Unpopular opinions

[Pikachu315111]

I think, honestly, that the Fairy-Type is totally consistent in its distribution and design concepts. It is the best counterpart to Dragon-Type that the series could have made, and to understand why I think it's important to look into what exactly the Dragon-Type is too.

A lot of what you said sounds similar to how Lockstin described the differences between Dragon-type and Fairy-type.

Even the Dark-Type, which should be Pokémon's "malice" type, are almost always depicted as being misunderstood.

Eh, the Dark-type (which Japanese name is Evil-type) is a mixed bag. Overall they're just Pokemon who have a bad attitude or menacing presence about them, and while some are misunderstood there are ones which are just malicious. Purrloin uses its cuteness as a ruse to have people it steal from forgive them if it gets caught, and it enjoys watching their frustration trying to find their lost item if they're not. Impidimp absorbs emanations formed when it annoys people. Morgrem plays hurt to get targets close to stab them with its hair. Nuzleaf will leave the forests it lives in just to scare people. Crawdaunt is so violent and battle eager it makes all other Pokemon refuse to live in the same pond it does or else be constantly pinched and thrown about. Spiritomb is made of 108 wicked spirits who were sealed away in a stone as punishment. Hoopa is teleports things either to play a prank or it wants something. And there's a few which are just forces of mass destruction like Hydreigon, Guzzlord, & Mega Gyarados.

I really should know better and do some research about the Pokémon in question if their Typing doesn't seems too much sense for me at first. I'll also be more open about what Type fits into what whenever I make my fakemons.

On the contrary, it's not that you didn't do any research but rather GF leaves a lot of things in Pokemon so open (such as reasonings for certain Types being what they are) you just saw something which either wasn't obvious or think is a missing aspect of the Type.

 

[Sonikku A]

I find it funny Mega Garchomp is worse than regular, and Blaziken literally ignores need of it
But yeah, Megas should've had variable stats raises depending on the mon. So say a Gen 2 Mon (Ledian) needs 150 bst raise, vs Salamence who needs only 30
Honestly just have megas to boost extremely poor mons only. Though at that point, it'll need a new name

 

[TMan87]

On the subject of Megas, I genuinely loathe that Gen 7's Pokedex entries describe Mega Evolution as a painful process to undergo. Is it logically sound given the surge of power and the suddenness of the change? Sure. But it also feels immensely guilty to use them now, and it feels like a massive departure from the original concept of Megas as described in Gen 6 - a rare process only achievable due to a great bond between Pokemon and trainer.

Now, in absolute fairness you could make the argument that the Pokemon remaining loyal and devoted to you even throughout such a trying ordeal could in itself be a testament to that bond, but it's still incredibly off-putting to think that I'm breaking Glalie's jaw, stunting the growth of Kangaskhan's child, or melting Garchomp's arms and wings every single time I Mega Evolve them. Given that this idea only came a generation after its introduction, it feels like tacked-on edginess for the sake of it rather than organically introducing the concept. It's inauthentic to what Mega Evolution was designed to be in Gen 6 and I'd go so far as to say it even feels inauthentic to the series' identity as a whole.

This would feel more at home in the Mysteries and Conspiracies thread, but what if it was intentional?

Mega Evolution is a concept originally "discovered" in Kalos, then somehow traveled to Alola. However, Alola's "specialty" is Z-Moves. What do the two have in common? They're both power surges that allow the Pokémon to use a stronger form or move, respectively.
However, it seems logical to assume that a Pokémon would have an easier time channeling energy to launch a strong move than to assume a strong form.
What if Alolan scientists researched Mega Evolution the same way they used to research Z-Moves, thus leading to biased and imperfect results?
Alolan Pokémon use an imperfect Mega Evolution, leading to actual body damage, as opposed to Kalosian Mega Evolution, which is well-researched and more stable. It doesn't damage the Pokémon because the energy used to transform is correctly harnassed.
Keep in mind that, in Alola, to Mega Evolve, Dexio gives you a Key Stone... that you simply add to your Z-Ring. It's not a Mega Ring, something the only use of which is to Mega Evolve. Instead, it's some sort of add-on to a device that explicitly harnesses energy from a different source (Necrozma v. Ultimate Weapon).
It's no wonder Pokémon gets injured while Mega Evolving in Gen VII!
That sort of doesn't explain how Hoenn gets by just fine though

 

[Pikachu315111]

