It's a shame we never had a league/tournament where Ash used all of his Pokemon

[Johtoo]

The closest we really got was the Sinnoh league, but even then Ash didn't use his original starters. Why were the writers so afraid of Ash using his reserves in Kalos, Alola or even during journeys? They obviously acknowledged their existence multiple times (except for XY. Which for some reason was helmed by an entire team who forgot Pokemon existed before it). There is a reason why the Sinnoh league arguably had the biggest hype surrounding it. And from a marketing perspective, it seemed like a no brainer for this to happen

 

[pharaohyami5000]

Animation budget.

For Pokemon's reason, since Unova League, it's to keep their main focus on mostly their region discovered Pokemon (with few exceptions for Pikachu and Riolu/Lucario). Due to that, Kalos and Alola followed along, but I'm unsure about Galar.

 

[Johtoo]

Animation budget.

For Pokemon's reason, since Unova League, it's to keep their main focus on mostly their region discovered Pokemon (with few exceptions for Pikachu and Riolu/Lucario). Due to that, Kalos and Alola followed along, but I'm unsure about Galar.

I get it, but I also don't. Sinnoh had no issue in using a lot of Ash's reserves. Not to mention, it's Pokemon. Surely money isn't an issue? Lastly, isn't that what fillers are for? to save the budget for later episodes?

 

[Emmy]

Ironically taking Ash away from the status of main character might actually increase the chances of this happening. If one day for another milestone they announced another series (be it mainline TV anime or something else like an OVA) which features the PWC and Ash is the defending Champion waiting at the end, there would be no excuse not to have Ash use a team of reserves, especially if they want to bank on nostalgia.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I thought that the closest we got to this was the Johto League since aside from Kingler, I'm pretty sure Ash used all of his reserves during that tournament. I think that the main reason this didn't happen was because by a certain point, Ash just had way too many Pokemon for them to reasonably use all of them in one tournament. The animation budget was a big issue too, but I don't think that they'd be able to balance the attention between his current team and his reserves. The Johto League put a lot more focus on his reserves than on his current team. While the Sinnoh League did a better job in keeping the main spotlight on Ash's DP team, only a few of his reserves were used and only a couple of them really stood out.

The PWC could have been a way for them to use Ash's reserves throughout Journeys, but it was clear that they weren't interested in Ash using his reserves by that point, which was a bit of a mixed bag. It could have provided some variety in Ash's matches, potentially made his victories against Champions more believable and would have given his older Pokemon something more to do than just cheer from the sidelines, but given how Journeys stuggled with giving Pokemon focus and screentime outside of the battle field, throwing in more Pokemon for Ash might have made the problem worse.

 

[Jaye]

If you've watched Ash go through a region with a set team and grown attached to that team, you'd want them to be earn their big wins when it mattes most, wouldn't you?

Say someone was watching XY as their first Pokemon series, and they really liked Noivern, Goodra, and Hawlucha and were looking forward to seeing them in the Kalos League... only for Ash to bench them for this Muk, Donphan and Corphish they didn't even know existed before. That person would feel short-changed and far less invested in Ash's battles.

The whole reason Ash started with just Pikachu everytime he went to a new place was because he wanted to raise Pokemon he caught specifically in that place. The leagues, then, served as a culmination of the work he did with those Pokemon. Ash throwing his reserves into the mix would have defeated the purpose of starting fresh with a whole new team and would have felt arbitrary.

 

[Greninjaman]

That makes sense. Most people nowadays would not really know who Ash's Charizard is like someone who has been there when the show started (like me). I know the story of Ash's Charizard because I watched those episodes.

 

[jungle_penguins]

XY was avoiding most direct continuity in general for some reason. They clearly remember the past but didn't say it in the show. (The Dunsparce reference was hilarious though). But really I only find it strange in the 2019 series, with a lot of the tournament centered around past characters, didn't have past Pokemon for Ash. They were willing to give him Mega Evolution but for a new Lucario? I really don't get it, and I'm generally okay with past things not being referenced. If the story doesn't need it, it just doesn't need it, yet this is like the one exception.

 

[Greninjaman]

What Pokemon does Ash even have that can Mega Evolve aside from Charizard?

 

[Dr. Gro 3001]

What Pokemon does Ash even have that can Mega Evolve aside from Charizard?

A surprising amount actually. Lucario, Sceptile, Glalie, Gengar, Pidgeot, and Heracross. That being said, he would have to find each other their Mega Stones, including Charizard and barring Lucario to Mega Evolve the Pokemon

 

[Daren]

In general there were issues. The Johto team got overshadowed in the Johto league by Kanto mons, and the AG team got the major BF win taken by Kanto, too.
Although some of the later teams were deprived of a major win even with a league to themselves, but it would have been worse with reserves.

(Though I might go so far as to say JN could have had Ash only reserves to fit into the whole world theme and make the Champion wins easier to swallow with Gou used to show off new Pokémon, but that didn't happen)

 

[Greninjaman]

Why did Ash use his Kanto Pokemon more than his Johto ones during the Johto Saga?

 

[Dr. Gro 3001]

Why did Ash use his Kanto Pokemon more than his Johto ones during the Johto Saga?

I can't speak for every single choice, but I generally think it was because he had more options for Pokemon from Kanto/Orange Islands as opposed to Johto. It did help that seeing some Pokemon come back like Squirtle and Bulbasaur was pretty hype back in the day. Although in hindsight, those Pokemon disappearing for a few years in same saga isn't really that exciting. Plus in my eyes, his Johto Pokemon barring Cyndaquil and maybe Bayleaf really weren't that good.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Why did Ash use his Kanto Pokemon more than his Johto ones during the Johto Saga?

