Pokémon is an absolutely massive franchise that spans essentially all media formats. Video games, toys, an anime with over 1000 episodes, movies, mangas, a trading card game and even a trading figure game (anyone else remember that?), there's a whole lot of Pokémon content out there. And as such, with so many different story elements going on, some are bound to just… stop happening. Yeah, the Pokémon franchise has a lot of forgotten and abandoned plot points, and that's exactly what we'll be going over in this list. 25 storylines forgotten about in the Pokémon games and anime.
Whether developers and showrunners simply forgot about some of these plots, or they were intentionally dropped from future plans, you'd be surprised just how much content the Pokémon franchise has left behind in its over 20 years of existence. Many of these forgotten storylines leave us wondering what could have been had they been followed through on. From that weird thing where Pokémon and humans used to get married regularly, all the way to that war that definitely happened but no one seems to really acknowledge or talk about at all, we have a lot to discuss here. Let's get into it!
25 The GS Ball
The GS Ball was a Pokeball featured in the Orange Islands arc of the Pokémon anime. The mysterious ball was meant to hold Celebi inside of it, which, when opened, would span a multi-episode arc on the mythical creature. Instead, Celebi was decided to be the star of the next Pokémon movie, so the ball was given to Kurt, according to an interview with previous director Masamitsu Hidaka, to make viewers forget about it. Yeah, showrunners decided they weren’t going to use it, so they just hoped we forgot about it. Great!
24 The Kalos Power Plant
The Kalos Power Plant has a bit of a mystery surrounding it. While the power plant has multiple different doors, you can only go through one once unlocked with the Power Plant key.
What is the purpose of these other doors? Nothing. They don’t do a single thing.
Fans have speculated for years that these doors might have been housing special events to be released as updates, but, nothing ever came to fruition. Whether or not these doors ever served a special purpose, we will never know.
23 Sun And Moon’s Alien Man
Anyone else remember the alien man who literally twirled his way into space if you showed him a Lunatone in Sun and Moon? Because I certainly cannot and will not ever forget it. What is going on here? Is this just, a fun Easter egg, because I absolutely refuse to believe that the developers would code in an event like this with literally no reasoning to do so. Where is this man from? Who are the men he talks about? Maybe one day we’ll get some answers.
22 Every One Off Character In The Anime
The Pokémon anime has a large number of characters that only appear in a single episode, they serve their purpose, and they leave, never to be seen again. While this would be fine, I have a little problem with this, I specifically remember Ash telling many of these characters that he would see them again soon. So, was he planning on lying to all of them, or did every single one of these meetings slip through the cracks? Or does he have “Reunite with Jessabelle from Sinnoh” penciled in on his calendar 3 years from now? Liar.
21 Poni Meadow Cave
This irks me to no end. On Poni Island, there is a small body of water that cannot be surfed on, and has a cave entrance near the back of it. This cave cannot be explored by any means. Are you kidding me? Similar to the golf course in the same games that is completely inaccessible, why must I be tempted like this? I want to know what’s hiding in there for me to explore! This is just like the boxes in front of doorways in FireRed and LeafGreen. If you aren’t going to let us in, don’t tempt us!
20 Eternal Flower Floette
The Floette that only AZ is known to possess, Eternal Flower Floette, has data for it in every single game since X&Y. It has its own signature move, special Pokedex entries, and different stats from regular Floettes, and we can’t have it. The only reason this data would have been programmed into the games is because we were originally meant to receive Eternal Flower Floette at some point originally as an event, until it was scrapped. While we might see this Pokémon gifted to us at some point, as we move further and further away from X&Y, it seems more and more unlikely.
19 Gary’s Other Badges
Remember that one time that Gary Oak won 10 badges? And was going for his 11th against Giovanni? Apparently, there is far more to Kanto than we’re seeing. While Ash only visited the eight gyms features in the games, Kanto clearly has more gyms than we know of. It would be interesting to find out what types of Pokémon and challenges that these gyms hold for trainers. Or, more likely, he’s Gary Oak, so he created more gyms to destroy. It’s probably that one.
18 Generation 4 Arceus Event
You know what’s incredibly rude? Teasing your fanbase with the possibility of obtaining a literal god and then taking that away. That’s exactly what happened in generation 4. While many events were coded into the game, the Arceus event was the only one never distributed. All you had to do was obtain a flute, go to the Spear Pillar, and play it.
However, this was deemed too confusing for the event to ever be released.
That’s a bold-faced lie. There is nothing confusing about it and I want to know the real reason it was never released.
17 The Snarl Box
The Lock Capsule was a key item available in HeartGold and SoulSilver that has no way to be legitimately obtained. It can only be used in Black and White, where bringing it to Mr. Lock will give you the TM for Snarl. Why? Why does such an OK move need such a goose-chase to obtain it? Why were we never allowed to access the Lock Capsule? Just another question we won’t be getting an answer to anytime soon.
