Little things you like about Pokémon

[Lady Vader]

The Pokétch in Sinnoh had some really useful apps, some of which have never really been seen since, including:
Pedometer (useful for egg hatching, Vs. Seeker, and the Poké Radar)
Pokémon List (only games so far where you can see your current team and their HP in the overworld)
Friendship Checker (allows for a way to see friendship status of current team anywhere, albeit in an overly simplified way)
Day Care Checker (allows you to see what you've left in the Day Care and their current levels anywhere)
Marking Map (this is the best tool for chasing down wandering Legends EVER)
Move Tester (built in type chart)
Matchup Checker (the ability to see if two 'mons can breed is amazingly useful)

 

[Siggu]

The Pokétch in Sinnoh had some really useful apps, some of which have never really been seen since, including:
Pedometer (useful for egg hatching, Vs. Seeker, and the Poké Radar)
Pokémon List (only games so far where you can see your current team and their HP in the overworld)
Friendship Checker (allows for a way to see friendship status of current team anywhere, albeit in an overly simplified way)
Day Care Checker (allows you to see what you've left in the Day Care and their current levels anywhere)
Marking Map (this is the best tool for chasing down wandering Legends EVER)
Move Tester (built in type chart)
Matchup Checker (the ability to see if two 'mons can breed is amazingly useful)

The Type Effectiveness app was also pretty good, and IIRC the only time in the entire series where the type chart was available to check in-game.

And yeah, the Pokétch was pretty nice, though somewhat not explored enough as a feature. It also had some minor flaws (Such as the Pokémon team app not updating in circumnstances like having your team fully healed) but other than that...

(Funny how the Pokétch looks so rudimentary nowadays, and looked so futuristic when Diamond and Pearl were released)

 

[Max. Optimizer]

Pretty sure this has already been mentioned, but I feel the Dexnav in ΩRαS is one of the best additions the remakes brought to the series. Searching for specific Pokemon is much easier than it ever has been before and I feel it gives the player a much larger incentive to catch them all, mainly due to there being a visual indication that you caught everything in the form of a gold crown.

I absolutely have to agree with the previous statement about how the DexNav has proven itself to be an indispensable feature in the ΩRαS games.

For starters, while experienced veteran trainers might have already transferred their Living Dex that they painstakingly assembled in previous games via the Pokémon Bank feature, the DexNav allows new trainers who might have picked up the Pokémon games for the first time to get their collection started efficiently as well. Not only does it help them to keep track of what they've already caught and what's still left out there to be caught, but on top of that the hence easily completed regional Hoenn Dex grants them access to the Oval Charm as well, which, as we all know, comes in handy when getting started with breeding Pokémon later on.

Speaking of breeding Pokémon, not only does the DexNav facilitate the task of obtaining the aforementioned Oval Charm, it also helps breeders to efficiently look for specific wild Pokémon, Hidden Abilities and even specific egg moves. It's needless to say that, in times during which Pokémon has reached a considerably competitive status with a plethora of official tournaments and online communities around, the DexNav has significantly contributed to making breeding flawless Pokémon for said tournaments a lot less time-consuming.

Retrospectively, taking into consideration all of these aforementioned arguments, it's that particular incontrovertible fact, that literally every type of trainer (casual player, breeder, collector or shiny hunter) can benefit from it, that makes it in my own honest opinion genuinely great.

 

[Detective Barricade]

I absolutely have to agree with the previous statement about how the DexNav has proven itself to be an indispensable feature in the ORAS games.

For starters, while experienced veteran trainers might have already transferred their Living Dex that they painstakingly assembled in previous games via the Pokémon Bank feature, the DexNav allows new trainers who might have picked up the Pokémon games for the first time to get their collection started efficiently as well. Not only does it help them to keep track of what they've already caught and what is still left out there to be caught, but on top of that the hence easily completed regional Hoenn Dex grants them access to the Oval Charm as well, which, as we all know, comes in handy when getting started with breeding Pokémon later on.

