Pokémon whose mechanics fit a different generation(s) better than its own

[khlaylav]

This is a very minor case, but Snorlax went from "very good OU" to "god of OU" after picking up Curse in Gen 2.

 

[CTNC]

Crawdunt. Huge attack, learns Swords Dance and the most powerful physical attacks of both its STABs by level up, was introduced the gen before the physical/special split when both its STABs were always special.

Adding onto this, I'd say the entire Dark Type worked better after Gen 4's Physical/Special Split. (Kind of ironic to say a much needed type that was introduced to stop Psychic from being overpowered and Fighting from being underpowered was introduced in the wrong generation) Most Dark types had better Physical Attack than Special Attack and, even weirder, Dark Attacks were Special even though literally every Dark Attack from before Gen 4 was changed to Physical. That probably happened because Ghost and Dark are almost identical offensively and Ghost was already Physical because the only Ghost Attack in Gen 1 (other than Night Shade which dealt fixed damage) was Lick. They should've made Dark Physical and changed Ghost to Special instead.

 

[Ironmage]

Adding onto this, I'd say the entire Dark Type worked better after Gen 4's Physical/Special Split. (Kind of ironic to say a much needed type that was introduced to stop Psychic from being overpowered and Fighting from being underpowered was introduced in the wrong generation) Most Dark types had better Physical Attack than Special Attack and, even weirder, Dark Attacks were Special even though literally every Dark Attack from before Gen 4 was changed to Physical. That probably happened because Ghost and Dark are almost identical offensively and Ghost was already Physical because the only Ghost Attack in Gen 1 (other than Night Shade which dealt fixed damage) was Lick. They should've made Dark Physical and changed Ghost to Special instead.

Physical attack on Dark wasn't that heavily favoured in gen 2. There's only one more physical-focused gen 2 Dark than special-focused. Houndoom is special-focused, Murkrow is equal, and Umbreon only has 5 better attack. What really messed up the balance was every single gen 3 Dark type having higher physical attack.

 

[Eeveeto]

Almost every ghost would have been way better if it got introduced during Snorlax's reign of Gen 2. Examples:
Drifblim: walls every Snorlax unless they start using Shadow Ball (Thunder won't be doing enough if Drifblim uses Rest).
Mismagius: Better Misdreavus.
Froslass: Bulky (with Gen 2 Stats) Spiker that also prevents Spin and can kill Cloyster and Forretress with the right move.
Dhelmise: Unblockable spinner that kills other ghosts with Shadow Ball and also walls EQ Snorlax. Can even sweep with SD.
Gourgeist: Same, but trades Spin and SD for Boom, Fire Blast and being faster than Marowak.
Jellicent and Sableye: 32 Recover PP. A shame this move was nerfed in Gen 3.
Rotom: Walls EQ Less Snorlax AND Zapdos, which is the second best Mon.

 

[Cobalt Empoleon]

Crawdunt. Huge attack, learns Swords Dance and the most powerful physical attacks of both its STABs by level up, was introduced the gen before the physical/special split when both its STABs were always special.

Poor Sidney tbh. All the Pokemon he uses in RSE besides Mightyena have super high attacking stats allocated in a way that feel like a reluctant concession to the lack of a physical/special split.
Sharpedo: 120/95
Shiftry: 100/90
Crawdaunt: 120/90
Cacturne: 115/115 (equal, but with all Gen 3 Dark attacks and Cacturne's signature move later becoming physical it feels like it was envisioned as being more Attack-focused)
Absol: 130/75 (with SpA being tied for its second-highest stat)

Like it feels like Attack was the priority for these mons but they had to give them workable Special Attack stats to stop them being the Sneasel of Gen 3.

 

[sg pokemon]

As we all know, gen 5 OU is characterized by a few trademark features that make it so memorable by this point; some of them being permanent rain, the rise of fighting types and being the last gen where critical hits do 2x damage. With all these factors in mind, there's fewer mons that would feel right at home in said environment than Urshifu, in both of its forms. The scariest aspect that immediately comes to mind is the fact that both forms' signatures moves would deal 2x damage on their guraranteed critical hits, making switching into these moves a nightmare. The fact that steel types would resist wicked blow is irrelevant when fighting stab snaps them all in half anyway. Speaking of wicked blow resists, the lack of fairy types means there's just that much fewer switchins to the already-stronger wicked blow, AND urshifu single strike no longer has to fear a major 4x weakness, and no longer has to dedicate niche coverage moves just to 2hko them on switchin. While this may not be as relevant for the rapid strike form, what IS more relevant to it is the permanent rain allowing its primary stab to oftentimes be even stronger than that of its counterpart.
So yeah it's safe to say that neither urshifu form would be allowed in gen 5 ou for even a second LOL; they'd most likely be extremely solid mons even in ubers due to how much both of them have going for it.

