History GuideDangIt / Pokemon

* In ''Yellow'', Psyduck/Golduck is only obtainable by surfing on a single small patch of water in an early game route you normally wouldn't revisit. In addition, the player never comes across a Trainer using a Psyduck, and Golduck is only used by one optional Trainer all the way in Victory Road. As a result, the player may lack the Pokédex info to know about Psyduck/Golduck's game location until possibly very late in the game.

** Breeding a non-Alolan Pokémon in Generation VII. Requiring a Pokémon in their regular form sounds simple enough. However, the Pokémon must also hold an Everstone in order to work, otherwise, its baby will be in its Alolan Form.

** Wormadam--in the party of a trainer on a part of Route 214 that you might not even end up visiting at all (in between Veilstone City and Lake Valor, since the first time you visit Lake Valor for plot purposes, you'll be coming from Pastoria City), whose gaze can easily be avoided as she isn't facing the main path.

** Drifloon, which in Diamond and Pearl only appeared in a skippable trainer battle inside Fantina's gym, could be annoying to find as well if you didn't know that one and only one appears in front of the Valley Windworks every Friday. One appears in Amity Square with a Trainer ''and you can talk to it,'' but that doesn't count as viewing it...

** Riolu--in the party of a trainer at Ravaged Path. ''Platinum'' remedied this by giving one to another trainer on Route 217, but given the wide-open nature of that route, it's still no sure thing. And the only way to get one for yourself is to go through a sidequest in an optional area while keeping a slot in your party open (which also means no catching Pokémon while you're there) and then hatching an egg.

** Evolving Eevee into Vaporeon, Flareon or Jolteon involves using a Water / Fire / Thunder Stone respectively on Eevee. This is the only time one of those stones is used to evolve a Pokémon outside of their respective types.

* Catching a Gible. Pokédex says it's in Wayward Cave, the cave accessed by cutting down some trees by the Bicycle Path and wandering past the grass there? After a couple hours of wandering (and helping Mira out), you'll probably figure out that there's no Gible there. Now go look for an alternate entrance to the cave, one which ''[[BehindTheBlack is blocked from view by the Bicycle Path running above you]]''. You need a Pokémon with Strength and Flash to reach the basement where Gible can be found. ''Platinum'' doesn't have the boulder, however, allowing the player to catch Gible much earlier than before.

* Physical versus Special moves in the first three generations. You can hammer your way through the game without knowing the difference, but if you want to fight well, it's the very first thing you have to understand. But ''nowhere'' in the first ''three generations'' of Pokémon games are the nine physical and eight special types actually listed -- not even at the trainer schools! It does get listed in Earl's Academy in ''Pokémon Stadium 2'', but it's fair to assume not that many people delved too deeply into what was a pretty minor part of the game (not to mention less people plays Stadium games compared to the main series games), and the help menu in FR/LG while in battle, as described below. Generation IV uncoupled physical/special from move types and added icons to each move showing which of the two it was, so it's no longer an issue.

** Voltorb joins Sandshrew, Slowpoke, and Darumaka in the "didn't need an item to evolve but now it does" club with its Hisuian form. In order to evolve Hisuian Voltorb into Hisuian Electrode, you need a Leaf Stone. While it does require some lateral thinking, it doesn't require too much since it and Eevee are the only Pokémon that evolve thi

** In the ''[[PalmtreePanic Isle of Armor]]'' you can unlock the ability to give compatible Pokèmon Gigantamax factors, how do you do this you ask? Try getting three Max Mushrooms which seems simple enough, however while the first time around you get that required number for free every other time you have to complete three Max Raid dens in the area (some of which are [[ThatOneBoss pretty tricky]].) and have to try finding a Max Mushroom in one of four dense areas on the map after that. Doing this repeatidly [[ThatOneSidequest feels like an absolute chore]] especially if you're trying to complete the Pokèdex or give your team some extra boosts.

* In the ''[[PalmtreePanic Isle of Armor]]'' you can unlock the ability to give compatible Pokèmon Gigantamax factors, how do you do this you ask? Try getting three Max Mushrooms which seems simple enough, however while the first time around you get that required number for free every other time you have to complete three Max Raid dens in the area (some of which are [[ThatOneBoss pretty tricky]].) and have to try finding a Max Mushroom in one of four dense areas on the map after that, doing this repeatidly [[ThatOneSidequest feels like an absolute chore]] especially if you're trying to complete the Pokèdex or give your team some extra boosts.

** Voltorb joins Sandshrew, Slowpoke, and Darumaka in the "didn't need an item to evolve but now it does" club with its Hisuian form. In order to evolve Hisuian Voltorb into Hisuian Electrode, you need a Leaf Stone. While it does require some lateral thinking, it doesn't require too much since it and Eevee are the only Pokémon that evolve this way.

* Invisible items have been scattered around the overworld since Gen I. Some of them are on conspicuously odd bits of terrain, but others are in completely random places, and there's no way to know anything is there unless you stand facing that exact square and press A, or use the Itemfinder. Getting the Itemfinder is often a Guide Dang It in and of itself. For example, in Generation I, you have to talk to a specific assistant of Oak--not in his lab in the first town, but in a gate between routes on the other side of Kanto--after catching at least 30 Pokémon. Oak will mention this only if you happen to talk to him when you've caught between 30 and 39 Pokémon. Any other amount triggers a different message, and even then, he doesn't tell you where the assistant is.)

