Game characters that never made it into the anime

[Neo Blaze]

Although many characters from the games have made an appearance in the anime, some have not made the transition. What are some characters that have not appeared in the anime you would have wanted to show up, and why? I decided to include Silver, Brendan, Lucas, the Seven Sages and Wikstrom in the poll because they've only made cameos in the anime.

Silver is probably my favourite rival and I think his story told in the anime would have been really interesting, due to him being Giovanni's son. You can make an argument that Silver did appear in the anime in the form of Paul, as they share many similarities. However, I would have still liked to see his relationship with Giovanni portrayed in the anime. Generations gave us a taste of that, sadly those where only shorts.

Wally was a very boring rival in the games, but part of me still wonders what he would have been like in the anime. Especially since Ash had zero rivals in AG up until the Hoenn League. He probably wouldn't have been less boring in the anime, but still.

It's a shame we never really got to see the Sinnoh Battle Frontier but DP was already jam packed so it's fine I guess.

Hugh was another cool rival, but then BW already had a crapton of rivals so yeah... Too bad he debuted in B2W2, otherwise he could've replaced Trip.

The Shadow Triad would've been cool in the anime, but too bad. I feel Team Plasma could've been so much more in the anime if it hadn't been for the cancellation of these two early episodes.

I'm kind of sad AZ never appeared in the anime and during XYZ I was still holding out hope for him to appear, but XYZ still turned out pretty cool, so I guess I have nothing to complain. Still would've liked to see his portrayal in the anime though.

The Emma and Looker storyline in XY was very cool imo, sadly it just didn't fit in XY. Would've made a nice storyline, especially for Looker.

I think Lisia would have made a perfect fit in a Serena special focusing on Contests, helping Serena to get accustomed to Hoenn and Contests.

Also, let me know if any characters are missing and I'll add them to the poll.

 

[Hidden Mew]

It definitely would have been great if Silver appeared during Johto. Ash still had Gary as a rival, but he rarely appeared or even got a mention compared to Kanto. It certainly would have been an interesting dynamic, especially if they did include aspects like stealing his starter from Professor Elm and being Giovanni's son. Paul was similar to Silver in regards to his demeanor and treatment towards his Pokemon, but he still wasn't exactly like Silver and incorporating him into the storyline could have helped to make the Johto arc more interesting.

I'm not sure how Wally could have fit into AG. He was barely present in the original R/S and I'm not sure if they would have made him more of a traditional rival for Ash to make up for not having another one during the series. Still, it could have been interesting to see how the anime handled him. His demeanor in the games almost makes me think he'd be better suited for Pokemon Contests and give May another long lasting rival figure instead of making him Ash's rival.

Hugh definitely would have been a good choice to include in BW. I liked his storyline in B2/W2 and having a rival whose goal was centered around the evil team would have been refreshing. It was clear why he never showed up in the anime. There were already a lot of rivals in the series, he wasn't introduced until B2/W2 and the way Team Plasma was handled in the anime would make that difficult for them to incorporate Hugh. Plus, not adapting the B/W Team Plasma storyline and not having that time skip between the two events would make his story more difficult for the anime to tackle. Still, it would have been cool to see him in the anime.

I almost forgot about Emma and the Looker's storyline from X/Y. As nice as it would have been to see Emma, there really wasn't enough time to do that storyline justice given everything else they needed to do at the tail end of XY. Still, it would have been nice.

It would have been nice if the other playable characters from the various games got at least a movie cameo like Brendan and Lucas did. Hilda, Rosa and Leaf don't have any animated appearances. It wouldn't really add much, but it would just be neat if they did something like that again just as a shoutout to fans of the games.

 

[Insanish Danish]

Leaf, Hilda and Rosa never showing up in the anime was criminal, just saying. OH AND ZINNIA. Love of my life. ;__;

But really though, I would have been happy to see any of these characters at some point. I've never liked how so many of the game characters wind up going unused in the anime.

 

[Daenerys]

Only cared about a few like Emma and Zinnia, maybe a few E4 members like Will and Sidney too. It's a shame that even in this day and age, a big chunk of in-game characters still haven't had so much as a cameo, yet we're still getting COTDs shoved down our throats.

