History ScrappyMechanic / Pokemon

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', Pokemon Breeders will always confront you for battle when you pass by their line of sight, even if you've already defeated them. This is reset whenever you leave the route and come back. Needless to say, several people don't exactly appreciate this.

* Evolution by happiness. Unlike LevelGrinding, trading, or use of a certain item, there's no quick way to evolve a Pokémon by happiness. You have to keep it in your party, battle with it, pile on the items and/or not let it faint. Depending on the game you might be able to feed it Poffins or Pokeblocks, but it can still eat through your supplies very quickly. It's bad enough when it's a Pokémon you want to use, but when you just want to get it on the Pokedex it's downright annoying. Plus, since there's no set level for a happiness evolution, if you aren't careful you can potentially lose out on a good move by evolving too early/late.

** Vespiquen. It evolves from Combee at Level 21, but only if it's female. First wait no less than six hours due to the Honey Tree mechanic, then you have roughly a 5% chance of finding a Combee AND a 12.5% of it being female. Didn't find a Combee? Too bad, the species is decided when you slather the tree, so you'll have to try again and wait another six hours. Gender can be decided, though. So you can save beforehand and keep restarting until you get a female. Or just get one of either gender and breed with a ditto until you get a female.

* Roaming Pokémon. They're legendary, which makes them hard enough to catch on their own. They only show up randomly, and it's often hard to track which route they're on at all, not to mention they often switch randomly. They run at the first opportunity and the [[StandardStatusEffects standard status effects]] don't prevent them from fleeing; only trapping them will work, and the trapper must remain in battle. A few running Pokémon even have the move Roar, which instantly forces you out of the battle (and, in VideoGame/PokemonFireRedAndLeafGreen, at least, ''[[LostForever prevents you from ever encountering them again]].'') The one upside is that their HP and status don't replenish between encounters. The runners' natures and stats are determined randomly ''when they start running'', not when you catch them so [[SaveScumming save scumming]] for one that's actually ''usable'' is impossible.

* Wild Pokémon requiring you to send a Pokémon out every single encounter, in situations where you're just going to run from them anyways. Wild Pokémon encounters are the most basic and trademark part of the game (other than trainer battles), but it can get irritating when you're in an area with pesky high-Speed Pokémon that don't let you run, making you wonder "Why did I have to send out my Pokémon in the first place?!" (Except maybe in HeartGold and SoulSilver, when your lead Pokemon walks by your side.)

* Wild Pokémon requiring you to send a Pokémon out every single encounter, in situations where you're just going to run from them anyways. Wild Pokémon encounters are the most basic and trademark part of the game (other than trainer battles), but it can get irritating when you're in an area with pesky high-Speed Pokémon that don't let you run, making you wonder "Why did I have to send out my Pokémon in the first place?!"

** Thank God for the Trainer House in Viridian City in [=HeartGold=] and [=SoulSilver=], where you can battle Cal and other Trainers whose Pokéwalkers you interacted with and win 1 BP per victory. Made better by the fact that you can have up to 10 people (plus Cal) and just have them put low-level Pokemon in their teams when they interact with you. You can get up to 11 BP per day this way, which really adds up fast.

* Roaming Pokémon. They're legendary, which makes them hard enough to catch on their own. They only show up randomly, and it's often hard to track which route they're on at all, not to mention they often switch randomly. They run at the first opportunity and the [[StandardStatusEffects standard status effects]] don't prevent them from fleeing; only trapping them will work, and the trapper must remain in battle. A few running Pokémon even have the move Roar, which instantly forces you out of the battle (and, in [=FireRed=] and [=LeafGreen=], at least, ''[[LostForever prevents you from ever encountering them again]].'') The one upside is that their HP and status don't replenish between encounters. The runners' natures and stats are determined randomly ''when they start running'', not when you catch them so [[SaveScumming save scumming]] for one that's actually ''usable'' is impossible.

** It's not bad in ''PokemonBlackAndWhite'' though. Right before your game's respective roamer is introduced into the game's plot, Professor Juniper gives you ChekhovsGun in the form of a Master Ball. Wherever the roamer may be (be it Tornadus or Thundurus), the marquees at each rest stop will tell you that a storm is going on in that area which will save you the trouble of blindly searching for it.

** It's even better in ''PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', where there are ''no roamers in the entire game'' for the first time since the first generation.

** Even worse yet[[note]](especially considering ''PokemonGoldAndSilver'' included a method to transfer Pokémon from ''PokemonRedAndBlue'', a ''very'' rejoice-inducing feature, all of this ''right'' before the third generation)[[/note]], at the time of their release, ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' didn't bother beyond slapping the [[OhCrap "Not compatible with previous versions"]] disclaimer on the back of the cover, thus inducing many fans to fear this was a [[ContinuityReboot franchise reboot]] ([[SeriesMascot Pikachu]] being present in the Hoenn Pokédex didn't help at all), or even a CosmicRetcon, you name it. Before the first pair of [[UpdatedRerelease remakes]], ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue LeafGreen and FireRed]]'', for Pokemon fans it wasn't simply a DorkAge, but an actual DarkestHour.

