The Pokémon anime is occasionally given free rein to design their own takes on the franchise's iconic creatures, and the result can be extremely memorable, especially to young fans watching the anime.
While fans may never get the chance to catch these unique Pokémon in the hit game series, it's still fun to take a look at what the anime has cooked up over the years. And who knows? Some of them may well make a comeback someday.
5 Valencian Butterfree
The Valencian Butterfree, sometimes referred to generally as Pokémon's Orange Islands Butterfree, was a particular variant of Butterfree that appeared on the largest of the Orange Islands, Valencia. The Orange Islands arc was the first arc where the anime creators were allowed to come up with their own things while Gold and Silver were being developed, and this Butterfree was one that stood out the most. This Pokémon essentially predicted the advent of Regional Pokémon Variants like the Alola forms by showing how Pokémon's appearances could vary due to their environment. It has a beautiful wing pattern in a lovely, soft cream color--exactly the kind of variation one might expect from a butterfly.
4 Crystal Onix
Also from the Orange Islands is the Crystal Onix. The Crystal Onix was allegedly a one-of-a-kind mutation, similar to a shiny Pokémon, where an Onix was born made out of crystaline material rather than ordinary rock. Rumors of the Crystal Onix persisted among the Orange Islands, and Ash and his friends sought it out to help a glassmaker who was suffering from creative block. They tracked it to a cave where they discovered that, unlike ordinary Onix weak to water, this Onix actually lived in the water, using its transparent body to hide. As a result of this change to its typing, though, it became weak to fire, which is how it was defeated. The glassmaker ultimately opted not to catch the Crystal Onix, saying that just seeing it was enough to restore his inspiration, and so the group left it be in the wild. Another logical variant, the Crystal Onix actually foreshadowed Pokémon's soon-to-come evolution Steelix in a few ways, with that weakness to fire in particular.
3 Diancie's Carbink Retainers
Appearing in the movie Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction, these Carbink each have unique appearances that set them apart from others of their kind. Their variations seem to be due to their special role as retainers of a sort to Diancie, which they consider to be a princess. Diancie itself is said to be a rare mutation of Carbink in some Pokédex entries, and it seems as though these Carbink retainers might also be special mutations, although it's unclear if their status is due to their rarity. Each of the four has a name: Dace, Merrick, Allotrope, and Bort. Dace is the eldest with the poofy white "collar," while Merrick is the next in line with the collar that is spiked upward. Bort and Allotrope's differences are more minor, mostly focused on the "ears," causing Bort and Allotrope to look a bit like young Carbink. While the differences obviously exist mostly to make it easier to tell these four Carbink apart, but the idea of a royal court of Carbink with different ranks is a fun one, and is in line with modern variants like Scarlet and Violet's Dudunsparce or Maushold, which have rare forms with relatively small differences.
2 Snow Snorlax
Appearing in an episode of the subseries Pokémon Chronicles, this rare variety of Snorlax is said to live on ice drifts in the far north. The episode in which it appears, "Pikachu's Winter Vacation," focuses on Pikachu and some Pokémon friends who build a snowman in the shape of Snorlax and then get lost with Snorlax when it comes alive. The group winds up drifting out to sea on an iceberg, and eventually encounter an entire group of snow Snorlax, proving that it's not simply a one-off. They leave the snow Snorlax to live with its own kind, but soon wake up back in the Pokémon Center where they started, with their snowman still there. Was it all a dream, or did a snow Snorlax happen to come by that night? Snorlax was shown to have the power to freeze a whirlpool without disturbing its shape, a sign of a powerful Ice-Type if ever there was one. While such regional variants are already well established now, there still aren't any explicitly arctic ones like this Snorlax, so dream or not, it would be a fun one to see, and Snorlax's bulk certainly makes it a fitting choice.
1 Blue Orb Pikachu
When Teams Aqua and Magma came into conflict over the Red and Blue Orbs, associated with Kyogre and Groudon respectively, something very strange occurred. Ash's Pikachu tried to take the Blue Orb to keep it away from them, but when it touched the Orb, Pikachu assimilated the Orb into its body. The Orb caused glowing red lines to appear on Pikachu, in a pattern similar to those on Groudon, and gave it an immense surge of power. Using this power, Pikachu was able to break Groudon free from Team Magma's control, allowing it to face off with Kyogre, who had been running amok and causing storms. The power was almost too much for Pikachu, who struggled to control it, but Pikachu fought alongside Groudon anyway. Once Kyogre was beaten, the energy faded and Pikachu returned to its normal appearance.
In the Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire games, the Blue Orb can be used to allow Kyogre to undergo Primal Reversion, causing it to gain a major power-up as well. It seems that one way or another, Pikachu managed to tap into that "Primal" power, creating a unique form of the electric mouse Pokémon that could finally live up to all the incredible feats that Ash's Pikachu had pulled off over the series.
Part of what makes Pokémon so fun as a series is its large variety of creatures. Given this, it only makes sense that Pokémon's anime would put its own unique spin on some of the franchise's most iconic creatures. Here's hoping one or more of these make their way into the Pokémon game series soon