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Trivia / Pokémon

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This page applies to Pokémon in general. For Trivia in a specific game or medium, go to the following:

    Main Games 

    Spinoff Games 

    Other Media 

    Anime Films 

General Trivia

    Trope Codifiers, and Other Such Contributions 
  • It's also the Trope Codifier for:
    • Duels Decide Everything: Shared with Yu-Gi-Oh! which appeared around a similar time.
    • Mons: Not the earliest example, but certainly the most famous, to the extent that other series which have mimicked the formula, such as Digimon and Yo-kai Watch are inevitably compared to Pokémon.
    • One Game for the Price of Two and Socialisation Bonus: The splitting of each generation of Pokémon games into two versions with relatively minor differences, which required players to trade with players who had the other version, resulted in the rise of these tropes.
    • Shipping: While the concept of fans pairing two fictional characters together existed long before Pokémon ever existed, it was The X-Files fandom that coined the term.note  However, with the large number and variety of human characters in the two main adaptations,note  the fandom has run the gamut of The Ship Yard.

    Trivia facts 
  • The design of Rotom is a throwback to the design of Pulseman, a game previously made by Game Freak.
    • Another nod to Pulseman was made in Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. When you hear your rival/Barry's battle theme, the second last part of the song is a short altered version of a part of Pulseman's overworld theme.
    • The move Volt Tackle, an Electric-type variation of Double-Edge, is another nod to Pulseman — specifically his signature "Volteccer" move, with which it shares its name in Japanese (also a Shout-Out to Tekkaman).
    • Boltund's Japanese name is Pulsewan, which is very similar to Pulseman.
  • Everyone knows how Nintendo's former rival Sega has gone Multi-Platform after the death of the Sega Dreamcast (and thus has games on Nintendo consoles), right? Well, very little know that the opposite is true in Japan, as there is a Pokémon game on the Sega Pico. (And yes, the Pico is still very much alive over there.)
  • Wobbuffet is a Homage to late Japanese comedian Sanpei Hayashiya. No, really. Everything from Wobby's pose to its original name in Japanese. The trainer in G/S/C saying his Wobbuffet would spontaneously jump out of his Poké Ball and agree with everything he says is a reference to said comedian's Catchphrase, roughly "That's the way it is!" — sadly, there was really no way to translate this gag to non-Japanese audiences.
  • First Pokémon revealed in each generation:
    • Gen I: Mew (copyrighted) and Rhydon (created)
    • Gen II: Ho-oh, via an Early-Bird Cameo on the first episode (though the Pokédex couldn't identify whether or not Ho-Oh was a Pokémon and its name wasn't mentioned). Togepi was the first identified as such. Donphan also appears in Pokémon: The First Movie, while Marill and Snubbull were in the short film tied in to that, and Elekid, Slowking, Bellossom, and Lugia appeared in the second film. There was also an episode where a sketch of the top of Elekid's head was shown.
    • Gen III: Kecleon, Wailmer, and Azurill for the fourth movie (or rather, the Pikachu short).
      • Then for the fifth, Latias and Latios, with Volbeat, Duskull appearing in the accompanying short. Wynaut debuted in the anime a little before that.
    • Gen IV: Munchlax, then Lucario, then Bonsly, Weavile, and Mime Jr.
      • Bonsly had the honor of actually being playable to a limited extent in a Pokémon RPG before its own game was released — it was available in the bingo mode of Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness.
    • Gen V: Zoroark and Zorua
    • Gen VI: Chespin, Fennekin, Froakie, Xerneas, and Yveltal
    • Gen VII: Magearna
    • Gen VIII: Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble
    • Gen IX: Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly
  • Rhydon was the first Pokémon ever created, according to Ken Sugimori. You can see this in Red, Green, and Blue's code — the internal list of Pokémon starts with Rhydon. Second is Kangaskhan.
    • Which might explain why some variations of Missingno. turn into Rhydon at some point and the Glitch Pokémon 'M can actually evolve into Kangaskhan.