** ''PokemonBlackAndWhite'' take this to its logical conclusion: the Regional Dex for Unova doesn't have ''any'' of the prior 493 Pokémon. This is a bit of a mixed blessing: no more [[{{GoddamnBats}} Goddamn Zubat]] but no more old favorites like Eevee, Skarmory, Blissey, or ''Pikachu''. That's right, even the ''SeriesMascot'' is getting the boot until you get the National Dex.
*** The second Unova regional Pokédex seen in ''PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' has 300 Pokémon, with nearly half of them returning from other regions.

** Fixed in Generation V. In ''PokemonBlackAndWhite'', over 100 Pokémon are unobtainable via normal gameplay, but most of them (such as the Eeveelutions, Garchomp and Scyther) are used by NPC trainers during the postgame - if you battle the NPC trainers, you record the unobtainable mons as "seen", allowing you to trade for them over the GTS. This was probably done to make the GTS a bit more of a help in completing the National Dex.

*** The above has gotten even worse in Gen. V, as people seem to actually be looking for hacked pokemon this time. You can't even search for a Pansear without seeing people asking for Lv. 9 and under Zekrom and the like. And if you deposit a pokemon yourself, expect hours to go by with no results, due to the limited search results... all clogged by the aformentioned lv. 9 and under Zekrom. The saddest part is that you can't even submit such a pokemon, as the game detects illegitimate Pokemon and refuses to let you trade them.

* Being a side game and all, it's understandable that ''[[PokemonMysteryDungeon Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'' would change the way a few of the moves work. Some changes, however, should not have been made. Spite removing all of a move's PP as opposed to only four and Knock-Off potentially rendering a held item permenantly unusable, to name a few.
* The inability for players to buy Game Corner coins in ''Heart Gold'' and ''Soul Silver'' is this to many. A new minigame called Voltorb Flip allows players to amass coins for free, but rather slowly relative to the number of coins needed to buy anything worthwhile. Factor in the fact that some players don't have the patience to learn how to play Voltorb Flip...

* ''PokemonMysteryDungeon: Explorers of Sky'' hit a few new lows with these things:

** One type of trap surrounds you with enemies, and then gives all enemies on the same floor a status condition which drains all your Power Points of the move you used to KO it. The status condition is applied to every enemy that ever gets spawned on the floor again, and never wears off, and the dungeons these appear in are ones which prevent you from bringing items in for refills.

** Perish Song. The hit rate is fairly low, but when you've got a half dozen Politoed spamming it like there's no tomorrow, the law of averages is bound to catch up. Once you've been afflicted, you're boned unless you can reach the stairs in 3 moves.

* Okay, so [[BrutalBonusLevel The Battle Frontier]] makes for a pretty good side challenge for the competitive gamer and whatnot, but why is grinding Battle Points necessary to get anything? By the time [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold and SoulSilver]] came around, the list of things that could only be bought with BP amounts to TM's, evolution items, training items, held items, and even Move Tutors. It wouldn't be such a bad idea if it [[LuckBasedMission DIDN'T TAKE]] [[NintendoHard FUCKING FOREVER]] [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard TO GRIND]] [[RandomNumberGod THAT MANY POINTS.]] The only way you'll get a sizable amount in a decent time is to actually get the chance to challenge a [[BonusBoss Frontier Brain]], but even provided you make it to them, they could still easily whoop your ass and ruin your streak without so much as a consolation prize. Apparently, Game Freak thinks only [[AGodAmI gods]] deserve to teach their bugs how to bite things or something.[[hottip:*:It doesn't help that the shards, the payment for Move Tutors in VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl, are easier to grind in this game but instead are reserved for ''berries'']]

*** The second Unova regional Pokédex seen in ''PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' has 300 returning Pokémon from other regions.

*** The second Unova regional Pokédex seen in ''PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' has [[AndTheFandomRejoiced 300 returning Pokémon from other regions.]]

** Even worse yet[[note]](especially considering ''PokemonGoldAndSilver'' included a method to transfer Pokémon from ''PokemonRedAndBlue'', a ''very'' [[AndTheFandomRejoiced rejoice-inducing]] feature, all of this ''right'' before the third generation)[[/note]], at the time of their release, ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' didn't bother beyond slapping the [[OhCrap "Not compatible with previous versions"]] disclaimer on the back of the cover, thus inducing many fans to fear this was a [[ContinuityReboot franchise reboot]] ([[SeriesMascot Pikachu]] being present in the Hoenn Pokédex didn't help at all), or even a CosmicRetcon, you name it. Before the first pair of [[UpdatedRerelease remakes]], ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue LeafGreen and FireRed]]'', for Pokemon fans it wasn't simply a DorkAge, but an actual DarkestHour.

