Spanning eight generations of Pokémon, in species and regions, Ash's Pokémon journey has been long and arduous. He has always tried to capture new and exciting Pokémon from the local regions to make a team good enough to compete and win at the respective Pokémon Leagues.
While Ash has managed to appropriately cover many type match-ups, advantages, and disadvantages across his main team in every region, this does not mean that every team has been a success. In fact, it is those generations and Ash's teams that have disappointed the most, that have simply added to the long-term incentives that have driven Ash forward all these years. Ash may not always seem to learn from his mistakes in the moment, but at the end of the day, his levels of success in recent years have eclipsed his earlier attempts, especially in terms of winning tournaments and edging closer to becoming a Pokémon Master.
Updated on January 6th, 2023 by Tom Steel: As Ash Ketchum finally nears the end of his long Pokémon journey, fans are beginning to look back on the Pokémon Trainer from Pallet Town and his overall adventure with fond memories. While there are now nine generations to the Pokémon franchise, Ash will be handing over the reins to a new set of characters to explore the Pokémon and ideas of Gen IX's Scarlet & Violet. This list has been updated to compare Ash's teams from the main eight generations, looking at which ones disappointed and which ones surpassed expectations.
8 Ash's Showing In Unova Proved That Quality Is Better Than Quantity
Generation V
Considering that Unova was Ash's fifth region and fifth Pokémon League challenge, his Unova team showed no sign of the improvement and learning that he had previously displayed in Sinnoh. Ash once again took a team of not-fully-evolved Pokémon to the Pokémon League and was consequently decimated by Cameron's Hydreigon and Lucario. If it wasn't for the ever-reliable Pikachu, Ash may well have not picked up any knockouts at all.
This isn't to say that Ash didn't catch a lot of Pokémon. In fact, he ended up with nine captures throughout his Unova adventures, ending with Unfezant, Oshawott, Pignite, Snivy, Scraggy, Leavanny, Boldore, Palpitoad, and Krookodile. Only three of those were fully evolved and of them, he only took Unfezant with him to the Vertress Conference.
7 Johto Exposed Ash's Weaknesses As A Trainer Despite Also Showing His Improvement
Generation II
Following on from Ash's first experience of how tough a Pokémon League can be back in Kanto, Ash set off to explore Johto in the hopes of catching new Pokémon and building a better team. Ash managed to catch all three starters once again, Totodile, Chikorita, and Cyndaquil. But when it came to the Pokémon League, only Chikorita had evolved into Bayleef, with Cyndaquil not evolving into Quilava until a later season.
Ash also caught Heracross, Phanpy, and Noctowl on his travels across Johto, but opted instead to use his old friends Pikachu, Charizard, and Snorlax alongside Noctowl, Totodile, and Bayleef when he faced Harrison. Ash eventually lost to Harrison and his curious selection of Pokémon that included some unknown species from Hoenn. Despite brief flurries of offense from Pikachu, Bayleef, Snorlax, and Charizard, he was comprehensively beaten and once again made to wonder what could have happened if he had fully evolved his other Pokémon.
6 Kanto Was Where It All Began
Generation I
Kanto saw Ash grow from being a complete novice with the ambition to become a decent trainer. However, by the end of the Kanto Pokémon League, he went out with a whimper against a team of Ritchie's Butterfree, Charmander, and Pikachu, due to Charizard still not fully respecting and obeying him, refusing to battle and therefore forfeiting the match.
Overall, Ash ended up catching some good Pokémon like Kingler, Pidgeotto, Primeape, Muk, and Tauros, but he made curious decisions to not take certain Pokémon to bouts that they could have won, or he just left them out entirely. While Bulbasaur and Squirtle were among Ash's most loyal Pokémon, not evolving them ultimately cost Ash when it counted, as he had to rely on the unpredictable Charizard. Catching Snorlax and Lapras in the Orange Islands were great additions, and it's a shame that he couldn't have caught them sooner.
5 Ash Showed Glimpses Of Greatness In Hoenn
Generation III
In the Hoenn region, Ash only caught one starter Pokémon, Treecko, but having eventually evolved it into Grovyle by the time he competed at the Hoenn Pokémon League, it was the first time that Ash was going into the tournament without any starter Pokémon in their base form.