It was more so during the beginning and end of Johto where he was relying more on his Kanto Pokemon as opposed to the entire Johto saga. I think part of the problem was that Ash went into Johto with his Kanto Pokemon. That meant it took him longer to get Johto Pokemon than it would have in other series, which did affect how much they could do with these new Pokemon. Totodile and to a lesser degree Noctowl really suffered from being caught much later than they would have in other series. There's a reason why every other series afterwards gave Ash a fresh team aside from Pikachu. It gave them more time to develop his team potentially and they didn't have to setup episodes to sendoff his older Pokemon. Another issue is that Charizard, Bulbasaur and Squirtle's returns were treated as pretty big deals, so they'd want to have them get the spotlight, even if that took his Johto team out of some much needed development.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Ironically taking Ash away from the status of main character might actually increase the chances of this happening. If one day for another milestone they announced another series (be it mainline TV anime or something else like an OVA) which features the PWC and Ash is the defending Champion waiting at the end, there would be no excuse not to have Ash use a team of reserves, especially if they want to bank on nostalgia.

I highly doubt that we’ll see Ash take part in the PWC in any kind of title defense because that’s not the kind of person that he is. He didn’t enter the PWC because he wanted to be champion, he did so because he wanted to battle Leon. He’s not obligated to enter every season and while he loves to battle, he’s not the type who’d be interested in defending the title. The only thing he’d have any real obligation to is his title as Alolan Champion since that would require that he battles any Alola League Champions gunning for the title of Alolan Champion.

 

[Daren]

It's also important to remember as for why the Kanto mon got used so much in Johto; unlike later region splits they were the same series so Johto was working under the assumption that the audience had also watched Kanto and the Orange Islands in a way later series' generally didn't. From the perspective that Ash wanted to win leaving so many strong Pokémon on the bench would be unthinkable, and that's harder to ignore when they were caught in the same series.

 

[Dr. Gro 3001]

In hindsight, it is a pretty good idea that they had Ash get new Pokemon every region from Hoenn onwards. Obviously for marketing reasons and to allow them to have time in the spotlight, but also to let the Pokemon of that region to have more battle victories and defeats and to not repeat what happened to his Johto team. That does also mean that we generally lacked times where we got to see members from other regions, either interact with the team from the current region. It also meant we never got to see a "dream team" fight against some major rival of his. But, I am mostly content with what we got throughout the years.

 

[Johtoo]

It's also important to remember as for why the Kanto mon got used so much in Johto; unlike later region splits they were the same series so Johto was working under the assumption that the audience had also watched Kanto and the Orange Islands in a way later series' generally didn't. From the perspective that Ash wanted to win leaving so many strong Pokémon on the bench would be unthinkable, and that's harder to ignore when they were caught in the same series.

That doesn't explain Sinnoh league though. Someone watching Ash use Snorlax in the Sinnoh league would have been confused unless they were 18+ or somehow watched the earlier series around that time.

 

[Johtoo]

It was more so during the beginning and end of Johto where he was relying more on his Kanto Pokemon as opposed to the entire Johto saga. I think part of the problem was that Ash went into Johto with his Kanto Pokemon. That meant it took him longer to get Johto Pokemon than it would have in other series, which did affect how much they could do with these new Pokemon. Totodile and to a lesser degree Noctowl really suffered from being caught much later than they would have in other series. There's a reason why every other series afterwards gave Ash a fresh team aside from Pikachu. It gave them more time to develop his team potentially and they didn't have to setup episodes to sendoff his older Pokemon. Another issue is that Charizard, Bulbasaur and Squirtle's returns were treated as pretty big deals, so they'd want to have them get the spotlight, even if that took his Johto team out of some much needed development.

I think the writers had a lot of regrets with how they handled the Johto Pokemon. Which is why Cyndaquil evolved the moment it returned. No offence to his Johto Pokemon, but they weren't built to win the league. At no point during Johto did I think Ash had a team capable of winning the league, or getting far in it. I guess bringing his Kanto mon back made sense in that way.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I think the writers had a lot of regrets with how they handled the Johto Pokemon. Which is why Cyndaquil evolved the moment it returned. No offence to his Johto Pokemon, but they weren't built to win the league. At no point during Johto did I think Ash had a team capable of winning the league, or getting far in it. I guess bringing his Kanto mon back made sense in that way.

I'm not sure if that necessarily is a sign of regret on how they handled Ash's Johto team. Despite having Cyndaquil evolve, Quilava only had one mostly off-screen battle during the Sinnoh League that ended in a draw. It was still cool for Ash to get a Quilava, if only because it should have happened during Johto, but it really didn't get a chance to shine, which was a shame. His Johto team was rather lackluster in terms of strength. Totodile only got one Gym battle where it was basically fodder, Noctowl really only had one Gym battle to shine and Bulbasaur was on his team for far too long, which made Phanpy's addition feel really weak. While the Gym battles were generally better than what we got in Kanto, the development for Ash's team left a lot to be desired.

I think that it was mainly a combination of not wanting to give Ash more evolved Pokemon on top of taking longer to get these new Pokemon that affected their development. Ash's future teams weren't perfect by any means, but allowing him to have evolved Pokemon and slowly building up his teams from the start of future series instead of taking about forty episodes to do that were big advancements that his Johto team didn't have.