The Pokémon series is a franchise that has been going on for so long it has enchanted multiple generations. Pokémon has extended out to anime, card games, magna, mobile apps and even full feature films.
However, the bread and butter of the series will always be the games-- specifically the main line series of RPGs. Pokémon will always be about the series’ trademark slogan “Gotta Catch ‘Em All.”
Though most players don’t try to fill out the entire Pokédex, there is always a drive to collect as many Pokémon as possible, more importantly obtaining the ones that are the most powerful or beloved to the player.
It’s a big enough time investment to just catch a lot of Pokémon as their numbers are rapidly approaching almost a thousand. Yet the series tends to make things even harder on the player, with certain Pokémon being exceedingly rare. Even more aggravating are the supposedly regular Pokémon becoming migraine0inducing to catch.
The rarity of some Pokémon is certainly understandable. The addition of new legendary Pokémon is a way the series can feel fresh with every entry and attempt to appeal to the completionist gamer.
It truly is harder to accept the Pokémon that should be more abundant but always seem to slip through your fingers, while playing the many, many entries in the series.
This list looks at both extremes of the Pokémon franchise. The supposedly rare Pokémon that are a breeze to add to the every expanding Pokédex and those run-of-the-mill Pokémon that, for whatever reason were hidden, behind several difficulty walls.
Here are the 10 Rare Pokémon That Are Easy To Catch (And 10 Regular Pokémon That Are Difficult)!
Easy: Mew
Much like the method to achieve Mew, putting Mew in the "easy" category is a bit of a cheat. Mew was the first Pokémon to launch a thousand playground discussions of how to catch it.
At the time of Pokemon Blue/Red and Yellow, Mew was a huge part of the anime. It seemed unfathomable, especially in the more show accurate Pokémon Yellow, that Mew wasn’t in the game.
Yet the only official way to catch way to catch Mew was through sponsored events where the monster was available through trade link. The key word there is official.
Mew can be caught in Pokemon Red/Blue and Yellow. It just involves a bit of trickery or an intimate knowledge of the game’s programming.
A glitch exists in all three first generation games to catch Mew (and pretty much every other Pokémon). All it takes is to fly (or teleport) as soon as the player walks on-screen and a trainer spots them to engage in a battle.
Then the player must travel to Cerulean City and walk onto Nugget Bridge. While on the bridge a low level Pokémon will spawn and attack making for an easy capture.
The Pokémon that appears is dependent on which Pokémon the player last defeated.
Since the Pokémon to spawn Mew is located close to Cerulean City, it’s very easy to capture the legendary monster.
The only downside is that this Mew can never leave the first generation. Pokémon Bank recognizes the Mew as glitch and won’t allow anyone to transfer it over to another game in the series.
Difficult: Abra
Abra isn’t an impossible monster to capture. Yet for how abundant Abra is, in nearly every game, capturing it is far more trouble than seems worth it.
No matter the game or generation, be it Red and Blue or Sun and Moon, Abra can usually be found early on. Abra typically calls home the patches of tall grass in the first or second major town of a Pokémon game.
It'll also do everything in its power to make the capture cause a headache.
As Abra are encountered at such a low level, they usually have just one move: teleport. While under the player's possession this can be useful, as it'll take them right to to their last visited Poké Center, in the wild it just makes an Abra disappear.
To catch an Abra, the player has one shot and one shot only to throw a Pokéball.
If the Abra isn’t captured right away-- and it usually isn’t-- that’s it. The Abra will use teleport and peace out. It’s a matter of trial and much error until the odds align in the player’s favor.
Once the Abra is caugh, though, the story isn't over. It's even a mystery if it was worth it at all. Abra can evolve into the powerful Alakazam but only after being leveled up to a Kadabra and traded. A lot of planning goes into one very small Pokémon.
Easy: Rayquaza
Rayquaza is undoubtedly one of the coolest looking and rarest Pokémon out there. This green dragon has only appeared naturally in a couple of games.
