The freshly released Violet games have ushered in a new generation of species, upping the total number of Pokémon to more than 1,000. Many of these creatures are unique, with different methods to encounter and catch them in the wild.
Beyond actually meeting them in the wild, there are also special cases in which Pokémon can be found and caught only through obscure and challenging means. Feebas in the days of the Game Boy Advance was notoriously hard to find, while others, such as Porygon in the original games, could be obtained only through excessive grinding.
10 Feebas
Mercifully, Feebas is a Pokémon that's become easier to obtain and evolve in recent mainline games. However, in the Generation III Hoenn games on the Game Boy Advance in which it debuted, it was quite the grueling challenge to find it in the wild.
Feebas could only be found in the wild by fishing, which isn't too much to ask in and of itself. But the catch lies in the fact that it can only be found while fishing over six specific water tiles of these pixel-art-based games. The beauty contest grind to evolve it into Milotic was something akin to adding insult to injury.
9 Munchlax (Honey Tree)
In the original Generation IV Sinnoh games, Munchlax easily became another infamously elusive wild Pokémon to find, let alone catch. Diamond and Pearl introduced the Honey Tree mechanic, where players could lather honey on it, come back, and encounter a wild creature to battle and/or catch.
The problem was how long of a wait (in real-world hours) for something to appear compounded by Munchlax's naturally low encounter rate. After waiting six hours for something to bite, Munchlax still only had a meager 1% chance of appearing. This endearing pre-evolution might have been a more iconic Pokémon in Generation IV if it wasn't for the grind to see one.
8 Paldean Tauros (Version Exclusives)
The aforementioned Pokémon Scarlet and Violet introduced many wild species, but some of the other worthwhile additions are new takes on classic creatures. Tauros was among the Paldean Forms, with the bull Pokémon technically receiving three regional variations. The most common is the main one, which is a Fighting-Type.
But the other two (dual Fighting/Fire and Fighting-Water Types), are noticeably harder to find. Paldean Tauros typically appear in groups of five, with most or all of them often being the sole Fighting variations. Spotting them when they appear is even tougher since the aesthetic differences between the three are subtle at best.
7 Porygon (Kanto Game Corner)
Porygon has also, and naturally, received more ways to obtain one in later games that were more streamlined, but the games that started it all made it a significant grind. As part of the original roster of 151 from the Kanto region, Porygon was first made available in Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue (Green in Japan), but it can't be found looking in the wild.
Instead, players have to try their luck in the Celadon Game Corner to buy one as a prize. There are other species available there, but Porygon is the most expensive at a daunting 6500 coins, making the gambling grind veer into tedium.
6 Kangaskhan
The Safari Zone is arguably one of the most fun and creative concepts and overall game mechanics used in the mainline series. It seems like a natural fit because a major incentive of these games is to capture as many unique species as possible.
Safari Zones offer a special experience by trying to find certain species that can't be found elsewhere, but Kangaskhan is considered one of the most wildly difficult. That challenge is two-fold, as Kangaskhan's encounter rate is only 1%, a catch rate of 1 or 4%, and players have to play by Safari's rules, meaning it's far more likely than not that it will flee.
5 Salamence
Salamence is a fan-favorite Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon, meaning that it's expected that it would be difficult to obtain. Though, that isn't because its base species form, Bagon, is a rather rare find in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. Most notably in Sun and Moon, Salamence was specifically made as an especially rare encounter through the SOS mechanic.
Under certain conditions, a wild Pokémon would call for backup in a multi-battle. And after going to the effort of finding the already-rare Bagon (1 or 10%), players needed to roll the dice again by trying to get it to call upon a 1% encounter for Salamence.
4 Maushold (Family Of Three)
One of the original native species introduced in Scarlet and Violet's Paldea region, Maushold is a Pokémon with an anatomical gimmick to it. It evolves from the creature Tandemaus, which is essentially two mouse dolls coned.
When evolving, it more often than not becomes what's known as the "Family of Four" Maushold that, predictably, adds two smaller coned mice. Meanwhile, there is a 1% chance that when Tandemaus evolves, it turns into the rare "Family of Three" variant
3 Frigibax
The fan-dubbed "Pseudo-Legendary" Pokémon has become something of a tradition in the mainline series. No generation has gone without one, with Dragonite being the first hailing from the Kanto region. In Scarlet and Violet, that title is held by Baxcalibur, which makes Frigibax one of these games' most difficult finds.
Transitioning to real-time overworld wild encounters certainly changed the game somewhat in how Pokémon are found, but Frigibax is nonetheless among the Paldean species with the lowest spawn rates. It's worth the effort, though, as Baxcalibur is one of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet's strongest Physical Attackers.
2 Dudunsparce
The Johto region's Dunsparce is one of the most well-known Pokémon for unconventional reasons. It's seen as dopey but in a cute way. However, its design and stat spread made it look like it desperately needed an evolution or an alternate Regional Form.
Dunsparce received the former, but hilariously enough, was just the same design with another segment to its body. Dudunsparce is a Paldean native, and it usually comes in a "two-segment" form. When evolving Dunsparce, though, it has a one in 100 chance of evolving into the three-segment Dudunsparce.
1 Combee (Female)
The Sinnoh region didn't just have Munchlax when it came to unusually difficult Pokémon to find. Once again with the Honey Tree mechanic, players could find wild Combee feeding. This species in and of itself isn't especially rare, but the females are.
The reason this matters so much is that only female Combee can evolve into the battle-competent Vespiquen. There's only a 12.5% chance that a wild Combee will be a female, making Vespiquen an indirectly tough Pokémon to have.
