QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
This is definitely procrastination from the uni work I need to be doing but let's ignore that.
I've often wondered how many Pokemon in total you can catch in each individual game, without trading or any event add-ons. I became interested in charting it after reading that the box for Pokemon Red and Blue boasts of the amount of Pokemon available in the game, with the number quoted not taking into account matters such as the choice the player has to make between Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee, the two fossil Pokemon, and Eevee's three evolutions. What is the actual number of Pokemon you can obtain in a single playthrough, without obtaining any of these missing Pokemon?
Version-exclusive Pokemon, of course, are the largest factor when it comes to determining the number of Pokemon available in a game. While the amount of version-exclusives are generally balanced between corresponding titles, occasionally they get lopsided and one title ends up with more Pokemon than its twin. Part of me wanted to see if certain titles were better "value for money" in terms of Pokemon obtainable, as this might be a motive for people to choose that title (although likely a retrospective one, as the full extent of this is rarely known until the games are released). I will also be calculating the total number of Pokemon in a game against the total number of Pokemon in its respective generation, to see to how that title stacks up against the total number of Pokemon available at the time.
Bulbapedia's page on the topic of Pokemon by availability is exhaustively thorough, but not the most simple to read, so I figured I'd make a definitive list. For the purposes of this study, this will be written as if all extracurricular methods of obtaining Pokemon - mystery gifts and the like - are to be ignored. Since older games have by and large lost access to the online functions that could be used to obtain bonus items and Pokemon, taking these into account would skew the results. While - for instance - the old WiFi events for gen IV and V are currently still accessible through unofficial servers, it is likely that one day those servers will cease to exist. So let us assume they have. This is to be the case even when it comes to services like Pal Park, which do not require Internet or a second player - imagine that you've only got one Pokemon game. My intention is to write as though I was choosing a single Pokemon game to play, right here and now, with no add-ons or outside help.
With this in mind, I imagine some people will want to debate Pokemon Bank. It is an extra function and Internet-dependent, but it's native to the console the Gen VI and VII must be played on, so it hardly counts as an extra. But I'm sure one day Nintendo will discontinue the service, so for the purposes of this thread I will assume that has happened.
For the sake of clarity, I will be counting the number of Pokemon obtainable, not accessible. So, for instance, there are nine starter Pokemon per game - but as typically only three are accessible without trading, that will just count as three no matter what. The fact that you can obtain the full set of starters is irrelevant - without trading or glitches, you cannot transfer your starter from one save file to another. For this reason, trade evo Pokemon are generally considered inaccessible since they're typically not obtainable without trading with another copy, but I will make note of where these Pokemon can be caught in the wild.
Glitches will be ignored.
Lastly - my maths is not the greatest, but to the best of my knowledge these figures are correct, or as good as. If I'm out on any of them, please be polite if you wish to correct me.
So, let's get stuck in.
Gen I
Gen II
Gold: 199 79.28%
Silver: 198 78.88%
Crystal: 207 82.47%
Notes
251 Pokemon available in all.
Though the fact that the percentages barely change from Gen I makes it seem otherwise, Gold, Silver, and Crystal actually have a comparatively large amount of absent Pokemon. The absent first gen starters, fossils, and legendaries add up to 18 (Aerodactyl, of course, is obtainable in-game via an in-game trade) while the starters not chosen by the player add six more. Gen II adds a rather weighty six Pokemon to the pool of those which evolve by trade (the most of any generation), leaving ten Pokemon completely inaccessible to solo players. That leaves us with 34 missing Pokemon on top of the version-exclusives.
Like Mew, Celebi is missing in these games, but not in Crystal VC. Of course, in the original cartridge version it is absent. Interestingly, without the VC event Crystal and Silver are identical. When weighing Crystal against other upper versions such as Yellow, Emerald, and Platinum, it's surprising that it didn't add any additional Pokemon - not the Kanto starters, fossils, or even the legendary birds. However, with Celebi included, it still squeaks over the line to be the winner, making this the only generation where all three games have exactly the same amount of Pokemon available (in the original release, at least)!
A very belated edit thanks to something highlighted by Altissimo: in GS, the player can only get one each of the Fire, Water, Thunder, and Leaf Stones, meaning that only one of their respective stone evolutions is available to the player without interacting with another file.
Fire: Arcanine OR Flareon OR Ninetales (in Silver only)
Water: Cloyster OR Poliwrath OR Starmie OR Vaporeon
Thunder: Raichu OR Jolteon
Leaf: Vileplume OR Victreebel OR Exeggutor
So knock off one for Fire in Gold, and two in Silver, three for Water, one for Thunder, and two for Leaf for a total of 7 in Gold and 8 in Silver. Hey, look at that! Gold ends up slightly ahead. Crystal, of course, makes the evolution stones repeatedly obtainable so has no such restriction.
