Playthrough Elusive Pokemon

[TheMantyke]

Let's talk about Pokemon that are hard to use for an in-game playthrough. It's not necessarily because they're difficult to use or train, though that can also be true. These Pokemon show up in very few routes, in very few games, at very inopportune times, and / or come at such low encounter rates they're rare to see as your first championship team.

What Pokemon have limited opportunities to use for your playthrough? I think it's a pretty interesting topic to discuss, if only for the sake of future in-game teams. I'm finding myself increasingly drawn to Pokemon I don't get to use often for my in game teams, and I'm curious what you all consider uncommon members for a platrhough. Here are a few I took note on:


Stantler
This thing is pretty hard to get! The only locations where you can get it before beating the game are two routes early on in Johto, as a mid game encounter in Coliseum, and as one of several possible Mirage Mountain encounters at the near end of the game in ORAS. It's really not that bad at all, in GSC at least. A fat standalone normal type isn't bad for that point in the game, only falling off a bit since Johto is just generally easy. Can't speak to the other two experiences though, but they don't look nearly as pretty. I guess Wrydeer will be in PLA in a month, so maybe this Pokemon will finally get a seat in a few more in-game teams.


Purugly
This thing is infamous for being horrendously unavailable. The only permanent route encounter you'll find for it that doesn't depend on entralink or mirage spots is a single route in Pearl only, and now also a few spots in the grand underground. It also comes at a pretty terrible level in Pearl and doesn't offer anything exciting in return. I personally picked up a Purugly for my first BDSP playthrough on the simple grounds of "when else am I going to be able to do a playthrough with this thing?" It was probably the least useful member of my team, outshined by even a Kricketune, but I'm happy I at least got to use one for once.


Spiritomb
Gosh, this thing is just always a chore to get, let alone use for anything in a playthrough. What do you want to do to get it, huh? Talk to 32 people on local communication in DPP? Grind a ton of watts on your Pokewalker? Use a defunct service from 10 years ago? Play through the whole dream radar? Use it right before the E4 in ORAS? Torture yourself getting it pre E4 in BDSP? I can't believe how many convoluted ways there are to ignore getting this thing.

I will say though, I did transfer one from the dream radar for a recent playthrough of White 2 and it was pretty fun to use. You eat most normal and psychic-types alive. Great partner for Tepig in particular for nailing fast psychic things.


Dunsparce
Dunsparce has more games on average than anything else here to call it's home. It's even fairly early on where it'll be much better! That said... boy, its encounter rates are dismal and the long search for one grants you just a flat out bad Pokemon. It seems like nothing but pain to use, and from what I've heard of the few souls who've used it, that's not an unfounded assessment. I guess watching a snake spirit thing die several dozen times vs easy opponents makes for a unique experience, at least?

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

Chansey is almost always hard to just *obtain* on first place and, beyond Gen 1 where it's got an acceptable Special, is almost always pretty unviable because of its horrific offensive stats and non-existant Defense. In regards to finding it, here's a breakdown of its availabilities:

RBY / FRLG: Safari Zone Pokemon with a farly low catch rate, go figure.

GSC: Exclusively a 1% encounter rate and only in Kanto. I am not sure if there are swarms for it either.

DPPt: 5% encounter rate in all instances. By far the most "available" game for it, though 5% is still pretty bad

HGSS: read GSC, but add swarms to Route 13, which increase the chance of finding one. Furthermore, the Safari Zone has Chansey after completing the main game; it's still hard to obtain, but I remember Repel tricking with a level 41 Entei in the lead to increase my chances of finding it.

SM / USUM: SOS encounter only for Happiny. Its appearance rate is particularly low, being a mere 10% iirc. Note that, at least in USUM, you get Adrenaline Orbs around Paniola Ranch (SM might give them a bit earlier, not sure, never played it), so hf finding one before then. However, in SM, you can get a Happiny by trading a Pancham in Malie City.

so yeah, this thing is almost always hard to obtain and you'd think it'd be a beast that makes the effort worth it, but nah, it will disappoint you beyond Generation 1. This thing is almost never usable for any reasonable in-game playthroughs

 

[R_N]

Chansey is almost always hard to just *obtain* on first place and, beyond Gen 1 where it's got an acceptable Special, is almost always pretty unviable because of its horrific offensive stats and non-existant Defense. In regards to finding it, here's a breakdown of its availabilities:

RBY / FRLG: Safari Zone Pokemon with a farly low catch rate, go figure.

GSC: Exclusively a 1% encounter rate and only in Kanto. I am not sure if there are swarms for it either.

DPPt: 5% encounter rate in all instances. By far the most "available" game for it, though 5% is still pretty bad

HGSS: read GSC, but add swarms to Route 13, which increase the chance of finding one. Furthermore, the Safari Zone has Chansey after completing the main game; it's still hard to obtain, but I remember Repel tricking with a level 41 Entei in the lead to increase my chances of finding it.