** It's the only place to grow berries in Black and White, berries cannot be transferred from a Generation IV game (so no internet connection means no berries), and you start of with only 6 berry plots and a maximum of 15.

** Eugh, 'quite' annoying? Try highly. Take the Sky Tower in the first game. The selection of Pokémon in it include Aerodactyl with Pressure (lowers your PP quicker) and Agility (raises the speed of EVERY enemy Pokémon by 2), ghosts like Shuppet who can sneak through the walls and attack you while you can't attack them back and who have Curse which takes away a quarter of your health each turn, Shedinja who can only be brought down by certain types of moves (and can ''also'' sneak through walls), Koffing who can and will poison you, Lunatone who can send you to sleep rendering you helpless... Get all these lovely creatures in one room, times their numbers by 5, give them a fierce desire to murder you and that is what Monster Houses are all about. And what if you enter one so your team-mates are unable to help you? They'll either stand idly by and watch you get slaughtered or prance off to find a way around to get to you and get knocked out themselves, which is usually what will happen unless you spawn in one.

** Even worse yet[[hottip:*: (especially considering ''PokemonGoldAndSilver'' included a method to transfer Pokémon from ''PokemonRedAndBlue'', a ''very'' [[AndTheFandomRejoiced rejoice-inducing]] feature, all of this ''right'' before the third generation)]], at the time of their release, ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' didn't bother beyond slapping the [[OhCrap "Not compatible with previous versions"]] disclaimer on the back of the cover, thus inducing many fans to fear this was a [[ContinuityReboot franchise reboot]] ([[SeriesMascot Pikachu]] being present in the Hoenn Pokédex didn't help at all), or even a CosmicRetcon, you name it. Before the first pair of [[UpdatedRerelease remakes]], ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue LeafGreen and FireRed]]'', for Pokemon fans it wasn't simply a DorkAge, but an actual DarkestHour.

** The easiest way to deal with this is to simply [[GuideDangIt look up the level of the Roamer you want to catch]], put a Pokemon at or just below that level at the front of your party, buy a bunch of Repels, then run or surf on routes below said Pokemon's level. Eventually the roamer will warp to that route and you will encounter it, then just chuck your Master Ball. Tedious, but much less frustrating than hoping to encounter it the normal way.

** The easiest way to deal with this is to simply [[GuideDangIt look up the level of the Roamer you want to catch]], put a pokemon at or just below that level at the front of your party, buy a bunch of Repels, then run or surf on routes below said pokemon's level. Eventually the roamer will warp to that route and you will encounter it, then just chuck your Master Ball. Tedious, but much less frustrating than hoping to encounter it the normal way.

** The easiest way to deal with this is to simply [[GuideDangIt look up the level of the Roamer you want to catch]], put a pokemon at or just below that level at the front of your party, buy a bunch of Repels, then run or surf on routes below said pokemon's level. Eventually the roamer will warp to that route and you will encounter it. Tedious, but much less frustrating than hoping to encounter it randomly.

* Gift or Event-only Pokemon themselves, too. Want a Celebi? Too bad, they're nigh-unobtainable without cheating or hearing about a giveaway and being in the right place [[LostForever at exactly the right time.]] Worse, due to it being linked to a real-world addon that was never released outside of Japan, Celebi was actually ''completely unobtainable'' in the West during its original generation. Wi-Fi connection events in Gen IV and Gen V fixed it somewhat, but if for some reason you couldn't connect to the Internet on your DS (and even going to a McDonalds wasn't guaranteed to work, as ''you still might not be close enough to the router''), you're screwed.

* Pokémon and items which require a rare Pokémon to unlock. You want an Aerodactyl in Gold/Silver/Crystal without calling upon the first-generation games? You need to catch a Chansey and trade it to an NPC. The encounter rate for finding Chansey? 1%. And then you have to either breed it or catch another one if you want to add a Blissey to your Pokédex. Generation III made it necessary to catch a Relicanth to get the legendary golems, which - with its 5% encounter rate in a handful of very specific areas - has been known to require 101 consecutive uses of Sweet Scent to actually find.

** If you trade a mon from a Gen II game who knows moves that existed in Gen I, but could not learn naturally in Gen I, the same thing also happens [[hottip:*: Keep in mind the region lock only checks that a Gen I mon doesn't know a move that doesn't exist in Gen I, as long as the move exists in Gen I, it will let it be traded, even if that species couldn't learn that particular move in Red/Green/Blue/Yellow's time]]

** It's not bad in [[PokemonBlackAndWhite Black and White]] though. Right before your game's respective roamer is introduced into the game's plot, Professor Juniper gives you ChekhovsGun in the form of a Master Ball. Wherever the roamer may be (be it Tornadus or Thunderus), the marquees at each rest stop will tell you that a storm is going on in that area which will save you the trouble of blindly searching for it.

** Black and White fixed this. There are only 6 [=HMs=], and you only need one to progress through the story (ONCE, at the beginning). The others lead to hidden items.