025 - Pikachu
Electric
To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to covering Pikachu---what can I say about Pikachu that hasn't already been said? There's a lot of ground to cover, and you could easily write a book on Pikachu. Pretty sure someone already did? In case you've been living under a rock, Pikachu is Pokemon's mascot, and one of the most popular mascot characters in the world---some would say he resonates more with the average person nowadays than even Mickey Mouse! There's a bit of a memory lapse though involving Pikachu, where it's hard to recall when exactly his popularity took off. Was he always naturally popular, or did The Pokemon Company responsible for pushing his popularity till we all just accepted him as the mascot? When I was a teenager, I went through a phrase where I was too cool for Pikachu, but nowadays, I sort of have a new respect for him and generally enjoy him for the most part even though I've never actually used one.
Pikachu is the first Electric-type Pokemon, and naturally is colored yellow. Electric Pokemon have somewhat of an advantage early on as they are only weak to Ground-type attacks, which aren't too common early on---this was especially true in Generation 1, where you only had Dig and Earthquake as Ground moves you had to regularly worry about, as the only other Ground-type moves that caused damage were the Cubone/Marowak exclusive "Bone" moves, and Fissure, which didn't consider Type Advantage. Even today, most of the more powerful Ground-type moves tend to appear later on, so Electric-type Pokemon are somewhat advantageous at first.
Despite being massively popular, Pikachu was actually a rather rare Pokemon in the original games, only appearing in Viridian Forest (and way later the Power Plant), and infrequently. It's possible a player might venture through Viridian Forest without even meeting the Pokemon. As explained in the above paragraph, this was likely due to Electric having a bit of an advantage early on, thus the player isn't easily given an Electric-type Pokemon. They have to work for it. Of course, this isn't true in Pokemon Yellow, where Pikachu serves as the player's starter, and they are encouraged to use it, although they aren't forced to keep it in their party thankfully.
Although it doesn't quite resemble any real world creature, Pikachu is considered to be a "mouse Pokemon". Some claim it's based off the "pika", but this seems to be a coincidence as it doesn't look much like said creature, and the "pika" in its name is presumably meant to be from the japanese onomatopoeia "pikapika", sparkle. In its original appearance, Pikachu was quite round (and even had a white belly in some older art and sprites), and looked much more mouselike---over the years it has greatly thinned down, and now looks more like a rabbit to me. I actually sort of like the new Pikachu, but I can see the appeal of the old one. As the story goes, this slimming down was apparently due to it being easier to animate Pikachu as such, but it also may simply be a natural evolution that many mascot characters undergo. Just look at Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse! Sugimori nowadays also tends to draw Pikachu with a very ovular head as opposed to the square head the anime incarnation uses.
Pikachu began the "Electric Rodent" archetype, in which every Generation except for Gen II (although it could be seen as Pichu) has a similar Electric-type Rodent with an emphasis on its cheeks, which serve as the source of its electricity. These Electric Rodents tend to be somewhat weak, although they aren't completely worthless, but Pikachu perhaps has ended up being the strongest of them all thanks to the Light Ball introduced in Gen II, that doubles its Sp. Atk (and later Atk in Generation IV to take advantage of the physical-special split), making it more formidable, and allows it to pass on its signature move Volt Tackle to its child. Hey, it's the mascot after all, it's gotta be decent somewhat!
There have been a few "Pikachu" variants over the years, the most memorable being the Surfing Pikachu which is a Pikachu who knows Surf, and appeared in both the games and the anime. Recently, Cosplay Pikachu was introduced, which can change into various outfits in ORAS based on the five Contest Categories. Personally, I have a theory that we'll see a "Classic Pikachu", modeled after the original chubby Pikachu, appear in the new game that's probable next year as a nod to the 20th Anniversary, but we'll see about that...
I shouldn't have to tell you this, but Pikachu is the main Pokemon of Ash in the Pokemon Anime, and has appeared in every single main series episode since the beginning. Originally, Rachael Lillis dubbed over it a couple of times, but Pikachu's original voice actor, Ikue Ohtani, is now the voice of Pikachu worldwide, and has even lent her voice to Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow, and now, Pokemon X & Y. Some people have a rather violent reaction towards this, but let them hate---Pikachu's voice is absolutely iconic! Pikachu refuses to evolve, a point made clear throughout the show, and is said to be more powerful than the average Pikachu, especially when it comes to its speed which seems to be its main asset---and it could be said Ash traditionally specializes in speed-type strategies. Despite this, Pikachu's power has notoriously fluctuated much to the chagrin of fans where one episode it can go toe-to-toe with a Latios one episode, only to turn around and lose to a Snivy a few episodes later. Yes, I'm still salty about Best Wishes!
