Gimmicks you wish worked better

[Wobblebuns]

Baby pokemon (pre evolutions to existing pokemon that didn't have one before) tend to be useless. Wynaut gives Wobbuffet a few more moves to be annoying including Splash and Encore, Igglybuff gets Sweet Kiss (which Jigglypuff doesn't but then again doesn't care), but Happiny didn't offer much to it's older forms and doesn't have Softboil to make it a LC Chansey. A few babies give more moves but most of the time they're just a pain to evolve to and breed for pokedex completion. Cleffa is also very useless, just being a boiled down Clefairy design and offering nothing new.

It also makes for a good form of merchandise; 'ya know, plushies, key chains, all of that stuff. Part of the appeal is largely due to its "cuteness" factor in which they can be readily re-made or incorporated to a variety of products. And since Pokemon's target audience are children, they are a great magnet for these and what does that mean? PROFIT! Gonna get 'em extra income yo! I guess the same can be said for the obligatory rodent mascot for each passing generation...

Of course, these adorable knick-knacks don't limit itself to kids only as I've been a victim of this. Here in my room, I can see my Cleffa plushie, nestled neatly on my bookshelf, staring intently at me with those shimmering eyes and mouth gaped open, seemingly bringing an expression of utter joy bordering towards subtle and withheld madness.

 

[Gokuzbu]

Regigigas is just tragic. Slow Start is even worse than Truant as you are useless for 5 turns and you will most likely die beforehand. It has great defenses yet doesn't have the recovery or resistances to make use of them. Gamefreak was way too harsh in trying to balance it, give it a crap ability like Normalize or just reduce it stats a bit and it would be perfectly balanced. They also could have just not nerfed it at all and let it frollick with the other ubers.

Bibarel is an awesome gimmick Pokemon with Unaware and Simple both being unique and helpful abilities. Its stats are just awful though which means it can't take advantage of the combos they bring. A Simple set with Curse or Charge Beam is beautifully gimmicky but its stats and typing mean it will die before it can do anything. Unaware is a great ability for a wall or tank but again it is too frail to take advantage. More Pokemon should learn Simple and Unaware, hopefully something with better stats.

Phione is useless. Most people probably don't even bother to breed it. Hydration is a great ability especially with rest but 80/80/80 is too weak to wall anything. If it had Tail Glow and buffed stats it might get some use, as it is Phione is awful.

I wish more items other than lefties, LO and choice were viable. A lot of the items Gamefreak add are far too situational.

 

[Kurona]

I wish more items other than lefties, LO and choice were viable. A lot of the items Gamefreak add are far too situational.

We at least got some good ones this gen, namely Assault Vest and Weakness Policy.

 

[Talpr0ne]

Lilligant's other "gimmick" is that it's the only non-Bug type to get Quiver Dance.

Also, I wish every Grass-type got Earth Power, not just a few.

Yeah, Earth Power would fit well for Grass types, although only for those more plant like. I would left those more similar to animals out tbh.
The only three non-legendary Grass Pokémon to get the move are Sunflora, Cradily and Torterra, the latter of which is a Ground type, so it would make sense to give it only to plant like mons. Most animal like grass type have access to Earthquake and are physically oriented anyway.

 

[Codraroll]

Not exactly a gimmick, but... the Ice type in general.

Not only that it's terribly bad defensively. It's just that most Ice Pokémon, apparently bar Mamoswine, have been given really terrible stats, terrible abilities or terrible movepools. Most of those "decent" Ice types such as Kyurem-W or Cloyster are secondary Ice types. The list of pure- or primary Ice types reads like a "don't use" list for RU or NU. And terribleness in competitive play usually gives some hint to usefulness or fun of use in-game too. Ice types are frail, obtained far too late in the game, usually sport mediocre stats or worse, and have poor movepools. You can even say that most of the non-crappy Ice types have terribly contrived ways of evolution or capture too. Some require evolutionary stones or other rare items, other special moves, or a visit to some faraway place. And don't even get me started on the legendaries.