 

[MoonlightRose]

As we all know, gen 5 OU is characterized by a few trademark features that make it so memorable by this point; some of them being permanent rain, the rise of fighting types and being the last gen where critical hits do 2x damage. With all these factors in mind, there's fewer mons that would feel right at home in said environment than Urshifu, in both of its forms. The scariest aspect that immediately comes to mind is the fact that both forms' signatures moves would deal 2x damage on their guraranteed critical hits, making switching into these moves a nightmare. The fact that steel types would resist wicked blow is irrelevant when fighting stab snaps them all in half anyway. Speaking of wicked blow resists, the lack of fairy types means there's just that much fewer switchins to the already-stronger wicked blow, AND urshifu single strike no longer has to fear a major 4x weakness, and no longer has to dedicate niche coverage moves just to 2hko them on switchin. While this may not be as relevant for the rapid strike form, what IS more relevant to it is the permanent rain allowing its primary stab to oftentimes be even stronger than that of its counterpart.
So yeah it's safe to say that neither urshifu form would be allowed in gen 5 ou for even a second LOL; they'd most likely be extremely solid mons even in ubers due to how much both of them have going for it.

I think you might be slightly overestimating Surging Strikes and Wicked Blow. Given both Storm Throw and Frost Breath got buffed when critical hits lost power it's probably safe to assume that in gen 5 Surging Strikes and Wicked blow would be weaker, probably 18 and 60 base power. They'd still be banned though.

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Gen 1: Sceptile. Leaf Blade crits all the time, given that blistering 120 speed Sceptile's got and how critical hit mechanics in that generation function; in addition, it is 20 BP stronger than Razor Leaf and fully accurate. In Gen 1, the faster you are, the more likely you are to crit, and high-crit moves crit nearly all the time; even Venusaur with merely 80 Speed crits virtually all the time. Even if Sceptile is limited to a merely average 85 Special before the stat split, Leaf Blade becomes essentially a 140 BP move (before calculating STAB; after that, it becomes a 210 BP move) instead of a 70 BP move. That killer speed also outspeeds the likes of Gengar, Starmie, and Tauros, and ensures a speed tie with Alakazam and Dugtrio. Leaf Blade destroys Starmie, Golem, and Rhydon while hurting Tauros a lot and breaking through Amnesia users like Slowbro, while EQ and Rock Slide punish Gengar and Electrics like Jolteon and kinda make Zapdos, Dragonite, and Moltres pretty hesitant about switching in (especially if you account for a > 22.46% critical hit ratio). Only Exeggutor and Chansey probably wanna take the lizard on. Would very likely make it to OU in Gen 1 or at least be a very respectable choice.

 

[FloopThePig]

I remember seeing something about Machoke and Graveler possibly receiving a trade evolution mechanic similar to Shelmet and Karrablast if they were introduced later. When Shelmet and Karrablast are traded with each other, Shelmet gives its shell to Karrablast, which explains why Accelgor doesn't have armor while Escavalier does. When Graveler evolves, Golem gains a reptilian head which Machoke has but loses its extra set of arms. Those extra arms are instead given to Machamp.

Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/5apam9

 

[Greed~]

So. Inkay and Malamar. You turn the console upside down from level 30 onwards. Simple and easy on a 3DS. Why do you need to jump through so many hoops to do so on the switch? Turn off every controller, go in and out of airplane mode, make sure everything is set up and pray it recognizes the angle you're holding the switch at as "upside down".

I still used one, but I think that was a hassle. Additionally, since I don't take my switch out of the dock, the fact that I had to for it to work was a mild inconvenience.

 

[bdt2002]

Physical attack on Dark wasn't that heavily favoured in gen 2. There's only one more physical-focused gen 2 Dark than special-focused. Houndoom is special-focused, Murkrow is equal, and Umbreon only has 5 better attack. What really messed up the balance was every single gen 3 Dark type having higher physical attack.

I... kind of agree with this? It's weird, really. On paper, there are so many Dark-Type physical attackers compared to special ones across both Johto and Hoenn. We've got Umbreon, Murkrow, Sneasel, Tyranitar, Mightyena, Shiftry, Absol, Sharpedo, Cacturne, Crawdaunt, heck even Sableye if you're really feeling gutsy. Out of that list, I can see only Murkrow, Tyranitar, Shiftry, Sharpedo, and Cacturne even consider running a special set (Umbreon usually goes defensive). I think what they were saying is that if Dark moves were physical prior to Gen 4, this wouldn't have been nearly as big of an issue.