In each game, there’s one of them in existence. Players have only one shot to catch Rayquaza, whether they’re playing Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon or Rayquaza's original game (or their remakes) Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire and Emerald.
It’s easy to snag Rayquaza if you know what you’re doing, especially in Ruby/Sapphire and Emerald.
Like a lot of legendary Pokémon, Rayquaza can be found in one location and only after the main story has been finished.
Rayquaza is found in the Sky Pillar (or in the Ultra Space Wilds during Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon). The Sky Pillar is easy to reach as it all requires is a Pokémon with the move Surf, which is necessary for anyone to beat Ruby/Sapphire or Emerald.
Once the player enters the Sky Pillar, they’ll find Rayquaza and it'll attack. Rayquaza will be around level 70.
This sounds intimidating. However, if the player has beaten the game, they have at least one Pokémon around level 70, if not a whole team.
Rayquaza will put up a fight, but if the player has a Master Ball, an unmissable reward and there’s no fight. The Master Ball with catch Rayquaza immediately.
Even if the Master Ball has been used, though, Ultra Balls are a fine substitute, if a little less successful.
Difficult: Rhyhorn
Rhyhorn isn’t one of the most creatively designed Pokémon. Its design amounts to a rhino with a little bit extra padding. Regardless of its move set or power level, a Pokémon so boring shouldn’t be so hard to catch.
Yet, for whatever reason, Rhyhorn was decided to be put tantalizingly out of most players’ grasp.
Rhyhorn has appeared in several games but usually the location is all the same. Starting with Pokémon Red/Blue and Yellow, Rhyhorn is typically found in the Safari Zone.
The Zone is a land of many elusive Pokémon. Players are only allowed to be in the Safari Zone for a certain time before they are yanked out by the game.
The problem with catching Rhyhorn is the problem with many supposedly regular Pokémon-- it’s hard to stumble upon.
While in the Safari Zone, there’s only a 10% chance that Rhyhorn will appear. This is better than some appear rates but hardly ideal.
Making things even more frustrating, players can’t bring any of their own Pokémon into the Safari Zone. There’s no way to weaken a Rhyhorn or even put it sleep.
It’s just a matter of tossing the limited number of Safari Balls the game gives at Rhyhorn and hoping it isn’t too stubborn to be caught. Though looking at its face, stubborn appears to be one of Rhyhorn’s defining traits.
Easy: Heatran
Heatran made its first appearance in Generation 4 of Pokémon, Diamond/Silver and Pearl. Appearance-wise, it isn’t very exciting.
Heatran answers the question that no one asked about what a turtle would look like without a shell and covered in molten lava. Yet appearance is no comment on rarity.
Since Heatran showed up, it’s appeared in a handful games and usually there is one of them exist in the game world. Yet they are pretty easy to find and catch, especially in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
Capturing Heatran in the remake games requires beating the campaign first. However, once that’s done, and neither Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are particularly hard games, the player myust going to the area of The Scorched Slab.
As the name suggests, The Scorched Slab isn’t very hard to find. All it takes to locate is littlest bit of exploring.
The Scorched Slab is the standard Pokémon dungeon. In the center, however, is a portal. The portal is the showcase of the dungeon and it’s almost impossible to miss it. It's a literal rip in time and space.
Heatran immediately attacks if you approach the portal and then it’s just a case of whittling its health down and throwing out nothing more impressive than an Ultra Ball.
By the time the player finds Heatran, they'll have taken on Pokémon far more impressive and powerful than it.
Plus being made of literal fire, Heatran is extraordinarily weak to any and all water Pokémon.
Difficult: Lapras
In the very first game(s), the task of obtaining a Lapras is remarkably easy. All it takes is talking to one certain NPC in Silph Co and the gigantic Pokémon with creepy-bedroom-eyes can be yours.
Yet in subsequent generations, Pokémon has decided to go in the exact opposite direction with Lapras, making it nearly impossible to find.
In Pokémon Sun and Moon, having a Lapras assist you happens naturally within the game. Lapras is the Pokémon used for the Ride system when the player wants to travel across any body of water.
