Ash Ketchum has been the main protagonist of the Pokemon anime for more than two decades. In his journeys, Ash has encountered countless different types of Pokemon, led his team in intense battles, and explored most regions in the Pokemon world. His achievements are impressive, but in many ways, he's been doing it all wrong.

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There is a lot that Ash could learn from the playable characters from the Pokemon games on how to be an effective Pokemon trainer. Ash's track record shows that while he has determination, adopting even a few of the in-game trainer's habits would help him get that much closer to his dream of being the very best.

10 Evolve His Pokemon

Most clearly evident by his famous Pikachu companion, Ash has a history of not making the effort or even refusing to evolve his Pokemon. One of the show's episodes was actually focused on how he would not use a Thunder Stone to evolve Pikachu. He has let a few of his Pokemon evolve, such as letting his Charmander evolve all the way to Charizard, but it's rarely something he actively pursues.

Almost every trainer in the games would not be able to understand why Ash is so sentimental. In the intense world of competitive Pokemon battling, trainers need every advantage they can get. Evolution equals stronger Pokemon, which equals more and more victories.

9 Get A Bike

Ash has traveled mostly on foot during all of his adventures, and that has amounted to a lot of wasted time. It has also given Team Rocket plenty of chances to continually harass him. There's something to the idea of a trainer taking their time to explore and search for new Pokemon, but there's no good reason to hike across every route in every region.

Getting a bike is one of the most important things every trainer in the games knows they should do. It makes their adventures much easier and cuts travel time by close to half. And it's not as though they can't ride their bikes through the caves and grassy fields in search of wild Pokemon.

8 Don't Release His Pokemon

Much like with the notion of not evolving Pokemon, Ash can let his emotions get in the way to the point of actually releasing some of his best Pokemon back into the wild. The most famous example of this was when he let his Butterfree go, despite the fact that it was one of the Pokemon he actually decided to evolve.

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Unless their PokeBoxes get full, the game trainers have no reason to let their hard-earned Pokemon, which they've spent hours training and evolving, go. It makes no sense for multiple reasons, but the most apparent is that a trainer will never know when that Pokemon will come in handy. It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

7 Don't Swap Out His Strongest Pokemon

Why Ash has not kept his powerful and terrifying Charizard with him at all times is a question that will probably never be answered. Not only could Ash teach it Fly so he could quickly travel back and forth between places he's visited, but he could use it to win almost every Pokemon battle and solve every problem he has with Team Rocket.

No trainer from the games, especially Red from the first generation of games, would ever entertain the idea of essentially retiring such a powerful Pokemon. Their goal is to win. And a Pokemon like Charizard is going to want to fight, so there's no incentive at all to give up such an effective companion.

6 Replace Weaker Moves With Stronger Ones

Ash doesn't always look at the big picture or look to the future. And he rarely seems to train his Pokemon, often relying on encounters with Team Rocket and other trainers to give his Pokemon some experience. This is why his Pokemon tend to use the older, weaker moves for too long and fail to learn better ones as soon as they should.

Strengthing their Pokemon and teaching them stronger moves is Pokemon Training 101 for the trainers from the games. They know that the moves a Pokemon starts out with are rarely good and that the Pokemon will need to replace them quickly if they are to stand a fighting chance in most battles.

5 Travel By Himself

It's understandable that anyone would not want to be alone all of the time, but Ash should consider working solo from time to time. Whether he's traveling with someone such as Brock, Misty, or May, having an entourage regularly slows him down and puts him in situations that interfere with his quest to become a champion.

Being a loner seems to come naturally to the trainers in the games. It's a trait that serves them well during their travels, especially when they need to explore dangerous locations such as abandoned mines and the secret lairs of criminal organizations. They might not get the daily dose of banter that Ash does, but at least they stay focused on their quest.

4 Fight Wild Pokemon

Again, as with his reluctance to evolve his Pokemon or teach them new moves, Ash rarely battles wild Pokemon outside of his interest in catching them. Whether he's being deliberate or absent-minded about it, Ash's ignoring of these battle opportunities only results in his Pokemon falling behind compared to other trainers and their Pokemon.

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The aspiring champions from the games know that the seemingly endless supply of wild Pokemon is a gift. Whenever they reach a new area, and after they have caught any new Pokemon they are interested in, these trainers spend as much time as possible battling wild Pokemon to give their own Pokemon the chance to gain some valuable experience.

3 Catch The Strong Pokemon

Ash seems to have a soft spot for the underdog Pokemon, and though it's paid off a few times with Pokemon like Pikachu and Froakie, no one can deny that Ash would have more victories to his name if he would make a serious effort to search for and then catch a lot of strong Pokemon.

No in-game trainer is going to waste time catching only the Pokemon that resonate with them on an emotional level. They might catch a few of those companion-type Pokemon as well, but the trainers are going to figure out which Pokemon evolve into the best fighters. And then the trainers are going to put all of their effort into finding them.

2 Buy Potions And Restoring Items

Ash has always been absent-minded, but there's little excuse for his habitual failure to keep a full stock of Potions and other health-restoring items for his Pokemon. Many close calls and lost battles could have easily been avoided if he had thought to buy a backpack and fill it with stuff that could keep his Pokemon from being poisoned, falling asleep, or fainting.

The backpack is the first thing any of the game trainers leave their house with, and after they catch a couple of Pokemon, the first thing they do is go to the store and buy some items to help keep their companions in tiptop shape. These trainers know that battles can be wild and unpredictable at times, so it's best to be prepared for anything.

1 Go After Team Rocket's Leader

The Team Rocket trio of Jesse, James, and Meowth have been harassing Ash for as long as he's been pursuing his dream of being a Pokemon champion. They are fixated on stealing his Pikachu, and they spend countless hours devising schemes and setting traps in hopes of capturing it. And Ash does nothing to permanently solve the problem. He doesn't even question who they work for.

After the trainer Red had his first few encounters with Team Rocket in the Kanto Region, it became clear to him that they would be a continual problem that would need to be addressed. And when he realized that the entirety of Saffron City was under the organization's control, he went straight for and then challenged Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, to force him and his team out of town.

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