SM / USUM: SOS encounter only for Happiny. Its appearance rate is particularly low, being a mere 10% iirc. Note that, at least in USUM, you get Adrenaline Orbs around Paniola Ranch (SM might give them a bit earlier, not sure, never played it), so hf finding one before then. However, in SM, you can get a Happiny by trading a Pancham in Malie City.

so yeah, this thing is almost always hard to obtain and you'd think it'd be a beast that makes the effort worth it, but nah, it will disappoint you beyond Generation 1. This thing is almost never usable for any reasonable in-game playthroughs

While chansey itself is always a bit of a pain, I think that Happiny being more readily available evens it out in later generations.



I would like to put forward...

It's only 2 generations old but it sure does seem like its shtick is "needlessly rare"
In SM it was a 1% encounter in the Seafolk Village fishing spot, 10% if it was a bubbling spot. That's super low and at the tail end of the game making it a hard sell to actually put on your team.
USUM did, at least, tweak this. It's a 5% non bubbling, and a much more reasonable 35% if bubbling. But still a late encounter; still by far the most available here.
SWSH it's also at the tail end of the game, Route 9 on the bit of grass next to Pier's gym. 1%! And there's no way to raise that percentage. Insane!
It's also available in Max Raids but those are always a crap shoot on how long it takes to find.

The DLC added 2 fishing spots for it which is good but it still caps out at 10%. This is probably the best over all, honestly. you can get it early on in the game since Challenge Beach isnt a post game area.

 

[Giratina93]

Feebas also likes to be extremely hard to find and use for in-game runs outside of ORAS. Hope you enjoy fishing in a very few select spots where it may or may not appear per tile, or going back to a route you otherwise have no reason or inclination to even think it'll be there to try and fish it out (SWSH), nevermind the painful hoops to get it to evolve in Gens 3 and 4...

 

[Blitz]

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned, but for a popular Pokémon, Milotic is very much an out-of-the-way Pokémon to use in most playthroughs.

Everyone knows Feebas's shtick at this point. In RSE, it's only found in 6 fishing spots on one route that can change through a variety of factors. It's worse in Gen 4 when it's reduced to 4 spots in Mt. Coronet, and while Gen 5 does away with the tile gimmick, the line is still confined to a singular route in the post-game. In Gen 6, it's only in ORAS, but at least it can be found normally in the route and it even has a 100% encounter rate on specific areas (like under the Weather Institute bridge during the daytime). Gen 7 once again reverts this and has it as a 1% encounter in Brooklet Hill and that's it. SS is finally the first time both of them are "widely" available, being found in a plethora of locations in the Wild Area + Expansion Pass areas... before BDSP once again goes back to the 4 tile gimmick that DPP had. To make matters worse, evolving Feebas ends up being very cryptic for players without access to the information, and they could potentially never even see their own Milotic.

I would say that these two also qualify by nature of their main gimmick being isolated to Gen 5, and GF basically ignoring them by default. Gen 5 is of course the only gen where they're common, and even then, Deerling is only found in 3 locations, while Sawsbuck is isolated to 1 - you would think that given the seasons gimmick they'd be more readily available, but alas. XY only has Sawsbuck available in a post-game location, dependent on having the proper Friend Safari and only the Spring form at that, while ORAS has Deerling in one singular route after the main climax of the story is resolved... and it's also only the Spring form. It's completely unavailable in Gen 7 without transfers, and the line was dexited in Gen 8. So, all things considered, you have one generation where they're only "sorta" prominent, and the rest where, when it does exist, they're isolated to one location near the end of the game / post-game. That's pretty bad!

More Gen V, but Cryogonal add the unavailability across the games in general with shitty encounter rates. It's only in Twist Mountain in BW, sporting a 1% encounter rate across all seasons except Winter, where it has a 5% chance. BW2 ups it to a 5% rate, and ones found during Winter get 15%, which is still pretty low. In XY, it's a 4% encounter in Frost Cavern and that's all she wrote for that gen. Needs transfers in Gen 7, and finally, the Crown Tundra in Gen 8 finally makes it a common (visible) encounter in a variety of locations to use, but that's more of a testament to Gen 8 making nearly every Pokémon readily available anyways...

 

[StarFalcon555]

This is probably the most rarest pseudo-legendary line of all time. Dreepy and Drakloak can only be found in the Lake of Outrage, a post-Raihan area, in only two or three weathers depending on whether its Dreepy or Drakloak (it can also be found in Fog, but that's post game), and it's only a TWO PERCENT ENCOUNTER RATE AT MOST. All of these factors make it nearly IMPOSSIBLE to find in an in-game playthrough, and you can only use it for the Champion Cup and Macro Cosmos stuff in the main game.

 

[Scorpio]

Pseudo-Legends are this much, much more often than not, either through being stupidly rare or super late in-game. Let’s go over them (not counting post-game ones):

-Dratini: In Kanto it’s in the Safari Zone, and we all know how well that goes. Alternatively it’ll cost you a pretty penny at the Game Corner. In Johto it’s in the Dragon’s Den and Route 45, so it’s only seeing the E4. Kalos has it in Route 21, so again it’s just seeing the E4, and Alola it’s in what is basically the last dungeon of the game, and in an out-of-the-way area to boot.