Mega Evolution is a concept originally "discovered" in Kalos, then somehow traveled to Alola. However, Alola's "specialty" is Z-Moves. What do the two have in common? They're both power surges that allow the Pokémon to use a stronger form or move, respectively.
However, it seems logical to assume that a Pokémon would have an easier time channeling energy to launch a strong move than to assume a strong form.
What if Alolan scientists researched Mega Evolution the same way they used to research Z-Moves, thus leading to biased and imperfect results?
Alolan Pokémon use an imperfect Mega Evolution, leading to actual body damage, as opposed to Kalosian Mega Evolution, which is well-researched and more stable. It doesn't damage the Pokémon because the energy used to transform is correctly harnassed.

Neat theory but, though they don't have Dex descriptions in Gen VI, on the main site for XY they do mention the drawbacks for certain Mega Evolutions.

The issue with Mega Evolution "hurting" the Pokemon I think is only for Pokemon who do it without a trainer they don't have a bond with. I think there should be a separate description somewhere explaining different things happen to a Mega Pokemon when they Mega Evolve with and without a trainer they trust. Plenty of dex descriptions of the latter, but with the former they can explain things like Glalie doesn't break its jaw but is able to dislodge it thanks to its trainers helping it control its rush of power or how the mother Kangaskhan may be worried about its child new form however fully trusts its trainer to guide it.

 

[Worldie]

This would feel more at home in the Mysteries and Conspiracies thread, but what if it was intentional?

Mega Evolution is a concept originally "discovered" in Kalos, then somehow traveled to Alola. However, Alola's "specialty" is Z-Moves. What do the two have in common? They're both power surges that allow the Pokémon to use a stronger form or move, respectively.
However, it seems logical to assume that a Pokémon would have an easier time channeling energy to launch a strong move than to assume a strong form.
What if Alolan scientists researched Mega Evolution the same way they used to research Z-Moves, thus leading to biased and imperfect results?
Alolan Pokémon use an imperfect Mega Evolution, leading to actual body damage, as opposed to Kalosian Mega Evolution, which is well-researched and more stable. It doesn't damage the Pokémon because the energy used to transform is correctly harnassed.
Keep in mind that, in Alola, to Mega Evolve, Dexio gives you a Key Stone... that you simply add to your Z-Ring. It's not a Mega Ring, something the only use of which is to Mega Evolve. Instead, it's some sort of add-on to a device that explicitly harnesses energy from a different source (Necrozma v. Ultimate Weapon).
It's no wonder Pokémon gets injured while Mega Evolving in Gen VII!
That sort of doesn't explain how Hoenn gets by just fine though

Z-moves aren't "as" different if you think of it, but instead of harnessing the power from the Pokemon, they take it from the trainer.
The lore reasoninig for you to be able to only use one per battle is the fact that it consumes a lot of energy and you'd not be able to perform two.
And I'm specifically thinking of Necrozma's signature Z, which is so powerful that almost faints the trainer (you can clearly see it in the animation of the move itself).

 

[TMan87]

Z-moves aren't "as" different if you think of it, but instead of harnessing the power from the Pokemon, they take it from the trainer.
The lore reasoninig for you to be able to only use one per battle is the fact that it consumes a lot of energy and you'd not be able to perform two.
And I'm specifically thinking of Necrozma's signature Z, which is so powerful that almost faints the trainer (you can clearly see it in the animation of the move itself).

Well, Necrozma's Z-move looks incredibly powerful, compared to, say, Let's Snuggle Forever or something, plus it's the only Z-move that leaves the Trainer visibly exhausted. Other Z-moves don't looks as draining.
I also think it's harder for a Pokémon to launch a big attack once than to stay in a given form throughout a battle.

But enough derailing the thread, here's one of my unpopular(?) opinions:
We do not need a villainous team in a Pokémon game to make it enjoyable.

If Sword and Shield showed me anything, it's that you only need a good incentive to get all badges for a region. The plot with Rose was more distracting than anything, and Team Yell wasn't really a villainous team as you encounter them like twice and they only cause minor annoyances.
Truth be told, the "there's a villain team that threatens to destroy the world!" has had its ups and downs, but I'm pretty sure you could write a solid plot for a game without involving one of them.
A natural cataclysm or two, sure, but they wouldn't be caused by anyone, just a Pokémon going rampant for whatever reason.

