Rental Pokémon are any Pokémon which a trainer does not formally own and uses temporarily for a battle or competition. Using a rental Pokémon does not count as capturing a Pokémon for filling up a Pokédex. They are most commonly used to test a trainer's ability with using any Pokémon, even those they did not train and raise themselves.

In the games

Pokémon Stadium

Pokémon Stadium was the first game to make use of rental Pokémon. In this game, the different tournament levels have one of every Pokémon that can enter the tournament available for rental. Each Pokémon has a pre-determined move set for each tournament level. This provides the advantage of making it easier to compete in the different tournaments and to add statues of all Pokémon from the Generation I Pokédex to the Hall of Fame.

Pokémon Stadium 2

Rental Pokémon are used in this game as the same manner as the first Stadium.

Rental Pokémon can also be used in a Battle Now feature, which semi-randomly generates teams of rental Pokémon for players to use. They are also used in the exams at Earl's Pokémon Academy.

Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness

Unlike their Stadium predecessors, these two games do not allow rental Pokémon for the competitions inside the games. However, they still have semi-random rental Pokémon teams available in their Battle Now modes.

Pokémon Emerald

In the Battle Frontier, the Battle Factory is based around rental Pokémon. The player chooses a team of three out of six random rental Pokémon. Noland, the Frontier Brain for the Battle Factory, also battles using a random team of rental Pokémon.

Pokémon Battle Revolution

Like the Stadium games, rental Pokémon are available. However, not all kinds of Pokémon are available to rent at a time. Rental Passes are also the only kind of Battle Pass available for use at the Gateway Colosseum. Once a Rental Pass is earned, its Pokémon can be swapped between Rental Passes to build a team.

In the anime

Ash and James battled an examiner using teams of three random rental Pokémon in The Ultimate Test. James picked a team of Pikachu, Charizard and Ivysaur, but was disqualified after he sent out two at once. Ash picked a team of Weezing, Arbok and Meowth. With this team, he lost to the examiner, but was able to defeat the Team Rocket trio. The Battle Park of Johto also uses rental Pokémon.