Best value for money: Crystal (VC)
Gen III
Ruby: 177 45.85%
Sapphire: 178 46.11%
Emerald: 213 55.18%
Notes
We enter Gen III and instantly there's a steep drop-off in the percentage of available Pokemon. This is thanks to Gen III's proto-Dexit, which did away with 184 missing older-generation Pokemon. We get 135 new ones, though, giving us 386 overall.
Six missing starters and a choice of fossils mean we're short a further 8 Pokemon from our remaining lot. A further eight version-exclusive Pokemon for each title cut our numbers further, but we're not done yet! Two unobtainable mythicals shave the roster a little more.
Gen III has three of the trade-evolving mons from Kanto (Gengar is absent along with the rest of its family) and just one of the Johto ones (Kingdra) as well as adding two more (Huntail and Gorebyss). Fewer than GSC but a lot more than RBGY had. Overall, both Ruby and Sapphire have a maximum of 178 Pokemon obtainable in either title without trading, events, or other interference.
Emerald is missing seven Pokemon instead of eight, and helpfully bolsters its ranks with a large selection of Safari Zone mons as well as Meowth and Persian. It also allows for both sets of fossils, giving it a grand total of 214 Pokemon available without outside interference. Numerically, Emerald has the most Pokemon available of any game so far, but it still only amounts to a rather pitiful 55.44%.
EDIT: Thanks to DrPumpkinz for another useful correction. In Ruby and Emerald, there is only one Moon Stone available but two Pokemon (Skitty and Jigglypuff) need it to evolve, meaning that the player can only have one without trading. Wild Lunatone have a small chance of holding a Moon Stone, but those are exclusive to Sapphire, meaning that Sapphire nudges ahead to be slightly better value than Ruby.
Best value for money: Emerald. You're shocked, right?
FireRed: 171 44.3%
LeafGreen: 172 44.55%
Notes
Would you believe these were two of the hardest games to verify numbers for?
FRLG significantly up the ante on version-exclusive mons, divvying up many more than their ancestor titles did. FireRed has 23 missing Pokemon while LeafGreen has 22. These diminished rosters are bolstered by the smattering of Johto Pokemon available. As ever, there's a choice of fossils, but the ability to breed now means that the Hitmon and Eevee choices aren't as final as they seem. This is countermanded by Espeon and Umbreon being inaccessible, though. Thanks to not having any of the Hoenn squad bar Wynaut and Azurill, FRLG come out as the worst percentage-wise so far.
Better value for money: LeafGreen barely edges out FireRed as the better value for money, having just one more Pokemon. Unfortunately that Pokemon is Azurill so it's not much of a win.
Overall best value for money in Gen III: It's still Emerald. No contest.
Bonus round - GameCube
Yeah, why not? This won't take a minute.
Colosseum: 63 16.32%
The easiest entry on this list for sure. 52 Pokemon are obtainable in total including the prize Ho-Oh; 11 of the Shadow Pokemon caught can evolve, and all are capable of doing so just once, for a total of 63 Pokemon available overall. This gives an utterly tragic percentage of 16.32%, though it goes without saying that Pokedex completion is not what this game is concerned with. It only has 90 box spaces for god's sake.
XD: 153 39.63%
Much better. 83 Shadow Pokemon, of which there are 37 new forms achieved by evolution. Adding Elekid and all the potential Pokespot Pokemon gives you 15 more, while the Johto starters and Duking's trades allow access to another 15. Finally, Eevee and whatever evolution the player chooses means that players of XD can obtain a maximum of 153 Pokemon obtainable in one playthrough. While not superb, 39.63% looks splendid compared to Colosseum.
Gen IV
Diamond: 361 73.22%
Pearl: 358 72.61%
Platinum: 371 75.25%
Notes
We enter Gen IV, with a beefed-up 493 Pokemon available to us. All the usual caveats apply. Starters, choice of fossil - except here the fossil choice isn't actually a choice, since it's based on the game version instead of a decision. Sinnoh adds 5 new trade evolution-exclusive Pokemon; all of them and the older ones are, as ever, inaccessible - except for Steelix, who's finally catchable.
Due to Diamond and Pearl famously including every single Pokemon except previous-gen starters, legends, and bizarrely Tropius and Tangela (and by extension Tangrowth), they should by rights be closer to 100% than any other game. But the number of legends, mythicals, and starters from past generations has gotten large enough to keep it at around 80%. Besides this, there are 19 Pokemon missing from both Diamond and Pearl but, due to the seeming randomness of the missing Pokemon, Diamond ends up knocking Pearl for six... well, maybe three... by having a slightly higher number of Pokemon obtainable - 398 to Pearl's 395.
