Always assumed they were very rare or bred in captivity.

But no. There is no concrete gameplay related explanation.

>>25860340

Because it would be pointless having a special starter Pokemon if they were everywhere. It'd ruin the feel of the game.

>>25860340
enforces the trade gimmick which is pokemons bread and butter from the beginning

>>25860736
You don't even need to trade to acquire all 6 Starters in XY thanks to Friend Safari.

>>25860756
No, but you need to interact with other people to get safaris

>>25860769
>>25860736
this
pokemons gimmick from the beginning was that it was 2 games and you HAD to trade because you couldnt get them all otherwise
doesnt matter if you can get friend safaris, the point is that you cant catch them all by yourself

Extinct in that region. The only time starters have been seen in the wild were the Ranger games which are questionably canon.

>>25860893
that's a flavor reason, not a gameplay reason

them having 7:1 gender ratios is a gameplay reason

>>25860340
No, just gameplay reasons.

>>25860340
>gameplay-related reason
They're not coded to appear in any encounter tiles

>>25862233
Wouldn't that be design?

Gameplay reason or lore reason?
If gameplay reason, it's to reinforce the social aspect of the series. If lore reason, they were probably bred in captivity.

I just want an in-game mechanism that allows you to do trade evolutions without having friends.

>>25862390
there's no lore on it.

>>25863735
/thread