Research Making Every Main Series Protagonist's Canon Pokémon Team (title pending)

[bdt2002]

(Not my picture, taken from: https://zeldadungeon.net/forum/threads/favorite-pokemon-protagonists.35348/)

Good evening, everyone. You what group of people I really look up to in a day and age of real life people being a pain to deal with sometimes? The main characters of the Pokémon games. Think about it. They're responsible for their ages, go out of their way to accomplish their dreams, and can do something I've always been horrible at: make decisions. But what kind of decision am I talking about? I am of course referring to the Pokémon they want or choose to use on their journeys.

Across the main series games, we've seen a lot of protagonist characters that we, the players. play as through the game. These characters appear in various different forms aside from their game variants too, such as in the Pokémon anime, in the Pokémon Adventures manga, and the trading card game just to name a few. With all of these mediums to pull from, I've always been fascinated by what each of the main series Pokémon protagonists' canon teams of 6 Pokémon would be like, and how they make those decisions.

I am aware that I am far from the first person to take a look at this. I've seen a handful of online content creators do similar research, one of which is actually where I got the inspiration for this thread from. For my version, though, I thought I could turn this into more of a discussion post than an individual research project. So I guess all that's left is to ask the question. What are your takes on the Pokémon a protagonist would canonically use for a regular in-game playthrough?

I'll get us kicked off here, if you don't mind. The very first Pokémon protagonist, Red, coming all the way back from the 1996 version of the Kanto region where the series first began, makes a cameo appearance as a very famous secret boss battle in Pokémon Gold & Silver. In this game, we see him use a Pikachu, all three fully evolved Kanto starters, a Snorlax, and an Espeon. Basically, using all the sources we have available, I'd like to work together with you guys to make the most accurate ideas we can. Thanks for your help in advance, and let's get down to it :)

 

[QuentinQuonce]

1) Pretty sure this is wishlisting...?

2) The whole "canon teams" debate was already had quite lengthily a few weeks ago and I'm going to just link to what I said there as the point I was making still holds weight:

These are nice and everything, but you're literally demonstrating the point I was making - people aren't going to be able to agree enough to make canon teams. You can pluck literally any six Pokemon out of the ether and say "there, that's their canon team" but someone else will be able to argue their chosen picks. Another poster could come along any minute and give their chosen six, and so could someone else, and then we'd all be arguing and we wouldn't get anywhere because no-one's opinion has any more weight or validity than anyone else's*. If I cared to, I could vehemently argue that Delcatty shouldn't be part of Wally's canon team because he doesn't use it in rematches in ORAS, or that because official artwork tends to show Lucas with Turtwig, Barry with Chimchar, and Dawn with Piplup then that makes them their canon starters.

 

[Nokocchi]

1) Pretty sure this is wishlisting...?

2) The whole "canon teams" debate was already had quite lengthily a few weeks ago and I'm going to just link to what I said there as the point I was making still holds weight:

Hilariously, Dawn has been depicted with all three Sinnoh Starters are various points. Piplup in the anime, Turtwig/Grotle/Torterra in Pokemon Masters, and Infernape in the official Platinum artwork for the Battle Frontier. In other words, much like their personalities, the MC's teams are blank slates that you can make whatever you want(or what the anime or manga writers want in the case of adaptions)

 

[bdt2002]

I wasn’t sure if this counted as wishlisting in all honesty. After thinking about it for a bit, that sounds like it could fit. Hmm.

In that case, feel free to do whatever you want with this thread, mods. I just like discussion posts, that’s all. No worries :)

 

[Siggu]

Any combination of 6 or more reptilian Pokémon. There's no better answer.

 

[Hugin]

As I said in the other thread, I definitely think that GF /could/ give us canon teams for the protags(and rivals, since it's impossible to figure out one without the other). There's roughly enough options for most to end up with ~6 mons, and it wouldn't be hard to cement it. That doesn't mean they'd stick to it perfectly, again, see how Blue has been handled, but they can make some decisions, and just by virtue of being the ones in charge, we'd basically have to accept them. GF just...doesn't want to. Until they do, everyone can debate endlessly and there's no way to get a 'right' answer, but I do think we can get close.