  • Mew was copyrighted in 1990 by Game Freak, six years before the release of Red/Green. Despite this, Nintendo didn't even know that Mew had been programmed in by Shigeki Morimoto when Red and Green were released. This is the reason Mewtwo predates Mew in Pokédex order — originally, Mew only existed in Mewtwo's backstory and wouldn't have been an in-game obtainable Pokémon, while Mewtwo was.
  • Pokémon Red and Blue weren't the first Pokémon games in Japan. Over there, the duo was originally Red and Green, while Blue was a third game that was pretty much a remake with better graphics and a few bugs fixed.
    • When they were imported into the United States, Game Freak took the Pokémon lists and scripts from Red and Green and programmed them into Blue, giving us remakes of Red and Green with the improved graphics of Blue.
      • This is also why the remake of Pokémon Blue is titled LeafGreen, along a statement by Jun'ichi Masuda that claimed a leaf was more suggestive of peace rather than opposing elements of fire and water.
      • Incidentally, this is why one of the NPC traders tells you that your Raichu evolved after you trade it to him (Raichu cannot evolve) — they took that line from the Japanese Blue Version, in which you trade him a Kadabra (which evolves into Alakazam when traded).
      • This is also the cause for the infamous Green vs. Blue naming of the Rival who later becomes the Gym leader of Viridian. In Japan, the Rival is originally known as Green to the main character's Red. However, since the improved Red and Green versions were released as Red and Blue in America, they wanted to be consistent with your player being one version and your rival the opposite. Many fans argue over which name you should use when referring to Green/Blue (you DO have the option of naming him in-game despite default canon), while others simply say "whatever."
  • Prior to Generation IV, if a shiny Ditto (or Mew) transforms a regularly-colored Pokémon, it transforms into the shiny version of that Pokémon. If a regular-colored Ditto copies a shiny Pokémon, it will transform into the regular-colored version of that Pokémon. And, somewhat-obviously, if a shiny Ditto copies a shiny Pokémon, it will be the shiny variant. From Gen IV on, whether it appears shiny or not depends solely on the target's coloration.
    • There's an exploit abusing this in Gen II and Gen I. Simply transfer the shiny Gyarados to any Gen I game, and capture a Ditto after it transforms into that Gyarados. Voila, transfer it into any Gen II game and you have a shiny Ditto. And because of the way the game is structured, said Ditto vastly increases your chances for a shiny egg of any other Pokémon when breeding with it.
  • Currently, Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia is the only Pokémon game in which you can actually die (specifically, by failing to stop a ship from sinking with you aboard).
    • In Guardian Signs, there is a similar mission, except instead of stopping a sinking ship, it's escaping a flooding submarine.
  • The favorite Pokémon of Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokémon, is Poliwhirl.
  • Longtime fans may remember back in Generation I when bogus rumors were flying about the infantile internet speculating on a possible secret/glitch that would allow you to catch the most elusive of all Pokémon: Mew (No.151). Surprise surprise, there really is a secret glitch that allows you to catch a Mew! For real this time! Now the bad news: you will probably have to restart your game in order to pull this off, since the easiest method for getting Mew requires you to have not battled a certain trainer on the route north of Cerulean City. Mew is actually only a small part of a game breaking glitch which can be activated as soon as you have Teleport/Fly and meet a trainer who will try to battle you as soon as he appears on-screen (near Lavender/Saffron). Fly away before he battles you, but after the "!" appears over his head, and you will soon find yourself battling strange glitch Lv.7 Pokémon determined by the Special stat of the last Pokémon you fought.
  • Junichi Masuda's favorite Pokémon is Victini (it used to be Pichu), favorite type is the Water type, and favorite move is the Water-type Surf.
    • In an IGN interview, he also mentioned Tangela as one of his favorites. He said he liked how it evolved into Tangrowth and considered it underrated.
  • Cryogonal and Mew, despite being genderless Pokémon, can learn Attract. This means it will never work, since genderless Pokémon cannot be infatuated with each other and don't count as "opposite" to male or female. Staryu and Starmie could also learn Attract via TM in Generation II.