 

[adman2]

The Macro Cosmos elevator and the Rose battle feel more like an unofficial Steel type Gym than a villain team. Of course, Rose's plot felt tacked on since the Macro Cosmos story came so late.


As far as my unpopular opinion, I don't mind that some Pokemon are weak. Subpar Pokemon make for fun challenges for the single player mode, so long as they're found before the 1st or maybe 2nd Gym.

 

[Sonikku A]

and we don't necessarily need the Shadow Pokémon system (though it was really, really cool and I'd love to see them come up with something as good)

Heavy disagree, Shadow mechanics were terrible. Being unable to level up while you're restricted in a moveset for a long time and then suddenly not attacking randomly, while being forced to do a low power move with recoil isn't fun
I agree with Doubles requiring more strategy, and them being more common would help liven up things

 

[Kurona]

Heavy disagree, Shadow mechanics were terrible. Being unable to level up while you're restricted in a moveset for a long time and then suddenly not attacking randomly, while being forced to do a low power move with recoil isn't fun
I agree with Doubles requiring more strategy, and them being more common would help liven up things

I thought that was one of the interesting things about it. They came at a much higher level than the other Pokémon your opponents had, but in exchange they had no growth until you reached a certain point in the game. That's both an interesting tradeoff mechanically and of course the metaphor works pretty well too. The other drawbacks meant putting a higher investment into your Pokémon and made it more of a challenge which in its own right was very interesting and the 5-level progression really helped make it feel like what you were doing was working; just overall it was this one-off (two-off?) thing that worked very nicely.

 

[Sonikku A]

I thought that was one of the interesting things about it. They came at a much higher level than the other Pokémon your opponents had, but in exchange they had no growth until you reached a certain point in the game.

>Much higher
They were mostly only 2-3 levels higher. And the move restriction makes no sense when the opponent had access to all 4

 

[Kurona]

>Much higher
They were mostly only 2-3 levels higher. And the move restriction makes no sense when the opponent had access to all 4

It does make sense; it's unequal ground. It's a challenge.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Heavy disagree, Shadow mechanics were terrible. Being unable to level up while you're restricted in a moveset for a long time and then suddenly not attacking randomly, while being forced to do a low power move with recoil isn't fun

In a way, that's kind of what they wanted you to feel. Sure, the Shadow Pokemon are slightly higher level when you get them and their Shadow Move always does Super Effective damage... but the Pokemon can't get any stronger and becomes unruly. While okay when you get them, you want to Purify them asap so they can become better. And for doing so you're rewarded with getting all the experience they would have gotten had they not been Shadow Pokemon (likely leading to some level-ups and learning new Moves) and learning a move that Pokemon wouldn't normally learn (flip of the coin whether it was useful in-game, but it's still a nice reward nonetheless).

If a Shadow Pokemon leveled up and didn't become unruly there would be no reason to purify it if you weren't planning on transferring them over. They effectively made a mechanic that made it seem like the Pokemon was suffering and gave plenty of incentive to purify them.

And as always you do have your Starter to back you up until you can get a good handle on purifying a majority of Shadow Pokemon you'll want to use.

 

[DreamPrince]

After some thinking, I've discovered the true purpose of the Dreepy line. If you pay attention to its Shield Pokedex entry: "If this weak Pokémon is by itself, a mere child could defeat it. But if Dreepy has friends to help it train, it can evolve and become much stronger. "

Its true. Dreepy has horrible stats, and learns no moves through level up other than the ones previously mentioned. Its TMs and TRs, only consist of status moves and Round and Swift. The ideas of this family is that you have a very weak Pokemon and then it evolves into something amazing as a reward for your patience.- I mean Dragapault, is one of the fastest attackers in the game.

However, there are two problems with this:

#1: Dreepy evolves at Level 50. In Sword and Shield, that's the past 8th gym's highest level Pokemon. You really expect someone to use this Pokemon with these atrocious limitations until that point, where there are better, more reliable Ghost and Dragon types out there, such as Ghastly and Axew; who evolve much easier and sooner?

#2: The only place to find wild Dreepy is in the Lake of Outrage, which despite getting access after the 7th gym, you can't catch anything. So you can only catch it after the 8th gym, just when its about to evolve. Not to mention that you have to wait for it to be a Thunderstorm to have a chance to capture it, where its a 2% encounter. And the worse part of this is that its evolve form can be found in the overworld during said weather. I managed to catch Drakolak long before I found Dreepy.