So, some basic points. Early gens, most rivals had a FWG core. That makes it easy to declare one char the rival and give them a team of the FWG core, minus the starter, and the other the protag and gets all 3 starters. This was what GF did with Red and Blue. Later gens, they've tended towards having multiple rivals and teams that aren't altered much, so basically all we need to do is figure out which starter, for example, Calem/Serena picked, who gets the rival team from the games, and who gets the team from the anime. There's an alternate argument that Red is based on Giftmons, rather than the anime, but I don't think that will adjust things too badly.

Gen II

Gold: Meganium, Typhlosion, Feraligatr, Heracross, Noctowl, Donphan. I'd run Togetic over Noctowl, but basically any Johto mon for the final 2 slots seems fine.
Silver: Weavile, Crobat, Magneton, Gengar, Alakazam, and one other. TTar seems obvious, but again, plenty of options work.
This was easy. Silver is basically done, Gold's biggest issue is that there were too many anime mons to choose from.

Gen III

Ruby: Blaziken, Swampert, Sceptile, Swellow, Glalie, any other. The starters+Ash's Hoenn mons, with type overlaps eliminated.
Sapphire: Delcatty, Beautifly, Wailord, Breloom, Camerupt, any other. This is a combo of May's anime team and your rival's team from RS. Side note, May catches jack-all for Hoenn mons, and your rival has nothing available except FWG. The options here were very limited.
Wally: Altaria, Delcatty, Roselia, Magneton, Gardevoir, one other. This was easy, it's literally his final team.
You could give Ruby Torkoal+Corphish and Sapphire Blaziken, but I prefered the Red/Blue dichotomy of one side getting the starters, the other getting the non-starters, rather than Anime loyalty. Also, wow, Sapphire has basically no info. Rough char.

Gen IV

This one's a mess.
Lucas: Empoleon, Infernape, Torterra, 3 other unused gen IV mons. There's one battle with the non-protag char where they use a Kadabra and a Clefairy, but LBR, no way you give them that many Gen 1 mons.
Dawn: Togekiss, Mamoswine, Ambipom, Lopunny, Pachirisu, Floatzel. Basically everything she used in the anime, give-or-take.
Barry: Staraptor, Snorlax, Heracross, Rapidash, Floatzel, Roserade. Literally just his endgame team, minus the starter.
There's a reasonable argument for Barry with Empoleon over Floatzel, which lets us use Ash's Gen IV team for Lucas, but that doesn't actually fix the duplicate pokemon issue. WHY did they give everyone Floatzel? It's definitely able to be worked around, but messy and endlessly debateable.

Gen V

This gen has 4 protags and 4 rivals. And I never played it. NOPE. Someone else can feel free to tackle this.

Gen VI

Fun one.
Calem: Chesnaught, Talonflame, Hawlucha, Noivern, Goodra, one other(probably Heliolisk). Ash's anime team, but with Chesnaught over Greninja and no Pikachu, so that it's totally not Ash. This doubles-up Goodra with Shauna, but I don't see a way around that.
Serena: Meowstic, Clefable, Jolteon, Absol, Altaria, Delphox. In-game team with the fire starter.
Shauna: Delcatty, Goodra, Sylveon, Greninja. She literally only uses these 4 mons all game. Toss any other 2 Kalos mons, or a Kanto starter so she can mega, and it's fine.
There's an argument that Calem should get Greninja because Ash, but that makes everything a lot worse. We could also include the Kanto starters, but I am not opening that can of worms.

Gen VII

Elio/Selene: Lycanroc, Decidueye, Inceneroar, Naganadel. The first time we have to pick a canon gender, just because the other one doesn't show up AT ALL. I'd go Selene, just so that this isn't Ash. Also, there's basically no information available. Ash caught jack-all these seasons, there's no NPC rival version in-game. The manga is probably our only hope.
Hau: Raichu, Flareon, Tauros, Noivern, Crabominable, Primarina. In-game team, with the water starter.
Gladion: Crobat, Weavile, Zoroark, Porygon-Z, Silvally. In-game team.
I was expecting this one to be easier. The rivals are fine, it's the protag who is basically impossible.

So some gens we've got a very easy time with the protag, and a rough time with the rival, other gens it's the other way around. It's a mess, and like I said, endlessly debateable. It's very easy to pick completely different sources for basically anything where I didn't say "in-game team", and even slight differences in preferences could heavily skew the results. Nevertheless, I do think there's enough there in a lot of cases to at least get us close to a theoretical Battle Facility roster or whatever.

