivalent to their level. They fortunately lack the hiding-in-walls ability of previous ''Mystery Dungeon'' games, but still...
** [=Porygon2=] in Sky Tower in ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonRescueTeam'' and the Temporal Tower ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers'', They spam Agility, which in the ''Mystery Dungeon'' series causes allies to perform actions (such as moving or attacking) twice in 1 turn. Woe be to any team that encounters one in a Monster House.

** There are also Arbok in the Sekra Range area, which are also aggressive and will always chase you.
** Jynx and Zubat are both capable of [[InterfaceScrew scrambling your controls]], which can make it difficult to get around. Have fun navigating through a Zubat swarm without encountering every single one.

** The Finneon and Shellos lines in the games are the bane of Water-type players everywhere. To put it bluntly, these relatively common dungeon enemies have the ability "Storm Drain". Use a Water-type attack, and they'll absorb it and increase their Special Attack. Did we mention this happens ''every'' time you use a Water-type attack, even if you're not directly fighting them? That's right, a dungeon floor just needs '''one'' Finneon/Lumineon and/or Shellos/Gastrodon to be in the area and it will screw you out of using your Water-Type moves. Now keep in mind that a floor can have ''several'' of these Pokémon at once.

** Veluza (commonly found in Casseroya Lake and other late-game water areas) are '''extremely annoying''' in the overworld. Once they acknowledge you, they will swim at a breakneck speed to encounter you, and it's possible to have one ambush you out of nowhere just because of this. This can be annoying if you're trying to focus on other Pokémon. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Ironically enough, their speed isn't even their highest stat]] (in fact, it's their second lowest). Fortunately, they're a JackOfAllStats Pokémon with slightly higher attack and as long as you have something that counters Psychic and/or Water types (most notably Meowscarada, for those that picked Sprigatito as their starter), they're not hard to take down at all.

* In almost every installment of the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, you will have different RandomEncounters in different areas of the map. Pokémon that are numerous in one place are often unknown in another, and even then, you have a decent mix of what Pokémon you'll encounter in said route... except when it comes to the bats. '''[[TropeCodfier Zubat]]''', that is. Each and every [[UndergroundLevel cave]] is filled with them. Unlike the great outdoors, where you would usually be able to avoid random encounters by staying away from the tall grass, when you're in a cave ''everywhere'' is a danger zone and you find yourself traversing vast underground mazes laden with complex rock-smashing and [[BlockPuzzle rock-pushing]] puzzles while every third step you take, the [[FightWoosh screen flashes]] and you find yourself fighting yet another [[GoddamnedBats Goddamned (Zu)bat]]. These things are very fond of using a move called "Supersonic" to [[StatusEffects confuse your Pokémon]] into attacking itself half the time. Later in the game, they learn "Confuse Ray," which is like Supersonic but 100% accurate, and even gain the power to prevent you from running away, or even switching Pokémon, with the move "Mean Look" (They're hard to run away from even when they don't use Mean Look, because running is determined partially by speed, and the bats have pretty darn good speed stats), quickly turning them into borderline DemonicSpiders. To exacerbate things further, they happen to be unusually popular among whatever evil team you're foiling. Popular enough to warrant carrying three or four of them. In Gens 3 and 4, they (logically, but frustratingly) even appear when you're surfing over water.