So, I have this theory based on dissapointment.

[Mister Coffee]

Okay, so I just now finished getting my butt kicked in the NPC controlled Battle Labratory in White Version.
So I was doing pretty good with my current team, winning flawlessly and not having many problems and then this NPC character played a Suicune.
The Legendary Beast Suicune... You know the one that there is supposedly only one of... You know the one that is sitting in my PC...
Yes, yes, I understand that there are hundreds of Suicunes all over the world being used every day by people who play with them.
That's not what bothers me, what bothers me is an NPC that was not created by Player information downloaded from the internet, was able to play a Suicune. This NPC was a random character that was called a "Worker" he wore the cold suit that the Workers in cold Storage wore. This ordinary Worker NPC was carrying a Suicune and beat me mercilessly with it.
(Yes I am kind of angry about being beaten up by this NPC.)

So I have a new theory based on this battle, if an NPC can have a Suicune, and actual Player Characters can have Suicune, is this Game Freak unintentionally trying to tell us that there are multiple of certain Legendary Creatures?

I mean if you think about it, this also kind of holds true based on the Shiny Beast events we had shortly before BW came out. It was implied that the Shiny Entei, Shiny Raikou, and Shiny Suicune are different from the original Non-Shiny Legendary Beasts.

So what do you guys think? Are there multiple of certain Legendary Pokemon such as the Legendary Beasts?
(As a side question, do you think it's right that a programmed NPC can carry a Legendary Pokemon in their team?)

 

[Moth]

No.I don't think that there are many legendary Pokemon.I think there are only a few.In fact I think that the ones that are in trios etc are unique.For instance,there is only 1 zapdos,1articuno,1 moltres,1 suicune/raikou/entei,1 cobalion and the rest of these ..But there are more than one heatran and celebi etc

 

[Mister Coffee]

Well I mean based on the story behind Mew, there used to be thousands of them but then they disappeared/changed.
So why wouldn't this make sense for the Pokemon Trio's? A lot of the trio's are based on weather or environment, so wouldn't it make sense that if they govern the weather and environment on one continent, then there would be other versions of them to govern the same things on other continents as well?

It just seems like as if as the generations continue with various legend pokemon, a lot of the Legends are replicated but slightly different than the ones we originally knew.
Once again, going back to the storyline behind the Original Beast Trio vs. the Shiny Event Beast Trio.
Shiny pokemon are not a disease, they can't randomly catch it and then suddenly lose it. The pokemon are born with it. Previously when we would catch Shiny Legends it would just be explained that they just happened to be special that way. However now we have a situation where we have the original Beast Trio that may or may not be shiny, but then we have the Event Shiny Beast Trio which are only obtainable as shiny.

My point is that I think most of the Legendary Pokemon, including the Trio's have multiple duplicates.

(Tell you the truth I kind of wish that Game Freak would just come out and say, "There are multiple of all Legends throughout the Pokemon Universe."
Honestly, it would just make sense, and also they need to stop with the "God Pokemon" because that stuff just plain doesn't make any sense when thinking about all the people capable of having one.)

 

[psyanic]

For certain legendaries, I do believe this kind of proves multiple forms of them. Like in the Zoroark Movie, the Dog Trio were in their Shiny forms, while in other times they appeared they were in their normal forms. Of course, they are legendaries and could somehow change their colors I suppose, but I think it's hinting at that. So yes, I agree on that.

However, this doesn't apply to Pokemon that appear in legends or myths, like the Weather Trio. The stories point towards one Kyogre, one Groudon, and one Rayquaza. Imagine a pod (?) of Kyogre against a herd (?) of Groudon. Not pretty at all.

I think it is programmed that NPC's can have legendaries. Take Emerald, I eventually battled a lot of NPC's that had either a Regi/Dog/Lati@s. Sometimes, one of the birds. The anime also kind of supports this with that Pokemon Special Episode in Pewter Gym with the Nurse Joy checking up to see if it was up to standards. I remember her using a Latias. Tobias used a Latios. So that backs up that there are multiple Lati@s.

