In general
- The entire Pokémon Franchise was based off the creator's experiences in his youth of capturing bugs. So bug catching meets Mon RPG.
- Alternately and perhaps more accurately, it's Shin Megami Tensei meets Super Mario Bros..
- Or Mother meets Dragon Quest Monsters.
Anime & Manga
- Pokémon Horizons: The Series is Pokémon: The Series meets Pokémon Scarlet and Violet meets Soulcalibur VI meets Kamen Rider Kuuga meets Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga (and Ultraman Decker).
Video Games
Main Installments- Pokémon Yellow is Pokémon Red and Blue meets the first season of Pokémon: The Series.
- Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire is Pokémon Red and Blue meets Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
- Pokémon Diamond and Pearl is Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire meets Final Fantasy III meets Final Fantasy VII meets Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann meets Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack. Platinum adds JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable into the mix, referencing how the Big Bad gets Dragged Off to Hell after their defeat.
- Pokémon Black and White is Pokémon meets Grand Theft Auto IV meets Mother 3 meets Mobile Suit Gundam SEED except it ends with a far happier ending as well as And the Adventure Continues for the good guys.
- Pokémon X and Y is Pokémon Diamond and Pearl meets Mobile Suit Gundam 00 meets Kamen Rider 555 meets Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- Pokémon Sun and Moon is Pokémon meets Kill la Kill.
- Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon is Pokémon Sun and Moon meets Ultra Series meets Star Trek.
- Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! is Pokémon Yellow meets Pokémon GO.
- Pokémon Sword and Shield is Pokémon meets Ultra Series meets Pacific Rim.
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus is Pokémon meets Monster Hunter meets Golden Kamuy meets Xenoblade Chronicles 1.
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is Pokémon Sword and Shield meets Xenoblade Chronicles 3 meets Chrono Trigger meets Final Fantasy VII meets AKIRA meets RWBY meets Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.
Spin-offs
- Pokémon Colosseum is Pokémon meets Desert Punk meets Kingdom Hearts.
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon is Pokémon meets Shiren the Wanderer meets Mother.
- Pokémon Trozei! is Pokémon meets Yoshi's Cookie.
- Pokémon Conquest is Pokémon meets Nobunaga's Ambitionnote , with character designs from Samurai Warriors.
- Pokkén Tournament is Pokémon meets Tekken. It even shows in the name!
- Pokémon GO is Pokémon Mystery Dungeon meets Ingress, with character designs from Fire Emblem and No More Heroes.
Other Media
- Pokémon Detective Pikachu is Blade Runner meets Christopher Robin and The Great Mouse Detective and Zootopia by way of Men in Black and Who Framed Roger Rabbit with slight dashes of Batman Begins, Deadpool (2016), and Barney's Great Adventure.
Specific characters
Species
- Pikachu is Mickey Mouse meets Blanka.
- Shinx is Kimba the White Lion meets Pikachu.
- The Great Dusknoir is Pious Augustus meets the Terminator.
- Alolan Raichu is a Raichu with the powers of Psycho Mantis on a surfer board.
- Dialga is Diamond Weapon with Time Master powers.
- Palkia is Ruby Weapon with Space Master powers.
- Giratina is any Ghost-type Pokémon meets The Cloud of Darkness meets Deathgaze meets Ultimate Weapon.
- The Ultra Beasts are the Angels meets the Life Fibers meets the D-Reaper.
- Nihilego is Nui Harime meets Lavos.
- Koraidon is Toothless meets Groudon meets Red Dragon Archfiend.
- Miraidon is Toothless meets Zekrom meets Stardust Dragon.
- Tinkaton is Mawile meets Primeape meets Rebecca.
Humans
Video Games- Pokémon Red and Blue, Yellow, FireRed & LeafGreen:
- Giovanni is Dr. Ivo Robotnik meets Vito Corleone.
- Pokémon Gold and Silver, Crystal, HeartGold & SoulSilver:
- Silver is Blue meets Michael Corleone meets Tony Montana.
- Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
- Cynthia is Steven Stone meets The Boss meets Sayla Mass.
- Maylene is a gender flipped Brawly meets Ryu meets Hitomi.
- Cyrus is Giovanni meets Xande meets Rufus Shinra meets Char Aznable, more specifically from Char's Counterattack meets Gendo Ikari.
- Pokémon Black and White & Pokémon Black 2 and White 2
- Hilda is Sonic the Hedgehog meets Sailor Jupiter meets Lara Croft.
- Cheren is Steven Stone meets Athrun Zala.
- Rosa is Sailor Moon meets Yui Hirasawa with some traits of Luis Lopez.
- Yancy is Cream the Rabbit meets Honoka Kousaka meets Miyuki Takara.
- Hugh is Brendan meets Lucas meets Shinn Asuka meets Little Jacob, with traits of Johnny Klebitz and Wade Heston.
- N is Mowgli meets Mariemaia Khushrenada meets Rey Za Burrel.
- Ghetsis Harmonia is Giovanni meets Cyrus meets Dimitri Rascalov meets Dekim Barton meets Al Da Flaga, with a dash of Imran Zakhaev.
- Colress is an Affably Evil take on Professor Hojo meets Revolver Ocelot.
- Pokémon X and Y:
- Diantha is Cynthia meets Lacus Clyne.
- Lysandre is Cyrus meets Raul Menendez meets Rau Le Creuset.
- Pokémon Sun and Moon & Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon:
- Lusamine (pre-Heel–Face Turn) is Ragyo Kiryuin meets Ghetsis with a small dose of Nuzleaf.
- Lillie is N meets Satsuki Kiryuin.
- Gladion is Silver meets Ryuko Matoi meets Johnny Klebitz.
- Pokémon Sword and Shield
- Marnie is Gladion meets Lucy Loud meets Simon "Ghost" Riley.
- Milo is Mallow meets Nightwolf.
- Kabu is Blaine meets Nanu.
- Bea is Maylene meets Makoto.
- Opal is Valerie and Olympia meets Granny.
- Chairman Rose is Maxie and Archie meets James Ironwood meets General Shepherd.
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus:
- Volo is Cynthia meets Cyrus meets Akihiro Kurata meets Toru Adachi meets Ghetsis meets Sephiroth.
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet:
- Team Star are Team Skull meets Class 77.
- Iono is Clemont meets Sophocles.
- Ryme is Morty meets Phoebe.
- Larry is Norman meets Nanu.
- Penny is Wally meets Futaba Sakura meets Guzma.
- Hassel is Drake meets Eikichi Onizuka.
- Ms. Geeta is Cynthia meets Diantha.
- Nemona is Serena meets Shauna meets Makoto Niijima meets Ann Takamaki meets Son Goku.
- Arven is Gladion meets Lillie meets Ryuji Sakamoto meets N.
- Pokémon: The Series
- Ash Ketchum is Usagi Tsukino meets Henry, based off of Red and every other male main series Pokémon protagonist afterwards.
- Misty is her game self meets Akane Tendo meets Helga Pataki.
- Anime Mewtwo starts off as Magneto meets pre-madness Giygas.
- Pokémon Adventures
- Mewtwo and it's Video Game counterpart can be summed up as Vegeta meets Tetsuo.
- Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure!
- Hareta is pretty much what you would get if you mixed Sapphire Birch and Son Goku, put the mixture in a body resembling Lucas, and gave him a Piplup.
Other Media
- Pokémon Detective Pikachu:
- Detective Pikachu is Winnie the Pooh meets Deadpool.
- Tim Goodman is Christopher Robin meets Olivia Flaversham meets Shinnosuke Tomarinote .
- Lucy Stevens is Emilia Christie meets Misty with a slight hint of Hermione Granger.
- Mr. Mime is Pennywise meets Dopey.
- Howard Clifford is Giovanni meets Ernst Stavro Blofeld by way of Judge Doom.
- Roger Clifford is Giles Winslow meets Severus Snape.