-Larvitar: Mt. Silver in GS so literally just for Red. Crystal is a bit better since it’s in Celadon’s Game Corner but that’s still post E4. HGSS has it in the Safari Zone... yeah. Y put it before the final Gym in an optional area. USUM is the best so far, with it in Digglet’s Tunnel so you can feasibly have one at a decent time... though it is a 10% encounter rate. Shield then has it behind water, or you could try your luck with the Dens.

-Bagon: Post-8th Gym in its debut. In XY it’s available before the second Gym... with a 5% encounter rate. Then in Alola it’s available right before Hala on Route 3... at a whopping 1% encounter rate; best here to try post Water Trial where you can try at Kala’e Bay at 10%. Still one of the better ones outside its debut.

-Beldum: Postgame in its debut all the way until BW2 and even then Metang is post-Gym 8. In Alola it’s at Mt. Hokulani (right at the latest point in those games where I’d consider adding Pokémon) at a 10% encounter rate.

-Gible: Definitely one of the better ones. Readily available it its debut, though it’s behind Strength in DP. Kalos has it on Route 13, right before the 5th Gym (and right before I’d stop adding to my team). Alola though has it (or rather, Gabite) behind weather-dependent SOS in an optional area.

-Deino: Victory Road in Unova and Kalos. It’s on Melemele in Alola, but it’s behind Island Scan. Sword has it behind water, or you can go Den-fishing.

-Goomy: Not too bad all things considered. In Kalos it’s fairly common and not horribly late. In Alola though it’s fairly early, but it’s confined to SOS Battle in the rain. Shield has it either through Dens or on the Isle of Armor, albeit rare and weather-dependent.

-Jangmo-o: It’s in essentially the last dungeon in its debut. Sword has it be that’s game’s counterpart to Goomy, so whatever applies to the sluggy boi applies here to an extent.

-Dreepy: StarFalcon Greninja’s me here, just read his post.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I wouldn't call Stantler hard to obtain in Johto. It's relatively common on the route it's found on (at least by Johto standards and even in Crystal where it's only found at night).

Some that do spring to mind:

Chimecho (RSE): Can't believe no-one's mentioned this yet. One percent appearance rate on Mt. Pyre, a place you'll likely visit a grand total of once. Easily missed. Much easier to obtain in later games.

Misdreavus (GSC): We all know this one. It's gated behind 16 badges, in a small chamber in the very final dungeon. Unless you have a generous friend and a link cable you are never using this in a regular playthrough.

Larvesta: So if for some reason you want to torture yourself by raising this in BW, you have to
i. first go to a side area you have no reason to go to
ii. remember or be blindly lucky enough to have a spare slot to receive an egg
iii. painstakingly hatch this 10000+step egg
iv. baby your newly hatched Larvesta that comes ~30 levels below your current party
v. when it catches up, still baby it because it remains unevolved for so, so long

Yeah I don't see many people putting themselves through this. Most people just catch the Volcarona and save themselves a job. The same goes for B2W2, where Volcarona comes early and underlevelled.
Then in XY it's... postgame. And in ORAS it's... also postgame. And in SM it's... not available. Ah, but in USUM it's catchable! ...at a 1% appearance rate. In Galar it's Dexited until the Isle of Armor where it's more easily obtainable.

Vulpix and Jigglypuff (RSE): Semi-example here because they're easy to obtain in other games. But in RSE they're quite tucked away, Vulpix being available only on Mt Pyre with a relatively low appearance rate. There's not all that much grass on Mt Pyre so if you're just passing through to follow the story and not sticking around it's very easy to miss - I can hardly ever recall encountering one there. Meanwhile Jigglypuff is again obtainable only on one route, but it's inaccessible without Surf and a deliberately obscure and hard-to-find spot. I frequently forget that this line is in the Hoenn dex.

Type:Null: It's always been postgame thus far and never available below level 40.

Most mythicals and legendaries: Some legendaries can be (and frequently are) used to great effect in-game, like the birds in Kanto or Rayquaza in Emerald. I'm using Manaphy now in Platinum (BDSP? What's that?) and it's a delight to raise. You can transfer the egg from Ranger whenever you like, after all, but how likely is it you'll do that right at the start of your playthrough? Most mythicals are impossible to get below higher levels - usually 50 - but every so often one is distributed at a lower level. Keldeo and Hoopa have both been made available at level 15 for instance. But it's likely only a very small minority of players have ever used, say, Celebi or Jirachi in-game.

 

[Giratina93]

I just remembered one that even amongst all the gen 7 nonsense is especially egregious..

