Pokémon Trainer


 * Leaf redirects here. For the Mexican player, see Smasher:Leaf. For the Japanese player, see Smasher:Leaf (Japan).

A Pokémon Trainer (, Pokémon Trainer) is a from the  series. The s in the series belong to the Pokémon Trainer "occupation", as do most of the other human characters. Pokémon Trainers debuted in the series' first generation. In the Super Smash Bros. series, the in the Pokémon series is represented as the fighter known simply as "Pokémon Trainer", who is represented by  in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and both Red and  in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Origin
From the very outset of the Pokémon franchise, the world of Pokémon had been established as an Earth-like world populated by humans and a diverse set of creatures called Pokémon. In this world, humans are referred to as Pokémon Trainers if they collect, take care of, and train Pokémon for use in competitive matches with those of other Trainers called Pokémon battles. All main Pokémon games cast the player as a young Pokémon Trainer ready to set out on a Pokémon journey across that game's of the Pokémon world, on a quest to capture many species of Pokémon and, from there, train a team of Pokémon proficient in the sport of Pokémon battling that they may carry the Trainer to victory against that region's.

The Trainer's traditional tool for capturing Pokémon is the Poké Ball, which is typically purchasable at s and comes in many distinctive varieties. New Trainers also receive a piece of high-tech equipment called the, which functions as an encyclopedia for the Pokémon in that respective region which the Trainer will fill up via new captures, among other adventuring gear.

Throughout each journey, the Trainer will battle hundreds of other Trainers, encounter countless Pokémon in the wild, and be involved in subplots involving thwarting the schemes of criminal organizations that consist of trainers. While the playable Pokémon Trainers were initially depicted as exclusively male, the option to choose the gender of the playable Trainer has been available as of. Each game's protagonist options are similar, but they are all distinct characters in-universe. Playable Trainers also have one or more s, whose motivations and characterizations vary significantly.

introduced player characters slightly older than the previously established norm of 10-12 years old, while  introduced Trainer customization, allowing the player to choose from a variety of skin, hair, clothing and cosmetic options. While Pokémon Trainers have always been an integral part of the Pokémon experience, the mobile game  makes them a primary focus of the game alongside the Pokémon themselves, allowing the player to recruit Trainers and their partner Pokémon to battle in teams.

In Pokémon Red and Blue, the sole is a male, 11-year-old Pokémon Trainer who is gifted his  - Squirtle, Bulbasaur or Charmander - by, whose grandson serves as the Trainer's rival. The hero then travels through the region to collect the eight s and defeat the nefarious, eventually becoming the Indigo League Champion after defeating his rival in one final battle. This carries through to the remakes, Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Versions, but with the added option of choosing a female playable character instead, as per games from Crystal onwards.

All Pokémon Trainer protagonists can be named by the player, but the male Red and Blue protagonist would go on to become a recurring character known as. Since his debut, Red has gone on to appear as the final opponent of the games atop ; an opponent in the  in Pokémon Black and White Versions 2; and the co-leader of the  in Pokémon Sun and Moon alongside his rival.

In all cases, Red's team consists of Pokémon that were caught during major events of his original quest, with his Pikachu serving as his signature Pokémon. However, later appearances (including the Super Smash Bros. series) establish Charizard as another signature Pokémon for him, depending on the canon. His female counterpart, likewise, would later be codified as the character in the games' internal data and her later appearances. Another female character exists known as, who is very similar to Leaf, but it is unknown whether they are different versions of the same character, although both are conflated into a single character in the  manga.

Red, Leaf, and their have been canonically shown with various iterations of Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Charmander and their evolutionary lines, along with Pikachu and Eevee on occasion. In the Super Smash Bros. series, the Pokémon Trainer "fights" by sending these starter Pokémon out to battle, with the Bulbasaur line represented by Ivysaur, and the Charmander line represented by Charizard. Befitting their status as iconic Trainers, both Red and Leaf appear as Sync Pairs in Pokémon Masters. While Red has no spoken dialogue (a character quirk based on his appearance as a boss in the Johto games), Charizard is his partner Pokémon, affirming it as one of his signature Pokémon. However, Leaf has fully voiced dialogue, similar to her appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and is shown with Venusaur as a possible partner Pokémon.

While most games focus on the battling aspect, other Pokémon-related hobbies and professions exist in the world, such as s, who focus on raising Pokémon; s, who train Pokémon for contests; and s, who focus on studying various aspects of the Pokémon themselves. Regardless, raising and training a team of Pokémon is the main activity/quest that the main Pokémon RPGs feature, so a player of a Pokémon RPG is considered a Pokémon Trainer themselves - which is reinforced in later games that allow character customization, where the playable Trainer can quite literally be turned into the player's avatar.

In Super Smash Bros.
In Super Smash Bros., a human, potentially a Pokémon Trainer, can be seen walking in the background during Pikachu's portion of the opening movie. Only the human's legs are fully modeled in-game.

As a playable character
A Pokémon Trainer makes an official appearance as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The Trainer in Brawl is, the protagonist of Pokémon Red, Green, Blue and Yellow Versions, and the male protagonist of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Versions. However, he is simply referred to as "Pokémon Trainer" to reflect how players can name the playable Trainers within each of the Pokémon games. Instead of using his original design from, he uses his redesign from.