I'm sure there is only one of each of the dimension trio, seeing as Giratina is alone, as well as Dialga and Palkia. There must only be one, if there were many they'd be in a constant battle in the temporal rifts of time and space, and sometimes the Reverse World. The same goes with Arceus. The movie kind of points towards this, since it said the universe was created since Arceus (singular) was born from an egg or something.

 

[SentryDown]

I'm pretty sure it's just because the game is programmed to allow NPCs to have legendaries to ramp the difficulty up if you're just breezing through whatever you may be doing. I think it's safe to say that that part of the game isn't really canonicle with the universe with a few exceptions stated by posters above

 

[Mister Coffee]

I must say, I'm glad some of you guys agree with me on how some of the Legendary pokemon are actually multiples. By the way at an above poster, Really? The Beast Trio just randomly change their colors to that of shiny? (I didn't see the movie involved with this situation so I don't know anything about it.) Pokemon turning shiny on and off? That's stupid... ugh... So if they turn their shininess on they magically just become more powerful or something? I don't like that... Stupid Pokemon movies...

As for Singular God-like Legends. I'm sick and tired of them because they make no sense. As Psyanic said, "I'm sure there is only one of each of the dimension trio, seeing as Giratina is alone, as well as Dialga and Palkia. There must only be one, if there were many they'd be in a constant battle in the temporal rifts of time and space, and sometimes the Reverse World. The same goes with Arceus. The movie kind of points towards this, since it said the universe was created since Arceus (singular) was born from an egg or something."

So then how does Game freak explain this in online play or battles between player characters? I have a Giritina and my friend has a Giritina... but wait, in the Pokemon Universe that is physically impossible... So then how does this work when the Legend Lore explains all the reasons why it's impossible?

I know some of you guys might think I'm looking a little too deep into this but I mean it just bothers me so much. All Game Freak has to do is stop making these stupid God Pokemon that contradict themselves.
I like that Gen 5 seemed to avoid this. I got the distinct impression in the game that it is possible that there are multiple Zekrom, Reshiram, Kyurem, and Victini. None of them are Gods over anything, and they don't contradict themselves when there are multiple of them in a battle or team.

There is only one way that I would be okay with a "God Pokemon", and that's if in their Pokedex entries it said, "It is possible that there are multiple of these pokemon governing various areas of the World." I know that's a lot to put in a pokedex entry, but I mean it just would be better that way in my opinion and it could be simplified.

 

[waters_echo]

I know how it feels to get trounced be a random NPC using legends- Battle Institute final battle, and this person pulls out TWO legendaries (Lati-I-think-it-was-os and entei)
Be stunned, manage to bring one down, and suddenly they've gone and tossed out another legend and finished kicking you three ways through sunday.
Bleh.
And Nintendo/Gamefreak DOESN'T explain PvP battle legends- they are in no way canon- each individual game could technically be counted as a parallel universes (which DEFINITELY exist, by canon of that guy in Opelucid), and I personally feel that any legend that is picked up from the Mart is a 'non-canon' pokemon (as opposed to the ones that are event-trigger)

It is almost entirely definite that some legends are not individuals, wheras some undoubtedly are- the Lati's are multiple (implied by Latias' Emerald dex), mewtwo is not.
The trios: No evidence either way for the birds, but probably multiple; Cats are... who knows- There's the legend that they were pokemon that perished in the Tin Tower and were brought back by ho-oh representing the incident, but there's also the entei/volcano story, so...; The Regis, by comparison, are most likely individual...
So on and so forth

Entirely possible that there are more mew/ho-oh/lugia/jirachi/shaymin etc.
Zekrom/reshiram were said to have once been a single pokemon, kyurem theorised (out-of-game) to be the 'remainder' once they split, but who knows if they/it/whatever were originally from a multi-individual species.

In any case, the legends are... well... exactly that- Legends, pokemon that came to be worshipped as gods, things like that.
You can't generally tell animals apart unless there's a telltale mark on them, a unique pattern- pokemon are no different in that matter (not even going into the ones that don't live in the same dimensional plain as the rest of the world like arceus)

 

[psyanic]

So then how does Game freak explain this in online play or battles between player characters? I have a Giritina and my friend has a Giritina... but wait, in the Pokemon Universe that is physically impossible... So then how does this work when the Legend Lore explains all the reasons why it's impossible?