Mareanie: So clearly someone at GF really wanted to make this thing a complete pain in the ass to find and capture in SM/USUM, because it's locked behind SOS chaining. Now, that in and of itself is only part of the problem, but also the fact the mon it is tied with is Corsola, who has a very low % chance of being encountered, and then hope it eventually SOS calls in a Mareanie. Extremely rare stuff that is locked behind an already rare SOS chance is just excruciating to deal with (I'm looking at you, SOS Mence and Volcarona). And congrats, you now have a slow defensive limp dick mon in a game where the boss fights hit way too hard to effectively use stall tactics bar a bare few.

 

[R_N]

SOS Salamence at least makes sense as a super rare SOS encounter. Like it's basically an easter egg, a fun super rare nuke that some folks might occasionally run into.

 

[Nokocchi]

Stantler
This thing is pretty hard to get! The only locations where you can get it before beating the game are two routes early on in Johto, as a mid game encounter in Coliseum, and as one of several possible Mirage Mountain encounters at the near end of the game in ORAS. It's really not that bad at all, in GSC at least. A fat standalone normal type isn't bad for that point in the game, only falling off a bit since Johto is just generally easy. Can't speak to the other two experiences though, but they don't look nearly as pretty. I guess Wrydeer will be in PLA in a month, so maybe this Pokemon will finally get a seat in a few more in-game teams.

It doesn't help that, in Crystal, Tauros is no longer a swarm-exclusive Pokemon, so there is no reason to use Stantler at all in that game. The only stat it has that higher that Tauros is special attack, but it's special movepool only consists of Psychic(The only decent move, but you can't get the TM until Kanto), Dream Eater(Requires a sleeping opponent), Thief(40 Power back in Gen II), and Bite(Exclusively an Egg Move)

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Clamperl and its evolutions definitely strike as being one of the more elusive Pokemon out there. In the OG Ruby and Sapphire, it's a common encounter...when you're underwater, but at that point it's very late in the game. What solidifies its elusiveness in-game is that both of its evolutions require trade...with a specific item, which you can only get one of in the game, and no one in-game uses Gorebyss or Huntail so you'll likely never know that they exist otherwise or that you need to trade Clamperl. Yeah, generally not worth the effort. It's also in BW...in the post-game, and it's in USUM but the odds that you will find one aren't all that high.

Relicanth is probably one of the rarest Pokemon in all of Hoenn. It's an underwater encounter at only 5%, and it's also hard to catch, making it a very late-game and rare encounter that you may find it very difficult or unlikely that you will meet one of these at all. Its only hint towards its existence is the Regi Puzzle in the Sealed Chamber, which may make you want to grab a Relicanth on purpose, but otherwise, the odds you will meet this? Not very high.

MUNCHLAX. In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, at least. Munchlax, for as marketed as it was before DP, is extraordinarily rare in the Sinnoh games. It's a rare encounter in specific Honey trees, and odds are you won't even know which ones have it, unless you are extraordinarily lucky, and you need to wait for Honey trees to attract any Pokemon at all before finding out whether you got a Munchlax or not! BDSP fortunately makes it a Hideaway Pokemon, so this issue is rectified in the remakes.

Another fairly out-there one in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, it's found only very late in the game and has a very unintuitive evolutionary method to be able to become a Mantine.

Just a few that came to mind.

 

[The Mind Electric]

This one is sort of specific to certain games, hope that's alright.

This line is generally kind of a pain to obtain/evolve, but especially in HG/SS. For one thing, Gligar is exclusive to HG. If you have HG, it's not available until you're almost at the end of the game, and by that point it's such a pain to train that it's not really worth it. If you're really determined and go through all of that anyway, the game twists the knife by making the Razor Fang you need to evolve Gligar into Gliscor only obtainable via the Battle Frontier. I hope you like carrying Gligar through the Pokémon League, and I especially hope you like the Battle Factory, because you're unlikely to get the BP you need from anything else with an suboptimal playthrough team. It's really bizarre that they made it this much of a pain to use Gliscor when it was introduced this generation because of how much Gligar sucks, and it's a shame because I'd really like to use Gliscor in HG/SS but I'm put off by all the stuff I just discussed.

Speaking of Johto Pokémon that got evolutions this gen, I was originally going to include the Weavile line here, but then I looked it up and it turns out that you can't even get Sneasel until the post-game. Why?

 

[Siggu]

For a very recent, game-specific example...

in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

On paper, Heracross looks exactly the same as in the original Sinnoh games: a paltry 1% chance on regular Honey Trees, and 3.5% chance of getting one in Honey Trees that can spawn Munchlax. So you have to slather a tree, wait AT LEAST 6 hours and hope your 1/100 or 7/200 odds actually succeed in giving you a Heracross.

Up to that point, it's like the originals, so it's bad but not the worst... right? Nope.

You see, there's a caveat at it, and that's the Grand Underground. There, you can get all the Honey Tree Pokémon without that dreadful 6-hour wait period. Well... all but two, Burmy... and Heracross, who are still completely restricted to Honey Trees.

That makes Heracross the hardest Pokémon to get in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Incredibly low odds AND a massive waiting time to just check if you got it. At least Feebas is common in the tiles it does spawn, and you can get the tiles it spawns in with an external tool...

