Wild Pokémon
- Encounter redirects here. For the song, see Encounter (song).
This article is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Missing side games/spinoffs |
A wild Pokémon (Japanese: 野生ポケモン wild Pokémon) is any Pokémon that is not currently owned by a Pokémon Trainer.
Terminology
In the game dialogue, the word "wild" is written in lowercase, such as in "wild Pokémon" and "A wild Pikachu appeared!"
In some early official material, this word has also been occasionally written as "Wild" with an initial capital letter:
- "You will travel North into the grassy area where you will run into many Wild Pokémon." (manual of Pokémon Red and Blue, page 16)
- "Soon you find [Professor Birch] being attacked by Wild Pokémon on a road outside town." (manual of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, page 4)
In the core series games
This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: encounter chances in newer games |
Wild Pokémon are encountered in most parts of the Pokémon world, most commonly outside of cities and towns, often in tall grass, in caves, or on water. A Trainer may choose to battle a wild Pokémon or run from it. If a Trainer chooses to battle, they may either attempt to catch the Pokémon with a Poké Ball or to defeat it outright.
Generation I
Since Generation I, wild Pokémon will appear to the player in a variety of locations, most often when the player is walking through or near tall grass. Other methods of encountering wild Pokémon include walking through caves or abandoned buildings, fishing, surfing on water, and interacting with Pokémon in the overworld. The species and level of the Pokémon both depend on both the location and encounter method.
Each tile has a number that affects the chance of finding a wild Pokémon. Tall grass varies from 15 to 25 (except the Safari Zone, which has 30), caves vary from 10 to 15 (except Mewtwo's room in Cerulean Cave, which has 25), and all water tiles use the number 5. Each time the player takes a step in a tile with wild Pokémon, the game generates a random number from 0 to 255 (inclusive). If that random number is less than the tile's encounter number, the game generates a species and level. Repels prevent encounters with any Pokémon of a lower level than the party's first Pokémon.
When encountered, a wild Pokémon's moveset will generally consist of the most recent four moves its species would know by leveling-up; for example, a level 4 Nidoran♂ will know Leer and Tackle when encountered in the wild in Red and Blue, while one encountered at level 22 will know Tackle, Horn Attack, Poison Sting, and Focus Energy.
At the beginning of every turn, wild Pokémon have an equal chance of selecting each move that they can use. If all the Pokémon in the player's party faint while battling a wild Pokémon, the player will drop some money in panic.
Generation II
Generation II introduced four encounter methods, namely smashing breakable rocks, headbutting Headbutt trees, using Sweet Scent, and roaming Pokémon. Additionally, the species of wild Pokémon depends on the current time and mass outbreaks.
In this generation, tall grass varies from 15 to 25, and both caves and water have encounter numbers between 5 and 15 (except Diglett's Cave in the daytime, which has 2). Pokémon March and the Ruins of Alph signal, played on the Pokégear, will double the encounter rate, and the Pokémon Lullaby and Cleanse Tag halve the rate. All of these multipliers stack with each other.
Repels prevent encounters with any Pokémon of a lower level than the party's first conscious Pokémon. Wild Pokémon can hold items, which can be obtained by catching the Pokémon or using one of a set of moves, like Thief. Wild Pokémon that use one of those moves can steal the player's Pokémon's held item.
Generation III
Wild Pokémon can appear in deep sand. The random number varies from 0 to 2879. Tall grass and Rock Smash have 320 (except Route 119, which has 240, and Safari Zone, which has 400), caves and deep sand have 160 (except Seafloor Cavern, which has 64, Cave of Origin, which has 64, and Altering Cave, which has 112), and water and seaweed have 64 (except Safari Zone, which has 144, and Petalburg City, which has 16, and Sootopolis City, which has 16).
Bicycles, White Flute, Black Flute, and Cleanse Tag multiply the encounter number by 0.8, 1.5, 0.5, and 0.66, respectively. Additionally, certain Abilities affect wild Pokémon in various ways—many only gaining these effects in Emerald. Unlike Repels, these modifiers ignore whether the first Pokémon in the party is fainted.
Wild Pokémon cannot steal the player's Pokémon's held item regardless of what moves they use.
Generation IV
Honey has the same effect as Sweet Scent in the overworld. However, using Honey on a Honey Tree will attract a Pokémon from a different encounter table. From Generation IV onward, multiple wild Pokémon can appear at once. All but one of the Pokémon will have to be defeated before that one can be caught. In Generation IV, the only way to encounter multiple wild Pokémon at once is walking while accompanied by another Pokémon Trainer.