Pikachu has also played a major role in many other incarnations as being important to the Red-expy...Red in Pokemon Special, Red in Pocket Monsters (where he shares screentime with the Pokemon rumored to be the original mascot of the franchise), and probably quite a few other manga that never made it out of Japan. Interestingly, Pikachu's role in Pokemon Origins was surprisingly small and was a quick cameo, although perhaps this was meant to illustrate how Pikachu was so little important in the original Green and Red? But I'd say Ash's Pikachu is probably the one that's the most beloved (and most hated?), and probably the main reason Pikachu ended up so recognizable. Hate the anime if you wish, but by now I think I've illustrated it was rather important in shaping various elements of the franchise in terms of how the general public perceived them.
In Super Smash Bros., Pikachu has appeared as a playable character in every game since the original, where he was the youngest character---yet even then he had already become on-par with Mario and Link. Some people might even say he's Nintendo's mascot, not Mario, even though he could be called a "second party" character in reality. In the original Smash, Pikachu was also considered one of the strongest characters, but as of Smash 4 he's seem to have fallen back to the middle of the race. Pikachu is also a character in the newest fighting game, Pokken, where he is shockingly similar to Tekken's Heihachi. And now there's a second Pikachu, based on the Luchador Cosplay Pikachu, coming to Pokken as well. Beyond these appearances, there are multiple games featuring Pikachu in the lead role such as Hey You, Pikachu!, and the possibly vapor-ware Great Detective Pikachu said to be releasing in the future.
*deep breath*
026 - Raichu
Electric
Raichu is perhaps one of the most maligned Pokemon of them all, forever living in the shadow of Pikachu. Now, Raichu does have its fans---perhaps a lot of people like it specifically because it isn't Pikachu---but you wouldn't know this by how Game Freak treats it. In Pokemon Yellow, Pikachu was unable to evolve into Raichu (unless traded to another game first), and now thanks to the Light Ball, there's an actual incentive to not evolve PIkachu, leaving poor Raichu out in the cold. At this point, I think Raichu fans are desperately hoping for a Mega Evolution...
Raichu is the first Pokemon that doesn't evolve from its previous form by experience level, but rather through an Evolution Stone, in this case the Thunder Stone. Stone Pokemon have never been really explained---why some Pokemon need to use a stone to perform something most other Pokemon are capable of doing naturally---and tend to not look any different from naturally evolving Pokemon, thus the player probably won't know how to evolve the Pokemon unless they consult a guide, friends, or simply try all the Evolution Stones they have to see which Pokemon can use them. Perhaps this was an idea made to entice players to connect with others, one of the main goals of Pokemon. Stone Pokemon have their advantage in that they allow you to gain a powerful Pokemon instantly if you have the right item, but also have a disadvantage in that they typically have a much smaller set of learnable moves than their pre-evolution, or basically won't learn any moves at all. Thus, evolving a Pokemon too early with a Stone can serve as a mistake, and it's better to wait a bit and learn more moves first---or use TMs, of course. Raichu being a Stone Evolution could be seen as another way to help Pikachu's popularity. If Raichu was a natural evolution, the player would probably evolve Pikachu no questions asked---they'd have to stop Pikachu evolving every time it levels up otherwise, which might get on their nerves causing them to just give up and let it evolve, or would forget to stop the evolution accidentally. But since the player chooses when Pikachu evolves, there's a good chance they may leave it as a Pikachu because they recognize Pikachu as a popular Pokemon, and might want to keep it in its familiar form.
Design-wise, Raichu is larger than Pikachu, and seems to be based on the kangaroo mouse due to its large feet and long tail and does kind of bring to mind a kangaroo in a way. Interestingly, it actually keeps the white belly the old Pikachu was known for even today, the last remnant of a forgotten design. Raichu has slimmed down alongside Pikachu, although it's a bit less noticeable however. As Raichu didn't appear as much as Pikachu, and wasn't subject to being drawn over and over, there wasn't the same level of natural art evolution that had time to occur I suppose.
