Roaming Pokémon

A roaming Pokémon (Japanese: してるポケモン migrating Pokémon) is a Legendary Pokémon that, instead of remaining in one place as a special event, runs around the region it appears in, seemingly at random. Roaming Pokémon have appeared in every core series game from Generations through  except  and.

Mechanics
In addition to changing routes (something that happens every time the undefined moves to a new area), roaming Pokémon will also attempt to flee from battle.

If a roaming Pokémon is damaged or afflicted by a, it will retain those effects in subsequent encounters.

Generation II
A roaming Pokémon will flee on any turn it is able to, immediately before it would use its move; if it is unable to flee, it will instead use its prepared move. Since the roaming Pokémon in Generation II all know moves with different priorities, depending on the move they are prepared to use, the player's Pokémon may sometimes act before it flees and sometimes not.

The player can stop a roaming Pokémon from fleeing by using (such as  or ). and also prevent the Pokémon from fleeing.

If a roaming Pokémon is defeated, it will not reappear under any conditions.

Generation III
If a roaming Pokémon is not already trapped, each turn it will attempt to flee at an effective priority of 0 instead of using a move. If it becomes trapped in the battle during the turn, it will attempt to flee but fail. If it is already trapped at the start of a turn, it will use a move instead of attempting to flee.

A roaming Pokémon can become trapped if it is hit by a before it is able to act. (such as ) can only prevent the Pokémon from attempting to flee if in place at the start of the turn; if a Pokémon with a trapping Ability is switched in, its Ability will not prevent the roaming Pokémon from fleeing on that turn if it is able. Status conditions do not prevent a roaming Pokémon from fleeing.

Generation IV
Starting in, if the player defeats a roaming Pokémon, it will reappear when the player next enters the Hall of Fame, but the player must retrigger its roaming. For example, if the player defeats and then enters the Hall of Fame, Mesprit will only begin roaming again once the player visits Verity Cavern.

Generation V
If a roaming Pokémon is not already trapped, each turn it will attempt to flee at an effective priority of -7 instead of using a move. If it becomes trapped (either by a or ) before it is able to act, it will attempt to flee but fail.

If the player defeats a roaming Pokémon, it will reappear when the player next enters the Hall of Fame.

Generation VI
A roaming Pokémon will flee unconditionally after the player sends out their Pokémon. It will become stationary in a specific area after the player encounters it 11 times.

If a roaming Pokémon is defeated, it will reappear in its stationary position the next time the player enters the Hall of Fame.

Tracking
In Generations II, III and VI, players can use their Pokédex to check the current location of a roaming Pokémon (after they have seen it). In Generation IV, the Pokétch's application and the Pokégear's map card serve this purpose. In Generation V, the player can track their locations using the notifications of on electric bulletin boards in gates.

Generation II
The Legendary beasts are found roaming Johto in ; however, Suicune is not roaming in Crystal, where it instead can be found at the Tin Tower. They can be captured at any point after they are disturbed by the player in Ecruteak City's Brass Tower.

Hoenn
The Eon Pokémon can be caught in Hoenn after defeating the Elite Four for the first time. Only one will roam Hoenn; the other can be obtained on Southern Island with the Eon Ticket. In, the roaming Pokémon will depend on the color of Pokémon that the player tells their was on the TV; red will result in Latias roaming, while blue will result in Latios roaming. These are the only two roaming Pokémon that can be encountered while ing. In, the roaming Pokémon will have low individual values due to the.

Kanto
One of the three Legendary beasts will roam Kanto in, depending on the type weakness of the player's chosen starter Pokémon (Raikou for , Entei for , Suicune for ). It will commence roaming the Kanto mainland after the player defeats Team Rocket in the Rocket Warehouse on Five Island and delivers the to Celio. It will have low IVs due to the, and if it uses to flee, it will disappear permanently due to the.

Generation IV
In all Generation IV games, entering a gate does not cause roaming Pokémon to change routes, even if the player's location changes as a result.

Sinnoh
Sinnoh has five roaming Pokémon, each of which is available in the wild after certain events have taken place. will roam after the player goes to Lake Verity after defeating Team Galactic at Mt. Coronet, will appear after the player helps cure Eldritch's son's nightmares, and the Legendary birds will appear in  only after the player first talks to Professor Oak in Eterna City.

Johto and Kanto
In, Raikou and Entei will roam Johto after meeting them in the Burned Tower, and after leaving the Vermilion City Pokémon Fan Club house with 's doll, Latios or Latias will roam Kanto.

Generation V
In, after obtaining the , when entering the gate leading to , the woman behind the desk will alert the player about the big storm on. or will make the weather more extreme in  when entering the route. Heading towards the second house on the route will cause an old lady to come out and pull the player in. She will then recite the story of either or. Upon exiting the house, the player will be approached by the respective Pokémon, which will then fly off and will roam around Unova until being caught or defeated. Wherever these Pokémon appear will be subject to weather identified as "stormy" by the bulletin boards in gates. Only these two Pokémon can cause stormy weather (which manifests as in-battle), so they can be tracked down using the bulletin boards.

Unlike other generations, the roaming Pokémon's location varies depending on the time of day. At night, between midnight and morning, the Pokémon can only be encountered in Routes, , and , in the morning it can only be encountered in Routes ,  and , during the daytime it can only be encountered in Routes ,  and , in the evening it can only be encountered in Routes ,  and  and at night before midnight it can only be encountered in Routes ,  and.

Bulletin boards can be considered somewhat inferior to the tracking methods of previous generations, as, unlike Generation IV, Tornadus or Thundurus's location changes when the player exits the gate. However, as they simply cycle between three or four routes, one may continuously re-enter and exit the same gate until the route displays stormy weather.

Generation VI
In Pokémon X and Y, one of the Legendary birds roams the Kalos region, depending on the chosen starter Pokémon: if the chosen starter Pokémon was,  if it was , and  if it was. It will begin to roam after the player has defeated the Pokémon League, and it will always be the first wild Pokémon encountered in tall grass after the Pokémon League has been defeated.

If the player uses, the roaming Pokémon will relocate to a random location. Traveling normally, on the other hand, will only provide a small chance for the roaming Pokémon to change routes, and even then it will move to an adjacent route. Furthermore, entering any of the connecting gates between cities (or ) may cause the roaming Pokémon to relocate randomly. This appears to be on a timer, however, as immediately pursuing the roaming Pokémon does not seem to cause it to change location.

As the bird will automatically flee upon encounter, it cannot be caught until after it has been encountered an additional 10 times (not counting the first encounter), and has subsequently retreated to the Sea Spirit's Den in Azure Bay, where it remains as a stationary Legendary Pokémon. However, if the battle in the Sea Spirit's Den is fled from, the bird will begin roaming Kalos again as before.

In other languages
Wanderpokémon Pokémon mouvant Pokémon vaganti 徘徊系ポケモン 游走宝可梦