Pokémon has a few No Export cases, despite being a very popular franchise worldwide.
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Video Games
- The original Pokémon Red & Green. The source code was too much of a fragile mess to even attempt touching without breaking the whole thing, so the international Red and Blue were based on the Japanese Updated Re-release Pokémon Blue.
- My Pokémon Ranch received a Japan-only update that made it compatible with Pokémon Platinum, alongside a slew of other new features.
- The WiiWare installments of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. Especially irksome because, for once, in these games, you can evolve in the middle of a dungeon. Yep, you don't have to beat the game (or in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers' case, essentially beat the game TWICE and recruit really hard legendaries) to evolve, you can evolve right in the middle of a mission! ...If you live in Japan, that is.
- Hey You, Pikachu! didn't get a European release. One UK source speculated that it could have been because localizing the software to recognize the myriad British accents, not to mention of the many languages of the rest of Europe, was unfeasible.
- For some weird reason, Pokémon Conquest was never released in France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands. Why it was released in all European countries except these is a mystery.
- Pokémon Stadium, the first one. The game released in the USA as Pokémon Stadium is Pokémon Stadium 2 in Japan. The game released in America as Pokemon Stadium 2 is Pokémon Stadium Gold and Silver in Japan. Confused yet?
- Many Pokémon arcade games. Prior to Pokémon Tretta
, none of them has ever officially left Japan (most exports were grey market, and mostly only to other Asian countries). However, Pokkén Tournament got a Wii U release outside Japan and several Dave & Busters in the US have the arcade game, and several countries in Asia are officially getting Pokémon Tretta in the wake of the return of Pokémania thanks to Pokémon GO. - After Gen III ditched compatibility with previous games, Celebi suffered from not being widely available outside of Japan until Gen IV (its first appearance in America was in the 4th Pokemon anime movie). It was available to Japanese players as a bonus disc exclusive to the Japanese Pokémon Colosseum, but US games could only get it through an obscure real-world event in Gen III, and the rest of the world had to wait for the remakes of Gold and Silver in Gen IV.
- In Australia and New Zealand, fans were upset when no announcement for a Celebi to be released for HG/SS, making sure that no Aussie would experience the backstory OR even get the Zorua in Black and White. Thus, the only way to get the backstory or a Zorua is by hacking. And with GameStop partnering up with EB Games in the early 2010's, many wireless Pokémon events that were exclusive to other English countries that have GameStop shops can now be distributed by EB Games in Australia and NZ (i.e. Keldeo, Meloetta, and even the Shiny Creation Trio) with permission from GameStop.
- Although Jirachi distributions in Japan in August (due to its connection to the Japanese holiday Tanabata) have been rather common in Generation IV, they've been entirely absent in North America and other territories - and despite the remakes of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (the games with which Jirachi was associated with) coming out in late 2014, the Japanese Jirachi distribution for the year had already taken place the prior August for Pokémon X and Y, so said release didn't go worldwide in order to associate itself with the remakes. Thankfully, it finally came out in 2016.
- Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR! was a sequel to the original Pokémon Trading Card Game which did not come out in North America because of it coming out in Japan at the end of the Game Boy Color's lifecycle (about 1 week before the GBA launched in Japan, in fact).
- An educational game called Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure got released in Japan, Europe, and Australia, but not North America or the rest of Asia.
- Certain event Pokémon are NEFY. We should be happy that all previously existing events came out in 2016, but some, like the Pokéscrap events and others featuring event Pokémon with levels less than 100 (including a Shiny Mewtwo!) remain out of reach. Notably, the Mew event for Emerald was never released outside of Japan, meaning legitimate shiny Mews can only be Japanese.
- Any Pokémon titles for the Sega Pico and Advanced Pico Beena. The Pico died early in the west that by the time Pokémon made it big outside Japan, the Pico was practically considered dead in those regions, and the Advanced Pico Beena was a NEFY console, so none of the games ever made it out of Japan as well.
- Players who live in either United States, Australia, or New Zealand were able to get Pokémon GO earlier than the other countries. The game was made available worldwide accidentally for one hour before it was pulled from all unreleased regions, though, and you could sideload it, but then you'll run into problems buying additional Pokéballs due to region locking enforced by Google Play Store. Additionally, several sideloaders have claimed that no Pokémon are spawning in the regions outside of where the game was officially available. There have even been official reports that sideloaders are now being banned from the game (since you're effectively giving Niantic/Nintendo your location while playing), while the botched release not only ceased functioning (since updated versions are not pushed to the devices), but any records of the user officially downloading the app disappeared off all the users' download history page. The wait is made worse in that Nintendo/Niantic both are really secretive regarding the launch schedule and refuse to comment or commit on future launches.
- The Kiddie Rides by Banpresto never left Japan officially.
- Pokémon Trading Card Game Online has still not been released in Japan, likely owing to cross-compatibility problems with how expansions are released differently between regions.
- It's minor, but most of the games from generations II to IV had extra content that could be unlocked through passwords that were generated by your trainer ID number, among other things. These bonuses mostly ranged from special PC box wallpapers to gift eggs. None of the events to officially obtain these passwords ever happened outside of Japan, but you can find them yourself on this page by entering your trainer ID from any game save.