In short, Ice types are too weak compared to how late into the game they come, and they require too much investment in exploration/item hunting to be worth the hassle. This shouldn't need to be the case. I really long for some Ice type that can be obtained (possibly as a pre-evolution) somewhat early in the game, evolve to stay relevant for your team throughout your adventure, and kick some ass in its final evolution. Instead, we get mediocre pre-evolutions really late in the game (usually around gyms 6 or 7), with shoddy stats or being of too limited use to be worth sacrificing a team slot for. And they fall to a slight breeze too. I don't really see why late-game Gym Leaders or Elite Four members continue to use them in every single generation.

 

[Arcticblast]

Not exactly a gimmick, but... the Ice type in general.

Not only that it's terribly bad defensively. It's just that most Ice Pokémon, apparently bar Mamoswine, have been given really terrible stats, terrible abilities or terrible movepools. Most of those "decent" Ice types such as Kyurem-W or Cloyster are secondary Ice types. The list of pure- or primary Ice types reads like a "don't use" list for RU or NU. And terribleness in competitive play usually gives some hint to usefulness or fun of use in-game too. Ice types are frail, obtained far too late in the game, usually sport mediocre stats or worse, and have poor movepools. You can even say that most of the non-crappy Ice types have terribly contrived ways of evolution or capture too. Some require evolutionary stones or other rare items, other special moves, or a visit to some faraway place. And don't even get me started on the legendaries.

In short, Ice types are too weak compared to how late into the game they come, and they require too much investment in exploration/item hunting to be worth the hassle. This shouldn't need to be the case. I really long for some Ice type that can be obtained (possibly as a pre-evolution) somewhat early in the game, evolve to stay relevant for your team throughout your adventure, and kick some ass in its final evolution. Instead, we get mediocre pre-evolutions really late in the game (usually around gyms 6 or 7), with shoddy stats or being of too limited use to be worth sacrificing a team slot for. And they fall to a slight breeze too. I don't really see why late-game Gym Leaders or Elite Four members continue to use them in every single generation.

In all fairness, Ice is a fantastic offensive type - it hits Flying, Ground, Grass, and Dragon for super effective damage; aside from Dragon these types are all common (you WILL have a Flying-type at some point). It's resisted by four more types, sure, but Fire/Water/Ice/Steel Pokemon carrying a secondary type weak to Ice aren't too rare, Steel is kind of bad ingame, and now as an extra redemption factor we have Freeze Dry to smack some Waters around. It also helps that Ice coverage is pretty generously distributed - the fact that we complain when certain Water-types DON'T get Ice Beam should be testimony to this. Ice is basically a hyper offensive type. It's a shame that most Ice-type Pokemon are bulkier - we could certainly use a Pokemon like Weavile or the CAPmon Syclant, which are basically a weaponized version of Ice.

That said, at least Ice got redeemed defensively in Inverse...

 

[Diana]

It also makes for a good form of merchandise; 'ya know, plushies, key chains, all of that stuff. Part of the appeal is largely due to its "cuteness" factor in which they can be readily re-made or incorporated to a variety of products. And since Pokemon's target audience are children, they are a great magnet for these and what does that mean? PROFIT! Gonna get 'em extra income yo! I guess the same can be said for the obligatory rodent mascot for each passing generation...

Of course, these adorable knick-knacks don't limit itself to kids only as I've been a victim of this. Here in my room, I can see my Cleffa plushie, nestled neatly on my bookshelf, staring intently at me with those shimmering eyes and mouth gaped open, seemingly bringing an expression of utter joy bordering towards subtle and withheld madness.

Of course, if you played the TCG in the 2001 range you'll think Cleffa is maddeningly good.

Part of me wishes that Delibird could use Present at least semi-effectively. I'm really not sure how it would be possible (didn't they have a ladder of the month that made Present different?) but outside of some crazy GS-only luck with a glitch it's never had potential to do anything. Something like that would never be useful competitively anyway but I kind of wish I could make theme/joke teams with it and do something once in a while.

