Codraroll regarding your thoughts on "token representations" I'm interested about your opinion on the representations in Alola. It feels as if some of the reps are actually alolan forms. (Ice, Steel, and Dark come to mind here) and a few ones that seem unclear. So I was curious about what you thought here.
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Yeah, I agree. While I think this whole discussion about "token Pokémon" is fairly interesting, I think it is too negative for this thread. It should be moved to the right thread.
To get back on track, I want to share a bunch of new things I have come up with that I like about Pokémon.
First, I want to talk a bit about levels. There was an old discussion in this thread that I thought about recently. It started with this post by Its_A_Random, then there were two replies from Random Passerby and myself further down on the same page. There, I said the following:
Why am I bringing this up now? Because Gen 8 & S/S does exactly what I suggested here! In Gen 8, if a Pokémon is about to grow multiple levels, it will gain all levels at once (and it is possible to skip directly to the last level by pressing A), then it will try to learn all the moves it were able to learn along the way. Plus, the entire party now gain Exp. and levels all at once, instead of it being done individually like in previous generations. It is almost as if Game Freak read previous my post and decided to do this in Gen 8 just because of that (that’s probably not how it is in reality though, it is more likely just a big coincidence).
One random other thing I thought about recently that I like which is also related to levels. I like how the level cap in Pokémon is at level 100 and not level 99 or something which I have seen in many other RPGs. This might just be because Pokémon was the first RPG series I played, but I prefer when the level cap is at level 100 and not 99, it just feels more complete to me that way.
I talked about art styles in a previous post. But I forgot some things I should have said there. First of all, the art styles for Pokémon mangas. I mentioned Pokémon Adventures, but there are many other Pokémon manga as well, they all have their own art style as well, and that’s great. For example, here’s an image of Keldeo from Pocket Monsters BW, drawn by Kosaku Anakubo:
It looks very weird and strange compared to most other official art or Pokémon Adventures but it is still Pokémon. I think it is awesome in a ridiculous way and I love it.
There’s another thing I want to mention regarding art and art styles. And that is this: fan art. There is so much Pokémon fan art and I think a lot of it is amazing. And many fan artists have their own art style as well. Now that we have a thread for favorite fan creations, I’m planning to make a post there about my favorite fan art (thanks Yung Dramps for making that thread, it was a fantastic idea) whenever I can find the time for it.
Something else I want to talk about. Music. I like how the OST for Gen 5 has a bonus track, which is a summer remix of Lacunosa Town. This is sadly not featured in the games as it only appears on the OST. Here’s a link if anyone wants to listen.
Don’t know if there are other bonus tracks like this for other games as well, but this is one I know about.
I like when things related to the Pokémon universe gets revealed through outside sources. Things that are still counted as canon for the Pokémon world, even if it is (at that time) never actually mentioned anywhere. For instance, N’s full name (Natural Harmonia Gropius) which was first revealed through a blog post from a developer at Game Freak rather and not in the games, anime, manga, TCG or anything else. I’d guess there are other examples of this but this is one I can remember very clearly because I was there when it happened, it was like a super big thing and it was so cool.
To get back on track, I want to share a bunch of new things I have come up with that I like about Pokémon.
First, I want to talk a bit about levels. There was an old discussion in this thread that I thought about recently. It started with this post by Its_A_Random, then there were two replies from Random Passerby and myself further down on the same page. There, I said the following:
Why am I bringing this up now? Because Gen 8 & S/S does exactly what I suggested here! In Gen 8, if a Pokémon is about to grow multiple levels, it will gain all levels at once (and it is possible to skip directly to the last level by pressing A), then it will try to learn all the moves it were able to learn along the way. Plus, the entire party now gain Exp. and levels all at once, instead of it being done individually like in previous generations. It is almost as if Game Freak read previous my post and decided to do this in Gen 8 just because of that (that’s probably not how it is in reality though, it is more likely just a big coincidence).
