The Pokemon video games are undoubtedly the most influential and successful pieces of the franchise's constantly-expanding empire. While the anime, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:trading cards, and other media have become incredibly popular, every new generation of games finds interesting ways to bring back audiences of all ages and provide 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:intriguing new mechanics to draw in new players.
Knowing this, it might be surprising to discover that many Pokemon appear in either the animated TV show or one of the movies before they are catchable in a game. These teases began during the show's first season, and continue to happen occasionally.
Updated April 29th, 2023, by David Kinder: After twenty years, Ash's adventure is over. It's hard to imagine that it consisted of more than a dozen films and hundreds of episodes. Each of these brings back many wonderful memories. Even though it's the end of the line, a nostalgia trip is in order. Let's take a look back at all the early appearances these Pokemon made before their mainline debut. We've added a few more Pokemon that were first revealed in the anime before coming to the games. Because even though the journey is over, we can always press play.
22 Chatot
If you don't feel like committing to an entire movie or season of the anime, you might enjoy one of the many short films that follow Ash's Pikachu as he goes on his own side adventures. Many of them are available to watch online, but one of the more difficult ones to track down — Pikachu's Ocean Adventure — introduced Chatot months before 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon Diamond and Pearl launched in Japan.
Pikachu's Ocean Adventure originally aired as a 4D movie in Japan, which made putting it on disc nearly impossible. Pikachu and his friends finally get some downtime and decide to relax at the beach, only for this musical bird to swoop in with a treasure map and lead them on a short but fun underwater adventure.
21 Bellossom
The short film Pikachu's Rescue Adventure aired before Pokemon: The Movie 2000 in theaters, and featured Pikachu and his Pokemon pals on a colorful and lighthearted journey. It introduced a few second-generation Pokemon before the release of Gold and Silver, including Bellossom.
A few Bellossom appear while Pikachu explores a giant tree, initiating a dance sequence starring all the Pokemon that live there. Gloom could only evolve into Vilepume originalꩲly, so this was the first 🧸time anyone ever saw its second evolutionary form. This particular short also introduced Hoothoot, Ledyba, and Elekid.
20 Lugia
As soon as you finished watching Bellossom make a spectacular entrance in Pikachu's Rescue Adventure, you could see even more Pokemon debut in the feature-length Pokemon: The Movie 2000. The second movie in the series features a battle between the first generation's Legendary Bird trio — Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres — who are slowly turning the world of Pokemon into The Day After Tomorrow.
In order to quell the fighting, a series of events leads to Lugia interfering with the conflict and marking its debut in the Pokemon franchise. The movie was released a few months before Lugia would debut as a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Legendary in Gold and Silver, w༺hich helped entrench its staꦚtus as a fan favorite.
19 Wynaut
Wobbuffet had been a staple of the anime for many episodes, so it made a lot of sense to debut its pre-evolution in a short story arc. A wild Wynaut begins following Ash and friends when they arrive in Blackthorn City, appeari🔯ng in a few episodes before they leave for their next ad👍venture.
The Wynaut is rarely seen, but it loves to steal food from Team Rocket and causes them to constantly blame Jessie's Wobbuffet for it. It accidentally steals Ash's badges at one point but helps gets them back and manages to sneak away before most people even realize it's there.
18 Blaziken
In the fiಞnal episodes of the Johto arc in the anime, Ash meets a strong trainer named Harrison who uses a Pokemon Ash has never seen before — and which his Pokedex has zero data on. Harrison is from the Hoenn region, and the two trainers finally face off against each other in the Johto Silver League Conference. This leads to an intense, climactic fight between Fire-types Charizard and Blaziken.
Harrison's Blaziken is the first on-screen instance anyone had seen of the Hoenn starters or their evolutions, and to see such a powerful Pokemon using brand-new moves such as Blaze Kick is undoubtedly exciting to watch. Blaziken was an incredibly popular choice during the third generation, and this cameo could be why.
17 Seedot And♍ Sh✃roomish
Both Hoenn Pokemon Seedot and Shroomish had simultaneous introductions in the anime, though their appearances were simply a teaser for what was to come in the then-unreleased Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. They first appeared in Johto Photo Finish, where Ash's Charizard loses by a hair to Harrison's Blaziken.
After the battle, Ash and Harrison discuss their reasons for becoming Pokemon trainers, and Harrison🎃 mentions how Professor Oak reminds him of Professor Birch of the Hoenn region. In a fantasy sequence, fans got their very first look at multiple Seedot and Shroomish, along with Professor Birch conducting his field research. You were also able to see Wailmer and Sharpedo, but unfortu♌nately only from behind.
16 Munchlax
Munchlax is a hungry and fun-loving Poke💮mon and was one of a few pre-evolutions introduced in the fourth generation. Munchlax is the baby Pokemon of Snorlax and shares many of the same characteristics, including its🍸 insatiable appetite and green-and-beige coloring.
Not only did a Munchlax appear for the first time in Destiny Deoxys, but May — one of the main characters in the Hoenn arc of the anime — owned a Munchlax for a while. Further to this, Munchlax actually appeared in several games from the Hoenn era before being officially released in its proper generation in Diamond and Pearl, where it's notoriously one of the most difficult Pokemo🌱n to catch.
15 Mime Jr.
Many baby Pokemon that were pre-evolutions of existing Pokemon have been introduc💃ed ahead of their scheduled games, most likely due to the inevitable popularity they were bound to receive. One that first appeared in the movie Lucario and the Mystery of Mew was Mime Jr., the baby form of Mr. Mime.
Mime Jr. was one of many fourth-generation Pokemon introduced in the movie and was seen alongside Queen Ilene as her loyal partner. Mime Jr. provides plenty of comic relief, and while it doesn't have the biggest role in the movie, it appeared in the TV show as one of James' main allies in Team Rocket.
14 Bonsly
Another fourth-generation baby Pokemon introduced in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew was Bonsly, the pre-evolution of the second-generation Sudowoodo. It appears to take some of Ash's and his friend's food while they're not looking but gets caught and scolded by Brock.
This gives Bonsly an excellent opportunity to use its Fake Tears move to trick Brock into feeling bad and giving it more food. It eventualﷺly befriends May and helps the team in their search for Mew. Like Mime Jr., Bonsly become🥀s a common character in the anime after Brock finds one and decides to raise it.
13 Sylveon
Sylveon, the newest and seemingly final Eeveelution, was revealed on Pokemon's Twitter account long before the Fairy-type was even introduced. As a result, it caused a ton of confusion and speculation from fans about what type it could be.
Some speculated it could be a Flying-type because of its ribbons, while oജthers gue📖ssed Ghost due to its blank, soulless eyes. Sylveon was featured in the short film Eevee & Friends months before the release of Pokemon X and Y.