Player character

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The beginning of Red's Pokémon journey.

A player character (Japanese: 主人公 protagonist) in the world of Pokémon is the main character in the plot of the Pokémon games. Remarkably silent, players are represented by an avatar; it is left up to the real player to "fill in" what they imagine the character is feeling, thinking, and acting, thus immersing him/her within the world of the game.

Core series

Gameplay

The player characters of the core series games

In the core series games, the player characters are Pokémon Trainers beginning their Pokémon journey. They start their journey in their hometown by getting a starter Pokémon, a Pokémon that appears very early in their native region's Pokédex, and is usually of the Grass-, Fire-, or Water-type. The region's native Pokémon Professor will always give them this, as well as a Pokédex. Starting in Pokémon Crystal, players can also choose their character's gender. Usually, they have rivals who begin their journey at about the same time. Players take part in several events, and meet a great number of Pokémon and people during their adventure. A common target is to conquer a Pokémon League's eight Gym Leaders and Elite Four, and become the Champion. Several additional sidequests occur during and after each game's main plot.

To date, only one player character has reappeared from an older generation in a role other than that of the player. In Generation II and the Generation IV remakes, when Ethan or Kris/Lyra travels to Mt. Silver and reaches the deepest point of the cave, Red is found, utterly silent as he was under the player's control. At the time of these games' respective releases, Red's Pikachu was the highest-leveled Pokémon owned by an in-game Trainer (Barry's fully evolved starter Pokémon temporarily surpassed the standard set in Gold and Silver until the release of their remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver).

The player character can be named in all core series games at the beginning of the game using the same interface as that for entering nicknames for Pokémon.