  • Highest individual stats among Pokémon:
    • HP: Tie between Blissey and Eternamax Eternatus (Base 255)
    • Attack: Mega Mewtwo X (Base 190) note 
    • Defense: Eternamax Eternatus (Base 250) note 
    • Special Attack: Mega Mewtwo Y (Base 194) note 
    • Special Defense: Eternamax Eternatus (Base 250) note 
    • Speed: Regieleki (Base 200)
  • Eternamax Eternatus has the highest total base stats (1125) of any Pokémon. Before its introduction, Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Mewtwo Y, and Mega Rayquaza led the pack at 780, and those are still the highest for playable forms.note 
  • Lowest individual stats among Pokémon:
    • HP: Shedinja (Base 1)
    • Attack: Tie between Happiny and Chansey (Base 5)
    • Defense: Tie between Happiny and Chansey (Base 5)
    • Special Attack: Tie between Shuckle, Feebas, Bonsly, and Alolan Sandshrew (Base 10)
    • Special Defense: Tie between Caterpie, Weedle, Magikarp, Igglybuff, Carvanha, Deoxys' Attack Forme, and Stonjourner (Base 20)
    • Speed: Tie between Shuckle, Munchlax, and Pyukumuku (Base 5)
  • Solo form Wishiwashi has the lowest total base stats (175) of any Pokémon. Beforehand, Sunkern was the bottom of the barrel at 180.
  • In the Pokémon Anime, the most used Gym Pokémon opponents of Ash, as of XY, are Geodude and Machoke, who have been used by 4 gym leaders each. Geodude by Brock, Danny, Roxanne, and Roark, and Machoke by Danny, Chuck, Maylene, and Korrina.

    Trivia Tropes 
  • Adaptation Overdosed: The anime, various spinoff games, remakes of certain main games, multiple book series, a trading card game, a set of marbles, two handheld game consoles, and currently 40+ manga (but most people act like only one exists). The spinoff games include dungeon crawlers, a rail shooter, a Slice of Life simulator, Panel de Pon installments, pinball, mobile puzzle games, a mobile virtual pet game, an augmented reality game, Edutainment Games and even a visual novel.
  • Ascended Fan Nickname:
    • The fan term "Eeveelutions", referring to the myriad of ways that Eevee can evolve, has been adopted for use by Nintendo in the card game, the official guide◊ for Pokémon Stadium 2, and in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.
    • 'Shiny' was the widely used fan term for shiny Pokémon back when Gold and Silver were released, derived from the use of 'shiny' for the holographic cards in the Trading Card Game (at the time, omnipresent on school playgrounds). At first Nintendo did not give the shinies a name, but from Gen 3 on they officially called them 'alternately colored'; Nintendo then used the term 'shiny' officially in Generation V, such as in the forms section of the Pokédex (which is easy to find when viewing the Pokédex entries for Johto's legendary trio after transferring the shiny versions of them given out prior to the launch of the generation).
  • Ascended Fanon: Perhaps by accident, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire included a map made by Serebii.net of the Pokémon world, only flipped horizontally. In its original orientation, Kanto and Johto are in the center, Hoenn to the southwest, Orre in the northwest, the Sevii Islands south of Kanto, Oblivia southeast of Kanto, Sinnoh southeast of Oblivia, Fiore due north of Oblivia, and Almia due east of Fiore.
  • Banned in China:
    • Saudi Arabia had denounced it as a way to promote gambling and Zionism. They let the later generations slide, however, and missed the anime entirely. Of course, this only applied to the card games. Dubai had a variation; they stopped importing Pokémon cards en masse just prior to the release of Neo Genesis. Stores could import them privately and sell them, but at marked up prices.
  • Cash-Cow Franchise: Gotta Catch Them All indeed! As a video game series, only Mario has sold more games. However, as a media franchise, Pokémon is THE highest-grossing media franchise of all time based on Wikipedia users' calculations.
  • Cowboy Be Bop At His Computer: Has its own page.
  • Defictionalization: The games, themselves.
    • In Real Life, it is extremely possible to encounter others playing a Pokémon game — especially with the popularity of Pokémon Go — and (if conditions are right) battle them, just like that damn Bug Catcher kid outside Vermilion City.