One random other thing I thought about recently that I like which is also related to levels. I like how the level cap in Pokémon is at level 100 and not level 99 or something which I have seen in many other RPGs. This might just be because Pokémon was the first RPG series I played, but I prefer when the level cap is at level 100 and not 99, it just feels more complete to me that way.
I talked about art styles in a previous post. But I forgot some things I should have said there. First of all, the art styles for Pokémon mangas. I mentioned Pokémon Adventures, but there are many other Pokémon manga as well, they all have their own art style as well, and that’s great. For example, here’s an image of Keldeo from Pocket Monsters BW, drawn by Kosaku Anakubo:
It looks very weird and strange compared to most other official art or Pokémon Adventures but it is still Pokémon. I think it is awesome in a ridiculous way and I love it.
There’s another thing I want to mention regarding art and art styles. And that is this: fan art. There is so much Pokémon fan art and I think a lot of it is amazing. And many fan artists have their own art style as well. Now that we have a thread for favorite fan creations, I’m planning to make a post there about my favorite fan art (thanks Yung Dramps for making that thread, it was a fantastic idea) whenever I can find the time for it.
Something else I want to talk about. Music. I like how the OST for Gen 5 has a bonus track, which is a summer remix of Lacunosa Town. This is sadly not featured in the games as it only appears on the OST. Here’s a link if anyone wants to listen.
Don’t know if there are other bonus tracks like this for other games as well, but this is one I know about.
I like when things related to the Pokémon universe gets revealed through outside sources. Things that are still counted as canon for the Pokémon world, even if it is (at that time) never actually mentioned anywhere. For instance, N’s full name (Natural Harmonia Gropius) which was first revealed through a blog post from a developer at Game Freak rather and not in the games, anime, manga, TCG or anything else. I’d guess there are other examples of this but this is one I can remember very clearly because I was there when it happened, it was like a super big thing and it was so cool.
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I like how the least popular starter final evolution usually ends up having the most popular first evolution, probably as a compensation for the family.
-Venusaur is not as popular as Charizard and Blastoise but Ivysaur is more well-known than Charmeleon and Wartortle, even being featured in Super Smash Bros.
-Feraligatr and Typhlosion are more popular than Meganium but I've seen more Bayleef supporters over Croconaw and Quilava fans.
-Delphox struggles to stand out in a generation dominated by Greninja but Braixen is more popular than Frogadier and Quilladin as a single Pokémon, appearing as a playable character in Pokkén Tournament.
-Venusaur is not as popular as Charizard and Blastoise but Ivysaur is more well-known than Charmeleon and Wartortle, even being featured in Super Smash Bros.
-Feraligatr and Typhlosion are more popular than Meganium but I've seen more Bayleef supporters over Croconaw and Quilava fans.
-Delphox struggles to stand out in a generation dominated by Greninja but Braixen is more popular than Frogadier and Quilladin as a single Pokémon, appearing as a playable character in Pokkén Tournament.
There's an incredibly minor thing I'm fond in Pokemon Emerald. As most people know, when you beat a Frontier Brain for the first time, they'll give you a symbol - silver first, then gold.
The text for the silver symbol is something along the lines of "[player] was given the silver [whatever] symbol!" But when it comes to the gold symbols, rather than being simply given it, the text in question is "the [whatever] symbol took on a golden shine!" It almost seems like the Frontier Brain in question has transformed it from silver to gold with a touch; it's a little hint of magic I really like, and makes the game world seem more interesting with so little effort.
The text for the silver symbol is something along the lines of "[player] was given the silver [whatever] symbol!" But when it comes to the gold symbols, rather than being simply given it, the text in question is "the [whatever] symbol took on a golden shine!" It almost seems like the Frontier Brain in question has transformed it from silver to gold with a touch; it's a little hint of magic I really like, and makes the game world seem more interesting with so little effort.
