Ash Ketchum- Not cool enough for Pokemon games?

There are many people who are aware of how insanely popular the Pokemon series was during the second half of the 90’s along with the entire 2000’s decade. The Pokemon series had quickly established a cult following in society and many kids and teenagers gravitated to the anime and the video games that came out from ’96 onwards. However, there are many people who remember the Pokemon titles that came out for Game Boy during the mid to late 90’s like Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold and Silver. Each Pokemon game that appeared on Game Boy and GBC achieved massive commercial success while becoming the top sellers during the late 90’s. But everyone who has played the older Pokemon video games know that Ash Ketchum was omitted as playable character in each game. While Ash Ketchum was the main protagonist of the entire Pokemon series many people who watched the television show did not warm up to him. The common belief was that Ash Ketchum was incompetent Pokemon trainer who did not use logic or common sense during certain battles; along with the fact that Pikachu was the true star of the Pokemon series. Also, there were occasions where Ash Ketchum was given gym badges in the television show despite not defeating certain gym leaders which in many ways hurt his credibility as a trainer within the series. The fact, that characters like Brock, Misty, Team Rocket and Professor Oak were featured in the earlier Pokemon Game Boy titles and Ash was not seemed kinda suspect. However, players were allowed to name their own custom character in the earlier Pokemon titles with the trainer resembling Ash Ketchum’s likeness. Ironically, the Pokemon titles from the Game Boy era were highly successful without him being the main character which speaks volumes about him especially considering the fact that he was not playable in Pokemon Yellow game from 1998.