 

[Karxrida]

In all fairness, Ice is a fantastic offensive type - it hits Flying, Ground, Grass, and Dragon for super effective damage; aside from Dragon these types are all common (you WILL have a Flying-type at some point). It's resisted by four more types, sure, but Fire/Water/Ice/Steel Pokemon carrying a secondary type weak to Ice aren't too rare, Steel is kind of bad ingame, and now as an extra redemption factor we have Freeze Dry to smack some Waters around. It also helps that Ice coverage is pretty generously distributed - the fact that we complain when certain Water-types DON'T get Ice Beam should be testimony to this. Ice is basically a hyper offensive type. It's a shame that most Ice-type Pokemon are bulkier - we could certainly use a Pokemon like Weavile or the CAPmon Syclant, which are basically a weaponized version of Ice.

That said, at least Ice got redeemed defensively in Inverse...

That doesn't solve the problem of the Pokemon themselves sucking. Look at Dragon; it hits only itself super effectively and yet some of the best Pokemon are Dragons because they have amazing stats and movepools that make them threatening. Most Ice-Types don't have good movepools and are rare competitively despite their amazing STAB (we have like 4 OU viable Ice-Types, one of which is a Title Legendary who's only legal because its movepool sucks ass).

 

[KingHeracrossTheBug]

That doesn't solve the problem of the Pokemon themselves sucking. Look at Dragon; it hits only itself super effectively and yet some of the best Pokemon are Dragons because they have amazing stats and movepools that make them threatening. Most Ice-Types don't have good movepools and are rare competitively despite their amazing STAB (we have like 4 OU viable Ice-Types, one of which is a Title Legendary who's only legal because its movepool sucks ass).

We should have a Water-Ice starter with a great movepool

Speaking of Ice-types, Regice's Special Attack could be better. I wish it could move 20 BP from its Attack to its Special Attack

 

[Petrico94]

Maractus comes off as a less good Cacturne. Atleast Swanna when compared to Pelipper has better speed and more health, and it's attack stats are able to be mixed with the better attack. Maractus: it gets storm drain and chlorophyll, less attack for more defense that still isn't impressive, still slow, it's not dark and it can't sword dance.

 

[Rilan]

I always seem to have counterintuitive thoughts when it comes to hanging out with my friends. Whenever they vote to buy chocolate ice cream, I would boldly yell "Butterscotch!". The same thing happens whenever we play Pokémon as well. Each of them plays a heavily offensive game and has at least one Dragon, Fire, and Fighting type with each Pokémon having four attacking moves. My field of expertise happened to lie in Grass, Bug, and Normal types; the name of my game was being defensive. I always thought these types and this type of gameplay deserved more love anyway.

I began playing competitively in DPP with Vespiquen. The set I had seemed simple at the time. Defend Order, Heal Order, Attack Order, and Confuse Ray. None of us knew what IVs and EVs were at the time and we found almost at all no reason to switch out since we didn't care about setting up or removing hazards, so our competitive skills were not above basic level with the battles being direct and often short. I would lead with Vespiquen, confuse my opponent, and proceed with defensive boosts, healing myself as needed. When the opponent had dealt enough damage to himself I would finish them off with Attack order and finish the battle with these boosts in hand. Sounded like a pretty good strategy at the time, but it never worked out. I was too slow to get even a single Confuse Ray on the opponent before Vespiquen took serious damage. In the rare cases I got a single Defend Order out, I was already within K.O. range of every attack.

It seems that raising defenses outside of Baton Pass uses is gimmicky. I never understood why offensive boosts like Swords Dance and Nasty Plot are better suited in battling other players. The best defensive strategies outside of the basic utilization of resistances/immunities always included the use of recovery (Synthesis/Leech Seed) and the crippling of enemies (Will-o-Wisp/Thunder Wave) due to their straightforwardness and instant gratification.

Putting my terrible choice in typing use aside, I wish that defensive boosts had an actual impact when battling competitively (maybe it actually does have an impact outside the OU meta game; I might be reading into that forum too intensely).

 

[Gokuzbu]

Moves like Calm Mind, Curse, Bulk Up and Quiver Dance are used quite a bit, although they raise other stats too. Defensive boosts being easy to phaze is my guess for them not being very popular.

 

[Kurona]

While this is a small element, there's also the fact that Unaware and Critical Hits completely negate any defence boosts.

 

[KingHeracrossTheBug]

Also finishing battles quicker > Stalling your opponent

 

[kabbes]

Cosmic power definitely has its place.

