Little things you like about Pokémon

[Ema Skye]

I prepared this post for unpopular opinions, because I feel like Pokemon reuses the same Pokemon families for every regional dex.

As I went through the data, I was surprised to learn that only a handful of Pokemon have only been in one dex, and many Pokemon have been featured in multiple regional dexes. For a cast as big as we have, I thought this was pretty cool. I'm not factoring in starters or legends into this list as they're special and intentionally linked to specific regions (unless you're Kanto!).

Single Dex mons, grouped by starter gen

Stantler

Shroomish, Breloom
Cacnea, Cacturne

Kricketot, Kricketune
Shinx, Luxio, Luxray
Glameow, Purugly [might be the least available Pokemon ever when taking age of origin into play - only in Pearl and ORAS]
Spiritomb

Blitzle, Zebstrika
Sewaddle, Swadloon, Leavanny
Deerling, Sawsbuck
Tynamo, Eelektrik, Eelektross
Bouffalant

Scatterbug, Spewpa, Vivillon
Skiddo, Gogoat

Gen 7 is kinda long because it's so new and every Alolamon not in Galar

Pikipek, Trumbeak, Toucannon
Yungoos, Gumshoos
Crabrawler, Crabominable
Oricorio
Rockruff, Lycanroc
Fomantis, Lurantis
Comfey
Sandygast, Pallossand
Minior
Komala
Bruxish

Poor one out for poor Stantler, but I'm pretty surprised the list from the older games is only that short. Even the ones here tend to be available in other methods (swarms, PokeRadar, Friend Safari) so it's not like anyone really gets forgotten.

...unless you're Glameow or Purugly

 

[Kurona]

This list'll be narrowed down even more by DLC too depending on if you count the dexes there. Already we know about Shinx, Bouffalant, Rockruff and Fomantis!

 

[Chaos11011]

I feel like Venonat deserves a mention. If I recall correctly, it's the only Kantonian Pokemon line that hasn't made an appearance in the regional dex since Johto.

 

[R_N]

I feel like Venonat deserves a mention. If I recall correctly, it's the only Kantonian Pokemon line that hasn't made an appearance in the regional dex since Johto.

I believe you are correct (though I wouldn't be shocked if there were other kanto pokemon) but the kanto pokemon don't register as much mostly because Kanto's been remade twice and Johto also got remade.

e: I spent entirely too long double checking this but, yes. Even counting starters & legends, Venonat is the only line that has not been in a regional dex discounting the 2 Johto games .
Fun fact though: some other pokemon barely got in under the wire. The Tyrogue, Kingler line had not been in a regional dex until SWSH!

e2: Strictly speaking there is one other Pokemon and that's Mew. But excluding the Johto dex mythics never show up in other region's dexes. Though interestinyl, Mew does have dex data (alongside the other 34 "other" pokemon) despite not showing up in the dex. Perhaps it will show up in one of the AArmor or Tundra dexes?

 

[Antihaxxer]

I'm sorry if it's stupid but didn't all the Pokemon were available in Gen VI, using XY & and ORAS ?

 

[Millky95]

I'm sorry if it's stupid but didn't all the Pokemon were available in Gen VI, using XY & and ORAS ?

Yeah that is true. They even had every event so you could get a complete national dex in Gen 6. Completely removed the need for any previous hardware other than the 3DS.

Would need someone else to check but I think even the Gen 1 and 2 re-releases could be transfered to them. Or maybe that was just Gen 7

 

[Zowayix]

They even had every event so you could get a complete national dex in Gen 6. Completely removed the need for any previous hardware other than the 3DS.

Unfortunately this was not true in Japan and Korea, who never got any of the 20th anniversary events. Only the EFIGS language regions did.

 

[Kurona]

I'm sorry if it's stupid but didn't all the Pokemon were available in Gen VI, using XY & and ORAS ?

Yes, but this is talking about which Pokémon are obtainable during the main story. So like how in BW, you can get Butterfree and Tyranitar in the aftergame; but that's not part of the main game and pokedex.

 

[NaturalTropius]

There's some more interesting facts when you look closer.

Pokemon in six out of seven Pokedexes: (counting Kanto/Johto as one)

Pichu (no Unova)
Zubat (no Galar)
Psyduck (no Galar)
Machop (no Unova)
Magnemite (no Galar)
Goldeen (no Unova)
Magikarp (no Unova)
Eevee (no Hoenn)
Heracross (no Galar)
Sneasel (no Hoenn)
Remoraid (no Hoenn)
Mantine (no Hoenn)

Pokemon that are MIA (in multiple, but haven't been in a dex since Unova)

Tangela (Kanto/Johto, Sinnoh, Unova)
Sunkern (Johto, Unova)
Unown (Johto, Sinnoh)
Phanpy (Johto, Hoenn)
Slakoth (Hoenn, Unova-but-postgame)
Numel (Hoenn, Unova)
Spheal (Hoenn, Unova)

 

[Imperial Magala]

So who's your favorite Pokemon World Tournament participant? I'm partial to N's long-lost brother

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro is my personal favorite. (His JP is Castro)

 

[Ironmage]

Kinda disappointed that Fidel doesn't get a miltank or vanillite to go with the real Castro's thing for dairy products (he had some pretty ridiculous ideas). Would have been an easy swap for his second cubchoo as well. Oh well, you can't expect your minor NPCs in unrelated video games to focus on the most memeworthy aspects of political figures.