It should be noted that it would be rather inaccurate to call the Trainer himself a playable fighter, as selecting him is akin to selecting a /-style character with three interchangeable forms; in the Trainer's case, these are the three Pokémon he has in his collection:, , and. The Trainer instead is purely aesthetic and exists as a background character, with his exact location being stage-dependant. He is either standing on the ground, atop a landmark, or on a special platform if the stage design is too awkward. The trainer has unique animations corresponding with the actions input by the player to the current Pokémon as the real fighter. One can say that the player controls the Trainer, who in turn commands the Pokémon. These animations include pointing during a special move, actually performing Pokémon Change by swapping Poké Balls, celebrating when the player takes a stock, looking disappointed when the player loses a stock and then throwing a Poké Ball as the next revival platform appears, and unique taunts. The trainer always looks at his Pokémon, shifting positions as they move around the stage, and even moving around himself to an extent on certain stages to follow the action.

Pokémon Trainer is ranked 29th out of 38 on the tier list, placing him in the E tier. Pokémon Trainer's team possesses an overall strong grab game, although Squirtle in particular is widely agreed upon as being his most effective Pokémon, thanks to its respectable damage racking potential and potent air game.

However, the Trainer's team is heavily burdened by unique mechanics: Pokémon Change is laggy to the point of being very punishable, while his team's defensive and especially offensive potentials are very inconsistent because of stamina and type effectiveness. Outside of these issues, Ivysaur's abysmal air game, poor recovery, unimpressive range, and heightened susceptibility to the very common flame effect collectively render it among players as not only the Trainer's least effective Pokémon, but also one of the worst characters in the entire game.

Due to his team's weaknesses noticeably outweighing their strengths, Pokémon Trainer's representation has been almost nonexistent throughout Brawl's lifespan. Although achieved success with Pokémon Trainer at the national level on several occasions, he has been Pokémon Trainer's only representative to find any sort of success past the local level.

In Super Smash Bros. 4
Due to the limitations of the Nintendo 3DS' processing power, transformation-type characters were split apart and became standalone characters for Super Smash Bros. 4. In Pokémon Trainer's case, only returned as a playable character, while Squirtle and Ivysaur were fully cut. Charizard's previous side special move, Rock Smash, was changed to its down special move to compensate for Pokémon Change becoming completely irrelevant, with Flare Blitz being added as its new side special. However, Red (under the name "Pokémon Trainer"), Squirtle, and Ivysaur make cameos as collectible trophies. On a related note, and, the playable Trainers from Pokémon X and Y, also appear together as a singular trophy under the name "Pokémon Trainer (Pokémon X & Y)".

As a playable character
Pokémon Trainer returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, albeit as an unlockable character instead of a starter character. As a result, and  also returned by default, while  was reintegrated into the team. This means that Rock Smash was replaced by Pokémon Change. In addition to Red reappearing as the default Pokémon Trainer, his female counterpart,, makes her Super Smash Bros. series debut as an alternate character.

Pokémon Trainer has been noticeably reworked in order to streamline the character's unique playstyle. The removal of both stamina and type effectiveness significantly improves the team's overall consistency. In addition, Pokémon Change's drastically faster speed and newfound usability in the air collectively make it much less committal, as well as allow the Trainer to rotate between Pokémon to the point of using their unique attributes to adapt to different situations at a much better pace.

Trivia

 * Leaf and Zero Suit Samus are the only characters to debut in a remake.
 * Pokémon Trainer is one of the few human Pokémon characters to appear as a trophy, and the only one to do so in Brawl,, and Ultimate. Other human characters include and  in Melee, and  in .  and  appear as a trophy in the latter, but as an extension of the Pokémon Trainer player character concept.
 * The male Pokémon Trainer is commonly mistaken for, and referred to as, from the Pokémon anime . Both characters are actually based on, the male protagonist from Pokémon Red and Green and their subsequent remakes.
 * Similarly, the female Pokémon Trainer was commonly referred to as both "Leaf" and “Green” (“Blue” in Asian countries) before the name Leaf was officially used in .
 * Pokémon Trainer, Roy, and Lucas are the only cut veterans with a trophy in any game that acknowledges them as being a playable character in previous installments. However, only Roy and Lucas' DLC fighter trophies do so.
 * The Pokémon Trainer's trophy description in SSB4 and Boxing Ring title in Ultimate both reference the first English theme song for the Pokémon anime.
 * The former also has a reference to Ash Ketchum, Red's counterpart in the anime.
 * In some Latin languages, Pokémon Trainer has two different names to refer to the male and female versions. Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Inkling, Byleth and the Mii Fighters also share this trait.
 * As a result, all aforementioned characters have two announcer voice tracks in the announcer's voice vault, staying consistent across all languages.
 * In an official poll held on Smabura-Ken (the game's official Japanese website) regarding characters for a potential sequel to the first game, a Pokémon character named Satoshi (referring either to Ash Ketchum or Red, for whom "Satoshi" is one of the default names in the Japanese Red and Green games) was ranked 12th with 18 votes, tied with Mr. Saturn and an unspecified character.