 

[rickdrw424]

Hugin

To speak to your gen III team for ruby. I see what you did; three starter + bird + some anime.

To make an counterpoint, maybe I just stick with what the "games" give you by default (in ORAS, Latios, cast form)? and work from there?

 

[Ironmage]

I'll admit I haven't put a lot of thought into teams for the main characters that matches up with the normal experience. Here goes, I guess

gen 1

Red-
I lean towards venusaur as main starter since a support-oriented mon with good status moves fits the best with someone who's there to fill out the dex first and become champion second. Runs jolteon over any other electric-type because Origins is the better anime focused on a kanto protagonist, and to provide volt absorb to cover for the otherwise prominent electric weakness.

Blue-
Champion team assuming bulbasaur red, with evolutions and mega applied. Chosen Zard Y over Zard X since it both maintains a type advantage over thick fat mega venusaur by keeping its flying type, and makes a great partner for non-mega venusaur with chlorophyll.

gen 2

Gold-
Moving to single starters here. Based primarily on giftmons, including the bug-catching contest and an ingame trade placed to deal with an infamous gym battle. Typhlosion is there to fit in with the rest of the cycle

Silver-
ingame team. Feraligatr determines the starter positions since silver has the strongest character reasons for one in particular. Given his goal is to be stronger than Giovanni, I went with the type that beats Ground without being weak to Poison

Kris-
As the assistant to Elm who specializes in breeding, I gave her a team full of evolutions from baby pokemon. Tauros is there because its one of the mons talked about on the phone in HGSS

gen 3

May-
Brendan-
Did you really think I would resist a weather-based fire/water split here of all games? Latis included from their gift appearence in ORAS, as well as completing the beta art of May with a blaziken/latias mix.

either-
Emerald protagonist team, with nods to all four weathers but nothing committed to any

Wally-
Final team, but with garchomp swapped back to altaria to preserve slighlty more of the original team

gen 4

Dawn-
Based on gift mons in DP, then filling out a FWG core.

Lucas-
I consider Dawn to be the main sinnoh protagonist, so that leaves Lucas as the assistant to Rowan, who focuses on evolution. So the theme of this team is that each one has a different evolution method.

Barry-
final team for piplup starter. nothing to see here.

gen 5

(I never learned their actual names)
black-
double FWG with version exclusives
white-
zekrom is busy with N, so I swapped in conkeldurr because I have a hazy memory of that being used when they appear as a partner in the battle subway

Bianca-
Final team for snivy starter on the player
Cheren-
split between gym/PWT normals and his victory road team, chosen so that I don't overlap starters.

black 2/white 2-
based on gift and hidden grotto mons. Starter not featured so I only need one team
Hugh-
Main team has the starter and monkey always take the same slot. Upgraded unfezant to both more impressive birds and added liepard because of the story beat with Purrloin

gen 6

Serena-
Calem-
Both based on the final rival match, but with a different dragon, fairy, and mega for the main protagonist

gen 7

Elio-
gift mons, mons from trial sites, and a version exclusive to round out the core
Selene-
Same theme, different mons

Hau-
champion team for player starting with rowlet (oh god, the music for that was ear-bleeding)

Gladion-
Considered swapping out the kanto starter for an independant choice, but I like venusaur who happens to be the pick assuming decidueye on the player so it stays.

gen 8

(no idea on these names either)

sword-
shield-
looked up the version exclusives and took a wild guess

Hop-
Swapped the dog for another steel type since the actual player charcters are using it. Also added a ghost type since the team was extremely fighting-weak

Bede-
Marine-
Klara-
Avery-
Added a sixth mon of the main type. Also megas, because why the heck not?

With that out of the way, I also feel the need to drop my headcanon teams for the protagonists, which have no resemblance to what they would be normally.

Hide

(gen 1 is the same)
Bug Catcher Gold-
Ruin Maniac May-
Skier Brendan-
Hex Maniac Dawn-
Ace Trainer Black-
Sailor Calem-
Ultra Recon Squad Elio-

 

[Hugin]

*snipped*

See, I love this, because I don't think we agreed at all. Your method definitely works better for situations where there's very little in-game team info to go off of, or where there's a bunch of protags. Your May/Brendan and Gen VII specifically stand out.

 

[rickdrw424]

Ironmage

I actually agree a lot with the May/Brendan team!