What was the whole point of this line? Its found so late in-game to the point that I say, "spare me the trouble and give me a Dragapault. " And even if it was available early, its stats and movepool are so bad and it evolves so late that its not worth the trouble over using Axew or Ghastly over it. I guess if you want to be technically fair, Den 64, which can be found in Rolling hills can potentially spawn Dreepy if you are lucky. But keep in mind that's a purple beam, so chances are if you are completely going this game blind you won't know to look there unless the purple beam spawns. This is why I dislike the Dreepy Line. Not because I think its bad, but because someone came up with a concept of "high patience, high reward", only to be dashed by someone else's poor design choices of SwSh.

 

[Yung Dramps]

The outrage over Charizard getting special attention is a hypocritical farce and I guarantee that if it wasn't given the status of Starter Pokemon nobody would care.

Like yeah: A lot of major trainers use this Pokemon across the generations, including guys like Leon. You know who else has gotten just as, no, MORE usage by important trainers? Gyarados, Weezing, Weavile, Gengar, Arcanine, Magnezone, Bronzong and Bisharp. But when was the last time you heard anyone bitch about those guys being overused? Even the bloody Crobat line, the mon spammed by every evil team on the face of the god damn planet has gotten little more than some light-hearted memery about its usage.

And what about those juicy 3 alternate forms? That's more than most Pokemon for sure. Certainly not more than copious amount of costumes Pikachu's been stuck in, though, and not more than the amount of Eeveelutions either (which by the way, many people are STILL asking for more of). Hell if you want to get really granular you can bring up stuff like the various non-main-game Mewtwo forms like Armored and Shadow Mewtwo, and don't forget all the other special goodies given to Pokemon that didn't really need a buff for fanservice purposes like Mega Scizor and Gyarados, Gengar's forms and Snorlax's exclusive Z-Move and Gigantamax. But I guess when the one Pokemon that is arguably as popular as Pikachu and Eevee gets a 3rd form, that's where we gotta draw the line apparently.

And don't even give me of any of this crap about this being a recent phenomenon that's a sign of GF's decadence or whatever: Charizard's always gotten special attention. Remember that one time they had a big shiny Charizard event in HGSS complete with fancy promo art the likes of which very few other events at the time got? How about when he was the only Kanto starter in Pokemon Conquest or when the Driftveil Bridge was nicknamed the Charizard Bridge despite the whole gimmick of BW1 being its use of solely original Pokemon for its regional Pokedex? This fanbase is only noticing now because it's in a more visible form via transformations designed to have a high degree of spectacle: Forget my left nut, I'd bet my entire genital organ system that if a similar transformation mechanic to Mega Evolutions or Gigantamax existed prior to Gen 6, Charizard would've been drowning in that stuff.

As I stated earlier, I am convinced the only reason anyone gives a shit about le big bad Charizard in particular is because he's a Starter Pokemon, and when people see him being given preferential treatment over the various other Pokemon in this explicitly categorized section of the Pokedex that sets off the discrimination identifier in people's brains more than Pikachu, Eevee, Gengar, Lucario, so on and so forth's share of the fanservice and special attention or something like that.

EDIT: There was actually never a Shiny Charizard event in HGSS, I misremembered that. Every other point still applies.

 

[Merritt]

Remember that one time they had a big shiny Charizard event in HGSS complete with fancy promo art the likes of which very few other events at the time got?

Citation needed. I'm all but certain there were no Charizard events in the DS era, let alone one with promo art like this. You may be confusing this with the Shiny Legendary Beast distribution, which did have special promo art.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Citation needed. I'm all but certain there were no Charizard events in the DS era, let alone one with promo art like this. You may be confusing this with the Shiny Legendary Beast distribution, which did have special promo art.

Ok, I swear there was some kind of Shiny Charizard thing back in the day. Where does that art come from then? Is it just extremely high quality fanart??

 

[Merritt]

Ok, I swear there was some kind of Shiny Charizard thing back in the day. Where does that art come from then? Is it just extremely high quality fanart??

I did a little checking for you. It's by Sugimori, so calling it fanart wouldn't really be accurate.

It's been used on various kinds of merchandise, here's an example of it being used as a cover for a notebook. I believe it was also used for the TCG, maybe as art for some kind of promo deck? Piece is titled "A Chance Encounter with a Shiny Pokemon." Some examples of other pieces he's done that are currently for sale can be found here.

Note that this is definitely Gold, not Ethan, in the artwork.

