The Best Pokémon Events In Franchise History

Do you remember the golden age of Pokémon? Before the release of the Nintendo Switch and Game Freak's rushed kind of game development, there was a time when the company genuinely cared about the Pokémon franchise, investing heart and soul into each generation of the series.

Today, we'll take a nostalgic journey back in time to explore the best events for mythical Pokémon and others, appreciating the greatness that Pokémon once embodied and acknowledging the perceived decline with the Nintendo Switch titles. Join us on this trip and an experience you may never encounter again.

Top 7 Iconic Pokémon Events You Will Never See Again

The following Top 7 of Pokémon events are compiled by personal preference and experience. So don't get mad if your favorite event didn't make it in the roster. Without further ado, let's begin with our number 7!

7. GS Ball

Let's start right off with the so-called GS ball. This special 'Gold & Silver' ball (tribute to the Gen II Pokémon games Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver) was only obtainable in Pokémon Crystal in Gen II, making it a rare and iconic item that otherwise only got an appearance in the Pokémon Anime.

This ball is the most mysterious one of them all. In the Anime, Ash hands over the item to Kurt, a skilled Pokéball manufacturer. After that, the ball won't get mentioned again and the secret about it will not be revealed.

However, a cool event in Pokémon Crystal and the manga for the franchise suggests that inside of the ball, there might be the mythical time travelling Pokémon Celebi.

Back then, the GS ball event, with which the Pokémon could be met, was only available for the japanese version of Pokémon Crystal and never made it to America or Europe. And since you couldn't receive our favorite onion fairy any other way, even in the following Pokémon generations, this mythical Pokémon was challenging to obtain, making it a Pokémon with a huge rarity factor.

The event was downloadable all the way back in 2001, once on March 29 and another time during the whole period of August. Below, you can check out what the event looked like:

1. After becoming the champion of the Johto region, a Pokémon employee in Dukatia City will stop you in the city's Pokémon Center and hand you the GS ball.
2. Then, you had to enter Kurt's house in Azaela City to show him the GS ball, taking a day to examine the special item.
3. After Kurt has been given time, he'd tell you to check out the Ilex Forest. Behind a cutter tree you'd find a shrine.
4. Interacting with the shrine triggers the event and Celebi will finally appear in front of you at level 30.

Hidden Celebi:There's a Shiny sprite for Celebi hidden inside Pokemon Gen 3's internal data. But Celebi could only be obtained via special event distributions, and they were all Shiny locked.As a result, unless you used cheats, it was impossible to ever see this Shiny Celebi. pic.twitter.com/IxwZifYo7F

— Dr. Lava (@DrLavaYT) November 3, 2019

However, there were unfortunate news for shiny hunters. Back then, Celebi was Shiny locked and could only be caught in its default form.

Since 2018, though, you could download Pokémon Crystal in its VC version for the Nintendo 3DS,till the Nintendo eShop was shutdown for Nintendo 3DS systems. In that version, the GS ball event was permanently offered. And not only that, but for the first time ever (without cheating), it was possible to get the Shiny version of the Pokémon with a chance of 1 in 8,192.

6. Pikachu-colored Pichu

Our well deserved number 6 is the Pichu event in Pokémon Heartgold and Soulsilver. Pichu, the preevolution of Pikachu, may be almost as popular as Pikachu itself. That's why it makes total sense that Game Freak decided to give it its own event.

Meanwhile Pichu might look a bit odd in a roster filled with mythical Pokémon, I promise that there is a good reason behind it.

All the way back in March 2010, you could get the Pikachu-colored Pichu in Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum as a Wi-Fi event. In Japan, it was a bit different: for a pre-ordered movie ticket for the 12 Pokémon movie, you could get the 'original' Pikachu-colored Pichu. However, the Pichu that you could just download literally acted as the same as the one from Japan, so it didn't really matter how you got it.

Until now, this event seems a bit boring, right? But hold on. When you transferred the Pikachu-colored Pichu to Pokémon Heartgold and Soulsilver, you were able to get an iconic Pokémon that has never ever appeared again in any Pokémon game.