In HeartGold and SoulSilver only, running raises the chance of encountering wild Pokémon each time the player takes a step.
Generation V
Starting in Generation V, wild Pokémon can appear in puddles or phenomena. There is the chance of two Pokémon appearing at once in dark grass. Two types of Pass Powers (Encounter Power ↑ and Encounter Power ↓ ) modify encounter chances. Wild Pokémon can steal the player's Pokémon's held item.
Generation VI
In Generation VI, wild Pokémon can appear in snow, ambush encounters, and while soaring. Hordes of five Pokémon may appear. Two O-Powers (Encounter Power and Stealth Power) modify encounter chances. Repels prevent encounters with any Pokémon of a lower level than the party's first Pokémon.
Generation VII
In Generation VII, a wild Pokémon can call for an ally, turning the battle into a 2-on-1 scenario. In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, encounters can be prevented by using Roto Stealth, even if the player's lead Pokémon is lower than the level of the potential encounters.
While the player is riding a Poké Ride, the encounter rate will be adjusted:
Pokémon | Encounter rate |
---|---|
Tauros | 50% |
Stoutland | 55% |
Lapras | 20% |
Mudsdale | 65% |
Sharpedo | 15% |
Machamp | 100% |
Generation VIII
Repels prevent hidden encounters with any Pokémon of a lower level than the party's first Pokémon. They have no effect on other encounters.
In Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the camera view might show the player before the wild Pokémon. In that case, the wild Pokémon has two or more IVs of 31.
Generation IX
In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, there are fixed encounter locations where the same Pokémon always spawns at the same location, even when de-spawned by going off-screen. This includes wild Tera Pokémon, which always have the same Tera Type when encountered on the overworld. After a fixed encounter is defeated, it will not respawn until the clock rolls over to the next day.
Encounter messages
This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Any missing variants of the message |
There are times when the usual message You encountered a wild <Pokémon>! will be replaced by another message:
Game | Situation | Message |
---|---|---|
All Generation I and II games | when a wild Pokémon is fished out | The hooked <Pokémon> attacked! |
All Generation II games | when a wild Pokémon is encountered using Headbutt | <Pokémon> fell out of the tree! |
XD: Gale of Darkness | Pokémon in Battle Bingo | Oh! <Pokémon> appeared! |
All Generation IV games | wild Double Battle when with a Stat Trainer | A wild <Pokémon> and <Pokémon> appeared! |
All Generation IV games | encountering a Pokémon in Pal Park | Wow! <Pokémon's OT>'s <Pokémon's nickname> is drawing close! |
Diamond and Pearl | battle against Starly immediately after picking the first partner Pokémon | Whoa! A wild <Pokémon> came charging! |
Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum | when checking out a shaking Honey Tree | A wild <Pokémon> appeared from the tree you slathered with Honey! |
Platinum | battle against Giratina in the Distortion World | The Distortion World's <Pokémon> appeared! |
All Generation V games | wild Double Battle initiated by dark grass or with a partner NPC | Oh! A wild <Pokémon> and <Pokémon> appeared! |
All Generation V games | Entree Forest encounter | The <Pokémon> your Pokémon saw in the dream appeared! |
All Generation V, VI, VII, and VIII games | battle against a non-roaming Legendary or Mythical Pokémon, Volcarona in Relic Castle, disguised Zoroark in Lostlorn Forest, an Ultra Beast that is registered in the Pokédex, or Max Raid Battle Pokémon | <Pokémon> appeared! |
Black 2 and White 2 | encountering one of N's Pokémon | A wild <Pokémon> appeared?! |
X and Y | Routes 9 and 17 | Whoa! The <Pokémon> you stepped on attacked! |
X and Y | walking into a shadow in caves | Whoa! A wild <Pokémon> swooped down from above! |
X and Y | walking into a shadow next to a tree in the outdoor part of Victory Road | Whoa! A wild <Pokémon> dived out of the sky! |
X and Y | encountering a Pokémon by interacting with a trash can | Whoa! A wild <Pokémon> leaped out of the trash can! |
X and Y | bushes on Routes 6 and 18 | Whoa! A wild <Pokémon> leaped out of the tall grass! |
All Generation VI and VII games | during the catching demonstration | Oh! A wild <Pokémon> appeared! |
X and Y | roaming Articuno, Zapdos, or Moltres | Oh! A wild <Pokémon> appeared! |
All Generation VI games | Horde Encounters | Whoa! A horde of <Pokémon> appeared! |
Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon | Totem Pokémon | You are challenged by Totem <Pokémon>! |
Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon | encountering an Ultra Beast (before registering it in the Pokédex) | ??? appeared! |
Sword and Shield | encountering a Pokémon whose level is too high for the player to catch | You encountered a very strong-looking <Pokémon>! |
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl | encountering two wild Pokémon of different species | You encountered a wild <Pokémon> and <Pokémon>! |
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl | encountering two wild Pokémon of the same species | You encountered two wild <Pokémon>! |
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl | Encountering a Legendary Pokémon | <Pokémon> appeared! |
Availability