    • In fact, many events and tournaments such as the World Pokémon Championships allow players to compete and become the real life Pokémon Champions.
    • Getting an actual Pokédex can save you a lot of trouble in the games, and there are many Wiki sites (and Google) that serve as an online Pokédex
    • As of 2014, there is a real-life pterosaur called "Aerodactyl" and as of 2017, a dicynodont called "Bulbasaur". The latter was allegedly not named after its Pokémon counterpart, but one of its describers did admit that “similarities between this species and certain other squat, tusked quadrupeds may not be entirely coincidental.”
  • Dummied Out: Has its own page.
  • Fandom Life Cycle: As a whole, the franchise is squarely a 5. It is one of Nintendo's best selling series, has a very long running anime series, and has influenced quite a few corners of popular culture.
  • Fountain of Expies: There are many set patterns in the types of Pokémon introduced in each generation.
    • It's series tradition for every new generation to have a Pikachu expy that shares its general design (based on a rodent, small, usually having spotted cheeks, Electric-typing). Gen II has its baby evolution Pichu, while each next Generation has introduced Plusle and Minun, Pachirisu, Emolga, Dedenne, Togedemaru, Morpeko, and the Pawmi line, respectively. Similar to the Pikachu line, these "Pikaclones" also tend to have the same name across every region of the world, with few exceptions.
    • Of course, main titles of every generation send the player off with a starter Pokémon: a Pokémon from a extremely rare three-stage family of one of three types: Grass, Fire or Water. Grass types so far have been Bulbasaur, Chikorita, Treecko, Turtwig, Snivy, Chespin, Rowlet, Grookey, and Sprigatito. Fire types so far have been Charmander, Cynaquil, Torchic, Chimchar, Grookey, Fennekin, Litten, Scorbunny, and Fuecoco. Water types so far have been Squirtle, Totodile, Mudkip, Piplup, Oshawott, Froakie, Popplio, Sobble, and Quaxly.
    • Early routes are guaranteed to have Normal type Pokémon with two-stage families. Rattata was the first, with subsequent generations introducing Sentret, Zigzagoon, Bidoof, Patrat, Bunnelby, Yungoos, Skwovet, and Lechonk.
    • There's also the early-route Flying type, based on Pidgey and Spearow. Hoothoot, Taillow, Starly, Pidove, Fletchling, Pikipek, Rookidee, and none in Generation IX.
    • Completing the recurring early-route bestiary are families of three-stage (sometimes two-stage) Bug types, usually two per game, one Bug/Poison. The originals were Weedle and Caterpie. Then came Ledyba and Spinarak, Wurmple (which had a branching evolution, one dual-typed with Poison), Kricketot, Sewaddle and Venipede, Scatterbug, Grubbin, Blipbug, and Tarountula and Nymble.
    • Mew expies — event-exclusive legendaries with 100 across all base stats. Celebi, Jirachi, Manaphy, Victini. The pattern was finally broken in Gen VI, with no obvious Mew expy present.
    • Dragonite expies, known by the Fan Nickname "Pseudo-legendaries" — three-stage mons that have very high levels for evolution and are among the best in the game, and are usually but not always dragons. Dragonite, Tyranitar, Salamence, Metagross, Garchomp, Hydreigon, Goodra, Kommo-o, Dragapult, and Baxcalibur.
  • Flip-Flop of God: The official sources are unable to really decide if Phione, a water type that is only available by breeding the unambiguously legendary Manaphy, is a legendary Pokémon itself or not. Its stats and movepool and treatment in the anime suggests that it isn't, but the fact that it is unusable in battle facilities (a trait normally reserved for box and event legendaries) suggests that it is.