 

[Yung Dramps]

IoA Spoilers I guess

Mustard is probably my new favorite character in Gen 8. I'm a sucker for wise old masters and he fits it to a tee, starting out in a spiffing jacket and hat and then ripping it off to reveal a ridiculously athletic martial arts master (seriously the animation for this is incredibly sick). He's got quite a bit of wit too: There's apparently a really funny dialogue where he makes a jab at Leon by explaining how he tried to do the trials but failed because he got lost and couldn't find the towers.

His team is also insanely cool: Mienshao or Cincinno depending on version with other cool picks like Luxray, Kommo-o and Lycanroc, as well as Urshifu ofc. A really nice mix of old and new, underused and more common (the last time we had a major trainer use Luxray outside of the PWT was Volkner all the way back in DPP!).

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Whoms't the frick said the art in Pokemon Smile was bad? It's absolutely adorable and I love it.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Whoms't the frick said the art in Pokemon Smile was bad? It's absolutely adorable and I love it.

Adults who don't understand this app is for little kids (and their parents who want their kids to brush their teeth).

 

[R_N]

I like how SWSH will entertain different outfits or other tweaks for its Rare League Cards

Just a thought that came as I was looking at Klara & Mustard's rare cards today. Klara is shown in a casual workout outfit with a face mask on (as her slowbro lounges in her bed, which is real cute) and Mustard is shown as a younger (shirtless!) guy. But there's a bunch like this:
-Nessa is shown in her model outfit. You can see part of it on the Wyndon ads iirc
-Kabu is shown in the same pose (part of the joke) but younger. Not as many lines, black hair.
-Alister without his mask on (this is actually innately part of his model but only seen on the card)
-Gordie without his glasses on (not too big a change) but also new hair style
-younger Piers! His hair is smaller, no real make up and less bags under his eyes

And of course Marnie & Bede have their leader outfits, Leon has his battle tower outfit and Rose has his "disguise".

There's a couple other ones that are harder to spot: Younger Opal & Younger Rose are shown on background images of the fairy gym and Spikemuth, but they're hard to make out fully and are just artwork I believe. I wouldn't be surprised if we might see those designs used in other works at some point, though.


While on the topic of SWSH's leaders, it's nice how Gordie & Melony are larger/fatter people but so beloved in-universe. Fatter folks in Pokemon are fairly rare (larger women in particular), so it was just pleasant to see especially Gordie be such a super star. Sophoclese is just a kid, Wattson's the usual jolly archetype and both he & Wulfric are definitely respected, but Gordie's kind of shown on the same level of in-universe popularity as the more conventional Raihan. It's nice!

 

[Pikachu315111]

There's a couple other ones that are harder to spot: Younger Opal & Younger Rose are shown on background images of the fairy gym and Spikemuth, but they're hard to make out fully and are just artwork I believe.

Younger Opal's artwork is better seen on her concept artwork.

Adding onto your comment, the concept artwork for many characters show different outfit and ages for characters:

Bea's has her in a school uniform and just in the black leotard she wears under her uniform.
Kabu's has him wearing a giant sports overcoat.
Magnolia's shows a younger Sonia.

 

[Kanburi]

Okay this is going to be a stretch of a post but I felt I had to share this and wasn't sure where else to do it.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1273497798961332225

Yeah, this student wrote an essay on covid-19 in Pokemon script. It took the teacher 3.5 hours just to decipher it. Apparently the essay was well-written, but the teacher was undoubtedly annoyed at him for it.

Perhaps you think the student was a bit of an ass, but it was in the instructions that languages other than Japanese were acceptable, so...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1273530107122954240

 

[Kurona]

Super big fan of how during your climb of the tower; the Macro Cosmos theme doesn't stop playing between battles or even on the victory screen. I wish Pokémon would do this more, it's always a great rush of momentum!

They done this for Kubfu's towers! Awesome!

 

[R_N]

This reminds me of a really petty annoyance I have. As of SWSH, every ball type (including the surprise return of the Dream Ball) is available except the following:
-Cherish Ball
-Park Ball
-Sport Ball
-Safari Ball

now Cherish Ball & Park Ball I get. The former is their special event-only pokeball they use to help make give aways more distinctive. And Park Balls weren't "really" a ball to begin with, it didn't overwrite your ball it was just a conceit to get them back.
And SPort Ball, well, I don't think anyone cares about that one. It was used for the Bug Catching Contest only and is just a pokeball with a pokeball symbol on it.

Safari Ball though, I feel should have come back. It is a very distinctive design

It was a mainstay of 3 of the first four generations (& probably would've been in the 2nd gen had the safari zone been finished).
& I think would have fit with the Wild Area a bit, dont you think? Could have given it increased catch rate while in the area.

