Gotta catch 'em all!

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Gotta Catch 'em All! is the original slogan of the Pokémon video games, references to it abound in Pokémon canon.

The original pair of Pokémon games released in the US, Pokémon Red and Blue, were labeled with the catchphrase below the Pokémon logo. Just as well, their sequels, Pokémon Gold and Silver, and later, Pokémon Crystal, had the catchphrase in the same position. Pokémon Yellow was the only exception, instead advertising that it was the "Special Pikachu Edition" of the game below the logo.

In the anime

The most obvious reference to the catchphrase in the anime was introduced in the first episode, Ash Ketchum himself. Even promising that he would catch all of the Pokémon in the world, Ash set off on his journey. However, up to the current point in the anime, Ash has barely progressed beyond 40 captures of Pokémon, less than 10% of the total number of Pokémon known.

Another anime reference comes in the theme for The Johto Journeys, the anime's third season. The lyrics include, in reference to the Pokémon introduced in Gold and Silver, that "you still gotta catch 'em all!", a feat that was, at the time, still very reasonable, as there were only 251 Pokémon.

A final reference was the title of the second-to-last episode of the original series, Gotta Catch Ya Later!. In this episode, both Brock and Misty return to Kanto, leaving Ash to head to the Hoenn region alone.

Retirement

The slogan was retired around 2003, with the release of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. Instead of the now-familiar phrase appearing below the Pokémon logo, the game's version name appeared there. This held true for the remaining games of Generation III, and would later prove to be the standard with the release of the Generation IV games, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. The retirement was most likely due to the large amount of Pokémon now required to capture to complete the National Dex, 493 as of Generation IV. It may as well have been due to the incompatibility between the Generation II and Generation III games, as all of the Pokémon known as of the third generation were not available between Ruby and Sapphire, unlike what had been the case with Red and Blue and Gold and Silver.

Rewards

In the games, there has long been rumored to be a reward for attaining the ultimate goal of catching them all. Most specifically in Red and Blue, where there had been no previously-established games to base an opinion off of, rumors widely circulated that upon showing a Pokédex that had the 150 Generation I Pokémon both seen and caught to the Game Freak employees in Celadon Mansion, one would get the elusive 151st Pokémon, Mew. These rumors, however, were very false, as the only reward offered for capture of 150 Pokémon was a Diploma that would prove that the player had caught them all; Mew was still unavailable except for at Nintendo-sponsored events or through the Mew glitch.

The same was true of the Generation II games, where showing a 249-Pokémon Pokédex (minus Celebi and Mew) would have the same developers give the player another diploma. With the retirement of the slogan, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire only required the player to complete the 200-Pokémon Hoenn Dex (lacking Jirachi and Deoxys) to receive a diploma, though the 386-Pokémon National Dex still remained as a goal for players who wished to have bragging rights.

In the Generation IV games, by the time the Elite Four and Champion are defeated, the player will have seen all of the 150 Pokémon in the Sinnoh Dex but one, the version mascot of the game the player did not choose, Dialga (for Pearl) or Palkia (for Diamond). In fact, the reward for this is the National Dex, allowing the player to go on a true quest to actually catch them all once more, though this feat, compared to completing just the Sinnoh Dex, is more than three times larger.