In order to use Lapras in a battle, though, one must be caught, and that’s a herculean task all its own.
In the majority of games, Lapras isn’t anywhere in the world and the player must transfer it from a previous game or trade with a friend. Yet even if Lapras is somewhere in the world, it’s doing a damn good job of trying to hide, which should be impossible for a Pokémon that is 8 feet tall and several tons.
Lapras are usually located in one area and one area only, very late into the game.
The percentage for Lapras to appear is usually nothing more than a pitiful 10%, though it can be as low as a 5%.
Gold/Silver and its remakes take the frustrating cake, though. Lapras can only be found in the lowest level of the Union Cave and only appear once every Friday. It’s a part-time job to catch one measly monster.
Easy: Giratina
Giratina is one of the more disturbing Pokémon. This gigantic winged dragon Pokémon is essentially the universe’s version of the devil.
It was banished to its own distortion world, which it has control over. Altogether, Giratina is the stuff the nightmares-- the stuff of nightmares that a fictional child can enslave and use in battle with relative ease.
Catching Giratina takes some preparation, but considering the ridiculousness of the Pokémon’s power, it’s a silly simple fight.
Giratina is the ultimate legendary Pokémon of the fourth generation of games, Diamond/Pearl and Platinum. It even serves as the “mascot” for Platinum.
No matter which game is purchased, though, Giratina is available and can be found in the same location, the ominously named Turnback Cave, shortly before finishing the game.
The way the games are set up, players are highly encouraged to use their one Master Ball of the game to catch Giratina. With their 100% success rate, Master Balls make catching Giratina a cinch.
Yet it’s still possible to catch the Pokémon devil with nothing more than a Dusk Ball, one of the cheaper variations of Pokeballs.
Without a Master Ball, Giratina does have one of the lowest catch rates in the game, but without enough time (and potions) the Pokémon Lord of Darkness can be imprisoned forever within a tiny ball.
Difficult: Kangaskhan
Kangaskhan has been the basis for many a Pokémon conspiracy theory. This mostly due to the weirdness of Kangaskhan carrying its child around and into battle.
This tidbit has lead many fans to assume that Kangaskhan is the mother of Cubone, the perpetually orphan Pokémon, even though that’s probably not the case.
However, one of the key reasons why Kangaskhan has risen to such mythic status is that they are so very hard to locate.
For any ambitious gamer who wanted to complete their Pokedex in Pokemon Red and Blue, Kangaskhan was one the biggest pains. Kangaskhan can only be found in the Safari Zone.
Given the time restraints of the zone, the only way that Kangaskhan is going to be located is the player enters the Safari Zone with the single goal in mind to find it and nothing else.
Kangaskhan has very low appear rate (about 5%) and it’s one of the tougher Pokémon, which gives it an even lower catch rate. Even if Kangaskhan appears, it’s probably going to flee.
Somehow, in later generations, catching Kangaskhan is even harder.
In Gold/Silver, it can only be found in certain times of day, with the same 5% appear rate. In Ultra Sun/Moon, the appear rate plummets to just 1%.
If Kangaskhan is Cubone’s mother, it’s doing a tremendous job of trying to hide and not be destroyed.
Easy: Guzzlord
Guzzlord shouldn’t be real. This Pokémon, although it’s technically called an Ultra Beast, feels like the product of several designing streams being crossed.
It’s the most Cronenberg-esque creation of Pokémon and it would understandably fuel nightmares. (Are its arms coming from inside it’s mouth? What are its arms anyway? Also, who greenlit its inclusion in a game for children?)
It would be reasonable if no one wanted to capture Guzzlord. Yet it is a very rare Pokémon-- only one of them exists in each copy of Sun/Moon and its remakes.
So, the allure is there for a certain type of players. Thankfully, it doesn’t take much to capture Guzzlord and throw him into a PC to be never seen again.
Guzzlord is in one spot-- the Resolution Cave in Sun and Moon or the Ultra Ruin in Ultra Sun and Moon.
In Sun and Moon, Guzzlord is particularly easy to find as it has a whole side mission to tied to its capture. It also has an appropriately terrifying signature sound that heralds its arrival.
