Game mascot

The mascot of a Pokémon game is the Pokémon that appears on the boxart—and often label—of that game.

Early on, the mascot of a game was not necessarily relevant plot-wise, and did not have to be even met to complete the game. Generation III (with the exception of the Generation I remakes) began the trend of the game mascot being mandatory to encounter in order to progress the plot, and more recent games even force the player to catch the mascot to continue. Game mascot Pokémon are often given increased catch rates and the ability to respawn if they are defeated in order to account for this. All game mascots are Legendary Pokémon except for games where the player starts in Kanto, which feature a starter Pokémon instead.

In general, only core series games have mascots, as most side series and spin-off games display multiple Pokémon on their box covers and so none of them qualify as mascots. The only current exceptions to this are Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness and Detective Pikachu.

In most games, when pressing A or Start on the title screen the game mascot's Cry will be heard.