How Many Pokémon Are There Total In 2021

When the first generation of Pokémon games released in Japan in 1996, they contained a roster of 151 monsters that would continue to expand for over two decades. The iconic series largely focuses on the capture, training, and battling of Pokémon, so over the years it has been necessary for more monsters to be added to the games. Pokémon has reached its eighth generation, and has many more monsters in 2021 than it did when first introduced in 1996.

Every generation of Pokémon, aligned with the release of a new mainline entry in the series, introduces a new region for the player to explore, giving them the opportunity to catch that region’s native Pokémon. In November of 2019, Pokémon Sword and Shield began the eighth generation, and the release of its most recent DLC, The Crown Tundra, added the 898th Pokémon to the Pokédex, a device that tracks and provides info on the ones the player has encountered.

Each new generation of Pokémon adds somewhere between 70 and 160 monsters, although not every Pokémon can be found in every game. For instance, in Pokémon Sword and Shield, there are 234 Pokémon that are unobtainable. Each generation also introduces a new region to be explored. On their way to becoming the Pokémon master of the region, players will explore and capture Pokémon with Poké Balls to be trained and used in battle. Pokémon is a kid-friendly franchise, however, so these often adorable creatures never battle to the death. They merely faint until their trainer can have their injuries tended by a nurse at a Pokémon Center.

Every New Pokémon Region Introduces More Pokémon

As previously mentioned, the storied franchise began with a mere 151 Pokémon. Each one was assigned a number in the Pokédex, starting with #001 (Bulbasaur) and ending with #151 (Mew). These original 151 were found in the Kanto region where the first generation games, Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow take place. Each new Pokémon region – Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar – added their own unique Pokémon to the Pokédex throughout the years until it reached the current roster of 898.

Pokémon are typically only added when a mainline game is released. Since Sword and Shield are only a little over a year old, it may be a little while until another large group is added to the Pokédex. An interesting milestone is on the horizon though, since the next entries in the Pokémon series may see the inclusion of the 1,000th Pokémon. It will be a true achievement for the franchise when Bulbasaur is no longer #001, but #0001.

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