  • Franchise Zombie: Pokémon Gold and Silver were intended to be the last games in the series, with The Pokémon Company's CEO saying that afterwards, it would be time for him to move on to something else. Since then, six more generations of games have been made, with the probability of more very high.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: The main series is notoriously bad with re-releases, probably due to the complexity of supporting all of the expected multiplayer features. As of 2023, only generations I and II have been re-released on a later platform but, since the platform in question was the Nintendo 3DS, the games became unavailable again due to the eShop closing down in late March 2023. Outside of piracy, the only real option is to try and get the games through secondhand stores, which, given how popular and valuable the franchise is, can be super effective on the wallet.
  • Kids' Meal Toy: The video games, anime, and TCG all had toys at many restaurant chains. One infamous promotion is the Burger King one in 1999. The Pokéballs caused infants to suffocate with the ball halves covering their mouths and noses. They were later recalled.
  • Killer App: The Game Freak-developed games are consistently top-sellers for whatever console they are released on, and they also typically boost console sales during their initial release period.
  • No Export for You:
    • Pokémon Battrio (an arcade game).
      • There were several other arcade games aside from this one as well (Bulbapedia reference). None of them were ever exported either.
    • The WiiWare Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games.
    • Pokémon Conquest was never released outside of Japan and the US.
    • The second video game of the card game, Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR!.
    • Also the Pokémon VS expansion, released in Japan between Neo Destiny and Expedition. Essentially it was a sequel to the "Gym" sets featuring the Gold/Silver version gym leaders.
    • Platinum: Supreme Victors was never released in Italy.
    • The original Pokémon Stadium. The game that was ported was its sequel. Fortunately, it was more or less an unfinished version of the one we did get.
    • Celebi had a bad tendency to not get released in the US. Only three US events - one in Gen II, one in Gen III that only made it to ten cities, and another near the end of Gen IV - have given it out. The Celebi from the (Gen VI) Pokémon Bank trial finally gave it widespread release. Another Celebi was given over Nintendo Network for the 20th Anniversary (alongside other Mythical Pokémon from the previous 5 generations) from March 1 to 24, 2016.
    • None of the Sega Pico and Advance Pico Beena titles have ever been released outside of Japan. This is due to the Pico dying an early death outside Japan, while the Beena was a straight-out NEFY console.
    • None of the kiddie rides by Banpresto/Bandai Namco have ever officially left Japanese soil.
    • Six of the ten games for Pokémon mini were Japan-only, and the Tetris game was Japan and Europe-only.
    • Most physical merchandise for the franchise is only sold in Japan, and the official merchandise store for the West only sells to the United States.
  • Older Than They Think: The first time a Picnicker was depicted wearing shorts with her uniform was in the anime episode "Pokémon Scent-sation", just over two years before Generation II.
  • Pop-Culture Urban Legends: Has its own page.
  • Recursive Adaptation:
    • Pokémon Yellow Version and Pokémon Puzzle League are games based on the anime based on the main series of Pokémon games, with Yellow being part of the main series itself.
    • There's also a manga based on the TCG, more than one based on the anime and several based on spin-off games...all based on the original game series.
    • Several important facts across the verses have started outside of the main series and were adapted back into them because they became iconic. The most notable is the Pokéball's design. In Gen I, they were designed in such a manner that they split in two and had a button on the top of the ball. The finalized version of the Pokéball was designed for the anime when the writers were in pre-planning meetings with Game Freak and they admitted they never had quite finalized the design. The writers hastily came up with the iconic design with their approval and it was retconned back into the series proper.
    • The TCG video games.
    • Speaking of TCG, the concept of passive abilities originally named Pokémon Powers ended up being introduced in the main series from Generation III onward under the name of Abilities. Then, two generations later, Pokémon Powers in the TCG were renamed to Abilities as well.
    • Cinnabar Island is said to include a volcano, but one is not visible in the original games. In the anime, however, the volcano is not only clearly visible, but the city's Gym is located inside it. Fast forward to Gen II, where the volcano erupted and destroyed the city, and the volcano is shown to originate from where the Gym stood in Gen I.
  • Science Imitates Art:
    • The dicynodont Bulbasaurus is an ambiguous case. Formally, it's named after the unusually pronounced, bulbous growths in the area around its nose. However, when asked on the matter, its discoverers stated that the name resemblance "may not be entirely coincidental".
