10 Terrible Pokémon Ash Struggled To Catch

Ash can defeat other trainers with little to no struggle, but wild Pokémon are his biggest weakness. Here are 10 he struggled to catch.

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When it comes time to saving the day, Ash is often the one who gets it done in the Pokémon anime. He’s a pinnacle hero who at times feels like a walking archetype. What’s odd is that despite this, he often struggles to catch Pokémon. He can defeat other trainers with little to no struggle, but wild Pokémon are his biggest weakness.

Ash either struggles to catch Pokémon or jumps through a ridiculous amount of hoops to earn their trust—making him both the best and worst trainer.

10 Ash Tried To Use Caterpie To Capture Pidgeotto

Ash’s initial struggles to capture Pidgeotto can be contributed entirely to him being a little bit of an idiot in the earlier parts of the series. He didn’t even know the basics of catching Pokémon, nor did he understand the advantages or disadvantages they had in combat.

That led him to try to capture a Pidgeotto with the bug-type Caterpie. Thankfully for him, he also had a Pikachu, who helped seal the deal for him and overcome his idiocy.

9 Mankey Beat Ash Up And Stole His Hat

Ash’s Mankey and later Primeape was always a thorn in his side. Even more than Charizard, the Pokémon had very little respect for Ash, often beating him up. That’s what happened when Mankey was first introduced. He stole some of Brock’s food and then took Ash’s hat after punching him.

It only got worse as he evolved, Ash taking four or five tries before he managed to capture the Pokémon. Even then, it was by the skin of his teeth.

8 Roggenrola Took Multiple Battles To Subdue

Roggenrola isn’t much to look at, despite have a punny name. Its defensive capabilities make it an annoyance to capture, something Ash found out the hard way. Roggenrola managed to defeat Oshawott and Tepig with ease, sending Team Rocket blasting away as well.

Ash did manage to defeat it in their rematch, but it’s a little embarrassing a trainer with as much skill as him couldn’t have captured it the first time, especially with the roster he had at that point.

7 Turtwig Defeated Ash Their First Battle

Turtwig was built up to be stronger than he was in his initial episode. When first revealed, he was a caretaker to the wild Pokémon in the area, protecting them from outsiders and breaking up fights when needed.

When Ash first encountered him, he beat back the trainer after mistaking him for someone who wrongfully desired to capture the injured Pikachu. A round between the two happened later, with Pikachu at full health. That’s when Ash was able to capture the spunky little Pokémon.

6 Pidove Continued Ash’s Trend Of Catching Flying Pokémon

For whatever reason, Ash had a penchant for always catching flying Pokémon early on in his journey. That didn’t change in the Unova Region as Pidove was the very first Pokémon he caught there.

It wasn’t easy, either. Ash initially disturbed Pidove’s nest with his failure to catch one, and even his one on one battle with the one he caught was no walk in the park. The Pidove put up a heck of a fight with Ash’s Pikachu, almost gaining the upper hand before a Thunderbolt put it out of commission.

5 Muk’s Stench Was Greater Than It’s Battle Prowess

Arguably, Muk is the worst Pokémon Ash has ever owned and that included the Caterpie he had before it evolved into Butterfree. Muk only had one thing going for it, and that’s its rancid stench.

The Pokémon was so smelly that its odor could seep through a Pokéball. Despite that, it took the combined might of Pikachu and Magnemite to take the Muk down when it was first introduced. Given that Ash rarely used him, it’s surprising so much was needed to capture him.

4 Snivy Turned It’s Nose Up At Ash

Snivy is a strange case as when they were first introduced, it seemed like it was going to become a core of Ash’s team. It showed talent far exceeding most wild Pokémon and outright made fun of Ash on multiple occasions, clowning him in battle. That ended up not being the case once Ash owned the Pokémon.

It rarely won battles and seemed to rely entirely on its attract ability. Without that, Snivy was a relative weakling in comparison to other Pokémon.

3 Palpitoad Was More Of A Leader Than A Powerful Pokémon

When he was first introduced, Palpitoad seemed like he was going to be stronger than he was. He was the leader of a band of Tympole, seen as their great protector. When Ash and Oshawott encroached on his territory, he felt the need to defend it alongside his friend, Stunkfisk.

The sheer numbers at Palpitoad’s disposal proved more of an issue than he did, even if he gave Oshawatt a decent enough fight. Given that the whole episode was about Oshawott’s development, Palpitoad was scaled up a little higher in strength than he truly was.

2 Totodile Forced Misty And Ash To Battle For The Right Of Capturing Him

Much like with Snivy, Totodile was built up to be far stronger than he was in his initial episode. He blew away Ash and Misty’s Pokéball and even blasted off Team Rocket all by himself. He was so highly thought of that Misty and Ash dueled for the right to catch him.

However, once in Ash’s possession, all Totodile seemed to do was lose. It’s the case of a Pokémon being a more interesting character than it was a strong combatant.

1 Torkoal Had An Abysmal League Battle Record

Of all the Pokémon that Ash had, Torkoal was one of the worst. He constantly lost in league battles, and for whatever reason, Ash kept picking the Pokémon.

Unlike most others on this list, Ash’s struggle to capture Torkoal wasn’t due to him being dumb or the Pokémon being overturned because of Torkoal. Ash had to save the turtle from its own weakness, commanding it to use a move against a wild Steelix before it was even officially his Pokémon.

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