Player character

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The beginning of Red's Pokémon journey.

A player character in the world of Pokémon is the protagonist of the games. Remarkably silent, player characters are the avatar of the player; it is left up to the latter to "fill in" what they imagine the character is feeling, thinking and acting, thus immersing the player within the world of the game.

Philosophy

The player character is a critical part of the Pokémon games' core. Set in an approximate background, player characters are effectively the players themselves, giving the latter the opportunity to add in their details, color the journey with their views and personality and co-exist with other players. Concurrently, they are the hero of the said myth, the one person to take part on the main events of each game. This twofold nature of the player character gives players the opportunity to choose from several alternatives and distinguish themselves from one another, while at the same time the adventure of the protagonist of the game unfolds, with the several details not being set or standard. Ultimately, the events of the game progress with the player assuming the protagonist's role, while all at once finding themselves in the world of the game as a unique entity.

Main series

Gameplay

The player characters of the main series games

In the main series games, the player characters are Pokémon Trainers beginning their Pokémon journey. They start their journey in their hometown by getting a starter Pokémon, a Pokémon that appears very early in their native region's Pokédex, and is of the Grass-, Fire-, or Water-type. The region's native Pokémon Professor will always give them this, as well as a Pokédex. Starting in Pokémon Crystal, players can also choose their character's gender. Usually, they have rivals who begin their journey at about the same time. Players take part in several events, and meet a great number of Pokémon and people during their adventure. A common target is to conquer a Pokémon League's eight Gym Leaders and Elite Four, and become the Champion. Several additional sidequests occur during and after each game's main plot.

To date, only one player character has reappeared from an older generation in a role other than that of the player. In Generation II and the Generation IV remakes, when Ethan or Kris/Lyra travels to Mt. Silver and reaches the deepest point of the cave, Red is found, utterly silent as he was under the player's control. At the time of these games' respective releases, Red's Pikachu was the highest-leveled Pokémon owned by an in-game Trainer (Barry's fully evolved starter Pokémon temporarily surpassed the standard set in Gold and Silver until the release of their remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver).

Characters

RGBYFRLG GSCHGSS RSE DPPt BW B2W2 XY

Spr FRLG Red.png

Spr HGSS Ethan.png

Spr E Brendan.png

Spr Pt Lucas.png

Spr B2W2 Hilbert.png

Spr B2W2 Nate.png

File:Player male XY.png

Red Ethan Brendan Lucas Hilbert Nate ???


C RSE FRLG DPPt HGSS BW B2W2 XY

Spr C Kris.png

Spr E May.png

Spr FRLG Leaf.png

Spr Pt Dawn.png

Spr HGSS Lyra.png

Spr B2W2 Hilda.png

Spr B2W2 Rosa.png

File:Player female XY.png

Kris May Leaf Dawn Lyra Hilda Rosa ???


Side series games

Stadium series

Three unnamed player characters appear in Pokémon Stadium series. Japanese-only Pokémon Stadium featured one male character, whose design was likely based on Red. However, for the sequel a brand new male character was created. This player was also in Pokémon Stadium 2, where he was given a female counterpart. She appears when a player uses a Pokémon Crystal Game Pak with the girl chosen in the saved game. Like the main series player characters, these three remain silent throughout the games.

Stadium (JPN) Stadium (ENG) & Stadium 2 Stadium 2

SJP Player Boy.png

File:S S2 Player Boy.png File:S2 Player Girl.png


Orre series

Aside from the standard that many of the games' player characters take in their journey, there are also several other ways in which other player characters complete their journey, such as Wes and Michael in Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness who are called to defeat Cipher and free all of their snagged Pokémon from their Shadow state.

Colosseum XD

Colosseum Wes 3D.png

File:Michael.png

Wes Michael


Spin-off games

Pokémon Card GB series

In the Card GB series, Mark and Mint do not use actual Pokémon themselves, but cards instead.

TCG1 & TCG 2 TCG 2

TCG1 Mark.png

TCG2 Mint.png

Mark Mint


Pokémon Ranger series

In the Pokémon Ranger series, Lunick, Solana, Kellyn, Kate, Ben and Summer are not Pokémon Trainers, but instead Pokémon Rangers. They use the Pokémon they have captured with the Capture Styler to help them along the way. They also have partner Pokémon that follow them wherever they go.