EDIT: Thanks to DrPumpkinz for the reminder - subtracting the dongle Pokemon lowers the numbers further - subtract six for Ruby, six for Sapphire, nine for FireRed, nine for LeafGreen, and seven for Emerald, giving us 361 for Diamond and 358 for Pearl. For Platinum, subtract six for Ruby, six for Sapphire, seven for FireRed, seven for LeafGreen, and five for Emerald.
Platinum is missing 12, but adds the three legendary birds and allows capture of both mascot legends, so comes in at a respectable 371.
Meanwhile the inability to get Regice, Registeel, and Regirock without transferring means that Regigigas is frozen as a statue forever. So sad.
Best value for money: Very obviously Platinum.
HeartGold: 377 76.47%
SoulSilver: 375 76.05%
Notes
Uneven version-exclusives again. HG has 19 missing Pokemon while SS has 21, edging forward HG as the winner.
The usual complement of trade evos, missing legends and starters from older games, and inaccessible unchosen starters are in force. Unfortunately most of HGSS's best mons are event- or Pokewalker-exclusive, so that's a shame.
Best value for money: HeartGold, just.
Overall best value for money in Gen IV: Thanks to the edit above, Platinum drops sharply, leaving HeartGold as the best overall title in Gen IV.
Gen V
Black: 414 63.79%
White: 414 63.79%
Notes
Another soft reboot means a huge amount of older Pokemon (185, to be exact) get left in the past, while 156 new ones give us a new grand total of 649. Both games lack 19 Pokemon from the other title. The usual fossil choice is in play, depriving the player of two Dex entries, as is the usual starter choice. Four mythicals also cannot be found anywhere in Unova.
Shockingly, BW let the player catch some of the Pokemon formerly restricted to evolving by trade. Slowking, Kingdra, and Politoed can all be fished up as well as either Huntail or Gorebyss depending on version. The game compensates by making Milotic a trade-evolving Pokemon now, as well as adding four new Pokemon which only evolve by trade.
Pokemon White's fantastic range of Pokemon available to catch in White Forest had the potential to make these titles the most lopsided in history, with a potential 100 extra Pokemon obtainable. Unfortunately, these rely on other games to procure, thus cannot be relied upon.
Best value for money: No difference, though as mentioned White has the potential for vastly more Pokemon.
B2: 436 67.18%
W2: 433 66.71%
Notes
Despite being lauded for bringing back many older Pokemon, in terms of numbers the amount of missing Pokemon (167) is not far removed from BW's. The same principles apply, but this time Alakazam and Gigalith can be obtained without needing to trade with another human being
Uniquely, B2W2 are the only games where the player's gender can affect what Pokemon they get. Yancy and Curtis' trades yield three different Pokemon apiece, none of which are available elsewhere; girls get Mankey, Cranidos, and Phanpy, while boys get Meowth, Shieldon, and Teddiursa (and all the attendant evolutions). Thanks to having 20 version exclusives to White 2's 17, Black 2 manages to edge out White 2, with 3 more species available.
Best value for money: Black 2, though there's not much in it.
Overall best value for money in Gen V: Black 2, again.
Gen VI
X: 557 77.25% or 418 57.97%
Y: 557 77.25% or 418 57.97%
Notes
Total parity is the story of the day as we enter Gen VI, and 721 Pokemon in total. Both games have the same amount of exclusives (18) and the same overall number of Pokemon.
For once, the usual formulas do not apply. The player gets a starter, but they can get a second Kalos starter after beating the Elite 4. For the first time the player can only get one of the birds. The usual starter formula applies to the intruding Kanto trio, though, and the fossils, as ever.
Trade-exclusive mons get interesting in these games; thanks to an in-game trade, Steelix is obtainable, and Politoed can be caught wild. One of Clamperl's evos can be caught, too. Milotic is still trade-exclusive, though. Bizarrely, though Trevenant was introduced in this generation, the game doesn't seem bothered about doing things the right way; it's catchable wild. The other three trade-exclusive mons introduced in XY are not.
The Friend Safari makes this interesting. After all, it's part of the game and not a bonus feature. On the other hand, it requires additional consoles to make it work. I'm in two minds. If it is included, XY potentially have 557 Pokemon obtainable. If not, it's just 418 per game.
Best value for money: no appreciable difference.
Omega Ruby: 421 58.39%
Alpha Sapphire: 421 58.39%
Notes
Just barely more than XY has sans Friend Safari. 21 missing from each game.
For the first time in a while, no trade evolution mons (except Milotic) can be obtained wild. This is the only game since its introduction where Trevenant cannot be caught without actually evolving it how it's supposed to be evolved. Really curious. Our first mythical available in-game, too. That's cool.