The rest of his team was made up of Swellow, Corphish, Torkoal, Glalie, and Pikachu. All members of his team showed glimpses of strength here and there, with Glalie, Swellow, and Grovyle getting important wins throughout the tournament. However, Corphish was never really a true threat to opponents without evolving into Crawdaunt and Torkoal was disappointing for a Fire type. Ash's loss to Tyson ultimately came down to Pikachu losing to Tyson's Meowth, but a more stacked team in other departments could well have accounted for that.
4 Ash Started To Act Like A Pokémon Master In Sinnoh
Generation IV
The fourth generation of the Pokémon series, taking place in Sinnoh, is where Ash truly started to learn from his mistakes and develop his team accordingly. He fully evolved his starters, Turtwig and Chimchar, into Torterra and Infernape, both of which became valuable members of his team. He used his Aipom that he had previously caught during the Battle Frontier series to good effect before trading it with Dawn for her Buizel, which Ash also got the best out of despite not evolving it into Floatzel.
Ash also had a fully evolved Staraptor and Gliscor and caught a Gible that was a good addition to his team despite not being evolved to its stronger forms. In the Sinnoh Pokémon League, Ash overcame his rival Paul and his strong powerhouse Pokémon, a testament to the strength of Ash's team in this series. However, he opted to change up his team and call upon old friends including Heracross and Swellow when facing Tobias and got swept by his Darkrai and Latios, despite the latter being held to an impressive draw by Pikachu.
3 Ash Raised A Championship-Winning Team In Alola
Generation VII
Not counting Ash's victory at the Orange League, Ash's win at the Manalo Conference in the Alola region was his first proper Pokémon League triumph in the entire series. On paper, his team for the tournament was shaping up to repeat mistakes from previous seasons, with a non-evolved Rowlett and not-fully-evolved Torracat. However, these two especially showed immense grit, determination, and character to defeat their evolution superiors during the tournament, Decidueye and Incineroar respectively.
Ash also had an aggressive Lycanroc on his team that bested Gladeon's own Lycanroc. What set Ash's Alolan team apart from most of his other teams was his other two additions, Melmetal and Naganadel. Melmetal was a mysterious ancient Steel-type Pokémon that added a completely unique dimension to Ash's team and Naganadel was an Ultra Beast. Winning the tournament and then defeating Professor Kukui with these five and Pikachu was well-deserved and that is why Ash's Alolan team remains one of his best.
2 Ash's Powerful Kalos Team Was Almost Enough To Win The Lumiose Conference
Generation VI
At the Lumiose Conference in Kalos, Ash went into it with full confidence, and rightfully so, as he had a team of fully evolved Pokémon and his Pikachu. Ash didn't need to catch any more Pokémon outside his main team as he had Talonflame, Hawlucha, Goodra, Noivern, and his powerful Greninja.
Throughout his Kalos journey, Ash showed great resolve and showcased some creative strategies in utilizing specific strengths that his team possessed and this was further shown at the Kalos Pokémon League. Ash went on to lose in the final to Alain, as his Greninja only just came up short against Alain's Mega Charizard, but given the strength and balance across his entire team, this is the tournament that Ash definitely should have won.
1 Pokémon Journeys Saw Ash Beat The Absolute Best Trainers Out There
Generation VIII
In Pokémon Journeys, Ash had finally been approaching his battling and Pokémon team-building in the correct manner, matching his ambitions to become a Pokémon Master. This could arguably be because he had finally seen an incredibly powerful and worthy adversary in Leon.
Traveling all over the Pokémon world with his friend Goh, Ash caught Gengar, Dragonite, Lucario, Dracovish, and Sirfetch'd, finally giving Ash a team of powerful, fully-evolved Pokémon, to go with his gifted Pikachu. This exceptional team propelled Ash to defeating the strongest Pokémon Trainers of the franchise, including the likes of Cynthia and Leon, on the way to eventually winning the Masters Eight Tournament. This was a huge achievement that ultimately completed Ash's journey and signified the end of his Pokémon adventure.