Ranger Shadows of Almia Guardian Signs

Ra Lunick f.png

Soa Kellyn top f.png

Gs Ben f.png

Lunick Kellyn Ben

Ra Solana f.png

Soa Kate top f.png

Gs Summer f.png

Solana Kate Summer


Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

In the Mystery Dungeon series, players play as actual Pokémon. Unlike most other Pokémon games, the player actually talks, but is given pre-generated phrases to say to questions.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team
001.png
Bulbasaur
004.png
Charmander
007.png
Squirtle
025.png
Pikachu
052.png
Meowth
054.png
Psyduck
066.png
Machop
104.png
Cubone
Grass Poison Fire Water Electric Normal Water Fighting Ground
133.png
Eevee
152.png
Chikorita
155.png
Cyndaquil
158.png
Totodile
252.png
Treecko
255.png
Torchic
258.png
Mudkip
300.png
Skitty
Normal Grass Fire Water Grass Fire Water Normal
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness
001.png
Bulbasaur
004.png
Charmander
007.png
Squirtle
025.png
Pikachu
052.png
Meowth
152.png
Chikorita
155.png
Cyndaquil
158.png
Totodile
Grass Poison Fire Water Electric Normal Grass Fire Water
252.png
Treecko
255.png
Torchic
258.png
Mudkip
300.png
Skitty
387.png
Turtwig
390.png
Chimchar
393.png
Piplup
446.png
Munchlax
Grass Fire Water Normal Grass Fire Water Normal
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
001.png
Bulbasaur
004.png
Charmander
007.png
Squirtle
025.png
Pikachu
037.png
Vulpix
133.png
Eevee
152.png
Chikorita
Grass Poison Fire Water Electric Fire Normal Grass
155.png
Cyndaquil
158.png
Totodile
231.png
Phanpy
252.png
Treecko
255.png
Torchic
258.png
Mudkip
300.png
Skitty
Fire Water Ground Grass Fire Water Normal
387.png
Turtwig
390.png
Chimchar
393.png
Piplup
403.png
Shinx
447.png
Riolu
Grass Fire Water Electric Fighting
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Keep Going! Blazing Adventure Squad!
004.png
Charmander
037.png
Vulpix
058.png
Growlithe
133.png
Eevee
155.png
Cyndaquil
Fire Fire Fire Normal Fire
216.png
Teddiursa
255.png
Torchic
390.png
Chimchar
427.png
Buneary
Normal Fire Fire Normal
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Let's Go! Stormy Adventure Squad!
007.png
Squirtle
158.png
Totodile
194.png
Wooper
231.png
Phanpy
258.png
Mudkip
Water Water Water Ground Ground Water
298.png
Azurill
360.png
Wynaut
393.png
Piplup
447.png
Riolu
Normal Psychic Water Fighting
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Go For It! Light Adventure Squad!
025.png
Pikachu
052.png
Meowth
054.png
Psyduck
172.png
Pichu
175.png
Togepi
Electric Normal Water Electric Normal
179.png
Mareep
239.png
Elekid
403.png
Shinx
417.png
Pachirisu
Electric Electric Electric Electric
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity
025.png
Pikachu
495.png
Snivy
498.png
Tepig
501.png
Oshawott
610.png
Axew
Electric Grass Fire Water Dragon

Pokémon Rumble series

Pokémon Rumble

In Pokémon Rumble, the player starts as a Toy Rattata.

019.png
Rattata
Normal
Pokémon Rumble Blast

In Pokémon Rumble Blast, the player starts as a Toy Pikachu.

025.png
Pikachu
Electric

PokéPark series

Pikachu's Adventure & Wonders Beyond Wonders Beyond Wonders Beyond Wonders Beyond

PP2 Pikachu.png

PP2 Snivy.png

PP2 Tepig.png

PP2 Oshawott.png

Pikachu Snivy Tepig Oshawott


Pokémon Conquest

In Pokémon Conquest, the player character is the Warlord of Ransei's kingdom of Aurora. Their objective is to unite the seventeen kingdoms of the region, stop Nobunaga, and meet the legendary Pokémon that created Ransei.