(Ironically, I got a Heracross in the very first Honey Tree I slathered in BDSP)

 

[TheMantyke]

I wouldn't call Stantler hard to obtain in Johto. It's relatively common on the route it's found on (at least by Johto standards and even in Crystal where it's only found at night).

For the record, when I said "This thing is hard to get" I meant that in the sense of its hard to get and use in an in-game playthrough just because you have like 2-3 viable games to get it in. Not necessarily super hard to actually catch and start using, but you've got such narrow options for what playthroughs you can even use it in.

It doesn't help that, in Crystal, Tauros is no longer a swarm-exclusive Pokemon, so there is no reason to use Stantler at all in that game. The only stat it has that higher that Tauros is special attack, but it's special movepool only consists of Psychic(The only decent move, but you can't get the TM until Kanto), Dream Eater(Requires a sleeping opponent), Thief(40 Power back in Gen II), and Bite(Exclusively an Egg Move)

Hypnosis was pretty helpful when I used it for my gold playthrough! I'd say that's probably one of the big reasons why you'd want it over Tauros, which isn't much but it's at least something.

Most mythicals and legendaries: Some legendaries can be (and frequently are) used to great effect in-game, like the birds in Kanto or Rayquaza in Emerald. I'm using Manaphy now in Platinum (BDSP? What's that?) and it's a delight to raise. You can transfer the egg from Ranger whenever you like, after all, but how likely is it you'll do that right at the start of your playthrough? Most mythicals are impossible to get below higher levels - usually 50 - but every so often one is distributed at a lower level. Keldeo and Hoopa have both been made available at level 15 for instance. But it's likely only a very small minority of players have ever used, say, Celebi or Jirachi in-game.

Always felt a little averse to using legendary stuff before just out of worry it'd make the game too easy. Now though, I'm starting to see it less as that and more an opportunity to not only use some powerful stuff I'm not gonna get a lot of tries to use, but also to have sturdy anchors for some more wild picks. If I dive back into white 2 at some point, I'm honestly probably going to get the genies all lined up before hand, then toss 2-3 sketchy Pokemon like the aforementioned Dunsparce to round out the rest of the team.

And on the subject of legendaries, someone mentioned this one over discord so I felt it was worth a note:


The Regis
The Regis make a grand total of 2.66 appearences before the post game. In Platinum, Registeel and Regice are late game... if you have a special event Regigigas that was distributed back in 2009. Regirock's still post game too, even if you do port over that old event! In USUM, you have to do a bunch of zooming through wormholes, which is totally doable, but you're spoiled for selection of legendaries at that point. In RSE and ORAS, you have to go through that whole classic elaborate song and dance to get them, searching for a Relicanth and either leveling up or finding a wailord. I actually did bring a Registeel into the E4 during my first Sapphire run as a nine year old, but I honestly felt pretty ripped off after going through all that trouble to have a pretty mediocre Pokemon lol.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

For the record, when I said "This thing is hard to get" I meant that in the sense of its hard to get and use in an in-game playthrough just because you have like 2-3 viable games to get it in. Not necessarily super hard to actually catch and start using, but you've got such narrow options for what playthroughs you can even use it in.

That makes sense. There's probably a few others like that.

Always felt a little averse to using legendary stuff before just out of worry it'd make the game too easy. Now though, I'm starting to see it less as that and more an opportunity to not only use some powerful stuff I'm not gonna get a lot of tries to use, but also to have sturdy anchors for some more wild picks. If I dive back into white 2 at some point, I'm honestly probably going to get the genies all lined up before hand, then toss 2-3 sketchy Pokemon like the aforementioned Dunsparce to round out the rest of the team.

The genies are superbly good fun to use in B2W2 (or even BW if you change their forms) if you can transfer them at level 5 before you have any badges. I used Thundurus in my most recent White 2 run and it's a beast. It's amazing what their new forms did for them, I disliked the Incarnate forms immensely but absolutely love the Therian forms and really appreciated how B2W2 incorporated them. They've grown on me a lot.

 

[zee]

the safari zone normals were the first thing that came to my mind. I've used almost everything in FRLG but these guys just because the effort to get them on a normal playthrough isn't worth



really cool gsc mons that I'd love to use if they didn't come after the main games' objective :|

this also didn't get fixed in hgss, just swap sneasel for misdreavus



similar to psuedo legends, these guys' pre-evos all come way too late in bw1 to be worth getting and evolving before the elite 4

 

[Celever]

Here's a bit of an interesting one. In both of its appearances, in Gen V and USUM, Elgyem stays true to its gimmick of becoming more common the higher up a tower you can get. I think it's a fun idea, but in both Celestial Tower and Mt. Hokulani, encounters tend to become rarer the higher up you get, in the former because there are more trainers to interrupt wild Pokémon generation, and in the latter because there's less grass, though Mt. Hokulani has the fun trait of having optional encounters almost the entire way up it. I've never ran into an Elgyem in the wild without grinding to find one, and it took me a pretty long time in BW because I didn't know this was its gimmick and so just grinded on the bottom floor of Celestial Tower. So it's pretty easy to miss entirely. And Beheeyem has never been encounterable in the wild, which is funny because it feels like a Victory Road spawn to me. In most Victory Roads it could maintain its "getting more common toward the end of the dungeon" thing, but especially in Unova where Victory Road is a cliff you climb up from the base. It is, at least, in Bridge Field in SwSh as a visible encounter in 3 weather conditions. It's not particularly common, but it's pretty good going considering the inconsistency that is being a Wild Area-exclusive Pokémon.