Almost every ghost would have been way better if it got introduced during Snorlax's reign of Gen 2. Examples:</p><p>Drifblim: walls every Snorlax unless they start using Shadow Ball (Thunder won't be doing enough if Drifblim uses Rest).
Mismagius: Better Misdreavus.
Froslass: Bulky (with Gen 2 Stats) Spiker that also prevents Spin and can kill Cloyster and Forretress with the right move.
Dhelmise: Unblockable spinner that kills other ghosts with Shadow Ball and also walls EQ Snorlax. Can even sweep with SD.
Gourgeist: Same, but trades Spin and SD for Boom, Fire Blast and being faster than Marowak.
Jellicent and Sableye: 32 Recover PP. A shame this move was nerfed in Gen 3.
Rotom: Walls EQ Less Snorlax AND Zapdos, which is the second best Mon.

I definitely agree with the choices you did list (especially Rotom if we decide to give it the form changes), but I just wanted to take a moment to point out that not every Ghost-Type would appreciate GSC mechanics equally. Take Mimikyu for example- it would lose its Fairy typing and its Disguise ability. The special-attacking Chandelure is another one that would kill to have Shadow Ball be a special move in this generation to fight against the other Ghosts that actually are good here. Also, while we're on the subject of Ghost/Fire Pokémon, funny you should mention Marowak, because the Alolan Form would also be another good upgrade over an existing Gen 2 OU mon.

Gen 1: Sceptile. Leaf Blade crits all the time, given that blistering 120 speed Sceptile's got and how critical hit mechanics in that generation function; in addition, it is 20 BP stronger than Razor Leaf and fully accurate. In Gen 1, the faster you are, the more likely you are to crit, and high-crit moves crit nearly all the time; even Venusaur with merely 80 Speed crits virtually all the time. Even if Sceptile is limited to a merely average 85 Special before the stat split, Leaf Blade becomes essentially a 140 BP move (before calculating STAB; after that, it becomes a 210 BP move) instead of a 70 BP move. That killer speed also outspeeds the likes of Gengar, Starmie, and Tauros, and ensures a speed tie with Alakazam and Dugtrio. Leaf Blade destroys Starmie, Golem, and Rhydon while hurting Tauros a lot and breaking through Amnesia users like Slowbro, while EQ and Rock Slide punish Gengar and Electrics like Jolteon and kinda make Zapdos, Dragonite, and Moltres pretty hesitant about switching in (especially if you account for a > 22.46% critical hit ratio). Only Exeggutor and Chansey probably wanna take the lizard on. Would very likely make it to OU in Gen 1 or at least be a very respectable choice.

Sceptile was definitely the poster child for fast special attackers for a while, but your post also reminded me of a second, much more recent starter Pokémon who would also be successful, in many of the ways Sceptile would. Enter Inteleon- a Water-Type glass cannon whose entire battle style is based on critical hits. The two share the impressive base 120 Speed stat, but Inteleon's Special Attack clocks in at a much higher 125. The great thing about that last part is that Special being one stat in Gen 1, in tandem with the old EV mechanics, would drastically help Inteleon's biggest flaw, that being its insane frailty for a fully evolved Water. And finally... Snipe Shot. My word, this move would be ridiculous in RBY multiplayer. Imagine Leaf Blade but with Water typing, slightly better base power (Leaf Blade would still have 75 BP in RBY), and the same busted critical hit mechanics as Sceptile. Also like Sceptile, Inteleon could make use of some other moves to check the few things in the RBY meta that could take multiple Snipe Shots well, the major ones being Ice Beam/Blizzard for Grass-Types and Substitute against Chansey, since its higher Special and resistances to Ice Beam and Thunderbolt make it much easier to play against any set not running Seismic Toss.

Edit: I meant to say that Sceptile is the one that resists Thunderbolt. Whoops.

 

[Eeveeto]

^Alolan Marowak wouldn't be really good. Like, yes, it would force Snorlax to run EQ (which other ghosts already do), but it would need some weird move like Submission or Low Kick to actually damage Snorlax. It does threaten Skarmory more with STAB Fire moves, but unlike regular Wak, it wouldn't be able to fight vs electrics.

The one Fire-Ghost that would actually be good is Blacephalon, which is not surprising, considering it's a legendary Mon. Unlike Marowak and Chandelure, Blace hits hard from both sides and also learns Explosion, which before BW makes almost every Mon good.

 

[bdt2002]

^Alolan Marowak wouldn't be really good. Like, yes, it would force Snorlax to run EQ (which other ghosts already do), but it would need some weird move like Submission or Low Kick to actually damage Snorlax. It does threaten Skarmory more with STAB Fire moves, but unlike regular Wak, it wouldn't be able to fight vs electrics.

The one Fire-Ghost that would actually be good is Blacephalon, which is not surprising, considering it's a legendary Mon. Unlike Marowak and Chandelure, Blace hits hard from both sides and also learns Explosion, which before BW makes almost every Mon good.