    • A protein involved in the function of neural synapses is named pikachurin in reference to Pikachu's "lightning-fast moves".
    • Aerodactylus is a small pterosaur, closely related to Pterodactylus, named after Aerodactyl.
    • Three species of Binburrum beetles formally described together in 2020 were named after the Legendary Birds — B. articuno, B. zapdos, and B. moltres.
    • A subspecies of spider with the name treecko exists, after the Grass-type Starter in the third generation; amusingly, it's part of the Rathalos genus, but it's unclear whether or not the nomenclature was inspired by Monster Hunter or not, as the taxonomic report claims it's an "arbitrary combination of letters". The same occasion saw the naming of two new Anyphaena spiders, A. grovyle and A. sceptile, as an extension of this trend.
    • Nocticola pheromosa is a cockroach species named after the Ultra Beast Pheromosa, due to the latter being an anthropomorphic roach.
  • Screwed by the Lawyers: The franchise has generally been able to avert this as a whole, although there have been some exceptions. For example, due to a lawsuit by Uri Geller who claimed it was unlawfully based on him, the Pokémon Kadabra hasn't made any appearances in the anime since the Advanced Generation episode Fear Factory Phonynote , and no Kadabra card has been reprinted in the TCG since the "Skyridge" booster packnote . Though Kadabra was able to avert this in fate in the main games, it did not show up in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia while Abra and Alakazam did. However, in 2020, Geller gave Nintendo permission to print Kadabra cards in the TCG.
  • Shrug of God: Although the main series games are all chronologically connected, Game Freak has been tight-lipped about how they are connected ever since scenario writer Toshinobu Matsumiya's now deleted tweet from 2014 discussing it. Gameinformer posed the question to them in an interview conducted a few weeks before the release of Pokémon Sword and Shield, over five years after the tweet was posted, and Junichi Masuda responded that they (at least for now) try to not treat things in regards to a timeline out of fear of overcomplicating things.
    Junichi Masuda: It starts to get a little complicated if you pay too much attention to timelines. Like, there might be a professor that appears and it wouldn’t make sense at all if we applied that kind of timeline logic. So we try not to apply it too rigorously. Maybe one hint is that if a character is appearing with Professor Oak, they’re living in the same era. Rather than some series where it makes sense to have the timeline progress as you go and the story evolve, the approach that Pokémon takes is expanding the world, like what the regions are, and making it richer as we go. Rather than a timeline, it's more of a physical space thing.
  • Tie-In Cereal:
    • In the early 2000s, there was a toasted oat cereal with marshmallow pieces in the shape of Pikachu, Oddish, Poliwhirl, and Ditto. A limited edition of the same cereal was also released with pieces in the shape of Gen II Pokémon. At the same time, a lmited edition Pokemon-themed Pop-tart flavor was also released: cherry flavored with yellow icing and Pokemon shaped sprinkles.
    • There is currently a Pokémon-fruit flavored breakfast cereal from General Mills called Pokémon Berry Blast with marshmallows shaped like Pikachu's head and tail.
  • Trolling Creator: Game Freak for mostly the same reason as their nickname.
    • What can you say when they made Levitate Flying Rotom, and Insomnia Delibirdnote , or Event Only Heatran with Eruption and Quiet Nature?note  Probably the best example is Shedinja, who can learn Final Gambit and Sandstorm.note 
    • Going in to the Pokémon Presents on February 27, 2024, one of the widely rumored potential announcements was for a Legends game set in Generation II's Johto, going off the "past" paradox legendary beasts in Scarlet and Violet (alongside the "future" paradox legendaries from Generation V, which itself by the previously established release cycle people were expecting remakes of anyway). The bulk of the Presents itself was even introduced and closed off with the Unown, which have been so irrelevant outside of Johto and their collection quest in Pokémon Legends: Arceus that the only move they could learn was removed from the base games... And then the actual final announcement was for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, set in Generation VI's Kalos, where in the original X and Y the Unown weren't even available for capture.
  • Urban Legend of Zelda: Pokémon has been the source of many of these since the very first game in 1996. So much that it has its own page.