Speaking of breeding Pokémon, not only does the DexNav facilitate the task of obtaining the aforementioned Oval Charm, it also helps breeders to efficiently look for specific wild Pokémon, Hidden Abilities and even specific egg moves. It's needless to say that, in times during which Pokémon has reached a considerably competitive status with a plethora of official tournaments and online communities around, the DexNav has significantly contributed to making breeding flawless Pokémon for said tournaments a lot less time-consuming.

Retrospectively, taking into consideration all of these aforementioned arguments, it's that particular incontrovertible fact, that literally every type of trainer (casual player, breeder, collector or shiny hunter) can benefit from it, that makes it in my own honest opinion genuinely great.

Now if only the "It couldn't be found nearby. Try again later!" message didn't pop up so often when searching... but that's a point that's been brought up often in the little things that annoy thread. I do like that it encourages the player to catch more of the same Pokemon, since only once you have its complete Dex entry can you actively search for it, and it's not limited to just what can be found by walking or Surfing; Pokemon normally only found by fishing or through hordes in an area can be searched for. Obviously, it still has to be a location the Pokemon would appear in; a Carvanha in the grass would seem awfully silly after all.

 

[PsychicAcademic]

I played Battle House again in AS when I realise....

I used my Torneros to Hurricane a Dugtrio and it didn't flew unlike most other Pokemon. They sure has foreseen this and programmed it not to fly. The only bad thing is that what beneath Diglett is will remain a mystery....

 

[Lady Vader]

I played Battle House again in AS when I realise....

I used my Torneros to Hurricane a Dugtrio and it didn't flew unlike most other Pokemon. They sure has foreseen this and programmed it not to fly. The only bad thing is that what beneath Diglett is will remain a mystery....

We've tried that before:

 

[calvinball]

We've tried that before:
[an image of a Diglett Flying in Stadium - no feet visible

Makes me think of a fanfic expanded Pokedex I once read... there was a line vaguely to the effect of:

"You will probably never see a Dugtrio's feet, so it won't do to go into detail."

Granted, it described Diglett as being mole-like, but it's still a nice line.

I like that Pokemon tend to be portrayed as being very intelligent in official media. The theme of meeting friends and making memories comes to life a whole lot more when I can imagine my Mons being able to understand and share my hopes and dreams (maybe even have some of their own).

 

[Siggu]

I played Battle House again in AS when I realise....

I used my Torneros to Hurricane a Dugtrio and it didn't flew unlike most other Pokemon. They sure has foreseen this and programmed it not to fly. The only bad thing is that what beneath Diglett is will remain a mystery....

They try a little too hard at that. Such as not making Diglett and Dugtrio follow the regular sent-out animation in BW and BW2.

Or that minor scene in Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team.

 

[Mova]

calvinball I also like how Pokémon have become more intelligent and semi-anthropomorphic since Gen 3. It makes sense that each individual has its own personality, rather than an entire species acting identical to one another.

 

[Pikachu315111]

It's here! The Pikachu song! How do I best describe it... someone spiked Pikachu's ketchup.

Here's the lyrics if you need them.

 

[Primal Ivysaur]

One thing I really like about Pokémon is that from Gen. 2 onwards we started getting more lore about the legendary Pokémon, there's just something about something so small as folklore in a game that can make the world feel so much more immersive.

 

[Oddish.]

One thing I really like about Pokémon is that from Gen. 2 onwards we started getting more lore about the legendary Pokémon, there's just something about something so small as folklore in a game that can make the world feel so much more immersive.

Actually yeah, I want to expand on this point a bit. I love when the folklore in a specific story is rich, and in my opinion, Pokemon DPPt did this best. I love how the Canalave library had all those stories in it, and how even the Champion was immersed in the myths of the world. Kalos also had something interesting going with the war and the ultimate weapon, though I wish it had gotten more focus. The myths in the pokemon world are interesting, and I hope SM gives us more.