16 Ash’s Pidgeot
You know who was absolutely wronged and deserves so much more than he was given? Ash’s Pidgeot! Shortly after evolving, Pidgeot was released by Ash to protect a group of Pidgeotto and Pidgey from attacking Fearow and Spearow. Ash then told Pidgeot that he would come back and get him after he returned from the Orange Islands.
THAT WAS OVER 19 YEARS AGO ASH.
He doesn’t deserve a gem like Pidgeot. Pidgeot deserves someone who can at least conquer a Pokémon League.
15 Mauville Hills Apartments
In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, there is an apartment complex in Mauville Hills. You can interact with all the doors’ intercoms, and occupied rooms will have someone that responds to you. Unoccupied rooms give you a simple “...There's no reply.” There is one room though, that is different from all the others. When you interact with the intercom, all you get is a “...” What's going on in this room, the only one with this dialogue? Maybe we found Red's apartment.
14 The Mew Truck
DId YoU kNoW tHiS tRuCk HiDeS mEw????? Just kidding, we all know that that rumor was false, there's no Mew under any trucks in Pokémon Red and Blue. However, I find this truck to still be an interesting case. There are almost no other decorations in the Gen 1 games besides this truck. It's placed in a very weird position, and I do think there was something more to this truck during development. I'm basing this off of absolutely nothing, but, hey you never know!
13 Nurse Joys And Officer Jennys
Ok no. I refuse to believe this. There is something sinister going on here. You expect me to believe there are hundreds of these women that all look exactly like one another and all have the exact same job? Absolutely not.
There has to be some sort of cloning activity going on here.
COUSINS DO NOT LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME. Maybe they’re the product of failed Mew cloning like Ditto. Whatever the reasoning for this occurrence (that definitely isn’t the fact that showrunners didn’t want to animate a new officer and nurse for each city), we deserve answers!
12 Lumiose Train Station Message
In Pokémon X and Y, there is a message hidden behind a sign in Lumiose Station. It reads, "I'm going to go for help. Wait in the usual place." Oddly enough, if you talk to a young NPC standing near the sign, he says, “It should be someplace right around here, right?” What is happening here? Who was going for help, and why has that person not returned? Could it maybe be connected to the next entry on our list?
11 Kalos Ghost Girl
In Lumiose City’s Fighting Dojo, going to the second floor presents you with a small cutscene of a Hex Maniac suddenly appearing behind you, saying, “No, you're not the one," before she literally floats away. What does this mean? Could this somehow be related to the aforementioned message? Could this ghost girl be the one who left the message? Considering there is another Hex Maniac in the Hoenn Region's Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire that says the exact same thing, the possibilities are endless.
10 Ash’s Father
Who exactly is Ash’s father? While he has been mentioned a few times in passing throughout the anime’s run, we have almost no concrete evidence on who this man is. It seems that he’s out on his own Pokémon journey according to Ash’s mom, but, does he never come back to visit? How long has he been on this journey?
Who exactly is paying the bills for this family?
It seems like there’s some sort of mystery surrounding Ash’s father that might one day be uncovered.
9 People And Pokémon Used To Marry
Oh yeah, you heard that right. According to literal translations of Sinnoh’s Canalave Library folktales (the official English release censored things a bit) people and Pokémon used to marry one another all the time, because they were essentially the same creatures. So, what now? Pokémon and people were once the same creatures, and we all just slowly evolved into different species? How exactly does that work? There is still much we don’t know about the origins of the Pokémon world, and this is just another one of those mysteries.
8 Scary House
The scary house found in Route 14 of Kalos holds a man who tells the tale of the time he first entered the house, he was lost. He found a man cowering in the corner, and as he went over to ask the man for help, the man screamed to stay back. Not to the visitor though, but to a horde of faceless men behind him! The man appears to be fine, and we never see or hear of these faceless men again. Is this just a simple throwaway line to scare the player, or is there more to this story than meets the eye?
7 Professor Ivy And Brock
Something very strange happened between Professor Ivy and Brock. While Brock originally left the original trio during the Orange Islands arc because showrunners were afraid he would be viewed as a racist stereotype, he quickly returned once they realized no one cared. While he was away, he was staying with Professor Ivy. Apparently, something very bad happened between her and Brock, as he had a bit of a breakdown whenever her name was mentioned. While most of these occurrences were just plot devices to move Brock around, it would be nice to know what happened between the two.
6 The Alolan Ghost Girl
Apparently, Alola also has a ghost girl as well. This girl tasks you with solving an array of different mysteries involving the trainer school, which appears to be haunted. While all the mysteries just turn out to be misunderstandings, you eventually find out that this girl is one of the mysteries. One day, the girl was picked up from school by a Hypno, and the next day, a Drifloon (both of which were involved in the mysteries), two Pokémon known for taking children. Then, after solving all the mysteries, she just, disappears with her Drifloon, never to be seen again. What was the fate of this child? We will never know.