Pokémon: 20 Things That Make No Sense About Professor Oak
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Professor Oak might be one of the smartest people in the Pokémon universe, but that doesn’t mean that he makes any sense.
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Those of us who were brought into the world of Pokémon during the era of Pokémon Red & Blue will remember Professor Oak as being the one who acted as the gatekeeper to becoming a Pokémon trainer. He was the one who gave you your starter Pokémon and sent you off on a journey to defeat the eight Gym Leaders, to conquer the Elite Four, and to smite his grandson in a battle to become the Champion of Kanto.
To many fans, Professor Oak is the quintessential Pokémon professor. He keeps making cameos in different Pokémon games and it seems as if every new professor is somehow connected to him, either through friendship or in a master/student style of relationship. Professor Oak even managed to steal the spotlight away from Professor Elm in Pokémon Gold & Silver.
Professor Oak may be one of the most beloved characters in the Pokémon franchise, but that doesn’t mean that he is good at his job. It’s a well-known fact that Professor Oak has a terrible memory, which is a huge impediment to someone whose job involves researching animals for a living. The constant changes to the Pokémon video games also mean that new discoveries are made every day, some of which should have been found years ago by the likes of Professor Oak.
We are here today to question the forgetful academic who introduced us to the world of Pokémon all of those years ago: from the mystery surrounding his child, to the strange events surrounding his childhood.
Here are Twenty Things That Don’t Make Sense About Professor Oak!
20 What Happened To Professor Oak’s Son/Daughter?
It’s not unusual for a character in the Pokémon world to be missing a parental figure. To date; only the protagonist of Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald (and their remakes) has a father, with every other main character only having a mother who appears on-screen.
In the case of Professor Oak, we have yet to learn the fate of his son or daughter who produced the original protagonist: Blue Oak.
Professor Oak has yet to mention what happened to his children in either the anime or video game canon of Pokémon. It was mentioned in one of the obscure Pokémon manga series that they perished in a car crash, but that has yet to be confirmed in any other medium.
19 Why Is He A Professor Outside Of Japan?
Professor Oak has been lying to us ever since the days of Pokémon Red & Blue. He has been lying to us since he first opened his mouth.
It isn’t just Professor Oak who is lying to you, as Professor Elm, Professor Birch, Professor Rowan, Professor Juniper, Professor Sycamore, and Professor Kukui have also been deceiving you.
The Pokémon professors aren’t actually professors. Their title in the Japanese version of the game is doctor. This means that he was Doctor Oak all of this time.
The switch from doctor to professor may have been a way of better relating their profession to the audience, as they spend more time researching Pokémon than healing them.
18 Why Do The Localizers Play With The Hearts Of Oak/Delia Shippers?
It has long been joked by the Pokémon fanbase that the reason why Professor Oak sent Red/Ash and Gary/Oak on their Pokémon journey was so that he could hit on Delia Ketchum in peace.
The idea of a potential relationship between Professor Oak and Delia Ketchum is something that has been teased in the English dub of the Pokémon anime, with Oak seemingly writing her a love letter in “Showdown at the Oak Corral.”
The Pokémon anime is no stranger to censorship, with seemingly innocuous lines being changed for the English dub. This begs the question of why the localizers would add a storyline where Professor Oak is trying to put his true feelings for Delia Ketchum into words, when it didn’t exist in the original version of the episode.
17 How Is He Contacting The Player When They Use Their Bike Indoors?
One of the most frustrating aspects of the Pokémon series is the inability to ride your bike indoors. This was especially annoying in the earlier Pokémon games when you couldn’t run and the only way to increase your movement speed was by using the bike.
If you tried to use the bike indoors in the old Pokémon games, you would receive a message from Professor Oak telling you that it wasn’t the right time or place. It seems that Professor Oak briefly gained the power of Professor Xavier, as he gains some amazing telepathic abilities whenever a kid tries to ride their bike indoors.
The later Pokémon games changed the message so that it was just the player remembering Professor Oak’s words, rather than hearing them directly.
16 Why Does He Hoard The Last Starter Pokémon?
In Pokémon Red & Blue, the player is given a choice between three different starter Pokémon; Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Once the player picks their Pokémon, their rival will make the second choice and they will always go for the Pokémon that has a type advantage against you.
The third Pokémon that isn’t selected is just left on the table and its fate is left unexplored. If Professor Oak really wanted you and your rival to complete the Pokédex, then why didn’t he give you the last Pokémon?
It’s possible that Professor Oak just didn’t want to run out of active Pokémon, but he could have went outside, caught a Pidgey, and then given the other starter away.
15 Why Did He Stop Caring About The GS Ball?
The GS Ball is one of the many important plot points that was dropped when the Pokémon anime moved to a cyclical narrative. Professor Oak sent Ash Ketchum to two different regions in order to uncover the mysteries of the GS Ball, yet it was left with Kurt in Johto and never mentioned again.