Conquest

Conquest Hero I.png

Conquest Heroine I.png
Hero Heroine


Other games

Snap Trozei

File:Toddsnap.png

File:Lucy Fleetfoot trozei.png

Todd Snap Lucy Fleetfoot


In the anime

In the anime, five of the player characters have been given major roles, three of them in the main anime series. Ash and Ritchie represent Red (their game counterpart), being based on him in appearance as well as basic history. At the beginning of Advanced Generation, May was introduced in order to better represent Generation III, as both Misty and Brock are characters native to Generation I. Likewise, at the beginning of the Diamond & Pearl series, Dawn joined Ash. Alternatively, in the Best Wishes! series, Hilda was not present. Instead, Iris, a Gym leader from the Black/White games, joined Ash.

Jimmy and Marina appeared in The Legend of Thunder! special, taking a similar role to Ash and his companions, fighting Team Rocket members to protect legendary Pokémon. While the protagonists of Generation II were not represented in Ash's party, these two filled the roles as the anime counterparts to Ethan and Kris.

Lyra appears in An Egg Scramble!, and joins the group for a brief time.

Ash and his friends have also encountered several player characters from the side games. Todd Snap was the first, and a special case, as he originated in the anime before appearing in Pokémon Snap. He joins the group for a few episodes at two points in the anime: once during the Indigo League and once during Johto League Champions. The others, Solana, Kellyn and Ben are all Pokémon Rangers that Ash and friends assisted in rescuing and protecting Pokémon.

So far, Brendan has only made a few select cameo appearances at the begin of some of the movies, while Lucas made a cameo at the beginning of Giratina and the Sky Warrior battling Brendan. Ethan also appears with a second counterpart at the beginning of Zoroark: Master of Illusions.

None of the Generation V player characters have yet been seen in the main anime.

In the manga

Many of the characters appearing in various Pokémon manga are based on player and rival characters from the main series games. These characters usually play a major role within the series.

Pokémon Adventures features many cross-canon counterparts for most of the player and rival characters in the games, with Red being based on his game counterpart. This is also the case for his two fellow Kanto Pokédex Holders. The same applies for nearly all other main characters in the series; Gold, for example, is based on the then-unnamed player character Ethan. However, because the Yellow version, the fourth installment to the first generation, gave no additional protagonists, Yellow was created, revealed to have been the girl Red rescued in Viridian Forest before his battle with Giovanni. Emerald is another cognate case, as in the entirety of Generation III, only two player characters were given. Wally, the closest thing to a third main character, was dropped in favor of this new character designed entirely from scratch. As of the DP and Platinum chapters, only the first ten main characters have met each other, as none of the Sinnoh Dex Holders have ventured out of their region.

Additionally, though Lyra is almost universally accepted as a different character from Kris, rather than a redesign like Ethan, Crystal has appeared wearing her clothes to serve as a counterpart, rather than introducing a second Johto female protagonist for the HeartGold & SoulSilver arc.

In addition to Pokémon Adventures characters, there are many characters that have very similar character designs as player or rival characters from the games. These include Red from Pokémon Pocket Monsters, Rald from Pokémon Battle Frontier, Hareta and Mitsumi from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure! and Black from Golden Boys.

Trivia

  • Most of the male characters that Ash, the main character from the Pokémon anime, has encountered have been from side games, like Pokémon Ranger. Only one counterpart of a male player character has met Ash, in the thirteenth movie.
  • Red's dialogue during his appearance as an NPC in Gold, Silver, and Crystal and their remakes, reflects the games' player characters' status as silent protagonists.
  • The list of default names per gender generally repeats* from game to game. Exceptions to this are character-specific names, which are names unique to a character, usually references to the title or aspects of the game.
  • Until Generation V, the given Japanese names of the male player characters in the main series games (as NPCs) all end in ki (). This excludes Red's appearance in Generations II and IV, as he is not a player character during the games when he is an NPC. Inclusively, Lunick's Japanese name also ends in ki.


Player characters
Core series RedLeafEthanKrisLyraBrendanMayLucasDawn
HilbertHildaNateRosaCalemSerenaElioSelene
ChaseElaineVictorGloriaReiAkariFlorianJuliana
Side series WesMichaelNateCyndy
Spin-off games MarkMintTodd SnapLucy Fleetfoot
LunickSolanaKellynKateBenSummer
HeroHeroineTim GoodmanScottieBettie
Project CharacterDex logo.png This game character article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.