Best value for money: no appreciable difference.
Best value for money in Gen VI: It's a tough one. The fact that ORAS permits access to the Mega Stones more readily than XY might tip the balance, despite these only being forms and not discrete species in their own right. But in terms of potential availability XY win out.
Gen VII
Sun: 353 44.04%
Moon: 353 44.04%
Notes
Absolutely dismal numbers, just narrowly beating FRLG to be the series' worst showing. Hardly fitting for the 20th anniversary games as the series reaches 802 Pokemon.
There are just 15 version exclusives between the two games. No fossils here, though. Two of the original trade evo mons - Golem and Gengar - are available without trading. Slowking and Politoed are catchable, while Conkeldurr and Trevenant are also available wild.
Magearna is a curiosity. On the one hand, it does involve a code not found in the game natively. On the other hand, it's available indefinitely, and requires zero effort. On balance, it's in. The same goes for Island Scan mons, since any QR code can be used to charge up the scanner.
Best value for money: no appreciable difference.
US: 550 68.57%
UM: 550 68.57%
Notes
Much improved. USUM rounds up to 550 mons available as the games expand to 807 Pokemon available overall. Golem is no longer obtainable in-game, but both Gorebyss and Huntail are catchable in one game for the first time. Gengar, Politoed, Slowking, and Trevenant remain catchable. Thanks to the onslaught of legends available, there are a whopping 28 version exclusives.
Best value for money: No appreciable difference
Overall best value for money in Gen VII: Either of the Ultra versions.
Gen VIII
Sword 364 40.89% or 364 83.67%
Shield 364 40.89% or 364 83.67%
Notes
A quite unique case here, and a potential endless debate. If you believe that all the Dexited Pokemon still count, it's an absolutely miserable showing - just 40.89% of all Pokemon, one of the worst in the series. If you consider only the Pokemon coded into the base game, then it's a far better picture - 83.67% of all the Pokemon, one of the best in the series.
Whatever the case, SwSh have the largest amount of version-exclusives in the series - 30. But while the starters are still a choice, everything else is tossed out. You can get all four fossil mons. All trade evo mons are now capturable in the Wild Area - and let's assume at some point online access for the Switch gets disabled. They'd still all be capturable without it.
The IoA expansion adds 110 Pokemon, of which 6 are exclusive to either Sword or Shield. A further nine are inaccessible - Porygon2 and PorygonZ remain trade-exclusive, while only one Alola starter can be chosen and Zarude, of course, is event-exclusive. So 95 are accessible.
CT adds 74 Pokemon, of which 13 are exclusive to either game and two - the Regi and Calyrex's steed - become inaccessible once their counterpart is chosen, meaning you get 59 overall. There's no version difference, though.
Best value for money: no appreciable difference.
So, which is the best and which is the worst title when it comes to Pokemon content and value for money?
Some surprises, some revelations, and some serious number-crunching. I hope you found this interesting, and thanks for reading if you made it this far.
I've often wondered how many Pokemon in total you can catch in each individual game, without trading or any event add-ons. I became interested in charting it after reading that the box for Pokemon Red and Blue boasts of the amount of Pokemon available in the game, with the number quoted not taking into account matters such as the choice the player has to make between Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee, the two fossil Pokemon, and Eevee's three evolutions. What is the actual number of Pokemon you can obtain in a single playthrough, without obtaining any of these missing Pokemon?
Version-exclusive Pokemon, of course, are the largest factor when it comes to determining the number of Pokemon available in a game. While the amount of version-exclusives are generally balanced between corresponding titles, occasionally they get lopsided and one title ends up with more Pokemon than its twin. Part of me wanted to see if certain titles were better "value for money" in terms of Pokemon obtainable, as this might be a motive for people to choose that title (although likely a retrospective one, as the full extent of this is rarely known until the games are released). I will also be calculating the total number of Pokemon in a game against the total number of Pokemon in its respective generation, to see to how that title stacks up against the total number of Pokemon available at the time.
Bulbapedia's page on the topic of Pokemon by availability is exhaustively thorough, but not the most simple to read, so I figured I'd make a definitive list. For the purposes of this study, this will be written as if all extracurricular methods of obtaining Pokemon - mystery gifts and the like - are to be ignored. Since older games have by and large lost access to the online functions that could be used to obtain bonus items and Pokemon, taking these into account would skew the results. While - for instance - the old WiFi events for gen IV and V are currently still accessible through unofficial servers, it is likely that one day those servers will cease to exist. So let us assume they have. This is to be the case even when it comes to services like Pal Park, which do not require Internet or a second player - imagine that you've only got one Pokemon game. My intention is to write as though I was choosing a single Pokemon game to play, right here and now, with no add-ons or outside help.