 

[Primal Ivysaur]

The myths in the pokemon world are interesting, and I hope SM gives us more.

Especially considering that the Alola region is based heavily on Hawaii which has an abundance of really interesting myths to pull from.

 

[The_Emperor]

What bugs me is a lot of the rest of the time he doesn't seem to recognise some of the legendaries. The Hoopa film was pretty cool in that he was firing off the names left, right and center without a second thought. I'm pretty sure he'd encountered all of those legends before (except for maybe Kyogre?) and he understood their power. I know one of the Mewtwo's wiped his mind the first time, but allowed him to keep his memories the second, but in the Genesect film he didn't seem to recognise Mewtwo (Same species, different Pokemon) at all... At least as far as I remember. Did Arceus also wipe his memories at the end of that film?

I really wish they would stop wiping his mind almost entirely blank everytime a legendary appears. He knew what Darkrai was because of the events in the first DP film, but that wasn't referenced when he fought/saw Tobias' Darkrai in the Sinnoh League. He's met/seen the vast majority of legendaries including supposedly 1 offs like Palkia/Giratina/Dialga and Arceus.

I'm pretty sure Ash also saw Darkrai during the main series when Cresselia was trying to protect Sinnoh from it in another episode involving full moon island!

 

[calvinball]

I like how stat changes of three stages are described in-game with the adjective "drastically." It just seems so appropriate. In fact, I like the word choice of "sharply" and "drastically," as I feel like it does get across the idea of "whoa, a two stage boost" and "holy crap, that was a change of three stages, what the heck is this move".

 

[Primal Ivysaur]

One thing I like is how Pokemon is catering more to competitive players while still making it accessible to casual players. As someone who for the longest time had a lot of trouble raising competitive Pokemon because of how complicated the process can be, and admittedly loves just for fun run-throughs of the game, it's nice to see the games at least trying to make something like EV training (and IV's hopefully) easier to do for casual players wanting to build teams in the game.

 

[Karxrida]

This is about Sun and Moon, but it's purely about minor aesthetic stuff so it's not spoilery.

I'm super loving the details for the battlefields we're getting. There's one that's a really shallow lagoon that have the PC and the Pokémon standing in the water and there's a decently sized rock nearby to make the location not feel flat and the water looks really clear and colorful and it all just looks amazing.

So yeah.

 

[Primal Ivysaur]

This is about Sun and Moon, but it's purely about minor aesthetic stuff so it's not spoilery.

I'm super loving the details for the battlefields we're getting. There's one that's a really shallow lagoon that have the PC and the Pokémon standing in the water and there's a decently sized rock nearby to make the location not feel flat and the water looks really clear and colorful and it all just looks amazing.

So yeah.

The aesthetic of Alola, in general, is pretty awesome but you're spot on with the battles having a really nice aesthetic. Little things like that just make a game a lot of the time.

 

[Detective Barricade]

The aesthetic of Alola, in general, is pretty awesome but you're spot on with the battles having a really nice aesthetic. Little things like that just make a game a lot of the time.

I'm digging how Sun and Moon seem to have the modeled trainers appear behind their Pokemon and appear to be ordering their attack. Incredibly minor, but really cool just the same.

 

[Primal Ivysaur]

I'm digging how Sun and Moon seem to have the modeled trainers appear behind their Pokemon and appear to be ordering their attack. Incredibly minor, but really cool just the same.

I never noticed that! Reminds me of Coliseum and XD, which IIRC both modeled the trainers to appear behind their Pokemon.

 

[Codraroll]

Reminds me of Coliseum and XD, which IIRC both modeled the trainers to appear behind their Pokemon.

That reminds me of my favourite little battle moment from Colosseum: In your first battle, you face a trainer with two Zigzagoon. Hit them with an attack, and they will be knocked back. At least one of them will run between the legs of its trainer on the way back to its place.