 

[Ironmage]

I think its the opposite. Being a starter is a pretty darn big role on its own (being the assumed aces of the most powerful and important Trainer in the game and all). No starter ever really needs a popularity boost, but the inability to use all of Zard's extra froms at once means that any combat increases beyond the first have diminishing returns. I don't have any reason to complain that Zard has gotten bigger things than e.g. Serperior, because it's not like Serperior is going to be unkown in its current state. I can however say that Zard Y is enough, and that the effort that went into X and Giga could have been used on other mons that actually need power or recognition boosts.

As I stated earlier, I am convinced the only reason anyone gives a shit about le big bad Charizard in particular is because he's a Starter Pokemon, and when people see him being given preferential treatment over the various other Pokemon in this explicitly categorized section of the Pokedex that sets off the discrimination identifier in people's brains more than Pikachu, Eevee, Gengar, Lucario, so on and so forth's share of the fanservice and special attention or something like that.

Interestingly, I have poor opinions of Pikachu and Lucario for the reasons you suggest people dislike Charizard but are fine with them: hogging the spotlight from the rest of their group. In this case, the group being electric-types and steel-types respectively. I think they've done a lot better elsewhere with those types (even when sticking to animal-based designs, e.g. joltik and skarmory), and would take just about anything else in the top spot for those types (yes, even the other rodents). I 100% consider Pikachu to be the most dev effort put in for the least reward, and if I was in charge of deciding which mons to cut, it would be first on my list.

 

[Pikachu315111]

After some thinking, I've discovered the true purpose of the Dreepy line. If you pay attention to its Shield Pokedex entry: "If this weak Pokémon is by itself, a mere child could defeat it. But if Dreepy has friends to help it train, it can evolve and become much stronger. "

Its true. Dreepy has horrible stats, and learns no moves through level up other than the ones previously mentioned. Its TMs and TRs, only consist of status moves and Round and Swift. The ideas of this family is that you have a very weak Pokemon and then it evolves into something amazing as a reward for your patience.- I mean Dragapault, is one of the fastest attackers in the game.

And comparing it to the other Pseudo-Legendaries it is weaker in both BST and has the lowest defenses (plus significant or at least easily encountered weaknesses).

However, there are two problems with this:

#1: Dreepy evolves at Level 50. In Sword and Shield, that's the past 8th gym's highest level Pokemon. You really expect someone to use this Pokemon with these atrocious limitations until that point, where there are better, more reliable Ghost and Dragon types out there, such as Ghastly and Axew; who evolve much easier and sooner?

#2: The only place to find wild Dreepy is in the Lake of Outrage, which despite getting access after the 7th gym, you can't catch anything. So you can only catch it after the 8th gym, just when its about to evolve. Not to mention that you have to wait for it to be a Thunderstorm to have a chance to capture it, where its a 2% encounter. And the worse part of this is that its evolve form can be found in the overworld during said weather. I managed to catch Drakolak long before I found Dreepy.

What was the whole point of this line? Its found so late in-game to the point that I say, "spare me the trouble and give me a Dragapault. " And even if it was available early, its stats and movepool are so bad and it evolves so late that its not worth the trouble over using Axew or Ghastly over it. I guess if you want to be technically fair, Den 64, which can be found in Rolling hills can potentially spawn Dreepy if you are lucky. But keep in mind that's a purple beam, so chances are if you are completely going this game blind you won't know to look there unless the purple beam spawns. This is why I dislike the Dreepy Line. Not because I think its bad, but because someone came up with a concept of "high patience, high reward", only to be dashed by someone else's poor design choices of SwSh.

1. Late Evolver: The high evo level thing is a problem for pretty much all the pseudo Legendaries. But I think that's the point if you look at it from a story perspective. Because for the most part, who's using the pseudo Legendaries? Mostly Champions or other end game bosses:

• Lance, last member of the Gen I Elite Four, uses Dragonite.
• (Oddly I can't think of anyone who uses Tyranitar)
• Drake, last member of the Gen III Elire Four, uses a Salamence.
• Steven, RS Champion & Emerald Secret Boss, uses a Metagross.
• Cynthia, Gen IV Champion, uses Garchomp.
• Ghetsis, main villain and last boss of BW & B2W2, uses Hydreigon.
• Diantha, Gen VI Champion, uses a Goodra.
• Kommo-o is the last (SM)/second to last (USUM) Totem Pokemon which gets a +1 to each non-HP stat.
• Leon, Gen VIII's Champion, uses Dragapult.

