A shocking bit of breaking news rocked the Pokémon world today. The release of the latest games in the series, the Nintendo Switch game Pokémon Legends: Z-A, contained dialog confirming that Pokémon poop. This stinky revelation made headlines — but it's not actually a new defecation development. There's evidence that Pokémon have been pooping going back decades.
The excrement excitement began when Japanese users of the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) were made aware of an NPC character in the new game who, if the player speaks to them, will reveal that their Pikachu has the runs.
"Pikachu's pooping more than usual, I'm worried," the character says in the Japanese release of the game, though in the English-language release, the dialog is a bit less explicit. Instead, the concerned Pikachu-owner says "My Pikachu's been having tummy troubles recently. I'm worried..."
ピカチュウのうんち pic.twitter.com/rVetTHbftA
— てそ (@teso_026) October 15, 2025
Outlets like IGN and Eurogamer were quick to pick up the scat story, which went somewhat viral because it is, admittedly, pretty funny to think about the cute and/or fearsome creatures from the iconic gaming franchise pooping. (A famous Japanese book had it right, it would seem: everyone poops.)
However, this is not actually the first time the Pokémon franchise has confirmed that Pokémon poop. Not even close.
Past Pokémon Games and the Anime Have Already Made Reference To Pokémon Poop
Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which was released on October 16, 2025, is actually just the latest confirmation that Pokémon poop, a fact which some (but not all) of the outlets that picked up the story are overlooking.
"Many farmers cherish and nurture Diglett because its droppings enrich the soil it lives in," reads the Pokédex description for the mole-like Pokémon Diglett in Sun and Moon, a pair of games that came out in 2016—nine years before Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
"Darumaka's droppings are hot, so people used to put them in their clothes to keep themselves warm," reads the entry for the Fire-type Pokemon Darumaka in Pokémon White, which came out in 2010.
In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, a character known as the Berry Master and his wife sell the player mulch, which he explains is made by "mixing high-grade soil with Pokémon...um...you know..." Diamond and Pearl came out in 2006.
Way back in 1998, when the Pokémon anime's first season was airing in Japan, "Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon," the 46th episode of the show, contained a reference to Pokémon poop. The protagonist Ash and his rival Gary are digging for fossils. Gary believe's he's found one, but it turns out he hasn't unearthed a rare bone but instead fossilised manure—which real-life paleontologists call coperlite. This is evidence that not only have Pokémon been pooping in the franchise's canon since the late-'90s, but within the fiction of Pokémon, they've been defecating for millions of years.
Does every Pokémon poop? That's a question for another time, as there are Ghost-type or Steel-type Pokémon who don't seem to be entirely organic or in possession of a metabolism. But, we know that there is a rich tradition of Poopémon.
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