Pokemon Legends: Arceus Confirms Long-Standing Fan Theory About A "Pikachu Line"

thegamer.com:

Pokemon Legends: Arceus has confirmed a long-standing fan theory about why so many Pokemon look like Pikachu.

As the Pokemon game set in the earliest known time period, in a time when Pokemon trainers didn't exist and not much was known about the creatures, Arceus has the chance to mess around with the established canon and have some fun with it. One example of this is how Arceus retconned Indian Elephants from both Gastly and Raichu's Pokedex entry.

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Speaking of Raichu, players have discovered that Arceus also confirms a long-standing fan theory about the "Pikachu line" and why so many of the 'Mons look like Pikachu. The theory goes that Pokemon like Pachirisu, Togedemaru, Plusle, Minun, and Emolga to name just a few, are all related to Pikachu and part of its family.

Although it's easy to assume this is simply because of how popular Pikachu is and the desire to try and make lightning strike twice (literally, thanks to it being an Electric-type), fans preferred to think of it as a biological thing and that there is simply a clear Pikachu line present throughout the different generations.

As pointed out by Redditor PricklyBob, Pokemon Legends: Arceus actually goes along with this theory and makes it canon to the Pokemon universe. They point out that Pachirisu's Pokedex entry reads "A species related to the Pikachu line", which is a clear nod at the theory and all but confirms it to be the case.

Pachirisu is the only "Pikachu clone" that's present in Arceus, so there are no other Pokedex entries that mention anything similar, but it presumably would be the same for other Pokemon that look like Pikachu and have been included in the theory over the years.

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