Other Media
- The novels by Takeshi Shudō (the original series director, who worked on the show until Johto), released in 1997 and 1999, were never released outside Japan. They reveal a lot of insights into the anime's world, which paint it in a... different light than a lot of fans would expect.
- Pokemon (the manga):
- A majority of manga are never exported outside of Asia, to the point where people only know of "Adventures". This can be due to licensing problems, such as How I Became a Pokémon Card or censorship problems, such as what happened with Pocket Monsters, but usually it's not.
- Most of the older series don't go for the typical shōnen tone, making them unlikely to sell much in America, while most of the newer ones are too short (some even being only a volume long), meaning that there isn't much point in licensing them. Other than Pocket Monsters (a gag manga), Pokémon Adventures is the only long-running Pokémon manga with no forseeable end, meaning that only that one has incentive to keep around.
- However, it is worth noting that Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure! did relatively well in America, it being eight volumes long and having a fairly engaging plot outside the games it was based on, making it a bit of an Ensemble Dark Horse in the Pokémon fandom. Also, the manga based on the anime movies also continue to sell.
- However, Pokémon Adventures has had its annoying run with this trope. Its initial run in America didn't go too well as the volumes were overpriced during a non-friendly manga age, leading it to being canceled after seven volumes. Years later, the manga was re-released in America with a more reasonable price tag, the fandom rejoiced when it went the GS arc reached American shores for the first time... and then the fandom cried when Viz announced that they had no plans to release the third generation arcs, skipping ahead to the fourth- and fifth-generation arcs instead. Though Viz is finally beginning the publication of the third generation arcs as of March 2013, the manga's fourth- and fifth-generation arcs are still being published simultaneously, and so many plot holes and spoilers are sure to come for any new readers.
- A little info on why any manga besides Adventures and the movie adaptations will likely never leave Japan: Pokémon manga are usually seen as simply advertisements for the latest games and are published in monthly kids' magazines. By the time enough content has been collected into a volume and presentable for licensing (usually a year), the hype for the game is long over and announcements for the new ones are probably already being made.
- Viz only released up to Volume 7 of Magical Pokémon Journey and then dropped the series completely, leaving the final three volumes and the sequel Pokémon Chamo-Chamo ☆ Pretty ♪ untranslated for English readers.
- A majority
- Pokémon: The Series:
- The UK has never got DVD releases of ANY of the main series. Some of the movies haven't been released either. However it DID get Pokémon Chronicles.
- In the USA, Pokémon Chronicles still hasn't been released on DVD yet, likely due to the advent of streaming.
- In the UK, a deal HAD been struck up with Network DVD (A label that usually sells DVDs of old British shows) to release the series, but the only DVD they released for it was The Rise of Darkrai. Hell, the site even at one point HAD a Pokémon section, but that didn't last.
- Initially. Australia did not receive releases for the sixth or seventh movies, even though all other films had been or were still available, likely due to the rights issue surrounding Miramax films. As of 2016, this was rectified with the films being released by Roadshow Entertainment. Ironically enough, Australia and New Zealand are not victims of having NEFY, usually being the first to see the films in English since the release of Pokémon: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction, and are often the first to obtain the anime episodes on DVD and Blu-ray since Diamond and Pearl.
- Even with the loss of Region 4's prime distributer in August 2020, Beyond International, Australia and New Zealand continues to get releases of the series and moviesnote through Shock Entertainment with the distributer continuing it's predecessor's series of re-releasing the movies and TV series in an updated format as well as being the first country outside of Japan to release Pokemon Journeys on home video. Even with Shock Entertainment's last release, as of July 2023, being Pokémon: Secrets of the Jungle, Australia and New Zealand have more home media releases over any other major-english speaking regions
- Seasons 3 to 5 were not aired at all in Norway for unknown reasons, meaning the only parts of the Johto saga shown there were the first 12 episodes of Season 6 and the movies. Season 9 was not shown on broadcast TV either, although it was available on the TV2 Sumo streaming service.
- As far as Malaysia is concerned, Advanced Generation doesn't existnote . In 2011, it skipped right to Malay-dubbed Diamond and Pearl instead on terrestrial TV, but due Pokémania ending several years prior, lack of advertising, and abrupt schedule and network changesnote , it was cancelled after 53 episodes. The anime has been treated like a redhead stepchild since — only random series gets aired (usually during school break season) and then gets screwed over several episodes down the line anyway (when the break is over, regardless of whether the series really ended). However, the anime is also airing on Disney XD Asia who had picked up the rights shortly after the channel was launched, where it is aired in English and gets a far better treatment. While Black and White were eventually cut short, X and Y appear to receive a similar fate as Advanced Generation in order to catch up with the Sun and Moon series, although X and Y was eventually made available over Netflix. Sadly, however, Black and White is not available over Netflix in the country, meaning there is no legal way to get to the episodes Disney XD Asia and TV3 screwed over. And then in 2020, Disney shut down Disney XD in the whole of Asia, while the Media Prima Channels are being revamped due to the company going bankrupt and thus the possibility of Pokémon leaving the networks is very real. Meaning now it’s either Netflix or bust.
- The Hebrew dub skipped over the Black & White saga.
- The two special episodes at the end of Diamond and Pearl focusing on Dawn and Brock's younger brother Forrest were never shown outside Japan.
- Some episodes of the anime are Missing Episodes outside of Japan.
