Can Pokémon see in the dark?

Some do, but this number isn’t exactly the majority. Basically speaking, most pokémon that resemble vertebrate animals possess a tapetum lucidum, or a thin layer of reflective tissue that bounces light back to the photoreceptors of the eye. (In other words, it allows some pokémon and animals to see in low-light settings.) However, humanoid pokémon, insectoid pokémon, and a number of non-animal pokémon lack this reflective tissue and therefore either rely on other means or lack the ability to see in the dark altogether.

Insectoid pokémon in particular rely primarily on their senses of smell and touch to navigate their world either way; they don’t actually have excellent senses of vision. Even venonat, which is noted for its radar-like sight, only really sees the world as vague shapes moving about on a blob-filled background. It’s just that they’re very talented at discerning one shape from another.

As for the others, humanoid psychics are capable of navigating the dark through their psychic abilities. For example, gothitelle predicts where objects are, gardevoir uses telepathy to see through a more capable pokémon’s eyes, and medicham pushes outward with telekinesis and dodges objects that it “feels” through this method. Non-psychic humanoids, however, navigate darkness just about as well as a human would, unfortunately.

Additionally, some pokémon don’t really navigate using sight, smell, or psychic abilities but rather echolocation instead. All bat-like pokémon are particularly known for this, but it’s a hallmark of clefairy as well. This is why clefairy often chant as they move. They’re simply using echolocation in combination with their naturally sensitive hearing to detect objects ahead.

Finally, you have the pokémon that don’t fit the above classifications, which may navigate their world using some combination of the above. For example, geodude navigate by feeling the vibrations beneath it, whereas roggenrola use echolocation. Voltorb and magnemite emit soft bursts of light to illuminate their way, and porygon often come with built-in radar systems that enable them to “see.”

Ultimately, the point is, only a fraction of pokémon can truly see in the dark. The rest of them actually rely on a number of other, vastly different means.