    • One fan theory suggests that somewhere during the first generation's development, the sprite designs for Butterfree and Venomoth were accidentally switched due to a bug; Butterfree has a striking resemblance to Venomoth's pre-evolution Venonat. It's speculated that instead of correcting the mistake in later releases, the developers might've decided to just Throw It In!.
      • Similar theories have also popped up on the subject of Psyduck and Golduck's names (Psyduck is the one to be gold-colored and Golduck is the one to have its psychic powers in check) , as well as the Marsh and Soul Badges from Pokémon Red and Blue (unlike what their names imply, the former is given out by a psychic-type specialist, and the latter by a poison-type specialist) .
    • "Okay, go to the mansion at night on the third Friday of the month with all three starters and a Raichu in your party, touch the statue one hundred times, and then go into the garden and run around clockwise another one hundred times. The lady in front of the door at the end of the right hallway will leave and when you go inside the room, Oak will give you a ball containing MewThree!" The funniest thing about this is that the Nugget Bridge area Mew Glitch actually works!
    • The hidden truck near the S.S. Anne in Red and Blue spawned all sorts of rumours. Use Strength on it to get Mew/PokéGods/other made-up Pokemon! In FireRed and LeafGreen, you get a Lava Cookie by checking out the truck, an item otherwise unobtainable without trading from the Hoenn games.
    • Hell, if there's any series that has a wealth of rumors about things in the games, it's Pokémon. There were rumors that proliferated way back when about being able to find Togepi (introduced in the anime long before the second generation Pokémon were officially announced) and "Pikablu" (aka Marill) in the original games. And yes, millions of rumors of ways to find Mew. One particularly amusing one was that if you defeat the Elite Four 100 times, Professor Oak will tell you that he's sick of inducting you into the Hall of Fame every other Wednesday and give you free roam of the room. Take a guess what you would apparently find in the room. Hint: It rhymes with "stew", is almost as pink as Kirby, and has incredible learning potential.
    • PokeGods is a project working to archive and research all the old codes and rumors in the Pokémon games, particularly the Poké Gods.
    • Almost every player had some variation of "Hold B while trying to capture a Pokémon to raise your success rate."
      • This tends to be more along the lines of D&D players' "Don't touch my dice!" superstitions. Not many really believe it works, but do it anyway as something resembling tradition.
      • Though many players do this solely for good luck, even if they know it doesn't work.
      • Ironically, it is possible to manipulate the RNG with button-presses, but as they have to be frame-perfect, it's nearly impossible for a human to do so.
    • An example of an ascended urban legend is Leafeon. Leafeon was a common rumor back during the late 90s because the Leaf Stone was the only one of the elemental stones (not including the Moon Stone) that didn't evolve Eevee. So naturally, rumors flew about the mythical "Leafeon". It took three more generations, but they finally put it in. Though, ironically, it doesn't evolve via Leaf Stone, but rather by leveling Eevee up in a particular forest near a particular rock. (That is, until Generation VIII, when Moss Rocks stopped appearing... and Leaf Stones were substituted in.) Ironically, there actually was an early version of Leafeon in a leaked demo build of Gold and Silver, which would have been developed in the exact timeframe that the rumors were originally circulating in.
    • In Ruby and Sapphire, we get this little joy: Go to the space center in Mossdeep. Once they've sent out 100 rockets (with one rocket going up a week), they will allow you to go to the moon where you can capture Jirachi/Deoxys/tons of Metagross/something! In reality, the only thing that happens around that time is the Berry glitch in unpatched copies of the games. Then Game Freak decides to run with the 'catch Deoxys in space' part in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, though how you get to that point has nothing to do with the rockets.
    • It's widely believed that the AI cheats in the battle facilities like the Battle Tower, stacking the Random Number God against the player by doing things like ensuring all One-Hit Kill attacks hit. While the AI does ignore a couple of rules in some facilities on occasion, it does not play with hit/miss chances or the like.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • According to an interview, there was a rejected Pokémon design based on Dolly, the cloned sheep. It was scrapped in fear of controversy.
