Pokémon Sword & Shield: 10 Pokémon You Won't Believe Aren't In The Game

5. The Three Johto Starters

I'm not going to get bogged down in these entries because, bottom line, there are no starters from any other generation of Pokémon available in Sword and Shield... except Charmander. But that's because Charmander is the best.

This is interesting in terms of the Johto triad though because after their Generation 1 counterparts, they the three that managed to get the strongest foothold in the fandom. Cyndaquil, Totodile and Chikorita have absolutely never hit the pop culture or merchandising heights of Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle, but they've come close than any of the others have.

What's even more surprising though is that if there was room enough for one of the Kanto starters, why wasn't there for one of these. Feels like there's a PR open goal in including one from each generation but, alas, wasn't to be.