Franchise: Pokémon

A real-life genus of Pterosaurs was named after Aerodactyl. Its only known species so far, Aerodactylus Scolopaciceps, was previously confused with a number of pterosaurs due to similarities in their physical appearance, just as Aerodactyl doesn't appear to be based on a single specific pterosaur.

In an interview with @Gamer magazine, Junichi Musada and Ken Sugimori, directors of development and art respectively at Game Freak, revealed that there was a rejected Pokemon design based on Dolly, the first cloned sheep. They removed it after deeming it "too controversial" for Pokemon.

Despite its Pokédex entry stating that its patterns differs between regions, Arbok's pattern is the same in generations 1, 4, 5, and 6. Interestingly, its Pokemon Gold & Silver pattern is different than its Pokémon HeartGold Version & Pokémon SoulSilver Version one, despite both games being in Johto, and its Generation 1 back sprite has two black stripes that don't appear anywhere else.

Even though it was a type since the first generation, with the exception of flying type Arceus and Kecleon when color change makes it flying, there was never a pure flying type until the fifth generation (Tornadus).

Despite being called the "Licking Pokemon", and the line "It leaves a tingling sensation when it licks enemies" appearing in its Pokedex entries in Pokemon Red & Blue, Lickitung couldn't learn Lick until Generation II.

Game Freak employees are found in every main entry to the Pokemon series with their canonical base of operations being the Celadon Condominiums.

Satoshi Tajiri decided to make Pokemon faint instead of die to make sure children don't associate losing with death.

Vullaby is able to use Fly, even though in its Pokemon Black Pokedex entry says "Its wings are too tiny to fly."

If you visit a real life Pokemon Center in Japan on your birthday, you can download a special Pokemon for visiting.

It's possible to get a legitimate Celebi without the use of a Gameshark code or any third-party software in Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal.

Arbok's hood pattern differs in each of the main regions of the Pokemon universe.

Of all Pokemon, Larvesta takes the longest to go through a single evolutionary stage, evolving at Level 59.

In the first 3 generations of the Pokémon games, the player can use the HM "Cut" to remove patches of tall grass to avoid wild Pokémon. In Pokémon Emerald, the ability Hyper Cutter enhances this feature of Cut, causing it to clear a larger area of tall grass around the user. However, neither of these features were carried forward to the fourth or subsequent generations of Pokémon games.

There's a theory that Wobbuffet's blue body is a decoy, and that the black tail is the actual Pokemon. Many believe this due to the fact that Wobbuffet can take such a beating and not be affected. Multiple Pokedex entries also say that Wobbuffet is very protective of its tail. The Pokedex entry in Pokemon Silver claims "To keep its pitch-black tail hidden, it lives quietly in the darkness." In Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, the Pokedex entries claim "It desperately tries to keep its black tail hidden. It is said to be proof the tail hides a secret." On top of all of that, the tail does possess a pair of eyes, which further supports this theory.

"Shiny Pokémon" was originally a fan term used to describe the sparkle effect whenever such Pokémon appeared. They were originally referred to as "色違い" (Different/Alternate Color) Pokémon from the mechanic's debut in Generation II (Gold & Silver, Crystal). Starting from Generation V (Black & White, Black & White 2), "光る" or 'Shiny' became the official term for alternately colored Pokémon, with a non-playable character in Nimbasa City using the term in Black & White.

Archeops' National Pokédex number, 567, is also the same as it's base stat total. It is the only Pokémon to do this. Also, in the Dewey Decimal system, 567 refers to fossil cold-blooded vertebrates, which is where the creatures the Pokémon resembles would be classified.

Empoleon is approximately the same height as its namesake, Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Pokemon Kabuto is named after a helmet which was commonly used by Japanese Samurai.

Each of the games in the first four generations feature a reference to a famous movie, found by checking the TV in the main character's house.

• In Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, "Four boys are walking on railroad tracks", referencing "Stand by Me".
• In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, "Two men are dancing on a big piano keyboard.", referencing "Big".
• While Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen kept the Stand by Me reference with the male character, the female one will see a film where "A girl with her hair in pigtails is walking up a brick road", referencing "The Wizard of Oz".
• In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, "Two boys are in a cave searching for treasure", referencing "Tom and Huck".

There is a method on breeding Shiny Pokemon called the Masuda method. The method is named after Game Freak director Junichi Masuda, who programmed it into Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. He documented the method in his blog, where he mentioned a way that "rare colored Pokémon's Egg can be found little easier." The Masuda method involves breeding two Pokémon created in games of different countries.