the OTHERS

[MarcSiege]

Ash left Pidgeot.
Ash left Primeape.
Ash left Lapras to his family.
Ash released Butterfree.

Do you think there would be a chance for Ash to get them back. Say there'll be an episode where Ash meets his Butterfree and know what happened to it and ask them to live in Oak's lab.

Or if Primeape was given a fifth gen evolution, do you think Ash would revisit him?

Same with Lapras, if it was given a cooler evolution, do you think the writers would give Ash the now-older Lapras?

Or get back his Pidgeot as a promise of friendship when someone (one of the Pidgeotto perhaps) managed to evolve? Viridian Forest is a stone-throw away from Pallet!

 

[Scizorhands]

Well, actually, Lapras saw his Lapras again in "Pokemon Master Quest", just in the same episode where he found Larvitar's egg. In this episode, Lapras has grown up and he had become the new leader of his herd. And in the first trailers of the Darkrai's movie, there was a scene where Ash was riding a Pidgeot which it could be the one that belongs him. However, that scene never appeared in the official version of the movie.

 

[Cybersai]

Aside from Lapras, the other 3 haven't been shown again outside the openings.

There is virtually NO reason to bring these Pokemon back in the anime. Why are people so obsessed with things that happened in Season 1 that have absolutely no relevance to where the anime is now?

Why does Ash need those Pokemon? What is he going to do with them?

We are entering Season 11, there's no point to bring Pokemon from Season 1 back to the anime.

 

[Greysky]

At least he could have Primeape back, it's been 10 seasons, and training all this time probably made him one of the best Fighting Pokémon, althought I can't see it Oaked.

 

[Trevenant]

The problem is that Butterfree, Pidgeot, and Okorizaru were all released in the Kanto region - if the writers had wanted to bring them back, Battle Frontier would've been the ideal time for that. And honestly, Butterfree wouldn't be any good for League Competition. Pidgeot's already been eclipsed by Oosubame an (hopefully) Mukku.HAWK. Okorizaru may have been a decent addition, but with Hikozaru on his team, it's only a matter of time before it gains some fighting attributes after evolution.

As for Lapras, it was best served doing what it did during Orange Islands. It's the type of Poke that has a need for water to be used effectively and thus wouldn't be much of an addition to his team.