Summary
- The Pokémon anime can give a different impression of a Pokémon's strength than the games due to its portrayal of attacks and abilities.
- Pokémon like Spearow and Beedrill are portrayed as powerful in the anime, but their numbers advantage and limited movesets make them less of a threat in the games.
- Pokémons like Charizard and Pikachu are popular in the anime, but their performance in the games may not match their portrayal, highlighting the difference between the two mediums.
The Pokémon anime sometimes has a very different way of portraying the strength of certain Pokémon than the Pokémon video games do. Because the anime is set in a semi-realistic world instead of a turn-based one, Pokémon attacks don't come one at a time, and Pokémon actually have the opportunity to maneuver, dodge, and even combine attacks into combo moves that the games couldn't even dream of pulling off.
What this ends up meaning is that the anime gives a very different impression of which Pokémon are powerful than the games can, simply because Pokémon in the anime are capable of more in general. Surely there have been many players over the years who've chosen a Pokémon because it did something cool in the anime, only to be disappointed when its performance in the games was less than impressive. Here are 10 Pokémon species which are treated as extremely powerful or dangerous in the anime, but are not all they're made out to be in the actual Pokémon video games.
10 Spearow
Spearow has been a menace in the anime since the very first episode. The small bird Pokémon is known for having a real temper, as well as flocking together into huge groups, which makes offending one of them cause all of them to attack. Ash and Pikachu found this out the hard way in the first episode, but there have been many other occasions where a Spearow appeared, only to immediately begin boldly attacking humans directly. Spearow's power in the anime lies in this group behavior, but since a player of the games will only ever fight one or two Spearow at a time, they lose their numbers advantage and cease to be a threat.
9 Beedrill
You can't throw a rock in the Pokémon world without accidentally upsetting a Beedrill, it seems. In a huge number of episodes, Beedrill (or Kakuna that soon evolve into Beedrill) appear out of nowhere in a forested area and immediately begin chasing the culprit down. With its massive stingers, Beedrill is certainly a bit scary to look at, and it's no wonder Ash and friends are forced to flee from them so frequently. In the games, however, Beedrill is rather weak, with a low stat total, a poor type combination, and a moveset that's usually a bit too limited. While Beedrill isn't total garbage early in Pokémon games, it's certainly not able to live up to its fearsome anime reputation.
8 Charizard
Charizard is a perfectly good Pokémon, but watching the anime might leave one thinking it's one of the strongest out there, when that's simply not the case these days. Charizard is used by a number of highly skilled trainers in the anime, such as Alain, Leon, and even Ash himself, which gives the impression that it's very powerful. Even in the new anime Pokémon Horizons, Friede's Charizard often steals the spotlight. However, in the games, Charizard has a rather mediocre stat total and a major weakness to Rock-types which is rarely exploited in the anime. Charizard is bolstered by various transformations, such as its Mega and Gigantamax forms, but without those, it's not too much of a threat.
7 Goodra
Ash's Goodra is the only Pokémon he's ever had with a 100% win rate, winning every battle it took part in. Ash ended up releasing his Goodra back into the wild, so it had a fairly short run, but its battle performance might give fans the impression that it's nearly invincible. While Goodra does have good stats and a broad move pool in the games, it simply doesn't stand out compared to other Pokémon with comparable stats, particularly among other Dragon-type Pokémon. It's not often used among competitive players because in actuality, it just doesn't stand out that much.
6 Turtonator
Turtonator in the anime primarily appears as Kiawe's, and as his main Pokémon, sees battle a fair amount throughout Sun & Moon. However, Kiawe almost always uses his Z-Move, Inferno Overdrive, to win, which gives a very misleading idea of the strength of Turtonator. Turtonator is actually a rather weak Pokémon, with low speed and mediocre offenses, despite its fairly intimidating appearance. It's effectively never used in competitive play, and isn't even very good for a simple story playthrough.
5 Gyarados
Due to Magikarp's absolutely pathetic capacity in the anime, they often evolve into Gyarados and begin rampaging with their newfound power. Gyarados are used by several trainers in the anime as well, including Misty, Lance, and Lysandre, often showcasing incredible strength (and the capacity to Mega Evolve). However, like Charizard, Gyarados has some big weaknesses, particularly to the Electric-type. Gyarados' destructive capacity is in line with its Pokédex entries from the games, but often exceeds Gyarados' actual performance in battle, despite Gyarados being a pretty good Pokémon.
4 Lucario
Lucario is a Pokémon that definitely possesses a place of prominence within the anime, having an entire movie based on it, as well as being a key party member for characters like Korrina, Maylene, and Ash. While Lucario is stated in the games to have special Aura abilities, this really only results in its ability to use Special Attack-based Fighting-type moves. In the anime, however, Aura allows Lucario to do all kinds of things, from communicating wordlessly with its partner to sensing objects and even other Pokémon at great distances. While Lucario is a perfectly decent Pokémon in the games, its performance can't live up to the feats Lucario gets up to in the anime.
3 Onix
Onix stands out for its absolutely massive size, making the Rock Snake Pokémon a real threat to significantly smaller challengers, often threatening to crush them with its sheer bulk. Onix is most notably owned by Brock in the anime, who certainly wasn't afraid to make use of its size advantage against opponents. He sees a lot of success with moves like Bind and Wrap, which are actually pretty weak in the games, especially with Onix's disappointingly low attack. This is one case where the games are the ones failing to showcase how impressive Onix should be, rather than the anime overselling its performance.
2 Psyduck
Psyduck might seem like an odd choice to be this high on the list. After all, Misty's Psyduck has a reputation for being useless... until it gets a headache, at which point it unleashes fearsome Psychic attacks that can destroy unsuspecting opponents. Of course, no such headache mechanic exists in the games, meaning that Psyduck really is just a fairly useless, unevolved Pokémon. The gap between what Psyduck is capable of in the anime and how it performs in the games is so massive that it warrants inclusion on that matter alone.
1 Pikachu
Of course, the most overhyped Pokémon in the anime has to be Pikachu. Ash's Pikachu stands out as one of his strongest Pokémon, with a pretty fantastic win rate considering the sheer number of battles it's been in over the years. While steps have been taken to make Pikachu better in the games to more closely match its anime performance, with items like the Light Ball, exclusive Z-moves, and special superpowered variants, like the Partner Pikachu from Let's Go, Pikachu, Pikachu is still ultimately an early-game Electric-type that just doesn't really see the level of success that Ash's does.
In the end, the anime and the games can paint very different pictures of the Pokémon world. Many Pokémon that are considered extremely threatening in the anime really aren't all that in the games, while certain Pokémon that actually are good in the games may lose in the anime due to who owns them. Both the anime and the games have a great lesson to teach, though: that it doesn't necessarily matter which Pokémon are the most powerful, because a strong bond and sufficient training can ultimately overcome any obstacle. It's one of the Pokémon franchise's most endearing qualities, and the anime offers proof of that with the diverse choices trainers make.
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