    • Beta Pikachu was larger, had a white spot on its stomach, and thin red oval spots instead of red circles.
    • There is a beta Pokémon that looks like a cross between a Blaziken and Latias, implying that they were originally one Pokémon.
    • There exists unused battle data for Professor Oak in all of the Generation I games. He can still be fought with certain variations of the Old Man or Mew glitches, but be warned: his teams (he has three, the only difference being which fully-evolved starter he has) is stronger than the Champion's. Whether he was meant to be the original Champion, or included as an Optional Boss, is unknown.
    • Just as Girafarig's name mirrors itself, so did its original design◊.
    • Apparently, Shellos and Gastrodon were intended to be in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, but they weren't integrated into the final design, according to a Nintendo Power interview with Ken Sugimori.
    • Stunfisk was originally going to be a Water/Electric angler fish, but was changed to increase type diversity within the Unova region (and possibly globally, seeing as we already have Lanturn).
    • Dragonair used to have spikes and a different head design. Noticeably, the beta version looks more like Dragonite then the Dragonair we know today, so its evolution would have been a smoother transition had they kept the old design.
    • The game changed dramatically during its transition from Capsule Monsters (the original pitch) to Pocket Monsters. In the original draft, there was only going to be one version, you caught monsters by negotiating with them via a Charisma stat ala Shin Megami Tensei, most of the early mon designs were based more heavily on dinosaurs and kaiju rather than animals in general, you recovered health at inns, Pokémon could be bought from Poké Marts with enough badges, and probably the biggest change was that Pokémon Trainers were originally supposed to participate in battles with whips alongside their Pokémon! The whips are still present in the Gen I sprites for Ace Trainers, but removed in the remakes.
    • Both a Surfboard and Roller skates were useable items at one point. The surfboard ended up being Dummied Out in Gen I and the Roller Skates ended up finally making an appearance in Gen VI, as a way to move around without adhering to the grid-based structure of the overworld.
    • The early◊ Pokémon previews from Nintendo Power◊ provided different English names for the titles and organizations we come to know of, as well as unused concept art from the anime. For starters, the shortened name Pokémon was originally "Poke-Mon", with a hyphen in the middle and no é. Pokémon Trainers were also going to be called Pokémon hunters as well, while Team Rocket was originally going to be called the Rocket Society. Jessie and James were originally wearing the black Rocket uniform with white gloves and boots, being more closer to the Rocket Grunt designs instead of their classic white uniform and black gloves and boots (with the exception of early BW).
    • In an interview with Nintendo Dream, Flygon was a candidate for Mega Evolution since the beginning of Generation VI. However, problems with designing the Mega Evolution caused the idea to be dropped.
    • During the beta stage for Diamond and Pearl, the Picnicker Trainer class was planned to be depicted visually with a Tomboyish Ponytail; as the final game shows, Picnickers still ended up with their hair remaining loose.
    • In development, the game was called "Capsule Monsters" and there was a number of creatures designed that never made it in any generation; the Gold/Silver demo also had different starters than what we ended up with. (These designs are discussed and guesses are made as to what they may have become here.) The unused fire starter started an early Urban Legend of Zelda about "Pikaflare".
    • Ken Sugimori had revealed that there were plans for a Viridian Gym Leader that could be fought before Brock. Some have speculated that he resembles a Youngster-aged Giovanni.
    • Had it not been for his tragic suicide, Robin Williams, a known video game lover, had an exclusive deal with Nintendo to play Professor Oak in a potential Live-Action Adaptation.
    • Nintendo made a deal with Magic Box Int. to make a set of Pokémon Gogos for the latter company's Gogo's Crazy Bones toy series, but the plans were scrapped and the Pokémon set of Gogos was never made.
    • During the localization process in the USA, Nintendo of America wanted to redesign all of the Pokémon as they deemed their original designs too cute. One of the supposed changes was turning Pikachu into a tiger with boobs. Game Freak found their idea too insane to accept.
  • Write What You Know: The "Gotta Catch Them All" concept was born out of Satoshi Tajiri's love for catching bugs in his back yard as a child.

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