Original Trainer: Difference between revisions

This Rowlet's Original Trainer's name is Carmen.

The Original Trainer or Original Partner^LA (Japanese: 親 owner), or OT for short, of a Pokémon is the Trainer who obtained the Pokémon in question first. It is shown in the Pokémon's summary. The Original Trainer's name is used in conjunction with their gender and ID numbers to verify which Pokémon are outsider Pokémon.

Assignment

Pokémon receive the Trainer who originally caught, hatched, received, snagged, or otherwise obtained them as their OT. NPCs who give away gift Pokémon will not be registered as the Pokémon's OT, except for in three instances: a Spearow given by Webster and a Shuckle given by Kirk, both in the Generation II games and their remakes, and a Zorua given by Rood with N as its OT in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. In the case of Webster's Spearow and Kirk's Shuckle, these are special instances in that the Pokémon received is intended to be later returned, in Webster's case to his friend on Route 31 and in Kirk's case to him after Silver has been defeated at Mt. Moon, although in the latter case, Kirk will allow the player to keep Shuckle if it has maximum friendship. In the case of N's Zorua, it is unique as it is one of N's Pokémon; besides Zorua, various other Pokémon with N as their OT can be encountered and caught if Memory Link is used, making these the only wild Pokémon that the player can catch without being considered their OT. Unlike with most gift Pokémon, NPCs who give away Pokémon in in-game trades are considered to be the OTs of those Pokémon.

A Pokémon bred by a player which is traded as an Egg to another will have the hatching Trainer as its OT, regardless of the breeder. A Shadow Pokémon that has been snagged will initially display its OT as question marks, but after being purified, it will have the Trainer who purified it as its OT. Shedinja produced by the evolution of a Nincada retain the Nincada's OT.

Effects

A Pokémon whose Original Trainer is not the same as its current Trainer is called an outsider Pokémon; this is determined by using the Original Trainer's name, Trainer ID number, secret ID number, and gender. An outsider Pokémon with too high a level may disobey its Trainer in battle if they have too few Badges or stamps (but they will always obey in link battles). Outsider Pokémon gain 50% more experience than Pokémon trained by their Original Trainer; from Generation IV onward, outsider Pokémon with a different language of origin to the game's language instead gain 70% more experience.

In most games, only the Original Trainer of a Pokémon can change its nickname. Starting in Generation VIII (with the exception of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl), an outsider Pokémon without a nickname can be given one by any Trainer, though only its Original Trainer can change it again afterwards, and outsider Pokémon with nicknames still cannot have their nicknames changed.

If two compatible Pokémon with different Original Trainers are bred, they will produce Eggs more frequently than Pokémon with the same Original Trainer.

Prior to Generation VI, due to a glitch, if an Egg is hatched in a game other than that of the player who generated it, it can hatch with the appearance of a Shiny Pokémon in the cutscene but actually be normally colored, or hatch normally colored but actually be Shiny. This is because the Egg has the same Trainer ID number and secret ID number as the player who generated it before the cutscene, but they change to match the hatching player after the cutscene. This also allows Eggs that are normally prevented from containing Shiny Pokémon (namely Eggs obtained from event distributions and the Manaphy Egg) to hatch into Shiny Pokémon, as long as they are hatched in a game other than the game that generated them. Starting in Generation VI, this can no longer happen.

Special Original Trainers

Main article: List of notable ID numbers

Sometimes, there are special Original Trainer names assigned to Pokémon if they come from a non-standard Pokémon game or are received as a prize.

Trivia

• The OT will be highlighted as blue if it is a male Trainer or red if it is a female Trainer in Generations III (except in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen), IV, and V. In Korean games, female OTs are highlighted in pink instead of red. This information is still stored in later games, but is no longer visible in-game.
• In the Japanese versions of the Generation III games, Western OT names (like Western Pokémon names) are rendered as fullwidth characters, which limits the display of names to five characters.

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 初訓家 Chōfangā * 父母 Fuhmóuh * Mandarin 初訓家 / 初训家 Chūxùnjiā * 父母 Fùmǔ * 訓練師 Xùnliànshī * French Dresseur d'Origine (D.O.) Partenaire d'origineLA German Originaltrainer (OT) OriginalpartnerLA Italian Allenatore Originale (AO) Alleato originale (AO)LA Korean 어버이 Eobeoi Brazilian Portuguese Treinador Original Spanish Entrenador Original (EO) Compañero originalLA Vietnamese Chủ nhân

See also

• Trainer ID number
• Outsider Pokémon

This game mechanic article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.