Fun fact about this line. I started a replay of Pokémon X, a game that I really don't enjoy much any more, just to try and use a Doduo. I got burned out again and stopped at some point, but it's a Pokémon I've always really liked and found it weird that I'd never had it on a team. But it makes sense -- in Kanto, every piece of grass Doduo can be encountered in is optional. It's relatively common in those patches of grass, but you have no reason to enter that grass at all unless you're hunting for Pokémon or grinding, because there's just a path next to it where your gameplay won't get interrupted! This extends to Gen II, where it's Kanto-exclusive but added to Mt. Silver exterior, the very last area of the game. Then it's not in Gens III, IV, or V outside of a late-game appearance as a Dodrio in XD. It's in Gen VI on one route at a 10% encounter, but what's cool is that it's Route 5 and comes at level 10, making it a great candidate for a playthrough of the game. One last hoorah, before not being in Gen VII at all and then being dexited even through the DLC. It's in BDSP at least... as a post-game swarm... on the first route of the game at level 2. Its first appearance in over 8 years is a post-game exclusive level 2 Pokémon.

 

[R_N]

Here's a bit of an interesting one. In both of its appearances, in Gen V and USUM, Elgyem stays true to its gimmick of becoming more common the higher up a tower you can get. I think it's a fun idea, but in both Celestial Tower and Mt. Hokulani, encounters tend to become rarer the higher up you get, in the former because there are more trainers to interrupt wild Pokémon generation, and in the latter because there's less grass, though Mt. Hokulani has the fun trait of having optional encounters almost the entire way up it. I've never ran into an Elgyem in the wild without grinding to find one, and it took me a pretty long time in BW because I didn't know this was its gimmick and so just grinded on the bottom floor of Celestial Tower. So it's pretty easy to miss entirely. And Beheeyem has never been encounterable in the wild, which is funny because it feels like a Victory Road spawn to me. In most Victory Roads it could maintain its "getting more common toward the end of the dungeon" thing, but especially in Unova where Victory Road is a cliff you climb up from the base. It is, at least, in Bridge Field in SwSh as a visible encounter in 3 weather conditions. It's not particularly common, but it's pretty good going considering the inconsistency that is being a Wild Area-exclusive Pokémon.



Fun fact about this line. I started a replay of Pokémon X, a game that I really don't enjoy much any more, just to try and use a Doduo. I got burned out again and stopped at some point, but it's a Pokémon I've always really liked and found it weird that I'd never had it on a team. But it makes sense -- in Kanto, every piece of grass Doduo can be encountered in is optional. It's relatively common in those patches of grass, but you have no reason to enter that grass at all unless you're hunting for Pokémon or grinding, because there's just a path next to it where your gameplay won't get interrupted! This extends to Gen II, where it's Kanto-exclusive but added to Mt. Silver exterior, the very last area of the game. Then it's not in Gens III, IV, or V outside of a late-game appearance as a Dodrio in XD. It's in Gen VI on one route at a 10% encounter, but what's cool is that it's Route 5 and comes at level 10, making it a great candidate for a playthrough of the game. One last hoorah, before not being in Gen VII at all and then being dexited even through the DLC. It's in BDSP at least... as a post-game swarm... on the first route of the game at level 2. Its first appearance in over 8 years is a post-game exclusive level 2 Pokémon.

Slight correction, though you're still not wrong: Doduo is in RSE's Safari Zone, so it's still a fairly late thing to add to your team (but at least on par with like a third of the dex).

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Here's a bit of an interesting one. In both of its appearances, in Gen V and USUM, Elgyem stays true to its gimmick of becoming more common the higher up a tower you can get. I think it's a fun idea, but in both Celestial Tower and Mt. Hokulani, encounters tend to become rarer the higher up you get, in the former because there are more trainers to interrupt wild Pokémon generation, and in the latter because there's less grass, though Mt. Hokulani has the fun trait of having optional encounters almost the entire way up it. I've never ran into an Elgyem in the wild without grinding to find one, and it took me a pretty long time in BW because I didn't know this was its gimmick and so just grinded on the bottom floor of Celestial Tower. So it's pretty easy to miss entirely. And Beheeyem has never been encounterable in the wild, which is funny because it feels like a Victory Road spawn to me. In most Victory Roads it could maintain its "getting more common toward the end of the dungeon" thing, but especially in Unova where Victory Road is a cliff you climb up from the base. It is, at least, in Bridge Field in SwSh as a visible encounter in 3 weather conditions. It's not particularly common, but it's pretty good going considering the inconsistency that is being a Wild Area-exclusive Pokémon.