 

[Gengarzilla]

He did appear eventually, but I'd have preferred Cheren to show up much earlier in BW and be Ash's primary rival for the series instead of throwing his Black and White incarnation into a blender with Gary and Paul to create Trip, the twat who ruined me for rookie rivals. We got Bianca early on so using the Unova game's rivals clearly wasn't a problem.

I wanted to see Ilima show up as a student or understudy of Hala too, he's perhaps my favourite Trial Captain so it really bugs me that he's being ignored in both anime and Adventures manga alike so far.

 

[Neo Blaze]

I suppose Wally, Grimsley, Sina and Dexio still have a chance to appear in SM, but the actual chances of any of them appearing should be really low. I just hope some SM characters who have not shown up yet will do so eventually... Hau and Molayne mainly. And Mohn because he's Lillie's and Gladion's dad.

 

[Mew2]

The ones that I wanted to appear, but didn't, the most are Leaf, Daisy Oak, Silver, Wally (would have been a good replacement for Sawyer) Hilda, the Shadow Triad, the Seven Sages, Calem, Sina, Dexio, Emma, AZ, with the Battle Chatelaines being good for a tournament arc or something. I'd have also liked to see Zinnia be part of a post-Flare arc and Lisia for either a Contest arc, or have her be the catalyst for Serena to choose Contests rather than Showcases.

 

[smalllady]

Best Girl (Hilda) not appearing in anything animated is unforgivable. At this point, my only hope is if they do something for B/W remakes...which I'll be waiting a long time for. @_@

 

[FANG-TAN]

Shigeru should have been given an older sister, considering Green had one in the games since the very beginning. Even Dengeki Pikachu gave Shigeru an older sister.

On the topic of Silver, Kenta's story and his rivalry with Anime Silver should have been explored in a separate side series based on the Raikou special. I'd be more interested in that than how a rivalry between him and Satoshi would play out, we had a similar enough dynamic between him and Shinji anyway. What we need is more of Kenta and other characters based on male playable characters.

As for Mei and Touko, I love the Gen V games and I love them waifus but I'm kind of glad they didn't appear in Best Wishes because of that, they're too good for that. Mei appearing in the B2W2 animated trailer was enough for me, actually, she was very cute for those 30 seconds. lol But it's a shame Touko didn't make an appearance in Generations. I still wouldn't want her in the Satoshi anime though. A part of me never wants to see the fandom pair her with Satoshi. Not because I'm a ChessShipper/AgencyShipper or anything.


And Blue/Leaf, oh boy.

Spoiler

(shameless plug for my Rebuild of Pocket Monsters doujin)

 

[SammyW27]

Let's see...off the top of my head...

ALL OF THEM!!!

Thank Arceus for AU specials and shorts!

Why they didn't want to use these people I'll NEVER understand...

PS: Wikstrom DID appear in the "World of Pokemon" segment in Movie 17 or 18 in a Mega Evolution battle with Diantha. Not much, but it was cool and better than most E4 members ever got.

 

[Neo Blaze]

PS: Wikstrom DID appear in the "World of Pokemon" segment in Movie 17 or 18 in a Mega Evolution battle with Diantha. Not much, but it was cool and better than most E4 members ever got.

As I said in my opening post:

I decided to include Silver, Brendan, Lucas, the Seven Sages and Wikstrom in the poll because they've only made cameos in the anime.

 

[Nicolas721]

I'm usually not a fan of game character,s but there's some missing potential there:

-Rocket executives: Maybe Ariana would have fit in BW, as so far we haven't seen many female bossy villains in the anime. The other 3 could also have appeared in a special in late DP.
-Benga: Alder development, maybe in a filler.
-Sina & Dexio: They would add so much needed character humor that was missing in XY, and they could also had been connected with Blaziken Mask wrapping his storyline.
-Lisia: Maybe she could had replaced Aria, or even better, she would had been her rival or her sister. In any case, she would had prompted Serena to go to Hoenn.
-Zinnia: XYZ was already overcrowded, I'd had preferred for her to appear in movies or in the ME specials as some anti-villain.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I honestly wish that Wally appeared in AG. It would have been great if we got to see Ash mentor Wally at first and then become his rival. Maybe he continually beats Wally and it crushes him, leading to Wally suddenly training harder, beating the gyms faster than Ash, and even defeating Ash before the league. Kinda in a similar manner to Sawyer, but introduced far earlier in the series.

