Pokémon fans are just realising that there’s a ‘Mon with the official Pokédex number of #000, and there are several different theories as to why Game Freak opted to give this specific Pokémon its own unique number.
Considering that the Pokémon games are supposed to be child-friendly and easily accessible, Nintendo and Game Freak’s choice to make the lore as confusing as humanly possible has sparked thousands of heated debates online.
For instance, you’ve probably already heard the whole debate around who the “first” Pokémon is. Bulbasaur is #001 in the Pokédex, but Arceus created all life in the lore, and Rhydon was also technically the first ‘Mon ever conceived by the designers. So, why not make things even more confusing and throw a Pokémon #000 into the mix, right?
Who Is Pokémon 000?
In case you weren’t confused enough as it is, Pokémon #000 only goes by this specific number in one generation of Pokémon games: Generation 5 (it might be more apt to refer to it as “Generation V” for the purpose of this article, though).
Generation 5 started with Pokémon Black and Pokémon White, which are considered to be some of the most beloved entries in the franchise by fans.
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As with every new Pokémon game, Game Freak added a bunch of new legendary ‘Mons to Gen 5, but their choice to announce one of them before Pokémon Black and Pokémon White had been released led to a unique problem.
Victini, the Pokémon in question, was designated as #000 once the first Gen 5 games dropped, because they appeared in the fourteenth Pokémon movie, Zoroark: Master of Illusions, eight months before Pokémon Black and Pokémon White.
So, there’s the official, boring reason… but what’s the in-game reason?
As one user over on the r/pokemon subreddit explains, Professor Juniper explains why Victini has such a unique Pokédex entry in Gen 5: “Also… In the Unova Pokédex, Victini was assigned a special number: zero. I've heard this special number was assigned in the hope that Victini's power to bring victory would be shared with the Trainer who travels with this Pokédex.”
Oh, and in case this was too much to wrap your head around already, Victini is only designated as number #000 in the Unova Pokédex. If you head over to Victini’s official Pokédex page on the Pokémon website, it’s instead labelled as #0494.
Does this mean that Victini is no longer technically #000, or was this just retconned because Game Freak didn’t want to overshadow poor little Bulbasaur?
You’ll always be my number one, little guy.