When a franchise like Pokémon becomes as popular as it has, people can expect other companies to try and ripoff the formula. This leads to knockoff look-alikes that are somewhat profitable but are never able to capture the magic of the original.
The Pokémon Company is also guilty of this and has double-dipped on Pokémon design concepts throughout the generations from Pokémon Red & Blue to Pokémon Sword & Shield. It’s now time to look at and rank the 10 worst look-alikes of existing Pokémon in the entire franchise.
10 Emolga (Pikachu)
Emolga isn’t the most egregious of the Pikachu look-alikes the franchise has seen over the years, but it isn’t as unique as it deserves to be. Flying squirrels are the type of animals that everyone naturally thinks are cool, and Emolga is no different.
This little rodent sports vibrant yellow wings and that face and color scheme made famous by Ash’s partner in crime, Pikachu. Thankfully it has a dual-typing of flying in addition to its electrical capabilities, so it sets itself apart enough. Fans want to see it receive some evolutionary love in the future.
9 Bounsweet (Cherubi)
Bounsweet and Cherubi are different-looking Pokémon if you take more than a couple of seconds to compare the two, but that doesn’t deny the similarities between the two. If a fellow trainer said they just caught a grass-type Pokémon that looked like a little round red berry with eyes that had a green plant top, they’d be describing both of them.
Once they evolve, they’re much different looking, but if a comparison like that can be confusing, it just goes to show how similar many of their design elements are.
8 Gumshoos (Watchdog)
Gumshoos is a weasel-like Pokémon that made its debut in the seventh generation of games. Many people compare it to President Donald Trump in appearance as it encompasses a smug grin in addition to a yellow-colored toupee on top of its head.
Whether you think it looks like him or not, it’s hard not to compare its design to that of Watchdog, a fifth-generation normal-type weasel. Not only do both of them sport just a normal-typing and are based on weasels, but they both also have a previous form in which they both evolve at level 20. It seems like more than a coincidence.
7 Beautifly (Butterfree)
On top of being a butterfly-based design, Beautifly’s evolutionary line looks eerily familiar to that of Butterfree’s as well. Thankfully Beautifly’s wing pattern is pretty distinct and people understand that butterflies come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes.
GameFreak also waited for two generations to release another butterfly Pokémon so at least they didn’t dip back into the well right away. It would have ranked higher on this list if not for the unique way in which trainers obtain a Beautifly. The process is partially random as a Wurmple can evolve into either a Silcoon or Cascoon based on its personality.
6 Bunnelby (Bunneary)
The problem with Bunnelby in comparison to Bunneary revolves around the idea of poor planning. The former was introduced in the 6th generation, and the latter in the fourth. Both of their final evolutions can be male or female despite Lopunny looking very feminine and Diggersby looking very masculine.
If each of these final evolutions were locked into a specific sex, then it could have made the relationship unique and the fact that their base forms are so similar wouldn’t matter at all and become irrelevant.
5 Glameow (Skitty)
Glameow isn’t a terrible look-alike as it does feature some unique design elements and doesn’t fully look like Skitty. The problem is that it happens to be yet another cat Pokémon with just a normal typing. To make normal Pokémon appealing to everyday Pokémon trainers, designers need to make their designs based on a unique animal or give them a secondary typing that opens up the moveset.
By designing and releasing yet another normal-type cat that evolves into a larger normal-type cat, it just feels like it exists to fill up the Pokédex and there wasn’t an actual inspiration.
4 Bouffalant (Tauros)
When information regarding the fifth generation of Pokémon games started coming out fans were eager with anticipation. One heartbreak though was that a new normal-type Pokémon was revealed that fans thought was the long-awaited evolution to Kanto’s Tauros, but it turned out to simply be a look-alike of the first generation buffalo Pokémon.
Instead of making Bouffalant a neat evolution, it ended up amounting to what most fans consider to be a Tauros wearing an afro on its head. What a disappointing revelation, as Tauros still goes unloved by GameFreak to this very day.
3 Dedenne (Pikachu)
Out of all of the Pikachu look-alikes throughout the series, Dedenne comes across as the most glaringly redundant. It shares the closest resemblance to Pikachu out of all of the look-alikes and looks more like the franchise mascot than its evolutionary line.
Instead of trying to create another electric Pokémon or small rodent that’s as cute and/or endearing as Pikachu, it seems that designers thought it would be clever to make Dedenne a little more orange, replace the ears, and give it whiskers. It never received an evolution either which makes it even less interesting.
2 Starly (Pidgey)
One could argue that any of the beginner bird evolutionary lines could have been put in Starly’s place when it comes to copying Pidgey from the Kanto region. Though there’s a case for that, Starly seems like the most obvious look-alike of the Pidgey line.
On top of being comprised of three forms in its line, it also slowly builds a stunning headdress throughout its evolutionary process that culminates in a stylish final design. It also only ever stays a dual-typing of normal and flying which is disappointing as it makes it redundant if you already trained a killer Pidgeot.
1 Plusle/Minun (Pikachu)
When Pikachu took off like a rocket in terms of global popularity, The Pokémon Company and Gamefreak took this as a sign and have tried to create numerous look-alikes of the electrified rodent over the years. The worst of these Pikachu look-alikes are Plusle and Minun, who looks eerily like Pichu, the baby pre-evolution of Pikachu.
These two are supposed to represent the positive and negative charges in electricity but come across as desperate attempts to give another generation of Pokémon their own Pikachu. No one will ever love one of these look-alikes more than the face of the franchise, Pikachu.
NEXT: Pokémon: 15 Most Disappointing Pokémon Missing From The Galar Pokédex