Encounter type | Generation | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | ||||||||
RSE | FRLG | DPPt | HGSS | BW | B2W2 | XY | ORAS | SM/USUM | PE | SwSh | BDSP | LA | ||||
Random encounter* | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
Fishing | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
Overworld interaction* | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Breakable rock | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ |
Headbutt tree | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Sweet Scent | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
Roaming Pokémon | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
Mass outbreak | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Sand/Deep sand | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Honey Tree | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
Wild Double Battle | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
Puddle | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Phenomenon | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Snow | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Ambush encounter | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Soaring | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Horde Encounter | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
SOS Battle | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Berry pile | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Poké Pelago | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Symbol encounter | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Wanderer | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
Hidden encounter | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Shaking tree | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ |
Pokémon Den | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Curry encounter | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
Tera Raid Battle | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
In the spin-off games
Pokémon GO
In Pokémon GO, wild Pokémon appear on a map of the real world (based on the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap project),[1][2] with the player moving in the game by traveling in the real world. When a Pokémon is nearby, the player's phone vibrates. The player can encounter a nearby Pokémon by tapping it in the Map View. Different kinds of Pokémon will appear in different environments; for example, Water-type Pokémon are more common near water. Weather also affects which Pokémon are common.
In a wild encounter, the player attempts to catch a wild Pokémon in a Poké Ball before it runs away. Unlike in the core series games, these encounters do not involve battle. At higher levels, the player can use various Berries to make wild Pokémon easier to catch or use more powerful Poké Balls like Great Balls and Ultra Balls. While pressing and holding a Poké Ball, a ring will appear around the Pokémon. This ring shrinks over time; once it reaches its smallest size, it immediately returns to full size, and the cycle repeats. If the Poké Ball is thrown while the ring is very small, the capture is more likely to be successful. Throwing the ball while the ring is as far out as it can be, or halfway in the outer circle also provides small bonuses.
Encounter messages
There are times when the usual A wild <Pokémon> appeared! will be replaced by another message: encountering a defeated Raid Boss or a Shadow Pokémon will yield this message: Bonus Challenge! Catch <Pokémon>!
Pokémon UNITE
In Pokémon UNITE, wild Pokémon spawn in fixed locations across the stages. Each game mode has its own specific Pokémon, and the more important ones are detailed on the map overview of Casual and Quick Battle selections in the lobby.
Ordinary wild Pokémon appear on the minimap of a battle as yellow dots. They yield different amounts of experience and Aeos energy depending on the species and time within the match and since the last captured wild Pokémon in their respective spots. Their spawning may be influenced by the number of goal zones on either team's side. During a match's Final Stretch, regular wild Pokémon may evolve or despawn.
A special class of "objective" wild Pokémon appear as yellow generic enemy faces on the minimap. These Pokémon spawn at set times and provide various team-wide benefits, and thus are one of the focal points of a match.
In Catch 'Em and Panic Parade Quick Battles, certain wild Pokémon can be caught. In the former's case, they can be played as with a unique moveset, while in the latter, it is possible to temporarily send them out to fight alongside Trainer Pokémon.
Pokémon Ranger series
In the Pokémon Rangers, the wild Pokémon are not caught. Instead, it is possible to direct them to perform a task with a Capture Styler.
Pokémon Pinball series
In Pokémon Pinball and Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, during the Catch 'Em Mode, a wild Pokémon appears at the bottom of the field and can be caught by the player.
Pokémon Battle Trozei
According to the manual of Pokémon Battle Trozei, the puzzle game is about catching wild Pokémon: "Pokémon Battle Trozei is a puzzle game in which you clear puzzles in order to battle against and Trozei the wild Pokémon that appear in each stage. [...] In this game, the word Trozei means reducing a wild Pokémon's HP to zero and catching it so you can use it."