Just wanted to point out something minor: Beheeyem actually was encounterable in the wild in BW, but only in the post-game. It is actually a somewhat uncommon spawn in Route 14 in Eastern Unova, which is of course only accessible after Ghetsis, at a consistent 10% spawn rate. It is among the few Gen 5 evolved forms who ends up as a post-game spawn in Eastern Unova among those routes, along with Amoonguss, Mienshao, Bisharp, and Mandibuzz/Braviary.

You do raise an interesting point about Beheeyem being a feasible Victory Road Pokemon, and I feel like it could've been possible for that to happen, but I think the big thing that kept it from being in BW1's Victory Road was that the levels of BW1 Victory Road's Wild Pokemon were around 38-40, which was just a little too low for Beheeyem to show up since Elgyem evolves at Level 42. With that in mind though, it is kind of a waste that BW2 didn't use it as a Victory Road spawn though, since the levels were just right for it to show up there.

The only other time Beheeyem has been encounterable in the wild to my knowledge is in Sword and Shield where it's a wandering Pokemon in Bridge Field but also has occasional chances of showing up at the Lake of Outrage, which is by all means an end game area.

 

[Merritt]

Gen 7 once again reverts this and has it as a 1% encounter in Brooklet Hill and that's it.

Surprisingly it's not actually that bad in practice if you know what you're doing. The normal rate for Feebas is 1%, but the rate for bubbling spot Feebas is 5% in SM, 10% in USM. Since the fishing spots are so close to the Brooklet Hill entrance, it's not particularly unreasonable to constantly reload for bubbles if you want to go for Feebas.

You probably only want to do this in USM though, since the guaranteed Prism Scale is obtainable way earlier there (iirc it's available immediately if you backtrack) alongside the much better Feebas encounter rate. In SM you have to fight against the terrible item fishing rates if you want Milotic before Exeggutor Island.

 

[Peridorito]

Skitty is absurdly rare in it's debut gen. It appears in Route 116, which means you can get it before the first gym, but it's a 2% encounter. In RS you can also get it by trading with a NPC in Fortree city... For Pikachu, which is a 5% Safari Zone encounter.

It was made a bit easier to obtain later. For the games where it is available in the main game: In White 2 it can be obtained in Castelia Park at a 15% rate (Black 2 players get Buneary instead). In XY it's in Route 4 at a 10% rate. In ORAS, it's encounter rate was changed to 5% and you can get it by trading a Spinda which is much more common than Pikachu.

Still, even if it was made easier to find, it's still not particularly common in any game. It's just a boring normal type cat, I feel it should be one of these common mons you see everywhere in the early game, and not this elusive thing no one will ever use.

 

[TerrickTerran]

Maybe it was simply because it was so easy to find with sneaking, I never felt it that rare in ORAS. Skitty is cute but sadly Delcatty is as you say a normal cat whose fairly boring.

 

[DreamPrince]

Pseudo-Legends are this much, much more often than not, either through being stupidly rare or super late in-game. Let’s go over them (not counting post-game ones):

-Dratini: In Kanto it’s in the Safari Zone, and we all know how well that goes. Alternatively it’ll cost you a pretty penny at the Game Corner. In Johto it’s in the Dragon’s Den and Route 45, so it’s only seeing the E4. Kalos has it in Route 21, so again it’s just seeing the E4, and Alola it’s in what is basically the last dungeon of the game, and in an out-of-the-way area to boot.

-Larvitar: Mt. Silver in GS so literally just for Red. Crystal is a bit better since it’s in Celadon’s Game Corner but that’s still post E4. HGSS has it in the Safari Zone... yeah. Y put it before the final Gym in an optional area. USUM is the best so far, with it in Digglet’s Tunnel so you can feasibly have one at a decent time... though it is a 10% encounter rate. Shield then has it behind water, or you could try your luck with the Dens.

-Bagon: Post-8th Gym in its debut. In XY it’s available before the second Gym... with a 5% encounter rate. Then in Alola it’s available right before Hala on Route 3... at a whopping 1% encounter rate; best here to try post Water Trial where you can try at Kala’e Bay at 10%. Still one of the better ones outside its debut.

-Beldum: Postgame in its debut all the way until BW2 and even then Metang is post-Gym 8. In Alola it’s at Mt. Hokulani (right at the latest point in those games where I’d consider adding Pokémon) at a 10% encounter rate.

-Gible: Definitely one of the better ones. Readily available it its debut, though it’s behind Strength in DP. Kalos has it on Route 13, right before the 5th Gym (and right before I’d stop adding to my team). Alola though has it (or rather, Gabite) behind weather-dependent SOS in an optional area.

-Deino: Victory Road in Unova and Kalos. It’s on Melemele in Alola, but it’s behind Island Scan. Sword has it behind water, or you can go Den-fishing.