I think it makes sense to make it weather-themed, and even give both the two weather-themed grass pokemon.

Also, emerald was brillant!

I'd make slight tweaks:

gen 3

ORAS:
May-
Brendan-

I used the same weather-theme approach as before as the other post.
Quick changes:
Ludicolo doesn't appear in Ruby, so I had to swap Ludicolo and Shiftry; naturally, I had to change pelipper/torkoal

I also added the two electric mascot pokemon (plusle/minun).
(The idea is to keep the theme of game counterparts in mind, and hearken back to Red's pika)

My own opinion for gen1 ( different from the others)

gen 1

Red-
Trying to maintain the watgrafire trio, without giving all starters

Green- :venasaur:
Same but counterpart; some very subjective additions - sorry!

 

[bdt2002]

Alright, here's the deal. I've been lurking here every now and then after telling myself not to post on this thread anymore, having convinced myself I accidentally broke the mods' wishlisting rules. Since this thread still seems to be getting attention, however, I'm willing to make a bit of a compromise from this point on. That way, I won't risk breaking any rules, but we can still enjoy this at the same time. :)

Basically, I want to try and re-elaborate on my original thought process and turn the discussion away from any sort of wishlisting, theory crafting, et cetera. I think what I was trying to say originally was "What Pokémon do main characters canonically use?", as opposed to "What Pokémon would and/or should main characters use for their teams?". I realize in hindsight that I didn't do a good job at all of making that distinction the first time around. So I apologize for that. If my hunch is correct, the usage of the phrase "Pokémon team" is what threw me off, when in actuality I should have been focusing on the individual Pokémon on their own merits.

With that and mind, here's a list of important "Dos and Don'ts" for posting in this thread. This list will really only apply to any posts made after this one goes live, and in all honesty, is more so meant to be a reminder for me than it is for you guys.

Do:
1. Try and base posts off of historical precedent (i.e. patterns from previous games) or Pokémon that character already uses somewhere in Pokémon media.
2. In cases where filler Pokémon are added, such as any from a headcanon scenario (I seem to recall one of you had a really neat one earlier) or an unofficial Pokémon source, make sure to provide explanation for the choice or choices. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

Don't:
1. Be like me and prematurely make new threads without considering what technically does count as wishlisting.
2. Include anything about filler Pokémon along the lines of "I think so-and-so should use this Pokémon because blah blah blah blah".

Per any individual requests by users or mods, I may or may not try and change the thread's name to a more accurate and appropriate version as well, but I haven't decided on that just yet. That's all from me. Take care, everyone! :)

 

[Daylight]

I'll admit I haven't put a lot of thought into teams for the main characters that matches up with the normal experience. Here goes, I guess

gen 1

Red-
I lean towards venusaur as main starter since a support-oriented mon with good status moves fits the best with someone who's there to fill out the dex first and become champion second. Runs jolteon over any other electric-type because Origins is the better anime focused on a kanto protagonist, and to provide volt absorb to cover for the otherwise prominent electric weakness.

Blue-
Champion team assuming bulbasaur red, with evolutions and mega applied. Chosen Zard Y over Zard X since it both maintains a type advantage over thick fat mega venusaur by keeping its flying type, and makes a great partner for non-mega venusaur with chlorophyll.

gen 2

Gold-
Moving to single starters here. Based primarily on giftmons, including the bug-catching contest and an ingame trade placed to deal with an infamous gym battle. Typhlosion is there to fit in with the rest of the cycle

Silver-
ingame team. Feraligatr determines the starter positions since silver has the strongest character reasons for one in particular. Given his goal is to be stronger than Giovanni, I went with the type that beats Ground without being weak to Poison

Kris-
As the assistant to Elm who specializes in breeding, I gave her a team full of evolutions from baby pokemon. Tauros is there because its one of the mons talked about on the phone in HGSS

gen 3

May-
Brendan-
Did you really think I would resist a weather-based fire/water split here of all games? Latis included from their gift appearence in ORAS, as well as completing the beta art of May with a blaziken/latias mix.

either-
Emerald protagonist team, with nods to all four weathers but nothing committed to any

Wally-
Final team, but with garchomp swapped back to altaria to preserve slighlty more of the original team

gen 4

Dawn-
Based on gift mons in DP, then filling out a FWG core.