* Annihilape follows from Wrydeer and Overqwil: to get it, you must have a Primeape use the new move Rage Fist twenty times and then level up. (Since there's no Strong or Agile Style mechanic in these games, you're at least spared that trouble. Also, misses count.)

* The PhlebotinumMuncher Titan Pokémon can be caught immediately after defeating them the first time, but they're hidden around the areas you met them and the player has no reason to believe they'd be seen again to begin with. To make matters worse, Bombirdier has its Hidden Ability which is a Rock-type version of Dhelmise's Steelworker and [[spoiler:[[ParadoxPerson Paradox Donphan]]]] Great Tusk/Iron Treads is a DiscOneNuke that normally can't be caught until the postgame, making them very easy to miss out on getting it early.

* The PhlebotinumMuncher Titan Pokémon can be caught immediately after defeating them the first time, but they're hidden around the areas you met them and the player has no reason to believe they'd be seen again to begin with. To make matters worse [[spoiler:[[ParadoxPerson Paradox Donphan]]]] Great Tusk/Iron Treads is a DiscOneNuke that normally can't be caught until the postgame, making it very easy to miss out on getting it early.

* Gholdengo, the evolution of Gimmighoul, is a beastly special attacker that can net you loads of cash with its signature move, Make It Rain, and can tank targeted status moves no problem with its ability Good as Gold. How do you get it? You level up a Gimmighoul in your party while you have '''''999 GIMMIGHOUL COINS'''''. Yes, in order to get the 1,000th milestone Pokémon on your team, you need to have the maximum number of an item on your person. Thankfully, the Gimmighoul you find at the watchtowers across Paldea give anywhere between 10 to 50 coins, which is way more than the one or two you'll get from Roaming Form Gimmighoul, but it's still going to be a grind.

* Gholdengo, the evolution of Gimmighoul, is a beastly special attacker that can net you loads of cash with its signature move, Make It Rain, and can tank targeted status moves no problem with its ability Good as Gold. How do you get it? You level up a Gimmighoul in your party while you have '''''999 GIMMIGHOUL COINS'''''. Yes, in order to get the 1,000th milestone Pokémon on your team, you need to have the maximum number of an item on your person. Thankfully, the Gimmighoul you find at the watchtowers across Paldea give anywhere between 10 to 50 coins, which is way more than the one or two you'll get from Roaming Form Gimmighoul.

* Annihilape follows from Wrydeer and Overqwil: to get it, you must have a Primeape use the new move Rage Fist twenty times and then level up. (Since there's no Strong or Agile Style mechanic in these games, you're at least spared that trouble.)

* The PhlebotinumMuncher Titan Pokémon can be caught immediately after defeating them the first time, but they're hidden around the areas you met them and the player has no reason to believe they'd be seen again to begin with. To make matters worse [[ParadoxPerson Paradox Donphan]] Great Tusk/Iron Treads is a DiscOneNuke that normally can't be caught until the postgame, making it very easy to miss out on getting it early.

* Magneton and Nosepass only evolve if leveled up in Mt. Coronet, which apparently exudes a magnetic field that affects the two magnet-based Pokémon. Unfortunately, ''nowhere in the game is it mentioned that Mt. Coronet is magnetic''![[note]]Although, it's made more obvious in the Japanese version, where its name is Mt. ''[[SdrawkcabName Tengam]]''.[[/note]] An NPC in ''Platinum'' tells the player that certain Pokémon evolve when leveled up at Mt. Coronet, but they never hint as to which Pokémon or that Mt. Coronet is magnetic. In ''Legends: Arceus'', Professor Laventon just spells it out for the player, Nosepass can naturally be found there, and the level-up condition was removed, meaning that there's a good chance for the player to figure it out.

* Occasionally, a group of similar Pokemon will all spawn at once, sometimes with one outlier in the middle (usually the evolution of the others). This actually turns out to be important if you want to evolve your Bisharp: you must have it defeat three Leader's-Crest-bearing Bisharp, then level up. Such Bisharp are guaranteed to be those that spawn in surrounded by Pawniard.

* Occasionally, a group of similar Pokemon will all spawn at once, sometimes with one outlier in the middle (usually the evolution of the others). This actually turns out to be important if you want to evolve your Bisharp: you must have it defeat other Bisharp who spawn in surrounded by Pawniard while holding the Leader's Crest item, and then have it gain a level afterward.

* Occasionally, a group of similar Pokemon will all spawn at once, sometimes with one outlier in the middle (usually the evolution of the others). This actually turns out to be important if you want to evolve your Bisharp: you must have it defeat other Bisharp who spawn in surrounded by Pawniard, and then have it gain a level afterward.

* Finizen will only evolve if you use it in a Union Circle battle.
* Occasionally, a group of similar Pokemon will all spawn at once, sometimes with one outlier in the middle (usually the evolution of the others). This actually turns out to be important if you want to evolve your Bisharp: you must have it defeat other Bisharp who spawn in surrounded by Pawniards, and then have it gain a level afterward.

*** ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' changes it so that you can access just the very beginning part of Mount Lanakila as soon as you arrived at Tapu Village, allowing you to evolve Crabrawler earlier, but as with the change for magnetic-based evolutions, since nothing in the game tell you this, players can easily miss this.