Professor Oak was so determined to discover the secret of the GS Ball that he sent one of his proteges running across two regions, yet he never seemed to care about when it was taken to Johto.
14 How Did He Know About Mewtwo?
Professor Oak first sends you and your rival out on a journey to catch all of the Pokémon in the Kanto region. This includes all 150 Pokémon in the game, as Mew could only be acquired through special events (or glitches) and was not required for 100% completion of the Pokédex.
The original Pokédex was created by Professor Oak for the purposes of chronicling the existence of every Pokémon in the Kanto region. It’s never explained how Professor Oak knew of the existence of Mewtwo, seeing as its creation was a secret. Did he encounter Mewtwo at some point in the past? Had Mr. Fuji told him about the creation of Mewtwo at the Pokémon Mansion?
13 Why Doesn’t He Know About The World Beyond Kanto?
Professor Oak is one of the most respected academics in the Pokémon world. He was once a powerful trainer (at least on the same level as Agatha from the Elite Four) and went on to create the original Pokédex.
As the world of Pokémon grew, the Kanto region became just one of many different parts of the planet. This raises the question of why Professor Oak is so ignorant about the amount of Pokémon outside of the Kanto region in the first region.
This might have been easy to explain if Professor Oak had never left Kanto, but the later games established that he is connected to many of the other important figures in the world, with two of his best friends (Kurt and Mr. Pokémon) living in Johto.
12 How Did He Miss All Of Those Types?
As the Pokémon series has progressed, there have been new types added to the game. Pokémon Gold & Silver introduced Dark and Steel-type Pokémon, which was partly in an effort to balance out the overpowered Psychic-type Pokémon from the first generation of games. Pokémon X & Y would add Fairy-type Pokémon to the game, which helped to balance out Dragon-type Pokémon.
The addition of new types is meant to be retroactive, with previously established Pokémon gaining these new types, like Magnemite becoming part Steel-type and Clefairy becoming a Fairy-type Pokémon.
It’s never explained how Professor Oak missed these different types in the older generation of games and it can’t really be explained by anything except a retcon.
11 Why Is He Such A Scrooge With The Poké Balls?
One of the most well-hidden secrets in Pokémon Red & Blue is the fact that you can snag some free Poké Balls from Professor Oak at the start of the game. To do this, you need to have defeated your rival outside of the Pokémon League without purchasing any Poké Balls. If you do this and return to Professor Oak, then he will give you five free Poké Balls.
The vast majority of players will buy Poké Balls and start catching Pidgeys and Rattatas at the first possible opportunity. This is why most players have never received the free Poké Balls from Professor Oak.
We have to wonder why Professor Oak is so stingy. Why does the player need to jump through hoops in order to receive some help from him?
10 Why Is He So Hard On His Grandson?
Blue Oak is only given a short time in which to celebrate becoming the Champion of the Indigo League, as he is swiftly defeated by the player in what is meant to be the most difficult trainer battle in the game.
When you have finally defeated your rival at the end of Pokémon Red & Blue, Professor Oak will enter the room and congratulate you on your victory. Oak will then bash his grandson for not treating his Pokémon with trust and love, and that he will never become the Champion again until he understands this.
Professor Oak is being quite dense here, as his grandson had just conquered the Eight Gym Leaders and Elite Four within a short space of time. He had accomplished a great deal as a Pokémon trainer, yet Oak criticises him for not being good enough.
9 What’s The Deal With The Parcel & The Poké Balls?
One of the first quests in the Pokémon series involves traveling to Viridian City, in order to pick up a parcel for Professor Oak. Once you complete this mission, you will be given a Pokédex and sent off on your journey.
The contents of Oak’s parcel are a set of custom Poké Balls. This begs the question of what Professor Oak actually needed them for? Professor Oak had given up on being a trainer and was specficially sending you and Blue off on the journey to catch them all.
It’s possible that these Poké Balls are the same that he will give you if you don’t catch any Pokémon before defeating Blue for a second time, but why are they called custom Poké Balls when they function the same as regular ones?
8 What’s Wrong With His Nidorino?
Nidorino is an important Pokémon, as it was one of the first creatures seen in both the anime and the first generation of Pokémon games. This is due to the fact that it is seen battling Gengar during the intro sequence of Pokémon Red & Blue and Ash watches the same battle during the opening of the first episode of the Pokémon anime.
Professor Oak summons a Nidorino during the introduction of Pokémon Red & Blue and uses it as an example of what a Pokémon is. The problem with this introduction is that his Nidorino has the wrong cry. The Nidorino used by Professor Oak has the cry of a Nidorina, rather than the one it uses throughout the game.
