Editing Pokémon Trainer (SSBU)

Thanks to the various buffs given to his three Pokémon, especially the removal of the infamously counter-intuitive mechanics [[Pokémon Change#Stamina|stamina]] and [[type effectiveness]], Pokémon Trainer received a strong positive reception in the early metagame. This reception correlated with a large playerbase in the early metagame which was initially spearheaded by players such as {{Sm|Wishes}} and {{Sm|Puppeh}}. This playerbase only grew as 2019 went on after many other players began placing well with the character, including {{Sm|moxi}}, {{Sm|Ned}}, and -- most notably -- {{Sm|Tweek}}, who notably won the major {{Trn|Low Tier City 7}} with solo-Pokémon Trainer. By the end of the year, all three superregions had a Pokémon Trainer player ranked on the [[PGRU]] or its Area 51: the aforementioned players in North America, {{Sm|HIKARU}} in Japan, and {{Sm|Leffen}} in Europe. This resulted in Pokémon Trainer having one of the best representation in the early metagame, peaking at 5th for the second half of 2019, and leading many to believe the character was top 10.

During and following the [[COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on competitive Smash|COVID-19 pandemic]], Pokémon Trainer saw a decline in tourney success, due to multiple factors such as buffs to other characters, a lack of viability online, [[downloadable content]] bringing forth a number of stronger characters, and new weaknesses growing more apparent such as limited landing options, linear gameplans, poor ledge options, and an over-reliance on [[Pokémon Change]] to cover one another's weaknesses. In addition, [[Ivysaur (SSBU)|Ivysaur]], who was initially considered the best Pokémon of the three, received nerfs in Patch 4.0.0. Likely as a result of this, almost all of Pokémon Trainer's best players from the early metagame either dropped the character (most notably HIKARU and Tweek), relegated the character to a secondary (Ned), or stopped competing altogether (Leffen and Wishes). Although this led to a decline in representation, several new Pokémon Trainer players stepped into the limelight, including {{Sm|Atelier}}, {{Sm|DDee}}, and {{Sm|Noi}}. Most notable among these new players was {{Sm|Quidd}}, who won the major {{Trn|Let's Make Big Moves 2022}}. The efforts of these players has kept Pokémon Trainer's reputation afloat during 2022-early 2024. This is reflected in the character's placements on the first two tier lists, where he is ranked 23rd on the first list as a high-tier and 24th on the second list in the A- tier.  

The Pokémon Trainer's perception have since dropped during the late 2024-early 2025 era, due to worse results and an absence of representation, with most of his prior mains continuing to use other characters, or in the case of Tweek, going on an indefinite hiatus. This caused the Pokémon Trainer to experience a drop to 36th on the third tier list, a 13 spot drop and one of the largest drops between the second and third tier lists.