Characters

Male

RGBYFRLG	GSCHGSS	RSEORAS	DPPt	BW	B2W2	XY	SM
Red	Ethan	Brendan	Lucas	Hilbert	Nate	Calem	Sun} Female C RSEORAS FRLG DPPt HGSS BW B2W2 XY SM Kris May Leaf Dawn Lyra Hilda Rosa Serena Moon Side series games Stadium series Three unnamed player characters appear in Pokémon Stadium series. Japanese-only Pokémon Stadium featured one male character, whose design was likely based on Red. However, for the sequel, a brand new male character was created. This player was also in Pokémon Stadium 2, where he was given a female counterpart. She appears when a player uses a Pokémon Crystal Game Pak. Like the core series player characters, these three characters remain silent throughout the games. Stadium (JPN) Stadium (ENG) & Stadium 2 Stadium 2 File:S S2 Player Boy.png File:S2 Player Girl.png Orre series Aside from the standard that many of the games' player characters take in their journey, there are also several other ways in which other player characters complete their journey, such as Wes and Michael in Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness who are called to defeat Cipher and free all of their snagged Pokémon from their Shadow state. Colosseum XD Wes Michael Spin-off games Pokémon Card GB series In the Card GB series, Mark and Mint do not use actual Pokémon themselves, but cards instead. TCG1 & TCG 2 TCG 2 Mark Mint Pokémon Ranger series In the Pokémon Ranger series, Lunick, Solana, Kellyn, Kate, Ben and Summer are not Pokémon Trainers, but instead Pokémon Rangers. They use the Pokémon they have captured with the Capture Styler to help them along the way. They also have partner Pokémon that follow them wherever they go. Ranger Shadows of Almia Guardian Signs Lunick Kellyn Ben Solana Kate Summer Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, players play as actual Pokémon. Unlike most other Pokémon games, the player actually talks, but is given pre-generated phrases to say to questions. In Explorers of Time, Explorers of Darkness, and Explorers of Sky, after defeating Dialga on the top of the Temporal Tower, on the way back to Wigglytuff's Guild, the player speaks in full sentences instead of silently thinking to themselves or having answer choices. This type of dialogue is used by the player on rare occasions, in small amounts, throughout the story of Gates to Infinity. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team File:MDP001.png Bulbasaur File:MDP004.png Charmander File:MDP007.png Squirtle File:MDP025.png Pikachu File:MDP052.png Meowth File:MDP054.png Psyduck File:MDP066.png Machop File:MDP104.png Cubone Grass Poison Fire Water Electric Normal Water Fighting Ground File:MDP133.png Eevee File:MDP152.png Chikorita File:MDP155.png Cyndaquil File:MDP158.png Totodile File:MDP252.png Treecko File:MDP255.png Torchic File:MDP258.png Mudkip File:MDP300.png Skitty Normal Grass Fire Water Grass Fire Water Normal Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness File:MDP001.png Bulbasaur File:MDP004.png Charmander File:MDP007.png Squirtle File:MDP025.png Pikachu File:MDP052.png Meowth File:MDP152.png Chikorita File:MDP155.png Cyndaquil File:MDP158.png Totodile Grass Poison Fire Water Electric Normal Grass Fire Water File:MDP252.png Treecko File:MDP255.png Torchic File:MDP258.png Mudkip File:MDP300.png Skitty File:MDP387.png Turtwig File:MDP390.png Chimchar File:MDP393.png Piplup File:MDP446.png Munchlax Grass Fire Water Normal Grass Fire Water Normal Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky File:MDP001.png Bulbasaur File:MDP004.png Charmander File:MDP007.png Squirtle File:MDP025.png Pikachu File:MDP037.png Vulpix File:MDP133.png Eevee File:MDP152.png Chikorita Grass Poison Fire Water Electric Fire Normal Grass File:MDP155.png Cyndaquil File:MDP158.png Totodile File:MDP231.png Phanpy File:MDP252.png Treecko File:MDP255.png Torchic File:MDP258.png Mudkip File:MDP300.png Skitty Fire Water Ground Grass Fire Water Normal File:MDP387.png Turtwig File:MDP390.png Chimchar File:MDP393.png Piplup File:MDP403.png Shinx File:MDP447.png Riolu Grass Fire Water Electric Fighting Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Keep Going! Blazing Adventure Squad! Charmander Vulpix Growlithe Eevee Cyndaquil Fire Fire Fire Normal Fire Teddiursa Torchic Chimchar Buneary Normal Fire Fire Normal Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Let's Go! Stormy Adventure Squad! Squirtle Totodile Wooper Phanpy Mudkip Water Water Water Ground Ground Water Azurill Wynaut Piplup Riolu Normal Psychic Water Fighting Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Go For It! Light Adventure Squad! Pikachu Meowth Psyduck Pichu Togepi Electric Normal Water Electric Normal Mareep Elekid Shinx Pachirisu Electric Electric Electric Electric Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity Pikachu Snivy Tepig Oshawott Axew Electric Grass Fire Water Dragon Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon Bulbasaur Charmander Squirtle Pikachu Chikorita Grass Poison Fire Water Electric Grass Cyndaquil Totodile Treecko Torchic Mudkip Fire Water Grass Fire Water Turtwig Chimchar Piplup Riolu Snivy Grass Fire Water Fighting Grass Tepig Oshawott Chespin Fennekin Froakie Fire Water Grass Fire Water Pokémon Rumble series Pokémon Rumble In Pokémon Rumble, the player starts as a Toy Rattata. Rattata Normal Pokémon Rumble Blast In Pokémon Rumble Blast, the player starts as a Toy Pikachu. Pikachu Electric Pokémon Rumble World In Pokémon Rumble World, the player starts as their Mii character. PokéPark series Pikachu's Adventure & Wonders Beyond Wonders Beyond Wonders Beyond Wonders Beyond Pikachu Snivy Tepig Oshawott Pokémon Conquest In Pokémon Conquest, the player character is the Warlord of Ransei's kingdom of Aurora. Their objective is to unite the seventeen kingdoms of the region, stop Nobunaga, and meet the legendary Pokémon that created Ransei. As more stories are unlocked, more characters become playable. Conquest Hero Heroine Pokémon GO In Pokémon GO, the player character can be chosen and customized at the