I dunno just seems like if you have to keep supporting this ball (& sports ball, I guess) for compatability reasons you may as well repurpose it and let us just have it even though safari zones are long since dead (WHICH IS A GOOD THING)

So last month I complained about this in the other thread and as of Island of Armor...

Both Safari and much more surprisingly Sport balls are back! You can get them out of the Cramomatic and it sounds like they're the rarest balls in the batch. While I think its dumb to keep the apricorn balls rare, I think this at least makes sense. They're just reskinned great balls, so its more like a legacy cameo. A for fun surprise.

 

[UninspiredLunch]

I have yet to get the machine to spit one out, but I am looking forward to being able to get a safari ball Venusaur soon Sadly Porygon was a gift 'mon yet again in this one, so my dream beast ball shiny P-Z will have to wait... I'll get you next time, gamefreak!

 

[R_N]

I have yet to get the machine to spit one out, but I am looking forward to being able to get a safari ball Venusaur soon Sadly Porygon was a gift 'mon yet again in this one, so my dream beast ball shiny P-Z will have to wait... I'll get you next time, gamefreak!

I don't think you can get the bulbasaur or squirtle lines in a safari ball

currently, I mean. I don't think either show up in Armor's dens and they were only run for raid captures back in February.

 

[RocketSurgery]

I don't think you can get the bulbasaur or squirtle lines in a safari ball

currently, I mean. I don't think either show up in Armor's dens and they were only run for raid captures back in February.

Both Venusaur & Blastoise are in dens on IoA now, along with their g-maxes at the usual abysmal catch rates. Apparently no bulbasaur, etc, raids though. So, seems like safari ball venu is possible, if you can get it to stay in the ball at least...

 

[R_N]

Both Venusaur & Blastoise are in dens on IoA now, along with their g-maxes at the usual abysmal catch rates. Apparently no bulbasaur, etc, raids though. So, seems like safari ball venu is possible, if you can get it to stay in the ball at least...

Ahhh, didn't think to check the evolved forms for dens. That's nice to know.

The catch rates for standard dens should be fine, though....for Host play, I mean. It's a 100% catch rate. You "just" have to be patient enough to get one, then win.

 

[Worldie]

The catch rates for standard dens should be fine, though....for Host play, I mean. It's a 100% catch rate. You "just" have to be patient enough to get one, then win.

With which you mean, you just have to play with the timetravel enough to get a den with it

 

[Codraroll]

I think I realized now why I like three-stage evolution lines so much. Aside from that bit about progress in gameplay and all that stuff.

The key, I think, is in the middle evolution.

I've heard many people say they don't see the point of mid-evolutions. They are usually nothing great to look at, they're only with you for a somewhat short leg of your journey, they are competitively overshadowed by the third evolutions (and if they aren't, they make the third evolutions pointless), etc.

However, I'd argue that the point of a middle evolution isn't to be a good and notable Pokémon in itself, but to be a good bridge between the base form and the fully evolved form of the Pokémon. It gives a transition between the first stage and the final stage, and so, those two can be designed further apart. That means a more basic first stage (which can be made available much earlier in the game, and cuter to sell more plushies) and a more extreme final stage (higher stats, a more badass design) than if they just evolved into one another.

The Pokédex is full of examples. You couldn't have Charmander evolve directly into Charizard, or Bellsprout into Victreebel, or Seedot into Shiftry, or Deino until Hydreigon. Their respective middle evolutions create good transitions between the base and final forms, allowing a more drastic transformation than is possible with two-stage evolution lines. Evolution lines like Cacnea - Cacturne or Ducklett - Swanna have to be more conservative since there is no transition between them, restraining the potential for the first or final evolution, if not both.

Another good example is that of the Shinx line vs. the Electrike line. Shinx has stats on par with Ledyba (BST of 263), while Electrike is on par with Shuppet or Blitzle (295). This made Shinx suitable to be placed at the very beginning of the game, on the second Route where every player has free team slots, while Electrike is found shortly before the third Gym and has to compete for the player's attention. Electrike's final evolution (and only evolution) is Manectric, with a base stat total of 475, on par with Dewgong or Cacturne. Luxray, meanwhile, has a BST of 523, putting it between Chandelure and Venusaur. Manectric is a little underwhelming as a final evolution, while Luxray is definitely a solid late-game Pokémon (movepool issues aside). Having Luxio in between as a stepping stone made the Shinx family better positioned to find its way onto every player's team, and to emerge stronger at the other end of the journey. The Shinx line starts with an early-game Pokémon and ends with an end-game Pokémon, while the Electrike line is relevant only from the early to late mid-game.

Tellingly, the addition of a Mega Evolution made Manectric competitively relevant, once again illustrating what can happen if a Pokémon is allowed to take two steps forward from its base stage, instead of one.

So yeah, feel free to forget the names of middle evolutions, or bash their designs, but don't dismiss them. They play a very vital role in their evolution family, by giving designers much more freedom to go wild with the first and final evolutions. I think that's the real tragedy of there being fewer three-stage families in recent generations, it holds back a lot of evolution families that could have been really memorable.