7 How Does He Have Time For A Radio Job?
Pokémon Gold & Silver introduced a radio item that you could listen to in order to gain tips about various aspects of the world. These shows included one hosted by DJ Mary and Professor Oak, called Professor Oak’s Pokémon Talk. The purpose of this show is to tell the player where rare Pokémon can be found, as well as the location of swarms.
Professor Oak’s Pokémon Talk runs throughout the afternoon every day of the week. This begs the question of where Professor Oak finds the time to hold a full-time radio host job, whilst also acting as a researcher. He would be lucky if he had even a few hours of day to himself, let alone spending any time researching Pokémon.
6 Why Does He Wait Before Giving You The National Dex?
One of the stupidest aspects of Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen is the fact that certain Pokémon cannot evolve until you acquire the National Dex. This is an upgarded version of the regular Pokédex that cannot be acquired until after you complete the game. If you don’t possess the National Dex, then any first generation Pokémon you have cannot evolve into any new forms they gained in later generations.
You are given the National Dex by Professor Oak after completing several different missions, which raises the question of why he doesn’t give it to you soon. It also raises the question of how the absence of his National Dex can prevent Pokémon from evolving.
5 Where Did He Find The Jade Orb?
It’s possible to encounter the three Legendary Pokémon that make up the weather trio in Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver. You can catch Kyogre in Pokémon HeartGold and Groudon in Pokémon SoulSilver. Once you have caught these two Pokémon, you can bring them to Professor Oak and he will present you with a Jade Orb, which you can then use to encounter Rayquaza in the Embedded Tower.
It’s never explained where Professor Oak found the Jade Orb, which is an item of great significance from the Hoenn region. It’s also never explained why he doesn’t give it to you sooner.
4 Why Is He So Dense About Articuno?
In the 2nd episode of the Pokémon anime, Ash Ketchum rushes to a Pokémon Centre in order to seek out help for his wounded Pikachu. While he is there, he contacts Professor Oak about the mysterious Pokémon that he witnessed at the end of the first episode, which turned out to be Ho-Oh. Ash pointed to a picture of Articuno and Professor Oak claimed that people had spent their entire lives looking for that Pokémon, to no avail.
It seems that Lawrence III isn’t like most men, as he managed to track down all three of the Legendary Birds pretty easily in the 2nd Pokémon movie. An Articuno later appears as on the team of Norland of the Frontier Brains, making it one of the few Legendary Pokémon to be used by a regular trainer in the anime.
3 Why Did He Pull A Master Roshi?
In Dragon Ball, Master Roshi enters the World Martial Arts Tournament in the guise of Jackie Chun, so that he could test the mettle of his students. Professor Oak does the same thing in the Pokémon Adventures manga, as he takes on the identity of Dr. O in order to challenge Green and determine whether she had changed as a person, as she had previously stolen his Squirtle.
The problem with Professor Oak’s disguise is that he wrapped a bandana around his face and didn’t cover it properly, meaning that it wasn’t much of a mask. We suspect that the only reason he took on the disguise was so he could wear a muscle vest and show off the guns that are normally covered by his lab coat.
2 What Was Going To Happen With Oak In The Lost Gold & Silver Demo?
The leaked demo of Pokémon Gold & Silver showed us what the game may have looked like, before it was totally overhauled during development.
The Pokémon Gold & Silver demo has a data that suggests that Professor Oak would have been a trainer that you would have had to battle during the game. This relates to Pokémon Red & Blue, as there is data for a climactic battle with Professor Oak within the files of those games.
Was the Professor Oak battle originally going to be saved for the sequel? Red is just a regular Gym Leader in the game, so it’s possible that Professor Oak may have been the true final battle before the plans were changed.
1 Did Oak Remember Ash From His Past?
Ash Ketchum was given the chance to meet a young Professor Oak in Pokémon 4Ever – Celebi: The Voice of the Forest, which was the fourth Pokémon movie. This happens due to Celebi using its time-travel powers to bring the two of them together.
At the end of the movie, it’s revealed that Professor Oak remembered the events of the film from his youth, as he still kept the sketches that he drew during that period of time.
Does this mean that Professor Oak recognized Ash when they first met in the present timeline and was always aware that he would have Pikachu as his partner and would become a great Pokémon trainer? Was Professor Oak always walking on eggshells, as he didn’t want to do anything that would disrupt the timeline?
Scott has been writing for The Gamer since it launched in 2017 and also regularly contributes to Screen Rant. He has previously written gaming articles for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz. He has been gaming since the days of the ZX Spectrum, when it used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott thinks Chrono Trigger is the best video game of all time, followed closely by Final Fantasy Tactics and Baldur’s Gate 2. He pretends that sorcerer is his favorite Dungeons & Dragons class in public but he secretly loves bards.
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