beginning of the game. They can also be customized at any time from the profile screen starting in version 0.31.0. GO Male Female Pokkén Tournament In Pokkén Tournament, the player took control of a character who wishes to rise to the top of the Ferrum League. The player avatar can be customized at the beginning of the game, with more customization options available to purchase in the shop as the game progresses. Other games In Pokémon Snap, Todd Snap must strive for something different from Trainers. He must capture all the Pokémon on Pokémon Island—on film. In Pokémon Trozei!, the main protagonist is Lucy Fleetfoot. All the player has to do is tap the stage and Lucy accesses it. The player then plays the stage. Snap Trozei Todd Snap Lucy Fleetfoot In the anime May's anime counterpart In the Pokémon anime, six of the player characters have been given major roles, four of them in the main anime series. Ash represents Red (his game counterpart), being based on him in appearance as well as basic history (Ritchie, by extension of resembling Ash, also resembles Red, although his basic history is unknown). At the beginning of the Advanced Generation series, May was introduced in order to better represent Generation III, as both Misty and Brock are characters who originated in Generation I. Likewise, at the beginning of the Diamond & Pearl series, Dawn joined Ash. In the XY series, Serena joined Ash in order to represent Generation VI. Jimmy and Marina appeared in The Legend of Thunder! special, taking a similar role to Ash and his companions, fighting Team Rocket members to protect Legendary Pokémon. While the protagonists of Generation II did not join Ash's company, these two filled the roles as the anime counterparts to Ethan and Kris. Lyra appears in An Egg Scramble!, and joins the group for a brief time until Bagged Then Tagged!. Ash and his friends have also encountered several player characters from the side games. Todd Snap was the first, and a special case, as he originated in the anime before appearing in Pokémon Snap. He joins the group for a few episodes at two points in the anime: once during the Indigo League and once during Johto League Champions. The others, Solana, Kellyn, and Ben are all Pokémon Rangers that Ash and friends assisted in rescuing and protecting Pokémon. So far, Brendan has only made a few select cameo appearances at the beginning of some of the movies, while Lucas made a cameo at the beginning of Giratina and the Sky Warrior battling Brendan. Ethan also appears with a second counterpart at the beginning of Zoroark: Master of Illusions. None of the Generation V player characters have yet been seen in the main anime. In the manga Many of the characters appearing in various Pokémon manga are based on player and rival characters from the core series games. These characters usually play a major role within the series. In the Pokémon Adventures manga Ruby, one of Brendan's manga counterparts Pokémon Adventures features many cross-canon counterparts for most of the player and rival characters in the games, with Red being based on his game counterpart. This is also the case for his two fellow Kanto Pokédex holders. The same applies for nearly all other main characters in the series; Gold, for example, is based on the then-unnamed player character Ethan. However, because the Yellow version, the fourth installment to the first generation, gave no additional protagonists, Yellow was created, revealed to have been the girl Red rescued in Viridian Forest before his battle with Giovanni. Emerald is another cognate case, as in the entirety of Generation III, only two player characters were given. Wally, the closest thing to a third main character, was dropped in favor of this new character designed entirely from scratch. As of the Diamond & Pearl and Platinum arcs, only the first ten main characters have met each other, as none of the Sinnoh Dex Holders have ventured out of their region. Additionally, though Lyra is almost universally accepted as a different character from Kris, rather than a redesign like Ethan, Crystal has appeared wearing her clothes to serve as a counterpart, rather than introducing a second Johto female protagonist for the HeartGold & SoulSilver arc. In other manga In addition to Pokémon Adventures characters, there are many characters that have very similar character designs as player or rival characters from the games. These include Red from Pokémon Pocket Monsters, Rald from Pokémon Battle Frontier, Hareta and Mitsumi from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure!, and Black from Golden Boys. Trivia Most of the male characters that Ash, the main character from the Pokémon anime, has encountered have been from side games, like Pokémon Ranger. Only one counterpart of a male player character has met Ash, in the thirteenth movie. Red's dialogue during his appearance as an NPC in Gold, Silver, and Crystal and their remakes, reflects the games' player characters' status as silent protagonists. The list of default names per gender generally repeats* from game to game. Exceptions to this are character-specific names, which are names unique to a character and are usually references to the title or aspects of the game. Until Generation V, the given Japanese names of the male player characters in the core series games (as NPCs) all end in ki (キ). This excludes Red's appearance in Generations II and IV, as he is not a player character during the games when he is an NPC. Inclusively, Lunick's Japanese name also ends in ki. Player characters Core series Red • Leaf • Ethan • Kris • Lyra • Brendan • May • Lucas • Dawn Hilbert • Hilda • Nate • Rosa • Calem • Serena • Elio • Selene Chase • Elaine • Victor • Gloria • Rei • Akari • Florian • Juliana Side series Wes • Michael • Nate • Cyndy Spin-off games Mark • Mint • Todd Snap • Lucy Fleetfoot Lunick • Solana • Kellyn • Kate • Ben • Summer Hero • Heroine • Tim Goodman • Scottie • Bettie This game character article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.