10 Biggest Pokémon Controversies

A few of the trainers in Pokémon come across as a bit weird without being controversial. For one, the fact that they just stand around, staring into space, often in quite unusual formations. As the graphics have improved, this has only looked stranger.

There’s also the bonkers dialogue often wedged in there, like the Youngster who runs up to excitedly tell you ‘I like shorts!’. Again though, these aren’t all that controversial. Sometimes though, the NPC dialogue crosses the line between strange and becomes a bit off putting for what is, after all, a children’s game.

In the original Red/Blue/Yellow games, there was an old man who sat outside Celadon’s gym as a peeping Tom, staring at the pretty girls inside. In Let’s GO!, this was changed so he told you about the "strong trainers inside", with no reference to their looks or gender.

In Pokémon X & Y, there’s another, decidedly more adult moment with a creepy trainer. One of the NPC trainers is a Swimmer, who jokes that the place she keeps her Pokéballs is a ‘woman’s secret’. The trainer writing doesn’t need to be stellar, but this moment feels very out of place nonetheless.