In the show, Raichu appeared in a "David and Goliath" situation during the Kanto series under the ownership of Lt. Surge, where it originally defeated Pikachu, leading to the famous scene where Pikachu refused to evolve. However, Pikachu later was able to overcome Raichu thanks to its higher speed (not true in the game, of course, but in terms of logic for the show, a smaller Pokemon being faster makes sense), and due to knowing Quick Attack and Agility, which Raichu didn't know as it had evolved too soon. Taking Red and Blue in account, this would mean Lt. Surge's Pikachu evolved before level 16. Raichu's appearances in the show following this often tended to be it being played up as a rival to Pikachu, sometimes a serious rival, other times a friendlier one, although in Diamond and Pearl there was an episode where Ash used a rental Raichu in a battle. Most of the other canons where the Red-expy has a Pikachu also seem to keep it from evolving, although the Pikachu in Pocket Monsters actually did, albeit temporarily. Of course, this even includes the original Game Red.
As far as I know, Raichu hasn't made a single appearance in Smash Brothers---not even as a sticker as far as I can tell. It also tends to have no appearances in the Pikachu-series games either if I remember correctly.
172 - Pichu
Electric
Although I'm going in Dex Order, Cross-Gen Pokemon will appear alongside the rest of their evolutionary family.
Pichu is one of the first Baby Pokemon introduced, which were one of the new additions in Generation II. As Pokemon could now be bred, Game Freak decided it'd be good to introduce Baby Pokemon that could be better pictured of coming out of Eggs. Of course, they mostly skipped over the Pokemon it'd make sense to have Baby Forms---dudes like Snorlax, Onix, Lapras, and such who were enormous seemed like the Pokemon who should've gotten smaller Pokemon that could be logically seen as emerging from an egg, at least for Snorlax they finally did this in Gen IV---and many of the Baby Pokemon end up simply being smaller versions of already small Pokemon. It's hard to not see Baby Pokemon like Pichu as merely a cynical attempt to sell merchandise by using a familiar, yet new, little critter, but they do have some purpose in that they learn unique moves that their evolution cannot, and also as of XY carry with them 3 IVs when found in the wild. Pichu for instance lets Pikachu gain Volt Tackle and Nasty Plot, although the 3 IV bonus has yet to apply as it cannot be caught in XY or ORAS.
Baby Pokemon are unable to breed until they evolve (their evolutions, however, can breed---and this was the only way to obtain Baby Pokemon for the most part originally), and they're typically introduced, except for two exceptions, a Generation after their evolved form appeared. Baby Pokemon in Generation II were implied to be completely normal Pokemon that existed for years, even though for example we saw Baby Pikachu in the show before that, but later Generations had the player use special incense to breed Baby Pokemon, perhaps implying they're not exactly natural creatures but a unique stage of life brought about through human intervention. Who knows?
Although we don't know how the design process necessarily works, it's assumed most Pokemon are designed from first form to final form, although apparently this was reversed with the Unova Starters. For Baby Pokemon like Pichu, their design process is a bit reversed, as rather than being created organically alongside the other members of its family, they're made a bit after the fact, and thus their is somewhat of a less organic feeling to them---Pichu is purposefully modeled after Pikachu and seeks to "cuten" the original design, by being even smaller and softer looking. I don't quite get why Pichu has the black tail (instead of brown, which would grow into the bottom portion of Pikachu's full tail) or the black neck marks that completely disappear upon evolution, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do as a design though. It's not too bad even if it's going for the "Muppet Babies" approach.
Like Pikachu, there are a few notable Pichu variants. The first is the Spiky-Eared Pichu, which literally makes me mad. It was a gimmick Pokemon (a Pichu with a spiky ear) introduced to hype up HGSS, and was shoved down our throats---it got an entire anime ending dedicated to it, and was hyped as being an important Pokemon in the Arceus Movie. It really didn't do anything special whatsoever, and was a pointless Special Pokemon in HGSS who couldn't evolve nor be traded outside the game. It had a buddy, Pikachu-colored Pichu, who was equally pointless. Pokemon Ranger 3 had an awesome Ukulele Pichu though, but it never got to appear in a game unfortunately enough even though it was far superior to Spiky-Eared Pichu. Ugh, fuck that noise.
In the show, Pichu appeared most memorably as the "Pichu Brothers" in the 3rd Pikachu Short, and had a few other specials dedicated to them such as the one included in Pokemon Channel. In the actual main series, they really haven't had too many important appearances besides a filler in Johto, and some cameo appearances here and there. And it's been years since we saw the Pichu Bros., come to think of it.
Pichu appeared alongside Pikachu in Smash Brothers Melee, and was one of the most notorious "clones" as it hurt itself whenever it attacked, a reference to its inability to fully control its electricity. I believe Sakurai once described Pichu as being the official joke character of Smash Brothers Melee? Most people weren't too miffed at Pichu's removal in Smash Brothers Brawl (Mewtwo's was far more of a sticking point), but it seems there's some demand for him to return in Smash 4 as DLC.