 

[Alola]

Gee, lets see:

~Leaf would have been a cool rival for May during the Battle Frontier series. It would have promoted FireRed & LeafGreen, given May a substantial female rival and pleased all of Leaf's fans whom are still upset to this day that she hasn't been featured in any media outside of the manga. I would have wanted her to replace Solidad as the opponent to knock May out of the Grand Festival. She also could have met Ash & May when they met up at Professor Oaks, where she would have been visiting Professor Oak after just returning from a journey in Johto. May and Leaf would exchange Contest talk and bam!
"Wow May, looks like you got yourself a new rival!"
-Ash
Leaf's starter would have been Blastoise of course.

~Wally would have been cool to see in AG. There was a lot of potential of Ash helping him catch Ralts, teaching him how to battle and then being the one to defeat Ash in the Hoenn League (rather than Tyson and his novelty Meowth...). There also could have been fun bits where Wally tried out Contests with May before deciding to commit to Gym Battles. It also would have given Ash a solid rival for this saga that would have been a great foil to Gary and later Paul. And lastly, I would have seen Gardevoir animated in battle T___T (prior to XY).

~I understand why Iris and Cilan were chosen as Ash's buddies for the Unova saga, to emulate the original series and all, but I was very shocked initially that Bianca, or Hilda, wasn't going to be Ash's travelling partner. Still, that being said there were a lot of rivals in this series so I didn't mind too much that Hilbert, Nate, Rosa, Hilda and Hugh weren't featured. I do think that Cheren should have been Ash's rival though, over what we got with Trip. After Paul, I wanted a rival who was original from the games rather than a original anime character. Additionally, Cheren looks so good with the Snivy line and it would have been great to see him challenge Ash with a calculating, analyzing battle style (and have a lovely arc where he realizes winning isn't everything).

~Zinnia could have been adapted in the Mega Evolution specials, on the Hoenn side of things. They could have given her a central role that allowed her to successfully call, and Mega Evolve, Rayquaza to defeat both Primal Groudon & Kyogre. Yeah I know, anime adaption but hey. It would just be her summoning it with draconid lore thrown here and there because I don't think they would have been able to fit in the meteor story line and the fact that Ash & co. have already interacted with Deoxys several times in the anime.

~Looker & Emma could have been a fun story line after the Battle of Kalos, since Ash & Co. were all in Lumiose City for the final episodes. But I suppose they wanted to get Sun & Moon started...

~And finally, yes-I can see Lisia appearing in a special with Serena about Serena's Contest career. Maybe they don't even meet, but Serena becomes inspired to be a better Coordinator by watching Lisia's performance. That or the episode centers around Lisia scouting Serena in Slateport, and Serena making her big Contest debut that way.

Psssh, I should be a writer for this show.

 

[Almonds]

1. Wally. From what I can gather, Ash did not have a major rival in AG, so Wally could have fit that bill perfectly (except Drew kinda looks similar to Wally - green hair and all). Also, while Sawyer was a good rival, I feel that Wally would have been a better choice to promote ORAS. And he would have also been able to provide the scenario of the underdog becoming stronger because that's literally his story in ORAS. For both story AND promotional purposes, Wally could have done his job brilliantly, and yet, for some reason, they did not use him. Just - why? WHY?!

2. The Gen 5 protags including rival Hugh. While I would have preferred any of them to travel with Ash across Unova, I liked Cilan, and Iris was just tolerable enough. Trip should have been someone else, (preferably Cheren) but that's for another thread.
They could have used anyone for the World Tournament/League from these five - ANYONE - and they decided to waste time and energy creating Cameron, an idiot, and Virgil, who didn't even battle Ash at the league at all despite being a rival. What was the point? The purpose of those two were to promote B2W2 and Eeveelutions, perhaps, but they could have just as easily placed in Nate/Rosa with a Riolu/Lucario for the promotion (heck NATE was even in a promotional trailer with a Lucario), and maybe give the gender counterpart (or anyone else from the gen 5 gang) the team of Eeveelutions. What's more, all five of them could have played a perfectly useful role in Episode N as well! And the time gap between BW and B2W2 is no excuse because they modeled Bianca after her BW form, and then used Cheren's form from B2W2.