And no, the Pikachu-colored Pichu might just look like a Shiny Pichu and even got the Shiny mark in-game, but doesn't behave like normal Shiny Pichu, since the latter won't trigger the following event.

We are talking about the so-called 'spiky-eared Pichu'. All you had to do is to (once again) go in the Ilex Forest in front of Celebi's shrine with the Pikachu-colored Pichu in your pocket. Ta-da! The unique level 30 spiky-eared Pichu joins your party. Downside? It doesn't evolve and can not be traded to other games. But hey, at least it looks just adorable and got cool moves that a Pichu normally wouldn't be able to learn back then, like Volt Tackle for example.

And to take it up a notch, this Pichu comes from the future! If you show Professor Elm your Pokémon, he'll tell you that it's the proof of the timetravelling powers of Celebi. And that's supposed to be the reason why you also can't trade it. Game Freak really thought that through, damn.

I wish Game Freak would bring back such iconic events where specific Pokémon could only be in one and only one game, making it a truly special event. Maybe 'Ukulele Pichu' from Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs would be a great addition to the next main line game! We got so many special Pichus! Please think about it, Game Freak...

5. Oak's Letter

All the way back in 2009, you could get the key item 'Oak's letter' in Pokémon Platinum. With this item, you were able to catch the mythical Pokémon Shaymin. And here is what you had to do:

1. After receiving Professor Oak's letter, you are asked to go to Route 224, A Route which is only reachable in the post game.
2. Once there, you'll find Professor Oak next to a mysterious white rock. He will ask you whom you would like to thank, since the rock is meant to record what people are most thankful for.
3. Once you registered your answer, a sea of fragrant flowers together with Shaymin will appear
4. Once you reached the end of the Seabreak Path, which emerged together with all the flowers, you'd find Shaymin waiting for a battle in its Flower Paradise.

In the old days, the fact that a giant path appears just for a Pokémon, made the cute flower hedgehog so special. Also, all these beautiful visuals and the cozy music would take your breath away, making it an extremely unique event.

And another cute little feature is that your answer will stay carved in the mysterious white rock. By interacting with it, the following message will appear: '[Your answer], to whom I give my thanks.' This gives it a meaningful gesture! Unless you make a joke out of it and put some random bullsh*t in there.

This event has appeared in the remakes Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl once more. But let's be honest, these two games just had no charm at all compared to the original games.

Even more exciting is that Shaymin can change its landform into its sky form, transforming its looks and granting it the Flying Type. There are three ways to do so:

1. Shaymin gets frozen. Kinda rough, since it's a Grass Type Pokémon, lol.
2. It's night.
3. Use the key item 'Gracidea'

During daytime, you can get the Gracidea by a woman in Floaroma Town, making it possible to change Shaymin's form also during the day without exposing it to the low chance of getting frozen.

4. Relic Song

In 2012 in Japan and one year later also in Europe and America, the mythical Pokémon Meloetta was accessible in so called In-Life events where you could get a download code in specific local shops like GameStop or Toys'R'Us for the games Pokémon Black and White, as well as Black 2 and White 2.

The event itself seems kinda boring if not annoying, since you couldn't just download the event, but instead had to find a local shop where you could snatch a download code for the Pokémon.

However, after you received Meloetta, you can take it to the café in Castelia City. Once you were there, you would learn about some background story of the Pokémon and how it lost its voice in times past.

Meanwhile a hippie in the café would play an old song on his instrument, Meloetta gets inspired and will finally start singing again.

Then, you were able to teach it the special move Relic Song: with this song, Meloetta can change its form in battle whenever used and will change its stats as well as its typing.

Until now, this event has never got a comeback. It's also the only event where you will get a performance by a Pokémon, making it memorizable and unforgettable for everyone who experienced it back then, especially with music you would never hear else where.

3. Resolute Form

Another unique event for Generation V and in the top 3 of our roster was the Keldeo event. Just like Meloetta you could obtain the Pokémon in In-Life events, but later on luckily also via Wi-Fi.

Keldeo is a mythical Pokémon, raised by the Swords of Justice, Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion. After a lot of training with its parents, it became even stronger than the Swords of Justice itself, finally able to carve a cut into a huge rock together with the other immortalized sections.

