'Gotta catch 'em all!': Pokemon memes for trainers and gym challengers fighting for their medals

Giuliana Tiscioni • Writer

Sep 2, 2026 11:00 AM EDT

What was your favorite Pokémon growing up?

I'll expose myself here: mine was Oshawott. I've always loved water, so naturally, a water Pokémon was going to be part of my top three. Besides, what I liked the most about him was that his design was really cute. I had no idea which Pokémon was stronger, which one was the best at attacking, what strategies were better, or against whom they had the advantage. I only cared about them being cute. And on that same line, of course, I loved Jigglypuff. My brother was totally appalled, and it was a disgrace to him that I didn't care about the specifics. We had completely opposite ways of enjoying the same thing, but at least we had it in common. One thing we did agree on was our liking for the Legendary Birds. Those were amazing, design-wise and power-wise, the perfect mix for both of us to enjoy.

Pokemon was actually one of the few things my brother and I bonded over, and that's mostly why I remember the show and video games fondly. Yes, I also played some of the older video games, specifically Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. Those were the ones I got to know. And again, I wanted to catch every Pokémon that came my way just for the sake of having them, and he insisted on me just looking for the rare ones. We never agreed on it (or on anything, really), but it was a really fun part of our childhood anyway.

When Pokémon Go came out, everybody went crazy about it, including my brother. He still plays the game to this day and goes around the neighborhood to catch Pokémon when he has some hours to spare. I tried to play it back in the day, but I never fully got the hang of it. My talent for video games was always nonexistent, but at least I tried.

With all the years of Pokémon content we have, there are dozens of memes to laugh at and go back to our childhood. There are enough of them to compete at a Gym Battle!