With this in mind, I imagine some people will want to debate Pokemon Bank. It is an extra function and Internet-dependent, but it's native to the console the Gen VI and VII must be played on, so it hardly counts as an extra. But I'm sure one day Nintendo will discontinue the service, so for the purposes of this thread I will assume that has happened.
For the sake of clarity, I will be counting the number of Pokemon obtainable, not accessible. So, for instance, there are nine starter Pokemon per game - but as typically only three are accessible without trading, that will just count as three no matter what. The fact that you can obtain the full set of starters is irrelevant - without trading or glitches, you cannot transfer your starter from one save file to another. For this reason, trade evo Pokemon are generally considered inaccessible since they're typically not obtainable without trading with another copy, but I will make note of where these Pokemon can be caught in the wild.
Glitches will be ignored.
Lastly - my maths is not the greatest, but to the best of my knowledge these figures are correct, or as good as. If I'm out on any of them, please be polite if you wish to correct me.
So, let's get stuck in.
Gen I
Note that I'll be referring to Red and Blue as the original pair, with Green as the Japanese extra version.
Red: 124 (82.11%)
Blue: 124 (82.11%)
Green: 126 (83.44%)
Yellow: 129 (85.43%)
Notes
Unsurprisingly, the first generation is a fairly simple matter. With 151 Pokemon in the game in total, only 124 Pokemon can be obtained in one solo playthrough in Pokemon Red and Blue. 11 Pokemon are exclusive to each game, bringing the initial number down to 140; six of the starter Pokemon are made inaccessible when the player makes their choice; they must also must forfeit one fossil (thus losing two Dex entries) and one Hitmon. The four Pokemon which evolve only by trade - Alakazam, Golem, Gengar, and Machamp - cannot be obtained in a solo playthrough. (EDIT: The Japanese Pokemon Green gives access to Gengar and Golem via in-game trades, while the Western RB has no in-game trades of this nature.) Eevee can evolve three different ways, but the player only gets one. Finally, Mew is not encounterable in regular gameplay. With 27 Pokemon missing or otherwise inaccessible, that leaves only 124 that can be obtained.
Unsurprisingly, Yellow gives access to slightly more Pokemon than other titles. It unexpectedly has slightly more version-exclusive missing Pokemon than the others, but the ability to get all nine starter Pokemon (as well as Machamp via an in-game trade) makes up for this. It's not much, but it's just enough to make it the winner.
Best value for money: Yellow
Red: 124 (82.11%)
Blue: 124 (82.11%)
Green: 126 (83.44%)
Yellow: 129 (85.43%)
Notes
Unsurprisingly, the first generation is a fairly simple matter. With 151 Pokemon in the game in total, only 124 Pokemon can be obtained in one solo playthrough in Pokemon Red and Blue. 11 Pokemon are exclusive to each game, bringing the initial number down to 140; six of the starter Pokemon are made inaccessible when the player makes their choice; they must also must forfeit one fossil (thus losing two Dex entries) and one Hitmon. The four Pokemon which evolve only by trade - Alakazam, Golem, Gengar, and Machamp - cannot be obtained in a solo playthrough. (EDIT: The Japanese Pokemon Green gives access to Gengar and Golem via in-game trades, while the Western RB has no in-game trades of this nature.) Eevee can evolve three different ways, but the player only gets one. Finally, Mew is not encounterable in regular gameplay. With 27 Pokemon missing or otherwise inaccessible, that leaves only 124 that can be obtained.
Unsurprisingly, Yellow gives access to slightly more Pokemon than other titles. It unexpectedly has slightly more version-exclusive missing Pokemon than the others, but the ability to get all nine starter Pokemon (as well as Machamp via an in-game trade) makes up for this. It's not much, but it's just enough to make it the winner.
Best value for money: Yellow
Gen II
Gold: 199 79.28%
Silver: 198 78.88%
Crystal: 207 82.47%
Notes
251 Pokemon available in all.
Though the fact that the percentages barely change from Gen I makes it seem otherwise, Gold, Silver, and Crystal actually have a comparatively large amount of absent Pokemon. The absent first gen starters, fossils, and legendaries add up to 18 (Aerodactyl, of course, is obtainable in-game via an in-game trade) while the starters not chosen by the player add six more. Gen II adds a rather weighty six Pokemon to the pool of those which evolve by trade (the most of any generation), leaving ten Pokemon completely inaccessible to solo players. That leaves us with 34 missing Pokemon on top of the version-exclusives.