This is unlike the preceding game Pokémon Trozei!, in which the puzzle game was about recovering Pokémon stolen from their Trainers.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Live
In Pokémon Trading Card Game Live, one of the text strings displayed as the game loads is "Catching Wild Pokémon"
In animation
Pokémon the Series
Wild Pokémon are not typically a central feature of Pokémon the Series, which focuses mostly on the Pokémon belonging to Ash, his friends, and other Trainers that he encounters. Most of the Pokémon belonging to the group were shown in the wild at some point, but are usually caught at a later point in the same episode, most often at the end. Despite this, there have been several recurring wild Pokémon who appear over a length of time without being caught. Of all of these Pokémon, a Caterpie, a Shiny Gyarados, an Aipom, a Gible, a Krokorok, a Froakie, a Dedenne, a Rockruff, a Litten, a Poipole, an Eevee, a Meltan, two Gengar, a Scorbunny, a Sobble, an Eternatus, and a Morpeko all went on to be caught several episodes after they appeared. As demonstrated on a number of occasions, Meowth is also a wild Pokémon.
There are, however, numerous examples of wild Pokémon being featured in debut episodes that introduce their species, such as Clefairy in Clefairy and the Moon Stone and Sudowoodo in Type Casting.
In the first episode, Ash's Pokédex states that wild Pokémon tend to be jealous of human-trained Pokémon, this being one of the reasons that the Spearow Ash hit with a rock attacked Pikachu instead.
Pokédex entries
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Pokémon Horizons: The Series
This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: role in Horizons; compare/contrast to PtS |
In Pokémon Horizons: The Series, a Fuecoco, a Wattrel, and a Quaxly were all caught after first appearing as recurring wild Pokémon.
In the manga
Pokémon Adventures
Wild Pokémon have been seen in Pokémon Adventures since the start of the manga, though prior to the Ruby & Sapphire arc, they mostly served the role of being caught by one of the Pokédex holders or the antagonists, especially with Crystal, whom Professor Oak tasked with completing the Pokédex. In later arcs, wild Pokémon have become more common. In some cases, the possibility of controlling wild Pokémon without catching them has been demonstrated, such as with the legendary giants being controlled by Steven and the Hoenn Elite Four during the climax of the Ruby & Sapphire arc, or Colress controlling a wild Genesect in the Black 2 & White 2 arc due to Team Plasma's inability to place it inside a Poké Ball. Examples of Pokémon that have appeared in the wild outside the chapters they were caught in include Mewtwo, the legendary giants, and Pearl's Luxray.
In the TCG
The Pokémon Trading Card Game does not really address the distinction between wild Pokémon and Pokémon owned by trainers. As written in the Pokémon Trading Card Game Rules, the Pokémon cards in one's deck are that player's Pokémon.[3] However, much of the game's art does not contain any traces of humans. One could interpret a card that does not show a human, a location associated with a human such as a house, or an organized battle as depicting a Pokémon in the wild.
The Poké Catch game depicts players catching Pokémon. Therefore, all of the Pokémon used in it can be assumed to be wild Pokémon.
Trivia
- In pre-release versions of Pokémon Red and Green, the wild encounter rate was so high that players would encounter wild Pokémon every two steps. Combined with the fact that Trainers would battle the player every time the player walked past them regardless of whether they had already been defeated, it would take players half a day to get through a single cave. Game Freak adjusted the wild encounter rate and changed Trainer battles for a more reasonable experience before the game was released.[4]
- Prior to Generation IV, due to the fact that Pokémon hatched from Eggs at level 5, several wild Pokémon found in early routes had lower levels than newly-hatched Pokémon.
- Pokémon Crystal is the core series game with the lowest maximum level available for a wild Pokémon, having no higher than level 60 Ho-Oh and Lugia.
- The only level 100 wild Pokémon available in the core series are Magikarp in Pokémon Platinum, Black 2, White 2, Scarlet, and Violet (with The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero), and Regigigas in Pokémon Sword and Shield (with Expansion Pass).
In other languages
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References
- ↑ Niantic Switches to OpenStreetMap in Pokémon GO
- ↑ Recommendations for new (Pokémon GO) mappers by community members
- ↑ Pokémon Trading Card Game Rules, Paradox Rift, "Your deck of cards represents your Pokémon as well as items and allies that help you on your adventures."
- ↑ Shōko Nakagawa: Pokémon Taught Me The Meaning of Life (p155) via Dogasu's Backpack