Like the generations released before - Gen 1 and Gen 2 - and after - Gen 4, Gen 5, Gen 6 and Gen 8 - it, Gen 3 was released gradually over a period of time; beginning with the 2017 Halloween event and, at the time of writing, is still waiting on the release of one quite elusive Pokémon. Gen 3 was officially launched with the release of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire for the Game Boy Advance. It continued Gen 2’s trend of introducing baby forms for pre-existing Pokémon, like Azurill for Marill, and some interesting evolution methods for certain Pokémon, including Milotic. (If you actually managed to catch a Feebas…) On this page: This chameleon inspired Pokémon hasn’t even been mentioned by Niantic and we’re starting to wonder if they’ve actually forgotten about the poor creature. After all, the last time a Gen 3 Pokémon was released was back in June 2019 with the arrival of Jirachi. Still, we have to hope that Kecleon will eventually arrive in Pokémon Go, so we can all finally complete the Hoenn Pokédex. Here some interesting facts about the third generation of Pokémon:
Gen 3 was the first generation to introduce more than one mythical Pokémon in the form of Jirachi and Deoxys. Gen 3 saw the introduction of the Pokémon Contests and, with them, a whole new way to train Pokémon by focusing on attacks which will give you an advantage in these events. While Gen 3 didn’t introduce any Stage 2 or 3 evolutions for pre-existing Pokémon, it did introduce two new baby forms - Azurill for Marill and Wynaut for Wobbuffet. In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, Feebas was the hardest Pokémon to catch, because it only appeared in six randomly selected water tiles in Route 119. These tiles were, for some reason, changed when you submitted a new ‘Trendy Phrase’ in Dewford Town. Feebas is also the only Pokémon whose evolution method has been modified between generations. Players originally evolved Feebas into Milotic by raising its Beauty points and levelling it up, but, since Pokémon Contests were absent from Gen 5, the Prism Scale item was introduced to ensure players could complete their Pokédex. Another unique evolution method from Gen 3 in the main Pokémon series is Shedinja. To obtain this Pokémon you need to level up Nincada to level 20, while ensuring there’s a free space in your party and a space Poké Ball in your bag. If you fulfil these requirements, Shedinja will appear in your party when Nincada evolves into Ninjask, because Shedinja is its former exoskeleton. Absol, this writer’s favourite Pokémon, is from Gen 3.
It’s important to note, in Pokemon Go, Volbeat, Illumise, Torkoal, Tropius and Relicanth are regionally exclusive Pokémon and only leave their specific locations during certain in-game events like Go Fest. Zangoose, Seviper, Lunatone and Solrock are also regionally exclusive, but, unlike the Pokémon above, they regularly rotate which locations they appear in. Solrock and Lunatone, for example, switch hemispheres every year. Below you can find the complete list of Gen 3 Pokémon, along with the amount of candy required for their evolutions and when they debuted: Have fun catching the Gen 3 Pokémon!
