A common trend that has existed in all Pokemon games since Generation One is the inclusion of early route Pokemon. These individual creatures are easily recognizable as the first Pokemon that the player encounters in the early parts of the game, outside their starter, and these Pokemon normally take the form of a bird, rodent, or bug. For the most part, these early route Pokemon are traditionally weak, and only serve the purpose of helping new players gain some easy early experience. Sometimes a player will add one of them to their team, but it is rare that one of these team members will make it all the way to the Elite Four.