When the Pokémon franchise first started out Pikachu was not the mascot. On the contrary, Clefairy almost took this role. In the original comics, Clefairy was Red’s Pokémon. One thing led to another and bam, the actual role went to Pikachu for the whole thing. That’s just a brief note in history so let’s zoom ahead to the present. Pikachu, for all intents and purposes, is the Mickey Mouse of the Pokémon franchiseﷺ. It is known throughout the world and may even be more reco🍸gnizable than Nintendo’s other juggernaut franchise, Mario. Pokémon has grossed way more money after all so that concept shouldn’t be hard to swallow.
The point of that intro was to set up the idea of popularity. What comes after success? Legions of clones trying to get a piece of that sweet pie. Tons of games copied what Pokémon Red/Blue revolutionized for the monster-catching market, but that’s not today’s topic. Instead, we are going to look 🤪inward on this franchise. That is to say what’s the deal with the Pikachu copycats, or Pikaclones as fans have named them? There has been at least one per new generation and some of these entries the bounds of that category. That said we rank all eight in a manor that is just as nonsensical as their creation. Who is crowned number one? Time to find out.
8 Plusle and Minun
Plusle and Minun first appeared in the third generation of games, which include Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire. They a🧜re th🦹e most blatant of Pikaclones in that they look exactly like its baby form, Pichu, except with different colors.
They are cute don’t get us wrong, but they also💦 look deceiving kind of like if batteries were crossed with Pikachu’s DNA and anthropomorphized into some form of abomination. Too harsh? Okay, maybe that’s true, but how could Game Freak run out of ideas this fast by game three?
7 Pachirisu
Pachirisu first appeared in the fourth generation of games, which include Pokémon Diamond/Pearl. It too does not rethink the Pikabox as it were as it is yet another solely electric type Pokémon with Pikachu features. Instead of a mouse it is now a blue and whi🍷te squirrel so it at least looks more original than Plusle and Minun. On the other hand, it also doesn’t look special at all and comes across as one of the generic Normal types that pop up in the beginning of every game like Rattata, or Sentret.
6 Morpeko
Morpeko first appeared in the eighth generation of games, which include the latest iterations of Pokémon Sword/Shield. We are not fans of Pokémon that have two d𒈔ifferent forms that actually aren't evolutions. It’s confusing.
Morpeko has🍎 its Fully Belly Mode and Hangry mode converting it fully into a Dark-type Pokémon. At the very least it isn’t as confusing as creatures with more than two forms🐻 like Unknown, or Wormadam.
5 Emolga
Emolga first appeared in the fifth generation of games, which include Pokémon Black/White. Okay cool, another electric squirrel and yet it is not related to Pachirisu. Seems like it should be an evolved form, right? No matter. At least it changes things up once again with a combination of Electric and Flying types. This eliminates Emolga from taking Ground damage, which is a big help in battle. In fact, the only two moves that effect it critically are Dark and Ice-type move💫s. It took four sequels, but Game Freak finally managed to do something cool with a Pikaclone.
4 Dedenne
Dedenne first appeared in the sixth generation of games, which include Pokémon X/Y. It looks less like Pikachu and more like a younger form of Raichu. That’s okay with us as Pikachu’s evolved form rarely gets any recognition. Anyway, what we love about Dedenne the most is i⛦ts chubbiness, reminding us of how Pikachu was originally drawn. The combination of Electric and Fairy types ꦯis also pretty valuable in battle. It’s a good underdog to take into a Dragon-type match.
3 Togedemaru
Togedemaru first appeared in the seventh generation of games, which include Pokémon Sun/Moon. Like Dedenne, Toged🎃emaru’s combination of Steel and Electric types is advantageous in battle. Well, it does take quadruple damage from Ground attacks now so be wary of that. That aside the best thing is that it is even🐲 bigger than Dedenne sort of like a chubby version of Sonic the Hedgehog except without any of the blue coloring. Fat Pokémon are inarguably the most adorable of them all.
2 Marill
Marill first appeared in the second generation of games, which include Pokémon Gold/Silver. Before the game came out, supposed cheats appeared for the original games claiming that one could get a water version of Pikachu called Pikablu. Like Pikachu, and unlike every other Pokémon on here, Marill has an evolved form, Azumarill. Plus in Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire it got a baby form as well via Azurill, which is strangely a Normal/Fairy type. Oh right, we should mention that Marill started out as just a Water-type, but now has bee💧n combined with Fairy types as well. It may not exactly be a Pikaclone, but because of that cheat’s confusion, we thought it works well enough for this list. Plus Marill is a straight-up boss.
1 Mimikyu
Mimikyu first appeared in the seventh generation of games, which include Pokémon Sun/Moon. “A lonely Pokémon, it conceals its terrifying appearance beneath an old rag so it can get closer to people and other Pokémon.” This excerpt is why we chose Mimikyu as our top pick. What lies underneath is appඣarently so vile it caused a man to die. That was in an alternate version of the Pokédex. The point is this Pokémon just wants some love and knowing that Pikachu is the mascot of its universe, however that works, he mimicked its appearance in order to gain a friend. Isn’t that w♏hat all of these Pikaclones want, popularity and friendship?