3.AZ and Emma. I don't have a lot of complaints for how XY(&Z) was written (aside from Ash losing), but it would have been awesome to see AZ and Emma appear just for the sake of appearing. AZ mostly because he has everything to do with the lore of Kalos. As for Emma, she could have been the anti-hero of the series. While Alain is certainly one of my favorite characters, I do feel that it wouldn't have been bad if Emma had been in his spot since Emma does technically work with Xerosic for some time (even if she was unaware of it).

4. Zinnia. This is mostly because Mega Rayquaza could have done much more in the ME specials. I don't think there was any room to spare for the Delta Episode in the XY(&Z) main series, but if they could have extended the ME specials, they could have used that opportunity to show off the almighty Mega Rayquaza and Zinnia playing a part.

5. Lisia. As a contest idol, she had plenty of room to appear as the superstar of performances regarding Serena's arc.

6. Curtis and Yancy. I thought they'd be interesting as recurring celebs since they are referenced on television from the games multiple times. And I do think that the Lost Item quest would have made a nice short sub-plot as them appearing as CotD's.
it's just me wanting to seem them animated

 

[SammyW27]

To be more specific

Wally
That would've been a good storyline to carry through AG.

Silver
He could've been Paul 10 years before Paul, and being a total dick that shows you don't need to be in a villain team to be evil. But who wants to see that when you can have boring filler after boring filler after boring filler...
(ditto other unused Gen 2/Johto characters)

The Shadow Triad
'Nuff said. And they wouldn't have had to stoop to giving grunts names and leadership positions.

The HGSS Execs
Instead of making the TRio more serious/duller, they should've used these guys as part of the original plans for Rocket vs. Plasma with the TRio as their dutiful, but dumb sidekicks. At the very least they could've used Proton or Archer in place of Pierce.

Hugh
He should've been the League rival and could've been a middle ground between Cameron and Virgil.

Phoebe
Of all the Elite Four members who SHOULD have been on the Show, it's her. Her design and personality are almost tailor made for it...

The other Sinnoh Frontier Brains
Since DP had SO many characters from the games appear, you think these guys could've gotten an appearance.

Janine
The fact that she's the only Gym Leader who DIDN'T get an animated appearance is bad enough. The fact they had a near perfect opportunity to use her in the Battle Frontier to promote FRLG makes it even worse.

Drasna
All the other Kalos E4 got to be animated (yes, I'm counting Wikstrom's Movie cameo. That was really cool), it would've only been fair for her to appear too. The thing that gets me is that she could've been in an episode or two of an Iris guest stint, or at least a special. Or use that fan theory about her being related to Dawn.

 

[Neo Blaze]

Currently the most votes are for Wally, which I find surprising. Since I've never gotten the idea that he is very popular. I suppose it's because AG had no rivals up until the League. Perhaps two green-haired rivals would've been too much but it's still remarkable Wally was completely absent.

Tied for second place are Hilda, AZ and Zinnia, which doesn't surprise me at all since they're very popular. I think of these, I'm most sad AZ didn't appear. He played an interesting part in the XY games and he would've made a great recurring character I think. Would've loved to see his interactions with Lysandre as well.

Glad to see Silver is getting so many votes. Speaking of his cameo, I always thought he looked so much older, almost like an adult. Much older than Jimmy and Marina or his game counterpart at least. And he owns a Nidoking in this Japanese-only cameo, which he has never owned in the games. It could very well be a nod to Giovanni. Either way, this should've been more than a cameo. I would've loved to see a miniseries focused on Jimmy or a sequel to Legend of Thunder featuring Silver.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Honestly I never cared about them except Leaf and Daisy. I'm not a big fan of adding game characters for the sake of adding them.

 

[Alola]

Perhaps two green-haired rivals would've been too much but it's still remarkable Wally was completely absent.

I don't think two green haired rivals would've been too much of anything. Especially since we just came off of XY(Z), where 3/4ths of the main characters were blond. A more natural hair color yes, but still bright and jarring from the previously dark colors we've had as a main cast. Not to mention, the anime has always had characters with colorful hairstyles.