Lucas-
I consider Dawn to be the main sinnoh protagonist, so that leaves Lucas as the assistant to Rowan, who focuses on evolution. So the theme of this team is that each one has a different evolution method.

Barry-
final team for piplup starter. nothing to see here.

gen 5

(I never learned their actual names)
black-
double FWG with version exclusives
white-
zekrom is busy with N, so I swapped in conkeldurr because I have a hazy memory of that being used when they appear as a partner in the battle subway

Bianca-
Final team for snivy starter on the player
Cheren-
split between gym/PWT normals and his victory road team, chosen so that I don't overlap starters.

black 2/white 2-
based on gift and hidden grotto mons. Starter not featured so I only need one team
Hugh-
Main team has the starter and monkey always take the same slot. Upgraded unfezant to both more impressive birds and added liepard because of the story beat with Purrloin

gen 6

Serena-
Calem-
Both based on the final rival match, but with a different dragon, fairy, and mega for the main protagonist

gen 7

Elio-
gift mons, mons from trial sites, and a version exclusive to round out the core
Selene-
Same theme, different mons

Hau-
champion team for player starting with rowlet (oh god, the music for that was ear-bleeding)

Gladion-
Considered swapping out the kanto starter for an independant choice, but I like venusaur who happens to be the pick assuming decidueye on the player so it stays.

gen 8

(no idea on these names either)

sword- :sirfetch
shield-
looked up the version exclusives and took a wild guess

Hop-
Swapped the dog for another steel type since the actual player charcters are using it. Also added a ghost type since the team was extremely fighting-weak

Bede-
Marine-
Klara-
Avery-
Added a sixth mon of the main type. Also megas, because why the heck not?

With that out of the way, I also feel the need to drop my headcanon teams for the protagonists, which have no resemblance to what they would be normally.

Hide

(gen 1 is the same)
Bug Catcher Gold-
Ruin Maniac May-
Skier Brendan-
Hex Maniac Dawn-
Ace Trainer Black-
Sailor Calem-
Ultra Recon Squad Elio-

I love these! Especially the particularly thematic ones like Lucas’ evolution theme and Kris’ baby-evos theme and of course the two weather-themed Hoennians! I really like all of your picks. So much so that I think the only thing I would personally change if I were picking these would be to swap Jolteon to Espeon for Red. But otherwise I love it!

 

[PGA]

Okay so I did something like this for a Pokemon AU art thing I'm doing so I'll post my teams for that here

FireRed/LeafGreen

Red:
Blue:
(Yes, Blue had a Sandslash, in Yellow.)
Green:

HeartGold/SoulSilver

Ethan:
Kris:
Silver:
Lyra:

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire

Brendan:
May:
Wally:
(I replaced Azumarill so that Swampert could have a spot to shine since in canon, the starter weak to the one you pick just gets left in the dust, and I felt bad because this never happens again. Also, Magnezone was ditched because Silver had one in the literal previous generation.)

Platinum

Lucas:
Dawn:
Barry:

Black/White

Hilbert:
(Because all three starters are already taken, I couldn't give one to Hilbert. So I gave him Zoroark because it's a special Pokemon from the Unova region, it got its own freaking movie, if they replaced Ash during Gen 5, the protagonist would absolutely have a Zoroark.)
Hilda:
Cheren:
Bianca:
N:
(N doesn't catch Pokemon, so this Zorua is the only Pokemon he keeps, because it's the Pokemon most people associate with him.)

Black 2/White 2

Nate:
Rosa:
(My idea is that Nate and Rosa share custody of Kyurem)
Hugh:

X/Y

Calem:
Serena:
Shauna:
Tierno:
Trevor:
(Since the Kalos rivals never have a full team of six because they all SUCK, I took heavy inspiration from the anime.)

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

Elio:
(I don't think any prominent trainers of Alola use Bewear, so it makes sense to include here.)
Selene:
(Palossand is basically just because I wanted her to also have a Ghost type since Elio has one)
Hau:
Lillie:
(She never actually has a Klefki, it's just a Pokemon that fits her theme. And since Elio already has Nebby, I gave her Naganadel because I imagine Elio and Selene would give it to her for companionship.)
Gladion:

Let's Go

Chase:
(Hypno was chosen as a Kanto Pokemon that Sabrina doesn't use.)
Elaine:
(Again, Pinsir is just a Kanto Pokemon that no prominent specialists use.)
Trace:
(Zapdos replaced Raichu/Jolteon because neither is canon and because of the type overlap.)