I hadn’t even thought about Blacephalon. If I’m being honest, I pretty quickly dismissed most of the Ultra Beasts prior to Gen 3 mechanics and especially Gen 4’s changes. The thing with Marowak though, is that it doesn’t have to be “better” unlike most Pokémon in this thread. A player could ideally just choose which Marowak form fits their team better.

 

[Nokocchi]

I think Golurk would be fun in Gen I and Gen II. In a hypothetical Gen I, It would only have Night Shade in terms of Ghost moves, but it would also have Earthquake, Rockslide, Fly, Hyper Beam, Self-destruct, Body Slam, Solar Beam, Psychic, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt The latter half is assuming that it's Special is 80 rather than 55, but in a gen where all stats can be maxed out they could at least be used to hitting certain mons harder.

Now assuming this Gen I Golurk was traded to Gen II, it would lose its special attack, but it would gain Shadow Ball as a secondary STAB and, while it is special in Gen II, Fire Punch can hit certain targets harder than what many other moves would.

If Golurk was soley a Gen II Pokemon, it would lose out on Rock Slide, leaving Rollout as its only Rock Move, as well as not being able to have Body Slam and Self-destruct, but still be a blast to use overall

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Gen 1 Quagsire would have been interesting. Natural Amnesia, combined with decent HP, fair physical bulk, and only one semi-uncommon weakness (Grass)? Immunity to Electric-type attacks? Great double STABs in EQ (to nuke Jolteon and Gengar and do fair damage to mons like Alakazam) and Surf (that can be amped further by Amnesia)? 90% accuracy Blizzard to cover D-Nites and Zapdos while they can do nothing to hit you super-effectively?

Wrap shenanigans can be bad ofc, but still, I see Quagsire doing fairly well.

 

[Cratersmash]

Gen 1 Quagsire would have been interesting. Natural Amnesia, combined with decent HP, fair physical bulk, and only one semi-uncommon weakness (Grass)? Immunity to Electric-type attacks? Great double STABs in EQ (to nuke Jolteon and Gengar and do fair damage to mons like Alakazam) and Surf (that can be amped further by Amnesia)? 90% accuracy Blizzard to cover D-Nites and Zapdos while they can do nothing to hit you super-effectively?

Wrap shenanigans can be bad ofc, but still, I see Quagsire doing fairly well.

Now I want this

 

[pika pal]

I'm now imagining what Deoxys would look like in RBY simply by virtue of the Special stat, which inherently means Normal and Attack forms become Special tanks and Defense would be a bulky-as-hell Nuke. I have two assumptions for the following discussion.

1. They still share a movepool (i.e. there are legal means to get Deoxys-A moves on Deoxys-D and vice versa)
2. Any Gen 1 move they are compatible with by some means later is still an option in Gen 1 via TM or otherwise.

This means every form has access to Psychic, Amnesia, Recover, Wrap, (non-STAB) Hyper Beam, plus some weird TM coverage like Ice Beam, Body Slam, Rock Slide, Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave. This while the Special Stat ensures 3/4 forms are in the offensive/special Bulk class of Mewtwo, and 3/4 (2 the same as the former) are also faster than it. I think this would ironicallly make the two best forms Normal and Defense: Normal's slight Bulk advantage over Attack goes farther under Gen 1 EVs while the absurdity of Amnesia alleviates any power difference as if it matters; meanwhile Defense becomes basically impossible to kill at the expense of actually having to get hit by comparison and giving up on Physical attacking for non-SE targets.

I'm still willing to assume Mewtwo's much greater bulk and uncompromised mixed attacking would get it farther overall, but Deoxys would definitely join it as one of the only Ubers under Gen 1 mechanics, which I do find funny considering the FRLG arc climax was in part a battle between Mewtwo and Deoxys.

 

[Sonikku A]

There isn’t too much to say for this one, but I do think seeing this Unova pair as potential Gen 2 candidates could be a nice change of pace. The generation as a whole tried to give some more love to the Bug-Type across the board, but this was also the generation that started branching out more with trade evolutions. For Escavalier in particular, if the Game Boy Color couldn’t support the Karrablast & Shelmet trade thing, they could just make it another Metal Coat evolution like Onix and Scyther were, although that method seems to be restricted to Kanto Pokémon for the time being.

Actually if anything, they reflect Gen 1s planned concept for the Golem/Machamp lines. The GF book in 1996 confirms it, with features also being swapped in design
It's nice GF remembered during Gen 5 dev

 

[R_N]

Actually if anything, they reflect Gen 1s planned concept for the Golem/Machamp lines. The GF book in 1996 confirms it, with features also being swapped in design
It's nice GF remembered during Gen 5 dev

Are you talking about the pokedex book?

All they talk about is that they didn't evolve "naturally" and "thought" to evolve, as a reference to their trade evolutions being in-universe recentish discoveries. Same language is used with Gengar & Alakazam.