Gary Badges – How did Gary Oak get 10 Pokémon Badges?

In the Pokémon anime, Gary Oak boasted of having 10 Badges, while the standard requirement for competing in the Pokémon League is only 8, and Ash managed to obtain exactly that number. Crucially, Gary showed off his Badges in the episode “The Battle of the Badge,” proving that this wasn’t just an empty boast, but an actual fact – he physically had more Badges than the minimum required and planned to earn an eleventh at the Viridian Gym.

Gary’s Known Badges – Which We Can Confirm

Of Gary’s ten Badges, only three can be definitively identified as coming from the same Gyms as Ash. Gary possessed:

• Boulder Badge from Pewter City from Brock,
• Cascade Badge from Cerulean City from Misty,
• Rainbow Badge from Celadon City from Erika,
• Volcano Badge from Blaine from Cinnabar Island.

This confirms that their paths overlapped at least partially, although Gary was usually several steps ahead of Ash and defeated the same Gym Leaders much earlier.

Seven Mysterious Badges – What We Don’t See

Gary’s remaining badges are a complete mystery, as they don’t come from any of the Gyms Ash visited in the first season. This means that Gary didn’t earn:

• Thunder Badge from Lt. Surge,
• Soul Badge from Koga,
• Marsh Badge from Sabrina,
• Earth Badge from Giovanni.

At least not at the same time as the rest of his collection. This disparity suggests that Gary has traveled to completely different locations in Kanto than Ash, which fits his personality of a perfectionist who wants to explore every corner.

Theory 1 – more official Gyms in Kanto

The most popular theory is that in the anime world, the Kanto region has far more than 8 official Gym Leaders recognized by the Pokémon League. Only 8 are shown in the games for gameplay purposes, but the anime has repeatedly hinted at a larger world – after all, if there were only 8 gyms, the queues of trainers waiting to challenge them would be impossibly long. This logic suggests that there could have been as many as 15 or more Gyms scattered throughout Kanto, from which Gary chose the 10 most prestigious or difficult ones to prove his superiority.

Theory 2 – Fighting Dojo in Saffron City

In the Red and Blue games, there is a Fighting Dojo in Saffron City – a place that used to be the official Gym, but was replaced by Sabrina and her Psychic Gym. This place has never been shown in the anime, but fans speculate that Gary may have visited the Fighting Dojo and received a badge from its master as proof of defeating Fighting Pokemon. This would explain at least one of the extra badges and would fit with Gary’s character, who wanted to explore every aspect of the land, including historical locations.

Theory 3 – Unofficial “Indie” Gyms

In one of the early episodes of the anime, the main character meets a trainer who runs his own unofficial Gym with Sandshrew, which is not accredited by the Pokémon League but still offers a challenge and can theoretically issue its own badges. Fans speculate that Gary may have visited several such indie Gyms run by local masters who wanted to test passing trainers. While these badges would not be officially required to enter the League, Gary could have collected them as trophies to show off and as proof of his versatility.

Theory 4 – Safari Zone Flying Gym

A more conspiratorial theory suggests that there may have been a hidden Flying Type Gym near the Safari Zone. This theory is based on the numerous Gym Statues scattered around the Safari Zone in the games and the large number of Flying-type trainers in the area. Fans suggest that the Secret House in the Safari Zone may have been the headquarters of an unseen Gym Leader specializing in Flying Pokémon, who was later replaced or demoted, similar to the Fighting Dojo in Saffron.

Theory 5 – Badges from other regions

Some fans speculate that some of Gary’s badges may have come from neighboring regions – particularly Johto, which borders Kanto directly. In later seasons, we see that the border between regions is not as rigid as in the games, and trainers often cross it freely. He could have picked up a few Gym Badges in western Johto during his travels in Kanto, collecting additional badges for prestige.

Why did Gary collect more than 8 badges?

The answer to this question lies in Gary’s character—he is a showy perfectionist who travels in a red convertible with a group of cheerleaders. For him, just meeting the minimum requirement wasn’t enough—he wanted to prove that he was better than every other trainer, including Ash, which best illustrates the level of their rivalry. Collecting 10 badges instead of the required 8 is a pure demonstration of superiority and a way to humiliate his rivals, who barely managed to collect the basic set.

Implications for understanding the world of Pokémon

The fact that Gary has 10 badges changes the way we see the world of the Pokémon anime. It suggests that the regions are much larger and more complex than the games show, with many hidden locations and gym leaders that we never see on screen. It also explains why some trainers in the anime seem much more powerful than Ash – they had access to other sources of training and challenges that the main character never discovered.

Comparison with Johto and other regions

Interestingly, in later regions, the anime rarely shows trainers with more than 8 badges. In Johto, there were also more Gyms than shown – in Generation II games, there were 16 halls between Johto and Kanto, but trainers still only collected 8. This suggests that the Pokemon League system requires exactly 8 badges, but gives trainers the freedom to choose which 8 halls they want to defeat.

Gary Oak Badges – The mystery remains unsolved

Young Oak did indeed have 10 badges in the anime, only 3 of which can be identified as coming from the same gyms as the main character. The remaining 7 badges are a mystery that has never been officially explained by the anime creators. Most likely, they came from additional Gyms scattered throughout the Kanto region that were never shown on screen—perhaps Fighting Dojos, indie Gyms, or other unofficial locations. This mystery adds depth to the world and highlights the difference between the experiences of different trainers in the same region.