Pokemon: 7 Most Annoying NPCs, Ranked

Highlights

• Volkner’s apathy makes him an annoying gym leader. Players must track him down just to get a battle.
• Blue’s bragging and constant battles can get under players’ skin. Beating him is a final, satisfying victory.
• Youngster Joey’s incessant phone calls for rematches make him an extremely annoying NPC in the game.

The Pokemon games are full of varied and interesting NPCs that populate the world so that each region feels like a real place. Some of these NPCs help the player progress, offer useful advice, or provide them with a battle, so they can improve their skills as a Pokemon trainer.

Then there are the NPCs in the games that are just a nuisance. This could be because they hold the player up during their journey, or just have an unlikable personality. Either way, the Pokemon games are full of annoying NPCs.

7 Volkner

Players Must Seek Out This Apathetic Gym Leader

The eighth and final gym in the Sinnoh region is run by the Electric-type gym leader, Volkner. This leader isn’t annoying because of his stoic personality, or even because of how irritating his gym puzzle is to solve with the many changing pathways. Instead, it is Volkner’s general apathy toward his role in these games that makes him a particularly annoying challenge to face.

When the player finally reaches Sunnyshore town to try and win the last badge in the game, they are met by a new character. This red-headed man is Flint, a member of the Elite Four in that region. He informs the player that the local gym leader is not feeling up to battling trainers anymore, so the player has to show Volkner a great battle to reinvigorate him. This character development is the first annoyance, but when players head to the gym, Volkner isn’t even there. Therefore, players must look all over the town before they find the gym leader in the lighthouse to coerce him into doing the job he was already meant to be doing.

6 Blue

Can Get Under The Player’s Skin With His Bragging

The first rival to appear in the Pokemon franchise is the pointy-haired Blue. As the grandson of Professor Oak, this trainer also gets his first Pokemon alongside the player, and the two begin their journey together. Rather than forming a friendly bond with the player, though, Blue proceeds to be antagonistic at every opportunity.

Even before he gets his first Pokemon, Blue taunts the player by bragging about what a better trainer he is than them. This behavior continues all through the games, as Blue constantly shows up for a battle and explains that he is still one step ahead. The final straw comes when the player beats the Elite Four, only to learn that Blue has done the same thing moments before. As such, the player then has to beat their rival in one last match to be crowned champion and complete the game.

5 Fisherman

Wasting The Player’s Time

Every trainer in the Pokemon franchise is designated by a class based on the type they specialize in. These were the only ways to distinguish these characters in Generation One, but Generation Two onwards gave these trainers a class and name. Therefore, there is no other way to identify this particularly annoying NPC from Gen One outside his Fisherman moniker.

The Fisherman trainer class refers to any Pokemon trainer who specializes in using Water-types. They are normally found in coastal areas of the map, and the most annoying Fisherman in the games can be found on Route 21. This Fisherman is irritating because his team consists of six Magikarps, a Pokemon that cannot attack the player and gives out little experience when fainting. Therefore, all this trainer accomplishes in his appearance is wasting the players’ time. A new version of this type of Fisherman makes an appearance in every generation after this, but this trainer gets a special mention as he is the first to waste everyone’s time with his team of six useless Pokemon.

4 Psyduck

An Annoying Roadblock

Not all annoying NPCs in the Pokemon games are human. In fact, one of the most consistent tropes in the series is putting a Pokemon on a route to prevent the player from progressing. In the first three generations, these roadblocks were formed by rare Pokemon that could not be found elsewhere in the region in Snorlax, Sudowoodo, and Kechleon, respectively, giving the player a chance to add a new rare Pokemon to their team. However, the Generation Four games do away with the positive part of the trope entirely.

In the Generation Four games, the Pokemon that block the players’ path in Celestic Town is a group of Psyduck who are paralyzed by a headache. Psyduck can be found on many other routes in these games, so they aren’t a rare sight. Plus, the only way to clear them is by using the Secret Medicine that is given to players by Cynthia after they beat the fourth gym. There is no battle, or even a chance to catch a unique version of this Pokemon. Psyduck just remains as an annoying roadblock until pushed to move on.

3 Mindy

Wants An Unfair Trade

Trading Pokemon is a big mechanic in the franchise. The option to trade one Pokemon for another has been around since Generation One, and players can trade with friends or with specific NPCs in the games. Some Pokemon will only be able to evolve after a trade. One of these Pokemon is Haunter, which is why many players were happy when they found an NPC named Mindy in Snowpoint City looking to trade a Haunter for a Medicham.

Meditite is an easy Pokemon to find in the wild in Generation Four, and it evolves into Medicham at level 37. Therefore, any player who reaches Snowpoint City can easily have a Medicham that is free to trade for the benefit of receiving a powerful Gengar. Sadly, the Haunter that Mindy trades is holding an Everstone, an item that prevents evolution. What’s more, Haunter is another easy Pokemon to find in the wild in Sinnoh, which makes this trade unfair and unnecessary.

2 Youngster Joey

Annoys The Player With His Incessant Phone Calls

The Youngster trainer class is normally found on early routes in Pokemon games, and they normally use low-level Pokemon that can be found on these routes. Youngster Joey is no different, as he is found on Route 30 in Johto, and only uses a single Rattata in battle. However, this isn’t what makes the youngster so annoying.

The second generation of Pokemon introduced the phone mechanic, a feature that lets players store the number of trainers they have battled so they can be called for a rematch at any time. Unfortunately, Youngster Joey is a trainer who takes this opportunity a step too far. Any player who takes Joey’s number will be called at least twenty times for a rematch before they reach the Pokemon League. This high volume of calls is irritating enough, but traveling back to the start of the game for a battle is hardly worth it to repeatedly cause a low-level Rattata to faint.

1 Whitney

Throws A Temper Tantrum & Refuses To Give Players Their Badge

Any player who has played the Generation Two Pokemon game or their remakes has had an issue with the third gym leader in the Johto region, Whitney. The Normal-type gym leader is a huge difficulty spike, as she uses a Miltank with a lot of HP. Also, this Pokemon has the powerful move Rollout, and it can replenish any health it loses with the move Milk Drink.

Players who finally beat this trainer will be happy, but they aren’t given their well-earned badge straight away. Instead, Whitney has a tantrum and refuses to admit defeat. It is only after the player talks to another trainer in the gym that Whitney calms down and relinquishes the badge they have worked so hard to earn in one of the most annoying interactions with an NPC in the entire series.