Guzzlord happens the last of the Ultra Beasts to be captured in the questline. This means the player can throw as many Beast Balls, a ball that has special success rate to capture Ultra Beasts, with no reservations.
No other Ultra Beasts are coming ,so it’s all down to this terrifying creature.
Difficult: Umbreon
Since its introduction into Pokémon lore, Umbreon has been only been able to be obtained one way. To get an Umbreon, players must evolve Eevee (a relatively easy Pokémon to obtain) in a very specific way.
In Sun and Moon, though, things were changed. It became possible to catch an Umbreon in the wild, allowing players to forgo the struggle of looking up exactly how to make their Eevee into the exact evolution that they wanted.
However, it probably would’ve been easier to just go about things the old-fashioned way.
Umbreon is found in one of the same locations as Eevee. This should make things simple, but it doesn’t.
The player must walk into the tall grass and find an Eevee in Routes 4 or 6. To have an Umbreon appear, the player must force Evee to call for help. If Eevee gets distressed, another Pokémon will arrive to assist. Usually it’s another Eevee, but on very rare occasions it can be an Umbreon.
To have Umbreon appear requires the behind-the-scenes numbers of the game aligning in just the right order so that Umbreon feels generous enough to help its Pokémon brethren. It’s a waiting game, and it can last up to an hour.
This isn’t even the end of the torture. To have even the smallest chance of Umbreon appearing, the world of the game must be set at night.
Easy: Moltres
The legendary birds of Pokémon Red/Blue and Yellow often get overlooked for their more impressive counterpart, the dangerous hairless cat Mewtwo.
For many players, though, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres were their first real taste of a rare Pokémon. The trio cause a certain amount of magic for the player. However, it’s not too difficult to capture and contain the legendary birds.
Catching success does vary between the trio, though. Despite their ability to fly, the birds are always found in the same location. All it requires is enough patience, knowledge, and Ultra Balls.
However, of the three birds, Moltres does tend to be the easiest to capture.
There’s several factors leading to Moltres' easy catch rate. It has more weaknesses than the other two birds, allowing its health to be cut down a lot quicker. It doesn’t have much in the way of devastating attacks, especially if the right Pokémon are brought into battle against.
Lastly, at the point in the game when Moltres is discovered, the player is likely at the same or even higher level.
Moltres might look impressive-- it’s hard to be a bird with fiery wings and not seem the coolest thing around-- but it’s a bit of a pushover when it comes to the legendary birds.
Difficult: Dratini
Dratini has one of the weirdest evolution charts in all of Pokémon. It goes from a majestic blue creature to a chubby yellow dragon with a face that looks like it belongs in a Disney cartoon. Dratini is just plain weird.
However, some of its inherent goofiness is offset by its strong stats. The only problem is that Dratini can be very hard-- almost impossible-- to track down.
From the very start in Pokémon Red/Blue and Yellow, Dratini was elusive. Dratini is yet another Pokémon found in the dreaded Safari Zone.
To catch Dratini, players must go to a body of water within the Safari Zone and fish with the Super Rod, and only the Super Rod.
The Super Rod is a special kind of fishing rod that’s easily missable.
If each and every NPC isn’t talked to within the game, the player probably won't get it. Yet if all the prerequisites are met and time allows, Dratini has a pretty good shot of showing up. However, like all Safari Zone Pokémon, catching it is extremely difficult.
In future games, things got even worse. In Sun and Moon, Dratini can appear in a number of zones, but there’s usually only a 1% chance it’ll do so.
Other games require the same fishing rod restrictions with even smaller appear rates than those found in Red, Blue and Yellow.
It’s arguable whether Dratini is worth the trouble, but it definitely is trouble to find it.
Difficult: Bagon
Bagon evolves into one of the most powerful Dragon in Pokémon lore: Salamance. Yet it’s possible to play hours and hours of the games in which Bagon appears and never come across the baby dragon once.