While there are some games where you can catch and possibly get them to their final stage before facing the boss that uses them, that's just a bonus. Their main purpose is to be a strong Pokemon that one of the end game bosses use to show that things have ramped up. And since many you catch late game and their first form isn't all that strong and won't evolve for a while many first time players may want to use a Pokemon that becomes better earlier and can get them through the main game. That all said, for my Ultra Moon playthrough I decided to train up both a Beldum and a Bagon, and while they pretty much stunk early on, when they evolved to their mid-stage they became decent and when they evolved again they became GODS (Metagross was the one I used to defeat Ultra Necrozma as it's crazy high defenses let it take 2 or 3 hits (after a Roto Boost) before I needed to heal it).

2. Pain Getting It: That all said, getting a Dreepy is a MAJOR pain due to having to wait for a thunderstorm (and having a low encounter rate). Seriously, who thought that was a good idea for it or similar Pokemon? Like, I get the idea of wanting to make the certain weather conditions in the Wild Area feel special, but I don't think this was the way. Like maybe instead making Dreepy a 2% encounter rate at Lake of Outrage during a Thunderstorm, it can be a 5% someplace else (like in the Slumbering Weald) BUT during a Thunderstorm is like a 20% at the Lake of Outrage.

The outrage over Charizard getting special attention is a hypocritical farce and I guarantee that if it wasn't given the status of Starter Pokemon nobody would care.

Eh, the outrage over Charizard getting a Gigantamax is more due to factors outside of it and it's just been made the poster 'mon for it due to getting a major Gigantamax form.

Let's bring this all the way back to XY as I feel this is where this started. XY was when they introduced Mega Evolutions, neat! And while Mewtwo was technically the first Mega we saw, when they fully introduced the concept they showed many other Megas which weren't Gen I like Blaziken and Lucario. Everything alright. But then they revealed the Kanto Starters were getting Megas plus you can get a Kanto Starter as a "second starter" in XY. Cool! But wait, they then revealed Charizard was getting TWO Mega Evos. AWESOME! In XY there was no major problem as the Mega Evo concept was being spread to a lot of past Gen Pokemon with the Kanto Starters getting them being looked as just a bonus (Mewtwo getting a second Mega Evo also made Charizard having a second not seem to strange, rather just a marketing stunt but hey at least we get a Dragon-type Charizard so all's good).

Then came SM and it did two fumbles. First, no new Mega Evos, infact GF looked to have no more interest in Mega Evos though they're at least in the game. Sad, with Z-Moves feeling like a downgrade though can at least be used by all Pokemon. But the big problem came with Alolan Forms being restricted to Gen I Pokemon. What! Why? Johto was just as much present in Alola's culture as Kanto. Actually, there's a notable amount of Gen I references in Gen VII due to it being Pokemon's 20th anniversary, but it's kind of to an annoying degree as it almost ignores all other regions seemingly and it's doubtful GF it gonna celebrate their gen's anniversary with the same fanfare.

Then we had a batch of side games which was either released with Gen I first or Gen I only: GO, Pokemon Quest, and Let's Go. ALRIGHT! What the hey GF? What's with the Gen I deluge? Can you cool it?

So, here's Sword & Shield. And they just revealed Dynamax and Gigantamax Pokemon. Very cool, but how will this mix with Mega Pokemon... what do you mean GF just announced they removed Mega & Z-Moves? Well that stinks, but I guess it'll give the new Gigantamax Pokemon a chance to shine which will no doubt go to Pokemon who don't have a super form... WHY DOES CHARIZARD HAVE A GIGANTAMAX?! YOU GOT RID OF ITS TWO SUPER FORMS JUST TO GIVE US ANOTHER LESS IMPRESSIVE SUPER FORM?! And, actually, a notable number of Gen I Pokemon got Gmaxs including three not fully evolved Pokemon! And a lot of the Galarian Pokemon are also Gen I! Now, yes, they do have Gigantamax and Galarian Pokemon from other regions... but Gen I does still take a more notable chunk even though it oddly doesn't do so for the Regional Dex.

But, yeah, it's not Charizard itself the issue but all the Gen I spinning and getting rid of Mega Evos which Charizard got two of which made people feel sour it got a Gigantamax. And GF double-down on this by making it the ace of the Champion so it was front and center a whole lot. I would also say Gengar is on the same boat as it also had a Mega Evo previously (though not two like Charizard) but slips under the radar being the ace of a version exclusive Gym Leader.