Online play is definitely not the same as the anime. They are completely different and honestly shouldn't even be compared. How would you feel if GameFreak released a Legendary Pokemon, unobtainable into the games. Like, they showcase it in the anime, you can somehow see it in the games, but it's impossible to catch it. I would be rather disappointed, especially if it was sure that they would never release it, just so that this Pokemon is completely exclusive and singular.

Don't forget, there is only one Giratina available in the game. Same goes with all the other legendaries really.

 

[Mister Coffee]

Online play is definitely not the same as the anime. They are completely different and honestly shouldn't even be compared. How would you feel if GameFreak released a Legendary Pokemon, unobtainable into the games. Like, they showcase it in the anime, you can somehow see it in the games, but it's impossible to catch it. I would be rather disappointed, especially if it was sure that they would never release it, just so that this Pokemon is completely exclusive and singular.

Don't forget, there is only one Giratina available in the game. Same goes with all the other legendaries really.

I'm not saying that they need to make a Legendary that's 100% individual and one of a kind, I'm saying have Legends explained as there being multiple of them, but incredibly rare to find that serve a divine purpose.

I'm just tired of all the Legends that in the Pokemon Universe contradict one another's physical existence. Example: On my Platinum version I have 3 Giritina's, they even sit next to each other in the PC box. Based on their Lore, that is physically IMPOSSIBLE. So I laugh at Game Freak about this and say "lolwut?".

Now see if Game Freak came out and said, "Hey guys, turns out Giritina is not an Individual God, there are actually multiple of them ruling multiple Realms."
Then i would be able to accept the fact that I can have 3 Giritina's in my PC Box with no problems.

Once again, this is the overanalyze of pokemon, but I mean come on guys, haven't you ever been bothered by the fact that you can have 4 Dialga's or Arceus's and nothing weird happens in the game or you never come up against a situation where it can be logically explained or dealt with? It really does bother me...

 

[The 100 Mega Shock]

What you're suggesting is putting "immersion" or some other similar concept on a higher pedestal than letting the player do what they want and enjoy their game if they want to play with a party of six Arceus or not.

Designing video games is always about this balancing of gameplay over in-game logic. Just like how Pokémon can fly the player around regardless of their size, how the player can battle underwater with no ill effect, how fish Pokémon can fight on land without penalty, that a lot of Pokédex entries mention things that don't occur in-game when they should (like Charmander's tail), etc.

If we must overthink it [we're almost certainty putting more thought into this than Game Freak and TPC themselves did], it's safe to assume anything that doesn't explicitly occur in the story isn't real and never happened - nobody can explain downloading a Pokémon with a code or exchanging them with your clone from a mirror universe.

 

[Mister Coffee]

@The 100 Mega Shock

Yeah I guess you're right about that. I have no idea why the Legend situation bothers me so much where as the other unexplainable situations you mentioned don't bother me.
I just feel like asking, Game Freak why do you try explaining things in the game, when you know that you're not going to follow through on those explanations/lore.

I'm just upset by the fact that Game Freak will put in an Entry or Information that says, "This situation is impossible!" and then after saying it so clearly, they let it happen anyways. It just feels like they make a bunch of supposedly unbreakable rules and then they break them anyways.

I find it obnoxious, especially when it seems so easy to fix. All they have to say is, "Oh btw, there are multiple of these Legends across the Pokemon Universe." It's like they dug their own grave.

 

[Maple Meganium]

How is it that the hero that saved Unova from oppression is battling the hero that saved Unova from oppression, with a different team and history? There can only be one of him too. Multiplay just doesn't make sense and can't be treated as canon.

I have a theory that explains how there can be only one of the higher legendaries, yet stupid kid trainers still catch them now and then, which is too long to discuss here. I will try to make a thread about it some time.

It's likely there are multiples of the lower legendaries, such as the bird and cat trios. The birds don't even really have a backstory. Entei's Pokédex says that every time a volcano erupts, an Entei is born.

 

[BaileyPlaysPokemon]

Maybe I'm over thinking this as well, or just going about it the wrong way, but in HG/SS, if you have an Arceus, you could create a new legendary pokemon. I suppose that would imply that more than one legendary IS possible in some cases....