Franchise: Pokémon

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.

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.

Although Magnemite's evolution, Magneton, is three Magnemites being linked together, Magneton's weight is more than 10 times more than Magnemite's weight at 132.3 lbs. instead of 3 times the weight at 39.6 lbs.

The pants which the Pokemon Machamp and Machoke wear are actually not clothes but part of their markings, according to the official Pokemon website. Your typical Pokemon don't actually wear clothing.

Before the release of Pokemon Gold & Silver there were rumors about Marill being a mysterious new evolution to Pikachu and Raichu called Pikablu, somehow achievable in Red and Blue. These rumors were nothing more than conjecture by fans due to the lack of information at the time. However, this name actually made it into one of the official Pokemon movie trading cards by Topps. This is despite Marill's actual Japanese name even being mentioned on the official Pokemon website. It was corrected in a later edition of the set, but for a time it only served as fuel for the rumors.

Ho-oh is named after a Chinese phoenix.

Snorlax's appearance and its Japanese name Kabigon seem to be based on Koji Nishino, a programmer at Game Freak. Nishino's in-game appearance even uses a Snorlax as his highest level Pokemon in Black 2 and White 2.

In an interview with Yomiuri Online, Pokemon designer Atsuko Nishida revealed that Raichu was originally meant to have an evolution named Gorochu; the form would've featured “fangs and horns,” with the name "Gorochu" being a pormonteau of "goro-goro" (a Japanese onomatopoeia for thunder) and "chu" (a Japanese onomatopoeia for squeaking, used in Pichu and Pikachu's names as well). However, Gorochu ended up being cut for balancing purposes, and Pikachu was eventually given a pre-evolution in Pokémon Gold & Silver in the form of Pichu.

Lugia was initially created as a plot device for, and only meant to be seen in, the Second Pokemon movie, The Power of One (aka Pokémon the Movie 2000). In fact, his designer, Pokemon Anime writer Takeshi Shudo said he was surprised to see Lugia in the games at all. Game Freak seemed to love the creature so much they not only made him canon, but also made him the mascot of Pokémon Silver.

The in-game description for the Ability "Levitate" used since Generation IV states that it makes the Pokemon that knows it completely immune to all Ground-type attacks. However, this is false, because in all games since the Ability's introduction in Generation III, a Pokemon that has Levitate can still get hit and affected by non-damaging Ground-type attacks, such as Sand Attack. This means that the Ability only makes its Pokemon immune to damaging Ground-type attacks, such as Earthquake and Earth Power among others, and not ones that do not affect the Pokemon's HP.

According to the consumer marketing director at The Pokemon Company JC Smith, one of the big hurdles that Game Freak and other Pokemon devs have to endure is the balance between massive fan demand and the developers' own specific vision for each game.


Smith also revealed that the company does listen to fan demands of wanting a grander and more sophisticated game in the series, but he also revealed that Game Freak very much strives to make future games extremely accessible at their cores as well.

When Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver and Crystal were released on the 3DS Virtual Console in Europe, they were given a PEGI 12+ rating due to the playable casinos in Celadon City and Goldenrod City.

Daniel Espinosa, the director of the Superhero film Morbius, said he was unexpectedly inspired by the Pokémon franchise for the depiction and look of the title character's superpowers.

"I have a daughter who is six years old, and she was really getting into Pokémon, [...] And you know, I’ve watched Pokémon over the years. But I really adore how they use light and colors to express those powers. [...] When you watch Morbius he always has this trail of purple in the comic books and that normally is just lines that are made with a pencil, [...] But I thought maybe if we can take that kind of Pokémon-esque idea and translate that over to the psychedelic experience, I could create a new version of how to express powers."

All three games in the Pokémon Stadium series contain the Game Boy Tower, a feature that allows the player to play the mainline Pokémon games from Generations I and II on the Nintendo 64 through a Transfer Pak. This is achieved through running a modified, emulated version of the Super Game Boy 2 BIOS within the data for the Pokémon Stadium games. Through the use of hacks, it is possible to make the Game Boy Tower run other Game Boy and Game Boy Color games as if on a Super Game Boy 2, complete with custom borders and palettes for titles that support such features. However, saving is disabled due to the Pokémon Stadium games not being equipped to run these cartridges in the normal course of play.

Foongus' Pokemon Scarlet PokéDex entry states that there is an in-universe theory that the "creator of the modern day Poké Ball" was inspired by the Pokémon's appearance when designing the device.

In Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, Roaring Moon's Violet Dex entry as well as the occult magazine's description of the Paradox Pokémon both imply that there is a deep connection between Roaring Moon and Mega Salamance. Considering that Roaring Moon, like all past Paradox Pokémon, is a prehistoric version of an existing Pokémon, in this case Salamance, this could mean that there is also a connection between Mega Evolution and Pokémon prehistory.

In a Q&A with Game Informer in 2019, producer Junichi Masuda revealed that programmer Koji Nishino was given the nickname "Kabi" after Nintendo's Kirby ("カービィ" or "Kabi" in Japanese) because of his big appetite. Nishino's behavior and appetite would serve as a direct inspiration for the design of the Pokémon Snorlax, including Snorlax's habit of constantly eating and sleeping, as well as its Japanese name "Kabigon", which was derived from Nishino's nickname. This means that by association, Snorlax's name is technically derived from Kirby.

Between 2016 and 2017, male specimens of a new species of Nocticola cockroach were discovered at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore. The species' discovery was first published in 2023, and it was also announced that it had been named after the Ultra Beast Pheromosa, a Pokémon designed to resemble a "freshly-moulted" American cockroach, from the Generation VII games Pokémon Sun & Moon. The authors of the findings were fans of the series and noticed similarities between the two, including "having a long antenna, wings that mimic a hood and long slender legs." Unlike the hardy American cockroach, cockroaches in the Nocticola genus are very delicate and are known to be found in Africa, south-east Asia, and Australia. This species, Nocticola pheromosa, is the first scientifically-documented instance of a Nocticola cockroach in Singapore.

The trophy representing Meowth in Super Smash Bros. Melee is a reference to his appearance in a tech demo shown off at Spaceworld 2000 called "Meowth's Party", which itself was based on a recurring ending musical number from the Pokémon anime. In his trophy he is holding the same red guitar that he performs with in the tech demo. The flavor text for his trophy even directly mentions this tech demo:


A version of Meowth's Party eventually made its way into the GameCube release of Pokémon Channel.

Contrary to popular belief, the name "Pikachu" is not derived from the pika (a rodent-like lagomorph found in Japan that gains a yellow tinge in the winter), but rather a Japanese onomatopoeia for an electric spark. It should be noted that pikas are known as "nakiusagi" in Japan.