Like Mew, Celebi is missing in these games, but not in Crystal VC. Of course, in the original cartridge version it is absent. Interestingly, without the VC event Crystal and Silver are identical. When weighing Crystal against other upper versions such as Yellow, Emerald, and Platinum, it's surprising that it didn't add any additional Pokemon - not the Kanto starters, fossils, or even the legendary birds. However, with Celebi included, it still squeaks over the line to be the winner, making this the only generation where all three games have exactly the same amount of Pokemon available (in the original release, at least)!
A very belated edit thanks to something highlighted by Altissimo: in GS, the player can only get one each of the Fire, Water, Thunder, and Leaf Stones, meaning that only one of their respective stone evolutions is available to the player without interacting with another file.
Fire: Arcanine OR Flareon OR Ninetales (in Silver only)
Water: Cloyster OR Poliwrath OR Starmie OR Vaporeon
Thunder: Raichu OR Jolteon
Leaf: Vileplume OR Victreebel OR Exeggutor
So knock off one for Fire in Gold, and two in Silver, three for Water, one for Thunder, and two for Leaf for a total of 7 in Gold and 8 in Silver. Hey, look at that! Gold ends up slightly ahead. Crystal, of course, makes the evolution stones repeatedly obtainable so has no such restriction.
Best value for money: Crystal (VC)
Gen III
Ruby: 177 45.85%
Sapphire: 178 46.11%
Emerald: 213 55.18%
Notes
We enter Gen III and instantly there's a steep drop-off in the percentage of available Pokemon. This is thanks to Gen III's proto-Dexit, which did away with 184 missing older-generation Pokemon. We get 135 new ones, though, giving us 386 overall.
Six missing starters and a choice of fossils mean we're short a further 8 Pokemon from our remaining lot. A further eight version-exclusive Pokemon for each title cut our numbers further, but we're not done yet! Two unobtainable mythicals shave the roster a little more.
Gen III has three of the trade-evolving mons from Kanto (Gengar is absent along with the rest of its family) and just one of the Johto ones (Kingdra) as well as adding two more (Huntail and Gorebyss). Fewer than GSC but a lot more than RBGY had. Overall, both Ruby and Sapphire have a maximum of 178 Pokemon obtainable in either title without trading, events, or other interference.
Emerald is missing seven Pokemon instead of eight, and helpfully bolsters its ranks with a large selection of Safari Zone mons as well as Meowth and Persian. It also allows for both sets of fossils, giving it a grand total of 214 Pokemon available without outside interference. Numerically, Emerald has the most Pokemon available of any game so far, but it still only amounts to a rather pitiful 55.44%.
EDIT: Thanks to DrPumpkinz for another useful correction. In Ruby and Emerald, there is only one Moon Stone available but two Pokemon (Skitty and Jigglypuff) need it to evolve, meaning that the player can only have one without trading. Wild Lunatone have a small chance of holding a Moon Stone, but those are exclusive to Sapphire, meaning that Sapphire nudges ahead to be slightly better value than Ruby.
Best value for money: Emerald. You're shocked, right?
FireRed: 171 44.3%
LeafGreen: 172 44.55%
Notes
Would you believe these were two of the hardest games to verify numbers for?
FRLG significantly up the ante on version-exclusive mons, divvying up many more than their ancestor titles did. FireRed has 23 missing Pokemon while LeafGreen has 22. These diminished rosters are bolstered by the smattering of Johto Pokemon available. As ever, there's a choice of fossils, but the ability to breed now means that the Hitmon and Eevee choices aren't as final as they seem. This is countermanded by Espeon and Umbreon being inaccessible, though. Thanks to not having any of the Hoenn squad bar Wynaut and Azurill, FRLG come out as the worst percentage-wise so far.
Better value for money: LeafGreen barely edges out FireRed as the better value for money, having just one more Pokemon. Unfortunately that Pokemon is Azurill so it's not much of a win.
Overall best value for money in Gen III: It's still Emerald. No contest.
Bonus round - GameCube
Yeah, why not? This won't take a minute.
Colosseum: 63 16.32%
The easiest entry on this list for sure. 52 Pokemon are obtainable in total including the prize Ho-Oh; 11 of the Shadow Pokemon caught can evolve, and all are capable of doing so just once, for a total of 63 Pokemon available overall. This gives an utterly tragic percentage of 16.32%, though it goes without saying that Pokedex completion is not what this game is concerned with. It only has 90 box spaces for god's sake.
XD: 153 39.63%
Much better. 83 Shadow Pokemon, of which there are 37 new forms achieved by evolution. Adding Elekid and all the potential Pokespot Pokemon gives you 15 more, while the Johto starters and Duking's trades allow access to another 15. Finally, Eevee and whatever evolution the player chooses means that players of XD can obtain a maximum of 153 Pokemon obtainable in one playthrough. While not superb, 39.63% looks splendid compared to Colosseum.
