In a tradition among Pokémon trainers all over the world, everybody is allowed to have up to six of the titular monsters. It’s been a tradition that we never seem to question unless one thinks about it, and that’s not a bad thing. This number is, in a way, a sweet spot in what is enough for players. It’s not too little, nor is it too much. It’s moderate, yes, but moderation is always a beautiful thing because it’s not extreme. Of course, one could opt for less, but what about the possibility of having more than six Pokémon in hand? Let’s explore this subject.
How It’s Handled
It’s a question that is sure to pop up: why can’t trainers have more than six Pokémon? What’s stopping them? The games have a limit, so it doesn’t need to be questioned. Because the series have its roots in games, the main question is: how is this explained in other media?
In the anime, it was initially shown that any extra you have will be teleported to the lab, which is the extra storage. An example is when Ash caught a Krabby (a seventh Pokémon in hand), which immediately disappeared. It’s like this in the games as well, where the Poké Ball is transported to the PC when you already have six. It’s never explained how it could happen, though. This makes a direct translation to real life seems strange for anybody since it’s borderline magic.
Later on though, when an extra Pokémon was caught, the Poké Ball’s button light glows red, which is suppose to indicate that it cannot be recalled. It’s not known when the exact point this change happened, but this is somewhat more realistic than just teleporting Poké Balls straight.
In the manga, Special/Adventures, specifically, it’s explained very early on that it is essentially a kind of establishment in ethics between trainers, probably in the name of fairness. A societal right, in other words.
Interestingly, in Pokémon Puzzle Challenge for the Game Boy Color, you can have up to nine available Pokémon. You start with three, but fulfilling certain conditions allow you to battle a trainer for a new Pokémon. It should be noted that this version of Puzzle Challenge is a translation of Panel de Pon, where nine fairies could be chosen, so if one were to stay true to Pokémon’s limit, then the game needed more effort to change.
So why is there a moderation in the first place? Based on what is mentioned in this section, I have a couple of theories regarding this subject.
Forced Moderation
One theory in which everybody cannot have more than six Pokémon is having a forced limit. This means that any trainer is not allowed to have more than six Pokémon because they just cannot do it. How does that work?
Perhaps any extra Poké Balls the player have might be immediately transferred to the lab. The means in which it is done is a mystery, though the anime did show it being teleported once. If it’s not through teleportation, how else could it be done? Maybe the Poké Balls immediately fly in the air and into the lab, or maybe the player’s device could transport Poké Balls one way. This is one of the facts of life that require imagination to figure out.
Another way could be by disabling the extras from functioning. This would essentially prevent any trainer from breaking the limit without being too unrealistic. If that’s the case, how do the Poké Balls recognise that the trainer already have six in hand? There is probably a Trainer ID imprint on the Poké Ball to signify this, so if six are held, any extras will be immediately disabled. Perhaps the trainers have implanted chips whenever they are born precisely for this.
Or maybe, some legendary Pokémon would make this limit a necessity. There could be one who would haunt any trainer with too much in hand, or that they could be a force that makes it impossible to command more than six. In any case, it’s not surprising that there are folk tales about the dangers of carrying six Pokémon that adults would tell kids.
Now, as I have said before, there is another theory on why there is a limit, based on ethics.
Ethical Limit
The other theory I have regarding the subject on why nobody can have six is because of ethics. It could be that seven or more is viewed as too much for a trainer to have at one point in history, so pretty much everybody decided that six is all you can have. This creates a condition of justice among the population.
It is possible that not long after Poké Balls were invented, everyone decided that six was the limit after every decided to have as many as they could. Perhaps back then it was not easy to make Poké Balls, so having too many was considered disgraceful because it was a sign of selfishness. It could also be that the population of Pokémon meant that at that time, it was not feasible to have too much, lest the ecosystem collapses. There is probably a history on this subject in the Pokémon World.
If that’s the case, won’t that mean that now people could carry more than six now that conditions improve that people could have seven or more without repercussions? Poké Balls are also available in a dime a dozen, so there’s no shortage of it (being disposable, they need to be easily manufactured). It’s possible that everyone is used to the idea of having six Pokémon at maximum that habits are hard to change. Hey, it’s why we still use a floppy disk as a save icon.
Perhaps there is one point in history where it was disastrous to have seven or more Pokémon because of various factors, so as to prevent the repeat of history of some disastrous event, a law is set to prevent trainers from having more at once, and anyone caught violating this rule (through tampering) are in for a serious punishment.
When it comes to official tournaments, it’s probable that there are scanners in case trainers try to sneak in extra Pokémon, so that there isn’t any cheating involved. Most Pokémon are big, yes, but there are tiny ones that you can sneak in without looking too conspicuous.
So those are the two theories explained. Laws are established for a reason, though some might not be good ones. Still, having a six-Pokémon limit has its advantages. The next section explores this.
Benefits of Being Just Right
“The more, the merrier”, that’s what they say. Indeed, we were encouraged to “catch ’em all” at one point, but that is for collection purposes, not for carrying everywhere. Unless governed by selfishness, rules are there for a reason, and having six Pokémon as a limit is no difference.
It’s possible that having too many Pokémon to command becomes a difficult task, because you have to account for the different teammates you have at your disposal. It’s possible that there are people who could do it, but thing is, not everybody is the same. In order not to discriminate those who can’t do it, those who could do it cannot do it. After all, it’s better to have a better quality of six teammates than to have to look after seven or more at once.
Another problem with many Pokémon is that giving an extra slot could exponentially increase the difficulty. Take the 3 vs. 3 battles. Battles are simpler and fast, which makes it very ideal for having several battles, and strategies are simpler with just six. Compare this to 6 vs. 6: with potentially many Pokémon to have, the potential strategies increased. Not only that, you need to account for the opponent’s team of six. If we take this further to say, 9 vs. 9, there would be too much strategising to be had, making it too complex because you still need to take into account the possibility of the opponent’s team.
That is not to say that nobody could have less, because it’s possible to do it. It’s just that if you do that, you sort of put yourself in a handicap compared to others who saw the benefits of a diverse group. It’s an option for anybody, and there are some benefits with having less members. It should be noted that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, in this case, so a team of six is still ideal.
That’s my take on the reason we can’t have more than six Pokémon. There’s probably more to this subject, so any comments regarding it is certainly welcomed. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it.
Thanks for reading.
