Player character

A player character (Japanese:  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.

Gameplay
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. The region's resident Pokémon Professor will always give them this, as well as a Pokédex. Starting in, 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. Several additional side-quests 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 or / travels to Mt. Silver and reaches the deepest point of the cave,  is found, utterly silent as he was under the player's control. At the time of these games' respective releases, was the highest-leveled Pokémon owned by an in-game Trainer ('s fully evolved starter Pokémon temporarily surpassed the standard set in Gold and Silver until the release of their remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver). Red reappeared in, in the Champions Tournament of the Pokémon World Tournament, and again in the Alola-based Generation VII games, as the leader of the Battle Tree with.

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.

Stadium series
Three unnamed player characters appear in Pokémon Stadium series. Japanese-only featured one male character, whose design was likely based on. However, for 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, 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 Game Pak. Like the core series player characters, these three characters remain silent throughout the games.

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.

Pokémon Card GB series
In the Card GB series, Mark and Mint do not use actual Pokémon themselves, but cards instead.

Pokémon Ranger series
In the series, Lunick, Solana, Kellyn, Kate:0:0, Ben:0:0 and Summer:0:0 are not Pokémon Trainers, but instead s. They use the Pokémon they have captured with the Capture Styler to help them along the way. They also have partner Pokémon:0:0 that follow them wherever they go.

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 Rumble
In Pokémon Rumble, the player starts as a.

Pokémon Rumble Blast
In Pokémon Rumble Blast, the player starts as a.

Pokémon Rumble World
In Pokémon Rumble World, the player starts as their Mii character.

Pokémon Conquest
In, 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. As more stories are unlocked, more characters become playable.

Pokémon GO
In, 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.

The default male player character originally wore the gray weave hat, no glasses, the a shirt that came with fingerless gloves, a green and red backpack, the red and black pants and leggings, and green shoes. After an update the overhaled the trainer's wardrobe, the default male player character wears the gray trainer visor, no glasses, the light blue classic hoodie, a yellow trainer backpack, yellow fingerless gloves, trainer shorts, gray leggings, and yellow running shoes. Both designs feature the character with brunette hair, teal eyes, and light skin.

The default female player character originally wore the white and red cap, no glasses, the maroon shirt that came with a choker and gloves of the same color, a red backpack, an orange ball buckle belt, gray and black pants, and orange shoes. After an update the overhaled the trainer's wardrobe, the default female player character wears the black ball cap, no glasses, the black ribbon choker, the crimson classic longsleeve, a teal urban pack, black fingerless gloves, crimson ball buckle, crimson sprint suit, black long leg warmers, and red running shoes. Both designs feature the character with brunette hair, teal eyes, and light skin.

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.

Pokémon: Magikarp Jump
In Pokémon: Magikarp Jump, the player plays as a person of ambiguous gender always refered to as "you", who fishes and trains Magikarp to jump as high as possible.

Other games

 * In, 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 who must release all the Pokémon stolen by Phobos Battalion.

In the main series
In the Pokémon anime, six of the player characters have been given major roles, four of them in the main series. represents (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, 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, joined Ash. In the, joined Ash in order to represent Generation VI.

and 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 and.

appeared in An Egg Scramble!, and joined the group for a brief time until Bagged Then Tagged!.

Ash and 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:0:0 are all s that Ash and friends assisted in rescuing and protecting Pokémon.

So far, has only made a few select cameo appearances at the beginning of some of the s, while  made a cameo at the beginning of Giratina and the Sky Warrior, where he was battling Brendan. also appears with a second counterpart at the beginning of Zoroark: Master of Illusions.

None of the Generation V and Generation VII player characters have yet been seen in the main anime.

In Pokémon Origins
has a direct counterpart as the main character in Pokémon Origins.

In Pokémon Generations
Direct counterparts of, , , , and appeared in Pokémon Generations.



In the Pokémon Black Version 2 and Pokémon White Version 2 Animated Trailer
Nate and Rosa both appear in the animated trailer for Pokémon Black and White 2.

In the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire Animated Trailer
Brendan and May both appear in the animated trailer for Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

In the manga
Many of the characters appearing in various Pokémon 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
Pokémon Adventures features many cross-canon counterparts for most of the player and rival characters in the games, with 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;, 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, was created, revealed to have been the girl Red rescued in Viridian Forest before his battle with. is another cognate case, as in the entirety of Generation III, only two player characters were given. , the closest thing to a third main character, was dropped in favor of this new character designed entirely from scratch. As of the and s, 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 is almost universally accepted as a different character from, rather than a redesign like Ethan,  has appeared wearing her clothes to serve as a counterpart, rather than introducing a second Johto female protagonist for the.

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 from Pokémon Pocket Monsters, Rald from Pokémon Battle Frontier, Hareta and Mitsumi from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure!, and 🇬🇼 from Golden Boys.

Trivia

 * Most of the male characters that, the main character from the Pokémon anime, has encountered have been from side games, like . The only counterpart of a male player character who has met Ash is Ethan, in the thirteenth movie.
 * 's dialogue during his appearance as an NPC reflects the games' player characters' status as silent protagonists.
 * The list of default names per gender generally repeats from game to game, starting in Pokémon Crystal. 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.

Protagonist Protagonistas de los videojuegos Personnage jouable Personaggio giocabile 主人公 主角