 

[Merritt]

• (Oddly I can't think of anyone who uses Tyranitar)

Rematch Blue in FRLG, making it so that Kanto has a champion with a pseudo legendary too.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Rematch Blue in FRLG, making it so that Kanto has a champion with a pseudo legendary too.

Sorry, should have specified I meant for Gen II specifically.

 

[DreamPrince]

While Mega Evolutions do get criticism for being good in practice, but poor in execution, I do enjoy how they were given to Pokemon of all generations, rather than just Gen 1 and the current generation. We had a fair amount of variety, which Pokemon like Lopunny and Mawile, forgotten obsolete, were finally given new life, even if some Pokemon like Salamence and Metagross were given them despite not needing them. I understand that some people get upset than Gen 5 and 6 were shafted heavily, it makes sense since these were the most recent generations when Megas were added. I still believe that Megas like Houndoom, Manectric, and Altaria should have been regular evolutions though.

And that's the problem I have with Z-moves and Gigantamax. They are only Gen 1 and current generations. I don't find the 20th Anniversary an excuse for having Z-moves be limited to those groups of Pokemon, since that was supposed to be a celebration of all things Pokemon, not just Generation 1. And what's worse is that Gigantamaxing is a repeat, with the some Pokemon like the Kanto starters and Gengar getting Gmaxes despite alreay having Megas. I find really weird and odd design choice that Garbodor was one of two non Gen 1/8 Pokemon to receive a Gmax, considering its one of the most forgettable Pokemon of Gen 5; Melmetal makes more sense since has recent game bias.

Speaking of which, I've been looking at recent tread of abilities and moves, and introduced in Gen 7 and 8, and I've noticed something I dislike: All of them were limited to the new Pokemon primarily. In Sun and Moon for example, Slush Rush was the only ability introduced in Gen 7 that was not a signature ability. In Gen 8, all the new abilities are signature abilities solely. Its frustrating because abilities like Corrosion are supposed to add new layer, like poisoning steel types, but as of this day, the only Pokemon to have that trait are fast frail special Attackers with a Fire STAB to singe steel types that aren't Heatran. Previous generations gave abilities to whole bunch of Pokemon, look at how Sheer Force and Dry Skin gave life to Nidoking and Jynx. Recently, all these new abilities are limited to one Pokemon line, which sucks, because some of these abilities are really good. In Gen 8, despite Follow Me being prevalent in Doubles for so long since Gen 4, we now get abilities and moves that finally ignore it. Yet its exclusive Pokemon are: Duraludon, Barraskewda, and Intelleon. Only one of which has consistent usage in VGC currently. Redirection is still as strong as ever.

 

[Yung Dramps]

We had a fair amount of variety, which Pokemon like Lopunny and Mawile, forgotten obsolete, were finally given new life

I find really weird and odd design choice that Garbodor was one of two non Gen 1/8 Pokemon to receive a Gmax, considering its one of the most forgettable Pokemon of Gen 5

These two statements seem blatantly contradictory but ok

Now here's my hot take that is tangentially related to what you said: I actually think the worst instance of """kanto pandering""" (just saying that makes me hurt inside) was in Diamond and Pearl. Everybody knows about their infamously terrible Pokedex with such wonders as only 1 other Fire type being available aside from Chimchar and a ton of the new evolutions for old Pokemon with the remainder of their families by extension being bizarrely excluded, but have you ever wondered why this was done? Look at the number of Pokemon in the DP regional dex + Manaphy: 151. Yup, that's right, they intentionally gimped the Sinnoh pokedex for the sake of a semi-obscure Gen 1 homage. And this is why I consider it worse than anything the 3D games have done in terms of Kanto fanservice: Even the super blatant stuff like Gigantamax Charizard is, at the very worst, kind of annoying. Meanwhile, OG DP referencing Kanto via its limited Pokedex tangibly made the games worse.

 

[BP]

I've probably already said this in this thread but Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green include some of the best pixel sprites in all of Pokemons history.

The sapphire and Ruby ones are nothing to the FR LG ones.

 

[DreamPrince]

I've probably already said this in this thread but Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green include some of the best pixel sprites in all of Pokemons history.

The sapphire and Ruby ones are nothing to the FR LG ones.

Weren’t they the same as RSE except for the Kanto ones?