All the background information and lore about the Swords of Justice, raising Keldeo until it outgrows them, combined with great animations, is what makes the event so special.

Receiving Keldeo in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, you could change its appearance to its resolute form, showing its real power he gained through all the training.

For that, you had to go to Pledge Grove, interacting with the special rock with the Sword of Justice in your party.

Then, Keldeo will be given the ability to learn the special move Secret Sword. If this move is finally taught to the Pokémon, it will change into its resolute form with a sick animation in-game.

2. Aurora Ticket

Birth Island is a mysterious triangle-shaped island reachable for multiple regions like Kanto or Hoenn. To get access to it, you'd need the Aurora Ticket which was distributed in 2005 for Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green, as well as Pokémon Emerald.

Once you're on the island, you'll find a strange black triangle in the middle of it. After interacting with it several times, it will get an increasingly red color. When it's back on its starting position and you were clicking on it, our number 2 of this list, the mythical Pokémon Deoxys would appear outer space, ready for a battle.

Until 2014 with the remakes of Gen III games (Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Saphire), Deoxys never received another event that was worthy of it (so, no simple Wi-Fi distribution).

On top of that, Birth Island did not emerge again in any other game, making it a truly strange and creepy place for a strange and creepy Pokémon. Because if you're once on this island, there will be no music at all. Only disturbing sounds by clicking on the triangle, bringing an uncomfortable feeling into it. Every child probably sh*t its pants back then.

As if that wasn't enough, once you're in the battle against Deoxys, the strange noises of the triangle transform in an unpromising music that let's your heart pound faster. If you want to know what we're talking about, check out the video below:

Next to its Base Forme, Deoxys also got 3 other forms: Defense Forme, Attack Forme and Speed Forme. Depending on which Pokémon game you had back then, you'd get a specific form after catching it, making it even more unique than it already is.

1. Member Card

Last but not least, we got our glorious number 1 for this list. This event is the creepiest event in Pokémon history and really deserves its spot. It was also almost simultaneously with the event for Shaymin in 2009.

With the key item 'Member Card' only available for Pokémon Platinum, you could enter a house in Canalave City that was locked otherwise.

Inside the house, an old man puts you in the lone bed in the room where you immediately fell asleep, but not on your own volition.

Suddenly, you'd wake up on New Moon Island which is the counterpart to Full Moon Island and its resident Cresselia. Once you followed the path of the island, you'd find the mythical Pokémon Darkrai, the nightmare Pokémon itself, under the shade of some trees and floating ouminously over a small puddle which symbolizes the new moon.

After challenging the Pokémon, you were back in the room, awakening from your strange journey. This time, though, the old man disappeared.

When you left the house a man would stop you and ask why you were in there. He also quoted that 'you've been asleep for a long, long time' and nobody had been in the house for 50 years.

Strange...maybe it was all a dream after all? But wait. You got Darkrai in your party. Maybe that means you were lucky to ever wake up...

There are lots of questions unanswered about this event which makes it so mysterious and fascinating. Combined with some uncanny music, you'd get nightmares in real life. Can't believe they did this to literal children. It's great, though!

Honorable Mention: Azure Flute

The following event would've made it into the list, too. Unfortunately, it was never released and not obtainable in any official kind of way until it made its legal debut in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. And yes, we're once again talking about an event for Gen IV, get over it. Their events were just incredible, you can't deny it.

Never distributed, but still containing the event, Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum included the 'Azure Flute' as a key item in their games.

With this item, you could've gone to the Hall of Origin on the Spear Pillar, being able to encounter The god among all Pokémon, Arceus. And yes, Arceus is a mythical Pokémon and not a legendary.

All you would've had to do is to use the 'Azure Flute' at the entrance of the Spear Pillar. This would've led to a staircase appearing in front of you. On top of it, Arceus would've waited for you to encounter it in its Hall of Origin.

It's really sad that Game Freak decided to not release this event. But hey, at least we finally got it in the worst remakes in Pokémon history...

Whatever, we hope you had fun on this journey with us by looking at the best Pokémon events that you'll probably never see again (sadly).