Professor Birch: the Hoenn expert you first meet on the run

The other professors welcome you into their labs; this one crosses your path at a full sprint. Professor Birch runs the lab in Littleroot Town and is the leading authority on the Pokémon of the Hoenn region. But his first appearance doesn't play out behind a desk or in front of a microscope: it plays out in the middle of the road, with a wild Pokémon hot on his heels and a bag of Poké Balls within reach.

Contents

• A Researcher Who Prefers the Road to the Lab
• The Poochyena Scene: Picking a Starter in a Panic
• Starter Pokémon on Tap
• In the Anime: Hoenn's Expert and His Jeep
• In the manga and on the cards
• Professor Birch at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Researcher Who Prefers the Road to the Lab

Birch lives and works in Littleroot Town, the small town where the Hoenn region begins. He has a lab and an assistant, but he can't sit still there: he likes to test his hypotheses outdoors, out in the field where the species he studies actually live.

His training ties him to the previous generation of researchers: he was trained by Professor Oak, whom he still addresses with deference. As for his relationships, he is very close to Norman, the Gym Leader of Petalburg City and, in the anime, the father of May.

He's the one who gave May her very first Pokémon, just as he did for Harrison — a Torchic in both cases. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire add a detail that's rare for a professor: he is thirty-five years old, an age that makes him far younger than the white-haired scholar his own mentor embodied.

The Poochyena Scene: Picking a Starter in a Panic

In Ruby and Sapphire, the encounter happens on the road leading out of Littleroot Town: a wild Poochyena is chasing the professor, and he asks the player to dig into his bag to get him out of trouble. Three Poké Balls, three options: Torchic, Mudkip or Treecko.

Once the danger has passed, he doesn't take his property back: the Pokémon stays with the player. Choosing a starter, a formal ceremony everywhere else, is settled here in a few seconds of panic — and it's precisely this reversal that made the character famous.

After this scene, you'll find him in his lab, on the route linking Littleroot Town to Oldale Town or on the one just north of it, and once again after you've beaten the Hoenn Pokémon League. The game also makes him the father of the rival, Brendan or May, depending on which character the player picks.

🔥 Torchic, Mudkip or Treecko, replay the choice at home: browse our Pokémon Starters.

Starter Pokémon on Tap

Emerald replays the same opening with a Zigzagoon as the pursuer, then gives him a brand-new role: he hands a Johto starter — Chikorita, Cyndaquil or Totodile — to any player who has seen the 202 species of the Hoenn Pokédex, not counting Jirachi and Deoxys.

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire push the formula to the point of absurdity. The Poochyena handles the opening; after the end of the adventure, a Shroomish chases him, without your even having to battle it, and the rescue earns you a Johto starter. The Delta Episode sets a mover's Machoke on his tail, with a Unova starter as the reward, before his own wife ends up running after him: he bolts, convinced it's yet another Pokémon, and the player walks away with a Sinnoh starter.

Emerald's data still holds two sprites that were never used. The second one appears nowhere else: in it, the professor has both hands buried in his lab coat pockets, where the usual versions hide only one or none, and his shorts lean toward a darker brown.

In the Anime: Hoenn's Expert and His Jeep

The anime introduces him before it shows him: Harrison mentions him as the great expert on Hoenn's Pokémon only a few episodes before his first appearance, which coincides with Ash's arrival in the region at the start of the Advanced Generation series.

His introduction is a rescue: he's the one who frees Pikachu from a dangerous electrical overcharge. Right after that, he gives May the Torchic that will launch her journey. Reunions follow throughout the series — two episodes on Dewford Island, a vacation on the A-B-C Islands, a cameo in the special The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon — usually behind the wheel of his jeep.

The character outlives his own series. The Kalos series brings him back in a flashback, and Journeys shows him sitting in front of a TV with Drew and Harley, watching Ash battle in the first round of the World Coronation Series Masters Eight Tournament.

In the manga and on the cards

The Ruby & Sapphire arc takes the opening gag and raises the stakes: it's no longer one Poochyena but three Mightyena chasing him. The principle stays the same — a researcher in trouble, Poké Balls changing hands in a hurry.

The handout, on the other hand, goes wrong. His daughter receives a Torchic, a second young Trainer a Mudkip, each with a Pokédex; but the third set is swept away by the floodwaters during the disaster that ravages Hoenn, Pokédex and Treecko's Poké Ball included.

The Emerald arc only half closes the loop: the young man eventually gets his Pokédex thanks to Wally, but never his Treecko. On the card side, the professor made his debut in the EX Ruby & Sapphire expansion, released in France on December 12, 2003.

Professor Birch at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Which starter Pokémon does Professor Birch give out?
  Torchic, Mudkip and Treecko, the three Hoenn starters. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, after the main adventure, he also hands out a Johto starter, then a Unova one, then a Sinnoh one.
• Why is Professor Birch always being chased?
  It's his trademark: as a field researcher, he keeps getting into trouble outside the lab. A Poochyena in Ruby and Sapphire, a Zigzagoon in Emerald, a Shroomish and then a Machoke in the remakes, and as many as three Mightyena in the manga.
• Does Professor Birch have a child in the games?
  Yes: he is the rival's father. Depending on the character the player chooses, that will be Brendan or May, the other Hoenn protagonist.
• Where can you find Professor Birch after the start of the game?
  In his lab in Littleroot Town, on the route leading to Oldale Town, or on the one just north of town. He turns up again once the Hoenn Pokémon League has been beaten.
• Does he appear in the anime?
  Yes, from the moment Ash arrives in Hoenn. He treats Pikachu for an electrical overcharge, gives May her Torchic, then keeps coming back, in his jeep, all the way to the Journeys series.

In short

Professor Birch holds a special place in the gallery of researchers: where his colleagues set the scene from a lab, he drags you outdoors from the very first minute. The Poochyena scene defined the character for good, so much so that later games reused it exactly, simply swapping out the pursuer, and the manga tripled it. A professor whose scientific authority is measured less by his publications than by how fast he can run.