 

[Kurona]

Isn't Cosmic Power only 'viable' on that one gimmicky Stored Power Sigilyph set?

I think it could be used more if it weren't for absolutely dire distribution.

 

[Petrico94]

Isn't Cosmic Power only 'viable' on that one gimmicky Stored Power Sigilyph set?

I think it could be used more if it weren't for absolutely dire distribution.

It's good on Clefable with softboil but yeah it's not given to a lot of pokemon

 

[Wishy]

Guys, I don't know about you but I would rather have my gimmicks remain gimmicky. If you make a Pokemon competent outside of its gimmick factor then it becomes overbearingly good.

Maybe, but many gimmick Pokemon are nerfed to such an extent that they are just not useable or so difficult to use it's not never worth it.

There's one thing with implementing something as a joke knowing it's not viable (Delibird and Present), versus trying so hard to balance something that they break it anyway (Archeops and Defeatist).

Is this what you had in mind?

This is incredibly cool, but there are some strange choices here. Eelektross is obviously based on a lamprey and has no business where it's currently placed. Also, classifying sharks and rays as ray-finned fish is just wrong.

Some interesting liberties taken with Lanturn's and Snorlax's origins.

Now I want to make my own version.

 

[Petrico94]

This is incredibly cool, but there are some strange choices here. Eelektross is obviously based on a lamprey and has no business where it's currently placed. Also, classifying sharks and rays as ray-finned fish is just wrong.

Some interesting liberties taken with Lanturn's and Snorlax's origins.

Now I want to make my own version.

It's just like real evolution, when you draw it all out it makes as much sense as it doesn't

 

[kabbes]

Calm mind and bulk up feature defence boosts too and are in widespread use. Calm mind is obviously the more popular option, but bulk up has some notable users. (I find that bulk up Talonflame is a superb setup sweeper, for instance).

 

[Wishy]

It's just like real evolution, when you draw it all out it makes as much sense as it doesn't

What bothers me the most is calling a shark a ray-finned fish. It's just flat out wrong.

 

[EnGarde]

Friend Guard is an ability that has so much potential for double and triple battles (it reduces the amount of damage ally pokemon take by like 25%), but the only pokemon that get it are a few baby pokemon, clefairy, jigglypuff, and vivillon.

 

[KingHeracrossTheBug]

Friend Guard is an ability that has so much potential for double and triple battles (it reduces the amount of damage ally pokemon take by like 25%), but the only pokemon that get it are a few baby pokemon, clefairy, jigglypuff, and vivillon.

I once used a FG Vivillon with a Multiscale DD-Nite. It tanked the first hit, which was Ice Beam, like a b0ss, used the WP, then DD, then ruled the opponent. Sadly Vivillon died two turns later.

I just noticed how bad is Special Mega-Luke. Having a Fighting-type special attack that is not Focus Miss is great, but after it got nerfed to 80 BP is not so great. It has really good potential, because Aura Sphere + Dark Pulse + Flash Cannon + Dragon Pulse is great with base 140. If it only got either Fire Blast or Dazzling Gleam...

 

[Kurona]

I once used a FG Vivillon with a Multiscale DD-Nite. It tanked the first hit, which was Ice Beam, like a b0ss, used the WP, then DD, then ruled the opponent. Sadly Vivillon died two turns later.

I just noticed how bad is Special Mega-Luke. Having a Fighting-type special attack that is not Focus Miss is great, but after it got nerfed to 80 BP is not so great. It has really good potential, because Aura Sphere + Dark Pulse + Flash Cannon + Dragon Pulse is great with base 140. If it only got either Fire Blast or Dazzling Gleam...

Lucario also gets Nasty Plot.

I really wish Florges' abilities worked better. I mean the two it has are unique to it, and at first seem quite interesting... and then you find they're incredibly situational, useless outside of doubles and even IN doubles I see so little viability in them that there seems very little point. Heck one of them - Symbiosis - could be DETRIMENTAL to Florges or it's partner depending on your strategy.

 

[kabbes]

Flower veil is actually quite good in doubles, providing you like using Ferrothorn, Venusaur and the like. Stall city!