-Goomy: Not too bad all things considered. In Kalos it’s fairly common and not horribly late. In Alola though it’s fairly early, but it’s confined to SOS Battle in the rain. Shield has it either through Dens or on the Isle of Armor, albeit rare and weather-dependent.

-Jangmo-o: It’s in essentially the last dungeon in its debut. Sword has it be that’s game’s counterpart to Goomy, so whatever applies to the sluggy boi applies here to an extent.

-Dreepy: StarFalcon Greninja’s me here, just read his post.

The Psuedo-Legendaries are an interesting case. Looking it from a single player perspective for Metagross it was clearly designed to be Surprise boss when you really think about it. You can only see it when Steven sends it out since the only other Beldum is obtained from his house in the post game, meaning that a player has no idea what Pokémon until they see it, which also means that the don’t know it’s stats or typing. I know it sounds hard to believe now because of how iconic Metagross is, but back then when RS came out, they really set up Metagross to be a perfect surprise boss that the player probably didn’t have an idea how to counter. I remember some people saying they thought Metagross was Ice when they first played RS. The similar story can be said for Dragonite, Salamence and Garchomp. In Garchomp’s case, Dragon types options in Sinnoh: In DP, your options for Dragon types were either one of Dialga or Palkia or the Gible line, with the latter being exclusive to secret area that the player couldn’t see in the overworld and required Strength. So unless you went out of your way, you probably had no idea what Gible was. And once again Ice types are limited with only the Sneasel and Snover lines available, albeit on a mandatory route. Once again, I know it is hard to believe now, but back then, before everyone knew what Garchomp was, it really was designed to be an incredible boss, with little counter play unless you knew what was coming. Pearl was my first game, and I know how difficult Garchomp was. It’s also worth noting in Platinum that Garchomp isn’t nearly as surprising due to more options for Ice and Dragon types, as well as Strength no longer being required for Gible and Gabite in Victory Road, but the point still stands. Dragon in general is designed to be a boss type for Single player, it resists all the starters types, as well as the having incredible STAB blow everything away. That’s probably why Dragon was overpowered in Gen 4 and 5, it’s supposed to be a boss type. Granted, since multiplayer is a huge part of Pokémon, they should have taken in balance when designing it, which they later did after VGC became more mainstream in Gen 5.

Now my pick for elusive Pokémon: Gigantamax Kingler. Do you remember this Pokémon even existed? If you did, I don’t blame you. I honestly think Kingler is probably the most forgettable Gigantamax as well as one of the worst competitively. For starters, no one ever uses Gigantamax Kingler in-game, so you have no idea it exists unless you find it by chance in the wild area. Speaking of the Wild Area, trying to find Gigantamax is a huge chore because they are so rare and the games give you so few hints on how to get them prior to the Isle of Armor. That’s a big factor why I think Gigantamax is terribly handled. And lastly, Kingler itself is a terrible Pokémon. It’s only got good attack and defense, and it doesn’t have the stats or moves to support that defense. So it only has good attack, and when there’s other Water types who could do the same thing, you end up with a forgettable Pokémon and it also doesn’t help that Gigantamax’s effect is pretty poor compared to the other Gmaxes like the Kanto starters, Hatterene, and Butterfree. So yeah, this is a Pokémon that I think would have been much better off with a regional form or an evolution rather than a Gigantamax.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Looking it from a single player perspective for Metagross it was clearly designed to be Surprise boss when you really think about it. You can only see it when Steven sends it out since the only other Beldum is obtained from his house in the post game, meaning that a player has no idea what Pokémon until they see it, which also means that the don’t know it’s stats or typing. I know it sounds hard to believe now because of how iconic Metagross is, but back then when RS came out, they really set up Metagross to be a perfect surprise boss that the player probably didn’t have an idea how to counter. I remember some people saying they thought Metagross was Ice when they first played RS. The similar story can be said for Dragonite, Salamence and Garchomp. In Garchomp’s case, Dragon types in Sinnoh: In DP, your options for Dragon types were either one of Dialga or Palkia or the Gible line, with the latter being exclusive to secret area that the player couldn’t overworld and required Strength. So unless you went out of your way, you probably had no idea what Gible was. And once again Ice types are limited with only the Sneasel and Snover lines available, albeit on a mandatory route. Once again, I know it is hard to believe now, but back then, before everyone knew what Garchomp was, it really was designed to be an incredible boss, with little counter play unless you knew what was coming.

Slight quibble with Gible: it's impossible to avoid seeing one even if you don't catch it, because the final trainer in Victory Road (who is impossible to skip) has two on his team, and a trainer just before him has a Gabite. So Garchomp does not come completely out of nowhere. True, most players probably don't obsessively look up Pokemon they haven't caught and make note of their typing in case they happen to fight one later on, but it's not a secret pseudo like Metagross is.

I do love when games make pseudos available stupidly early, though. I remember grinding very hard back in the early days of SM to catch a low-level Salamence in Kala'e Bay. And of course you can pick up a Deino right afterwards in Ten Carat Hill. Alola was so crazy for Pokemon availability.