Even though Bagon are in early locations and they’re Pokémon that a player should absolutely want on their squad, it takes a very specific knowledge and time investment to find one.
Bagon first appeared in the third generation of games, Ruby/Sapphire and Emerald. From the very start, they were easy to miss.
For its first appearances, Bagon could only be found in a rather late area of the game and only after the player had opened a very specific part of the Meteor Falls area. In subsequent versions, Bagon was placed close to the start of the game but made even more difficult to find.
In Sun and Moon, Bagon can be found on the very first island of the game. As soon as the game opens up, it’s possible to snag Bagon... theoretically.
Bagon can be found on Melemele Island’s Route 3, but only in one patch of grass and there’s a 99% chance you’ll never find it. (For you non-math minds, that means there’s 1% chance of it appearing.)
If the player wants to make things harder or is particularly sadistic, it’s also possible for a Salamance to appear in that early area but have the Bagon call for help. However, that’s a fraction of a percentage of an already impossibly low percentage.
Easy: Zekrom/Reshiram
The only way a player can get Zekrom and Reshiram in the same game is to buy two versions of essentially the same game (Pokémon White and Black) or have a generous friend.
Having both the main legendary Pokémon of generation 5 requires some wealth or popularity. However, to get just one of them requires very little effort.
Unlike most every other legendary Pokémon, Zekrom and Reshiram give the player multiple tries to catch them without the use of a save.
Zekrom and Reshiram are located towards the end of the game in Pokémon Black/White, in N’s Castle to be exact. When the player first encounters either Pokémon, they will be given a chance to fight and capture it.
However, if their party is full or the Pokémon faints, they’ll fail that chance.
This would be devastating in most Pokémon games, but not with Black and White. If either Legendary goes down, they’ll just appear again, as if nothing has happened. It’ll be in a new location, Dragonspiral Tower, but it’s still an extraordinary gift that most Pokémon games don’t allow.
There’s still only one Zekrom or Reshiram in each of their respective games. However, because the game gives you two chances, it feels like there are so more available. Especially if the game is saved right before either fight, as any sane Pokémon player would do.
Difficult: Feebas
Let’s not mince words. Feebas is one ugly Pokémon. It’s intentionally designed that way. Yet even if Feebas is supposed to be hideous, that doesn’t make its “destroy me now” eyes any less bone-chilling.
Feebas is the ugly duckling of the Pokémon franchise, even more than pathetic fellow fish Magikarp, as it evolves into the mermaid like Milotic. (This beautiful transformation is meant to be taken literal too, as Feebas only evolves into Miltotic when it’s “beauty” stat is high enough.)
Feebas is worth the effort, but the only reason to be excited about seeing its ugly mug is because of how long it takes it to appear.
In its original games, Ruby/Sapphire and Emerald, Feebas has a very high appear rate of about 50%. However, there's a catch.
Feebas only appears in certain “tiles” in large bodies of water and the tiles are randomized between games.
The only way to determine which tile Feebas will appear on is to go to each and every one of them, fish, and hope that it pops up.
In Pokemon Sun and Moon, things are even worst. There’s a 1% chance that Feebas will pop up in the fishing spot of Brooklet Hill.
Odds do approve, though, if the player fishes at a randomly appearing bubbling spot, but even then, the game isn’t too generous. The appearance rate only goes up by four percentage points to 5%.
Easy: Mewtwo
The only reasons why Mewtwo would be hard to catch is if you’re a child with no impulse control or you want a challenge for yourself.
Mewtwo is the first “Big Bad” of Pokémon. It’s the legendary Pokémon that is whispered about throughout the first three games and anyone who is paying attention (or has watched the anime) knows that Mewtwo will appear.
Mewtwo is the last big boss fight of Pokemon Red/Blue and Yellow. It’s also a battle that will be the definition of anticlimax if the player does what they’re meant to do and use a Master Ball.
The Master Ball is given to the player relatively late in Pokemon Blue/Red and Yellow. Yet it’s still early enough that the ignorant gamer can use it on any old regular Pikachu in the grass.
However, the game does everything it can to inform you that you should wait to the last possible second to use the powerful Master Ball .
