Is it just me or does Pikachu never seem to get stronger?

[Snerd]

There's been a large number of series of Pokémon since it first started, and Pikachu has always been Ash's number one Pokémon. Does anyone else find it funny that after all Pikachu's training and experience, he can still be beaten easily in Sinnoh? Surely he'd be pretty unbeatable by now?

 

[Vernikova]

Surely power isn't the only deciding factor in battle. There are sometimes that Satoshi gets out played and he loses the battle.

 

[Abnegation]

Yeah it seems that pikachu always stays as powerfull as ash's new pokemon in each region like pikachu starts all over again for some reason! i dunno it's kinda stupid if you ask me =/

 

[Kazukii]

Pikachu is a pretty weak pokemon, yes. Ash loves him too much to put him in reserve xD
He needs a fresh more powerful team.

 

[PokemonLegacy]

Pikachu doesn't seem to improve much because he's already a powerhouse.

 

[Vernikova]

Pikachu is a pretty weak pokemon, yes. Ash loves him too much to put him in reserve xD
He needs a fresh more powerful team.

Pikachu is easily one of Satoshi's strongest, if not the strongest, Pokémon he has. Whether they're reserves or not.

 

[PokemonLegacy]

Agreed, Pikachu may look weak, but it's obviously very powerful

 

[Arumus]

I think the writers put themselves in a pickle from when Pikachu did beat Pokémon like Regice and sorts because it means fans expect it to do the same and stay as powerful. But if Ash's Pikachu stayed at it's strength from you know, Battle Frontier and into the Sinnoh Region against weaker Gym Leaders (Early on). Then it wouldn't be interesting.

Besides, remember Ash Vs Gary? Pikachu got beaten by his Eevee easily. Then Ash Vs Gary again, Ash left him out because he wasn't strong enough (Mostly cause of his size). Although, who wouldn't love the way it took down Dragonite in the Orange League?

 

[Feign]

I think it also has lots to do with adaptability, technique and the will to fight.

Adaptability and technique often go hand in hand, as different gym leaders battle in certain styles, and as the anime does not strictly follow the game, the "first" gym leaders are as strong as the last.

The will to fight of course has to do with the situation, when team rocket captures pikachu often, its attack has them sent flying (though it is a comical thing too as no one would survive the fall), nonetheless, after Pikachu had been defeated in a gym battle and it faints (spiraled eyes), it seems to recover enough to watch again from the sidelines.

 

[BHwolfgang]

The writers reset Pikachu's power whenever Ash decides to go to a new region. He was easily beaten in Sinnoh while once defeated a Dragonite. I smell something fishy going on. >.>'

 

[Taemin]

Well, it's been stated before that the wri--

The writers reset Pikachu's power whenever Ash decides to go to a new region. He was easily beaten in Sinnoh while once defeated a Dragonite. I smell something fishy going on. >.>'

Dang, BH beat me, nevermind. xD

But yeah, Pikachu's level resets with each new 'series', so that's why it always starts out weaker than what it was only one episode before, at the end of the last region that was completed. Chances are, it'll stay that way, and keep resetting, too.

This is so it can grow with the rest of his new team, because if it were level 100 at the start, the gym's wouldn't be much of an issue. Ever.

 

[ShinjisLover]

Pikachu's already as powerful as it'll ever get, which doesn't seem to be powerful at all considering that Buizel had beaten it.​

 

[Feign]

Though, it would seem that the bicycles get the bitter end of the deal.

 

[Lahar]

wow im still amazed how ppl are still making comparisons between the anime and the games

guys get this straight there are no lvls in the anime pikachu has never got his power reseted

gym leaders are supposed to be battleres that have gone trough quite a lot of experience during their years of travels

also some of satoshis rivals have been traveling as long as he has if not more

also as some other ppl pointed out strategy, clever use of attack combinations and terrain, a bit of luck and a desire to never give up are all factors in deciding a battle in the anime

so lets stop trying to assume that the game battle system and lvls are present in the anime cause its not

 

[Arumus]

guys get this straight there are no lvls in the anime pikachu has never got his power reseted

I beg to differ, the anime used to make references to Pokémon levels back in the old series. For instance, when Ash battles in the Orange League. They mention that the Ornage League Champions Pokémon are at a 'high' level, Misty said so. Then the Orange League Champion said to himself that Ash's Charizard was at a high level. There are other references also, but I haven't watched the anime in a while so I can't remember.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

I beg to differ, the anime used to make references to Pokémon levels back in the old series. For instance, when Ash battles in the Orange League. They mention that the Ornage League Champions Pokémon are at a 'high' level, Misty said so. Then the Orange League Champion said to himself that Ash's Charizard was at a high level. There are other references also, but I haven't watched the anime in a while so I can't remember.

Not to mention that in AG, Brock mentioned to Max that whether Ash would win due to type advantages depends on the level comparison.

 

[Vernikova]

Ugh, level talk now.

I believe that there are no levels in the anime, I'm almost 100% sure. If there were levels, this thread wouldn't exist because Pikachu would be at a higher level than most other Pokémon.

 

[Michii]

As Borey and Drew stated, Pikachu's power resets itself every generation. Pikachu's power has nothing to do with levels, type matchups, or anything else. Frankly, it'd be very silly to keep Pikachu at the "Look at me, I beat a Regice all by myself!" power level. What would the writers have to work with when they need a sticky situation for the group? The anime would get far too repetitive. Also, what happens when the writers want to focus in on Pikachu for an episode? We already see "power" when Pikachu blasts Team Rocket every episode, so what happens in a Pikachu focused episode? Are they just going to show it destory a Mew and be done? There'd be no character development at all for Pikachu. It's episodes like Pika and Goliath that give Pikachu a reason to not be a powerhouse all of the time.

 

[Lash]

Hello, I'm Pikachu. I defeated a Regice who was probably at the highest level possible in one hit, but I couldn't defeat a god damn Elekid a little later.

 

[Vernikova]

The reset argument is lacking since you can't reset yourself just because you go to a new place. A better reason, in my opinion, would be that Satoshi loses through tactics and not because Pikachu "resets". If you can reset yourself in rhe first place that is.