The third generation of the Pokémon franchise features 135 fictional species of creatures introduced to the core video game series in the 2002Game Boy Advance games Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. Some Pokémon in this generation were introduced in animated adaptations of the franchise before Ruby and Sapphire. The following list details the 135 Pokémon of Generation III in order of their National Pokédex number. The first Pokémon, Treecko, is number 252 and the last, Deoxys, is number 386. Alternate forms that result in type changes are included for convenience. Mega evolutions and regional forms are included on the pages for the generation in which they were introduced.
Design and development
Nintendo Life noted in a retrospective that the third generation of Pokémon has a very different "feel" from the two generations that came before it because almost all of its 135 new Pokémon – save for Azurill and Wynaut – have no relation to those of the previous generations. Unlike the first two generations, two of the "starter" Pokémon of Ruby and Sapphire gain a secondary typing in their final form, giving them a wider range of abilities. Ruby and Sapphire features two "Mythical Pokémon" – Jirachi and Deoxys – both of which became available to coincide with their respective anime movies. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire significantly increased the amount of "Dark"- and "Steel"-type Pokémon in the series, as only a few Pokémon in previous generations used these typings. Hardcore Gamer also noted that many of the new Pokémon made use of "dual typing", where Pokémon have both a primary and a secondary type; this wasn't nearly as common in Red and Blue or Gold and Silver.
Alex Carlson of Hardcore Gamer wrote in 2014 that the third generation of Pokémon games was not well received by fans of the series, with some people calling the generation the "worst in the series history". This was in part because Ruby and Sapphire did not allow players to transfer in their Pokémon from previous generations, and, because of this, many older Pokémon were completely unavailable in the games until Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen were released a few years later. Meanwhile, many of the new Pokémon designs, such as those for Torchic, Feebas, Luvdisc, Castform, and Clamperl, were criticized for being unoriginal.