The Master Ball will catch Mewtwo with no effort. The only real battle is finding the way to Pokémon in the dark cave it calls a home.
Mewtwo has appeared in more games than the originals. While it’s still very rare, with only of them being in the game, it’s just as easy to catch whether using a Master Ball or something slightly lower like an Ultra Ball.
Difficult: Mareanie
At first glance, it’s easy to mistake Maeranie has the aquatic Pokémon equivalent of Sia. It’s a relatively small monster hidden by enormous “hair.”
In reality, Mareanie is just as horrifying as it is difficult to find.
Mareanie is the natural prey of one specific Pokemon, Bruxish. Before you feel too sympathetic for Mareanie, you should know that it haunts another Pokémon in turn-- and it does this in the most predatory manner.
Mareanie are obsessed with hunting and destroying the coral looking Pokémon, Corsola. Mareanie will latch onto the face of the Corsola and poison until it passes away.
This isn’t just horrific backstory, it’s important information for how to catch a Mareanie in its one and only appearance during Pokemon Sun and Moon.
Mareanie can be discovered when the player encounters a Corsola. Corsola, obviously scared for their little pink lives, are very hard to find having 1% appear rate.
However, if the player finds one, they must scare the Corsola enough that it calls for help. Like Jaws sensing humans in the water, Mareanie will appear to "assist."
Looking at the actual lore of why Mareanie is appearing is scarring enough, but it is extra traumatizing how much time and effort goes into having the predator actually show up.
Not to mention that the player will have to defeat the Corsola, knocking it out of the battle to even have a chance of catching Mareanie. The real monster is you.
Easy: Cosmog
The most recent Pokémon games of Sun and Moon don’t make things easy on the player when it comes to catching regular Pokémon. This is part of the reason why it’s so hilarious how easy it is to catch one of the rarest and most unique monsters in the game, Cosmog.
The cloud-like Cosmog will eventually evolve into the lion-looking Solgaleo or the bat-esque, Lunala, depending on which version of the game you’re playing.
The battle to capture either Solgaleo or Lunala isn’t too difficult and it’s required to beat the game. However, it’s nothing compared to the cakewalk of catching Cosmog.
After the campaign of either Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, or Ultra Sun is over, all the player must do is go to the Lake of the Sunne or the Lake of the Moone.
The name of the location is dependent on the game. There, they will find Cosmog just floating around. Normally this would be a cause for a battle, but not this time.
All it takes to "catch" Cosmog is to walk up and interact with it. It'll agree to join your party and become a part of the team.
All of the effort it takes on the player’s side is reading roughly a paragraph worth of text and being able to press the A button.
Difficult: Female Salandit
Pokémon gender usually doesn’t matter all that much to the games. It doesn’t really affect the moves or stats of a Pokémon and it’s only really vital when it comes to breeding.
Two Pokémon of the same gender obviously can’t breed. (Though a massive Wailord can have an egg with an itty bitty Skitty for whatever reason). However, with a particular Pokémon in the Sun and Moon generation, gender matters a lot.
Salandit is a Pokémon that will only involve if it is a female. Male Salandits will always be a Salandit no matter what level they reach.
Starting at level 33, female Salandits will evolve into the much snazzier Salazzle. It’s a cool mechanic... or it would be if the female Salandit wasn’t so hard to find.
Male Salandits are very easy to find. They’re located in Route 8 or Wela Volcano Park in Sun and Moon. There’s a 30% chance that a Salandit will appear, which sounds awesome.
However, of the entire Salandit population, only 12.5% of them are female. This, as can be imagined, makes for a very frustrating experience, as even though chances are good to run into a Salandit, it’s almost certainly not going to be a lady.
Having a male Salandit call for help from another Pokémon does help raise the stakes, but only slightly.
The player is just going to be leaving a pile of male Salandit bodies in its wake before it finally stumbles upon the elusive female of the species.
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Do you agree with this list? Which Pokémon did you find the hardest or easiest to catch in the games you played? Sound off in the comments!