Sword/Shield

Victor:
(Because Leon takes the starter strong against yours, I couldn't give Victor Inteleon. So the HC is that he's Spikemuth born and raised. Also, Sandaconda is a cool Galar Pokemon that no prominent trainers use.)
Gloria:
(Falinks is again a Galar Pokemon that no prominent trainers use.)
Hop:
(I replaced his Snorlax due to the type overlap with Dubwool which is clearly not going anywhere, and his Pincurchin bc it's just an underwhelming Pokemon.)
Bede:
Marnie:

 

[Bakugames]

(My idea is that Nate and Rosa share custody of Kyurem)

mom said its my turn on the kyurem

 

[rickdrw424]

Hi all,

Interesting choice! Maybe someone should cover the gamecube games too?

I posted here with an abridged version of teams a while back. Wanted to quickly finalize, however.


I based my teams on four criteria: They can only be filled with region-native pokemon with plot/franchise significance, pokemon that were given/traded in-game, game version counterparts, and make up a type diverse, formidable team - one you'd see in the battle tree (see SM) or battle frontier. Here they are:

ORAS

ORAS

As done before, I also used a weather-based team, for both protagonists


May/Brendan


The Starter: Blaziken/Swampert - Blaziken for May (aside from being depicted with its evolutionary forms in anime...Blaziken's hair kind of matches May's...????. Swampert for Brendan - wanted to stick to water-fire starter pair, to

reflect sun/rain themes of both games.


The Weather-Based Grass Type: Ludicolo/Shiftry - game counterparts given abilities (cholorophyll/swift swim) that utilizes the ability of the mascot of their respective games


Gift Pokemon: Sharpedo/Camerupt - Given in the battle resort. They help to make up the FWG (fire-water-grass trio) that balances the team


Version Exclusives: Latias/Latios - the former resides in AS, the latter, OR. Both are plot siginifcant.


Contest Gift: Cosplay Pikachu! Ice for May and Steel for Brendan! (They are four types of Pikachu - I assigned picked based on gender and the type most used in the game)


Weather Pokemon: Castform - serves as a replacement for Kyogre and Groudon, too strong to be in a battle tree-like setting. Obviously, their castforms would have diff moves

BW

BW


Again, not enough information to make a conclusion as to which starters belong to who, so I just do each one:

The Starters: Samurott/Emboar/Servine

I wanted to make an FWG core: I used the three monkeys (given) in game and ONLY three stage evolutions, because of their power, rareness, and formidability


FWG core1: Sawbuck/Seisitoad/Chandelure

FWG core 2: Semisear / Semisage/ Semipour

(Sawbuck is an exception, it is offered to you after Driftveil, I think, so why not?


The Route 1: Watchog: In the beginning, your friends catch collectively two of three pokemon in route 1 (lillipup, and the other one), so you got the last one!


Psychics: Gothitelle/Reuniclus: Of all the version exclusives i can find, these are the only with a three stage evolution, so I included here

Wandering legends: Tornadus/Thunderous in Black, you get one; in white, the other

bw2/w2

b2/w2

Process - I used the starters, gifts, and interactable pokemon to form this team

starters (any one)

Gifts: Flareon, Vaporeon, Leafeon (castelia)

Gift: Dragonite/Garchomp - from benga?

Interactables in the game: Jellicent (m/f)

Interactable: Braviary/Vullibaby (available certain days)

Elemental Semis (fwg core)

SM

S/M


process:

Starters + a version exclusive pkmn from each island + eevee + Siyvally


one of the Starters - again, not sure who belongs to who

Lyrcanroc (day/midnight) (melemele)

Oranguru/its other game counterpart (akala)

Nninetail/sandslash (ulaula)


Sivally (with the type that completes the fwg core alongside eevee)

Eeveelutions(vap/flare/leafeon)

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Hi all,

Interesting choice! Maybe someone should cover the gamecube games too?

We actually do have one pretty strong indicator of canonicity in the GameCube games, specifically Colosseum.

In Colosseum, Wes rescues Duking's beloved Plusle from Miror B, after which it joins his team. Duking is still around in XD but Plusle is nowhere to be seen, suggesting that it stayed with Wes.