Gen IV
Diamond: 361 73.22%
Pearl: 358 72.61%
Platinum: 371 75.25%
Notes
We enter Gen IV, with a beefed-up 493 Pokemon available to us. All the usual caveats apply. Starters, choice of fossil - except here the fossil choice isn't actually a choice, since it's based on the game version instead of a decision. Sinnoh adds 5 new trade evolution-exclusive Pokemon; all of them and the older ones are, as ever, inaccessible - except for Steelix, who's finally catchable.
Due to Diamond and Pearl famously including every single Pokemon except previous-gen starters, legends, and bizarrely Tropius and Tangela (and by extension Tangrowth), they should by rights be closer to 100% than any other game. But the number of legends, mythicals, and starters from past generations has gotten large enough to keep it at around 80%. Besides this, there are 19 Pokemon missing from both Diamond and Pearl but, due to the seeming randomness of the missing Pokemon, Diamond ends up knocking Pearl for six... well, maybe three... by having a slightly higher number of Pokemon obtainable - 398 to Pearl's 395.
EDIT: Thanks to DrPumpkinz for the reminder - subtracting the dongle Pokemon lowers the numbers further - subtract six for Ruby, six for Sapphire, nine for FireRed, nine for LeafGreen, and seven for Emerald, giving us 361 for Diamond and 358 for Pearl. For Platinum, subtract six for Ruby, six for Sapphire, seven for FireRed, seven for LeafGreen, and five for Emerald.
Platinum is missing 12, but adds the three legendary birds and allows capture of both mascot legends, so comes in at a respectable 371.
Meanwhile the inability to get Regice, Registeel, and Regirock without transferring means that Regigigas is frozen as a statue forever. So sad.
Best value for money: Very obviously Platinum.
HeartGold: 377 76.47%
SoulSilver: 375 76.05%
Notes
Uneven version-exclusives again. HG has 19 missing Pokemon while SS has 21, edging forward HG as the winner.
The usual complement of trade evos, missing legends and starters from older games, and inaccessible unchosen starters are in force. Unfortunately most of HGSS's best mons are event- or Pokewalker-exclusive, so that's a shame.
Best value for money: HeartGold, just.
Overall best value for money in Gen IV: Thanks to the edit above, Platinum drops sharply, leaving HeartGold as the best overall title in Gen IV.
Gen V
Black: 414 63.79%
White: 414 63.79%
Notes
Another soft reboot means a huge amount of older Pokemon (185, to be exact) get left in the past, while 156 new ones give us a new grand total of 649. Both games lack 19 Pokemon from the other title. The usual fossil choice is in play, depriving the player of two Dex entries, as is the usual starter choice. Four mythicals also cannot be found anywhere in Unova.
Shockingly, BW let the player catch some of the Pokemon formerly restricted to evolving by trade. Slowking, Kingdra, and Politoed can all be fished up as well as either Huntail or Gorebyss depending on version. The game compensates by making Milotic a trade-evolving Pokemon now, as well as adding four new Pokemon which only evolve by trade.
Pokemon White's fantastic range of Pokemon available to catch in White Forest had the potential to make these titles the most lopsided in history, with a potential 100 extra Pokemon obtainable. Unfortunately, these rely on other games to procure, thus cannot be relied upon.
Best value for money: No difference, though as mentioned White has the potential for vastly more Pokemon.
B2: 436 67.18%
W2: 433 66.71%
Notes
Despite being lauded for bringing back many older Pokemon, in terms of numbers the amount of missing Pokemon (167) is not far removed from BW's. The same principles apply, but this time Alakazam and Gigalith can be obtained without needing to trade with another human being
Uniquely, B2W2 are the only games where the player's gender can affect what Pokemon they get. Yancy and Curtis' trades yield three different Pokemon apiece, none of which are available elsewhere; girls get Mankey, Cranidos, and Phanpy, while boys get Meowth, Shieldon, and Teddiursa (and all the attendant evolutions). Thanks to having 20 version exclusives to White 2's 17, Black 2 manages to edge out White 2, with 3 more species available.
Best value for money: Black 2, though there's not much in it.
Overall best value for money in Gen V: Black 2, again.
Gen VI
X: 557 77.25% or 418 57.97%
Y: 557 77.25% or 418 57.97%
Notes
Total parity is the story of the day as we enter Gen VI, and 721 Pokemon in total. Both games have the same amount of exclusives (18) and the same overall number of Pokemon.
For once, the usual formulas do not apply. The player gets a starter, but they can get a second Kalos starter after beating the Elite 4. For the first time the player can only get one of the birds. The usual starter formula applies to the intruding Kanto trio, though, and the fossils, as ever.