 

[Max. Optimizer]

While it's at this point safe to assume that this topic has already been addressed previously, I still wanted to add my personal thoughts about how I like the fact that Game Freak has been increasingly emphasizing the bond between a trainer and his or her Pokémon over the generations.

While the developers were undeniably limited in their options with a 1st Generation game like Pokémon Yellow for example, they still managed to convey that bond between you and Pikachu surprisingly well.
It's not only nice to see that they implemented this minor detail into the game in order to make a reference to the famous bond between Ash and his Pikachu that we all know and love, but it's also nice to see how they kept this concept in mind and proceeded to promote further improved versions of this feature over the generations.

The fact that a Pokémon's ability of avoiding attacks and landing critical hits increases reciprocally with its affection can indeed be considered a concrete prime example underlining this bilateral bond in the 6th generation games.
Not only does it make the experience more authentic in the sense of it being vastly consistent with how a bond between a human and an animal / pet can grow over time, but it also shows that trust and friendship can indeed work even between two different species (sometimes even without communication!)

While some critics originally blamed the franchise for reducing Pokémon to nothing but mere tools for battling, I like how they responded to this prejudice and proved them wrong.
The way in which a Pokémon with a maximized affection looks back at its trainer clearly demonstrates both the extent to which it enjoys itself and to which it's proud to see how the hard work and the trust paid off in the end.
Pokémon battles are in that regard more than just a mere exchange of attacks and they can hence be seen rather as the bilateral will of both the trainer and his Pokémon to constantly put their bond to the test.

 

[Kurona]

While I used to really hate it, for breeding purposes I really like that stone-based evolutions don't learn moves by levelling up (heart scale notwithstanding). It makes keeping egg moves a lot easier.
Like, for instance. I have a Female Dream Ball 5IV (-attack) Timid Misdreavus with Nasty Plot. Perfect for breeding. If I wanted to use it, however... as soon as I've bred some eggs from it, this Misdreavus would have gotten to Level 17 and learned some crappy level-up moves through the daycare and it would have forgotten Nasty Plot and I'd have to re-teach it with heart scale and blah blah blah. So to circumvent that from happening I'd have to train Misdreavus up to the level of it's last level-up move - a painful Level 55.
But I can circumvent even that by using a Dusk Stone on it - since Mismagius has no (non-level 0) level-up moves, it won't learn anything in the daycare even if I put it in there at level 1. So yeah, that's nice.

 

[Brytmonlee]

While I used to really hate it, for breeding purposes I really like that stone-based evolutions don't learn moves by levelling up (heart scale notwithstanding). It makes keeping egg moves a lot easier.
Like, for instance. I have a Female Dream Ball 5IV (-attack) Timid Misdreavus with Nasty Plot. Perfect for breeding. If I wanted to use it, however... as soon as I've bred some eggs from it, this Misdreavus would have gotten to Level 17 and learned some crappy level-up moves through the daycare and it would have forgotten Nasty Plot and I'd have to re-teach it with heart scale and blah blah blah. So to circumvent that from happening I'd have to train Misdreavus up to the level of it's last level-up move - a painful Level 55.
But I can circumvent even that by using a Dusk Stone on it - since Mismagius has no (non-level 0) level-up moves, it won't learn anything in the daycare even if I put it in there at level 1. So yeah, that's nice.

Umm, what? If a pokemon knows a breedable egg move when it enters the daycare, the game treats it as though it has that move until you remove it from the daycare, so you don't have to waste heart scales and evo stones to prevent moves erasing your egg moves in the daycare.

 

[Kurona]

Umm, what? If a pokemon knows a breedable egg move when it enters the daycare, the game treats it as though it has that move until you remove it from the daycare, so you don't have to waste heart scales and evo stones to prevent moves erasing your egg moves in the daycare.

Yes, but when I take the Misdreavus out it'll have it's new level-up moves. So if I want to use it for breeding those egg moves again, I'd need to use heart scales.