Ash's Pikachu has pulled off some incredible feats during their many adventures in the wonderful world of Pokémon. It has overcome type disadvantages, size differences, and other general difficulties. Some of these victories may well be linked to luck, but others have been because of Ash thinking up new strategies or just because Pikachu is that good.
However, as powerful as Pikachu is in the anime, it has also suffered some rather embarrassing defeats. Many of these happened closer to the start of their journey, which almost justifies them as being because of inexperience, but they're still poor performances nonetheless.
10 Pikachu Should Have Been Able To Hold On Against Tyson's Meowth
Pikachu has managed to dig deep and survive a would-be final attack on so many occasions, it makes it all the more disappointing whenever it falls short. At the Ever Grande Conference in Hoenn, Ash faces his friend Tyson and the 6-on-6 bout goes all the way to the end, concluding as a 1-on-1 between Pikachu and Tyson's uniquely powerful Meowth.
Meowth is able to negate Pikachu's Electric attacks, ultimately making it a physical strike-fest to the end. After they both partake in a furious final barrage of attacks, both of them do the classic attempt to struggle and stand up, but Pikachu fails to stay on its feet, eliminating Ash from the tournament.
9 Ash Versus Ritchie Was A Complete Mess, And It Wasn't Helped By Pikachu Losing To Charmander
The Kanto Pokémon League may have been Ash's first attempt at battling the League, but his loss to Ritchie will also be known as one of his worst defeats. His Charizard forfeiting because it didn't want to battle Ritchie's puny Pokémon was bad enough, but Pikachu's performance wasn't too great either.
Pikachu lost to Ritchie's Charmander, despite the assumption that Pikachu would have trained with Ash's Charmander to learn how to deal with Fire-type moves. It was a poor performance from everyone on Ash's team, including the trainer himself, but it gave him lots to think about and learn from.
8 Pikachu Was Easily Defeated By Eevee In Ash And Gary's First Battle
At the end of the Orange Islands arc in the anime, Ash finally has his first battle with his rival Gary Oak. In a shoutout to the game Pokémon Yellow, it ends up being a 1-on-1 fight between Ash's Pikachu and Gary's Eevee.
Gary's Eevee is able to deal with any attack that Pikachu attempts, taking very little damage. Eventually it manages to hit a devastating Skull Bash, leaving Pikachu unable to stand and counterattack with any moves of its own, giving Gary the win. This loss stung Ash worse than most others, but the gap between the two was unprecedented.
7 Viola's Surskit Overcame Type Disadvantage To Defeat Pikachu
In Pokémon X & Y, Ash encounters a difficult opponent in the Santalune Gym Leader and Bug-type user Viola. Despite being part Water-type, Viola's Surskit fearlessly dances around Ash's Pikachu, running rings around it before emphatically knocking out Ash's prized Pokémon.
Surskit equipped itself well and used its advantage of being quicker on the ice as an advantage, despite being faced with the possibility of Pikachu going all out and firing desperate jolts of electricity. This was a disappointing loss for Pikachu, being easily defeated because of the battlefield terrain changing.
6 Morty's Gastly Surprised And Surpassed Pikachu With One Attack
When Ash goes up against the Ghost-type Ecruteak City Gym Leader Morty, despite Morty having Gengar and Haunter, his Gastly is the one that manages to defeat Ash's Pikachu with one single Night Shade attack.
The fact that the Gastly had fought Noctowl to a stalemate and was later defeated easily by Cyndaquil raises the confusion as to why Ash's prized Pikachu was defeated by it so easily. If it was the Haunter or Gengar that had done this, it wouldn't be such a surprising — and disappointing — defeat.
5 Brock Capitalized On Ash's Inexperience With Onix Squashing Pikachu
It was his first proper battle, but Ash's first attempt at beating the Pewter City Gym Leader Brock ended with a sweeping defeat after he naively went up against the towering Onix with a Pikachu that didn't even respect or trust him yet.
Onix was able to use Bind on Pikachu until Ash had to forfeit the match, humbling the trainer from Pallet Town and almost immediately causing Ash to realize this entire journey to becoming a Pokémon Master would not be an easy one.
4 Pikachu Was Defeated By A Single Screech From Roark's Onix
Ash lost to another Onix belonging to a Rock-type Gym Leader later on: Roark of Oreburgh City at the start of his Sinnoh adventure. Despite the fact that Pikachu had been through a grueling battle with Roark's Cranidos earlier on in the match, the fact that Onix would knock Pikachu out with just Screech makes this one of Pikachu's worst defeats.
The Pokémon anime takes liberties with certain moves on occasion, having them strike differently than they do in the games, but Screech going from simply lowering defense in the games to eliminating Ash's Pikachu rather easily in one shot in the anime is hard to understand.
3 Pikachu Was Stunned By Grubbin In A Failed Capture Attempt
As Ash tries to settle into his new life in Alola in Sun & Moon, he attempts to catch his first wild Pokémon, Grubbin. The small Bug-type Pokémon manages to evade Pikachu at first and even escapes from a failed Poké Ball capture attempt.
It then launches a quick hit and run attack on Pikachu, knocking it to the ground and seemingly incapacitating it. Considering this is the seventh generation and region of Ash's journeys and his Pikachu is now incredibly powerful, this embarrassing defeat to a relatively weak Pokémon wasn't a great way for Ash to start his Alola campaign.
2 A Newly Acquired Snivy Swept A Powerless Pikachu Aside
In the first episode of Black & White Ash's Pikachu, a seasoned battler that had just come from taking a Latios to a double-knockout at the Lily of the Valley Conference in Sinnoh, lost to a new trainer, Trip, and his Snivy.
Pikachu was actually hit with an immense amount of electricity emanating from a dark storm cloud prior to the match, which rendered it unable to use Electric-type moves, but Pikachu had already been built up as better at physical moves. Therefore, it losing to a beginner, despite the justification or excuses, didn't really sit well with fans.
1 Jeanette's Bellsprout Was Underestimated And It Ultimately Humiliated Pikachu
In his fourth battle at the Kanto Pokémon League, Ash faces off against Jeanette Fisher. Ash dispatches Jeanette's Beedrill and Scyther with his Bulbasaur and laughs when she calls out her final Pokémon, Bellsprout. Bellsprout is often regarded as a weak Pokémon, but miraculously it manages to not only defeat Bulbasaur, but also Ash's Pikachu.
The way that it seemingly just taps Pikachu on the top of the head and knocks it out makes it arguably one of Ash's Pikachu's most humiliating defeats. Luckily for Ash, his Muk was able to smother Bellsprout, helping him to progress — eventually.