Trade-exclusive mons get interesting in these games; thanks to an in-game trade, Steelix is obtainable, and Politoed can be caught wild. One of Clamperl's evos can be caught, too. Milotic is still trade-exclusive, though. Bizarrely, though Trevenant was introduced in this generation, the game doesn't seem bothered about doing things the right way; it's catchable wild. The other three trade-exclusive mons introduced in XY are not.
The Friend Safari makes this interesting. After all, it's part of the game and not a bonus feature. On the other hand, it requires additional consoles to make it work. I'm in two minds. If it is included, XY potentially have 557 Pokemon obtainable. If not, it's just 418 per game.
Best value for money: no appreciable difference.
Omega Ruby: 421 58.39%
Alpha Sapphire: 421 58.39%
Notes
Just barely more than XY has sans Friend Safari. 21 missing from each game.
For the first time in a while, no trade evolution mons (except Milotic) can be obtained wild. This is the only game since its introduction where Trevenant cannot be caught without actually evolving it how it's supposed to be evolved. Really curious. Our first mythical available in-game, too. That's cool.
Best value for money: no appreciable difference.
Best value for money in Gen VI: It's a tough one. The fact that ORAS permits access to the Mega Stones more readily than XY might tip the balance, despite these only being forms and not discrete species in their own right. But in terms of potential availability XY win out.
Gen VII
Sun: 353 44.04%
Moon: 353 44.04%
Notes
Absolutely dismal numbers, just narrowly beating FRLG to be the series' worst showing. Hardly fitting for the 20th anniversary games as the series reaches 802 Pokemon.
There are just 15 version exclusives between the two games. No fossils here, though. Two of the original trade evo mons - Golem and Gengar - are available without trading. Slowking and Politoed are catchable, while Conkeldurr and Trevenant are also available wild.
Magearna is a curiosity. On the one hand, it does involve a code not found in the game natively. On the other hand, it's available indefinitely, and requires zero effort. On balance, it's in. The same goes for Island Scan mons, since any QR code can be used to charge up the scanner.
Best value for money: no appreciable difference.
US: 550 68.57%
UM: 550 68.57%
Notes
Much improved. USUM rounds up to 550 mons available as the games expand to 807 Pokemon available overall. Golem is no longer obtainable in-game, but both Gorebyss and Huntail are catchable in one game for the first time. Gengar, Politoed, Slowking, and Trevenant remain catchable. Thanks to the onslaught of legends available, there are a whopping 28 version exclusives.
Best value for money: No appreciable difference
Overall best value for money in Gen VII: Either of the Ultra versions.
Gen VIII
Sword 364 40.89% or 364 83.67%
Shield 364 40.89% or 364 83.67%
Notes
A quite unique case here, and a potential endless debate. If you believe that all the Dexited Pokemon still count, it's an absolutely miserable showing - just 40.89% of all Pokemon, one of the worst in the series. If you consider only the Pokemon coded into the base game, then it's a far better picture - 83.67% of all the Pokemon, one of the best in the series.
Whatever the case, SwSh have the largest amount of version-exclusives in the series - 30. But while the starters are still a choice, everything else is tossed out. You can get all four fossil mons. All trade evo mons are now capturable in the Wild Area - and let's assume at some point online access for the Switch gets disabled. They'd still all be capturable without it.
The IoA expansion adds 110 Pokemon, of which 6 are exclusive to either Sword or Shield. A further nine are inaccessible - Porygon2 and PorygonZ remain trade-exclusive, while only one Alola starter can be chosen and Zarude, of course, is event-exclusive. So 95 are accessible.
CT adds 74 Pokemon, of which 13 are exclusive to either game and two - the Regi and Calyrex's steed - become inaccessible once their counterpart is chosen, meaning you get 59 overall. There's no version difference, though.
Best value for money: no appreciable difference.
So, which is the best and which is the worst title when it comes to Pokemon content and value for money?
Going by percentages, amusingly Pokemon Yellow of all games is statistically the best title. It has the most Pokemon available relative to the maximum (admittedly not hard to do when it's the first generation) and has more species available proportionally than any other game in the series.
If we choose to ignore Colosseum and XD as outliers (I included them for the sake of interest, but I don't think they can be judged on the same criteria as the rest of the series) then the original Sun and Moon are statistically the worst games. Ironic, especially considering FireRed narrowly misses out on the bottom rung.
If we choose to ignore Colosseum and XD as outliers (I included them for the sake of interest, but I don't think they can be judged on the same criteria as the rest of the series) then the original Sun and Moon are statistically the worst games. Ironic, especially considering FireRed narrowly misses out on the bottom rung.
Some surprises, some revelations, and some serious number-crunching. I hope you found this interesting, and thanks for reading if you made it this far.
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