Speaking of typings and generations and diversity, I just realized how extremely common and diverse the Flying-type is in Gen II. I mean, it has been a meme for a while that Poison is all over Kanto, to the point that it's represented in 13 of Kanto's 79 families (counting the Nidos and Hitmons as two families each). But Flying is represented in 14 of Johto's 51 families, making it a little more common by that metric - although it loses out in terms of sheer numbers, Kanto has 33 Poison-type Pokémon out of 151, while Johto has 19 Flying-types out of 100.
But again, what diversity! Of course there's Hoothoot and Noctowl, Johto's regional birds. Then Ledyba and Ledian, one of Johto's two regional Bug-types (come to think of it, Johto is the only region without a larva-pupa-insect bug-type - I guess they went for that approach with Tyranitar instead, of all things - opting instead for two two-stage bugs instead of one three-stage).
Going by Pokédex order, Crobat follows directly after the bugs, being Poison/Flying (still a unique type combination to that family, by the way!). Then there's Togetic, taking a different approach to Normal/Flying than the regional birds tend to do. Nowadays, it has become the only Fairy/Flying family. After that again, we're at Natu and Xatu, Psychic/Flying. Then the Hoppip family, Grass/Flying. To date, the Hoppip family is the only evolution family with three Flying-type members that isn't a regional bird, and which was introduced all in one generation (if not for this caveat, there's also the Zubat family).
Next we're back to Bug/Flying, in the stand-alone Yanma. Bit of a different Bug-type, sort of like a less aggressive version of Scyther. Murkrow follows with Dark/Flying, Gligar is Ground/Flying (to this date a unique type among non-legendaries), Delibird is Ice/Flying (ditto), and Skarmory is Steel/Flying (ditto again, provided you count Celesteela as a legendary). There's also the Water/Flying Mantine.
And to round it off, Lugia and Ho-Oh. Psychic/Flying and Fire/Flying.
I count 11 represented types next to Flying here (12 if you count the later addition of Fairy), with only Normal, Bug, and Psychic being repeated between families. All within a total pool of only 100 Pokémon. That's quite a bit of diversity for one type in one generation!
I known Hoenn is famous for its Soaring, and Kalos may have its Sky Battles, but the skies of Johto seem like they would be quite an interesting place to explore too.
But again, what diversity! Of course there's Hoothoot and Noctowl, Johto's regional birds. Then Ledyba and Ledian, one of Johto's two regional Bug-types (come to think of it, Johto is the only region without a larva-pupa-insect bug-type - I guess they went for that approach with Tyranitar instead, of all things - opting instead for two two-stage bugs instead of one three-stage).
Going by Pokédex order, Crobat follows directly after the bugs, being Poison/Flying (still a unique type combination to that family, by the way!). Then there's Togetic, taking a different approach to Normal/Flying than the regional birds tend to do. Nowadays, it has become the only Fairy/Flying family. After that again, we're at Natu and Xatu, Psychic/Flying. Then the Hoppip family, Grass/Flying. To date, the Hoppip family is the only evolution family with three Flying-type members that isn't a regional bird, and which was introduced all in one generation (if not for this caveat, there's also the Zubat family).
Next we're back to Bug/Flying, in the stand-alone Yanma. Bit of a different Bug-type, sort of like a less aggressive version of Scyther. Murkrow follows with Dark/Flying, Gligar is Ground/Flying (to this date a unique type among non-legendaries), Delibird is Ice/Flying (ditto), and Skarmory is Steel/Flying (ditto again, provided you count Celesteela as a legendary). There's also the Water/Flying Mantine.
And to round it off, Lugia and Ho-Oh. Psychic/Flying and Fire/Flying.
I count 11 represented types next to Flying here (12 if you count the later addition of Fairy), with only Normal, Bug, and Psychic being repeated between families. All within a total pool of only 100 Pokémon. That's quite a bit of diversity for one type in one generation!
I known Hoenn is famous for its Soaring, and Kalos may have its Sky Battles, but the skies of Johto seem like they would be quite an interesting place to explore too.
Something I just wanna mention about poison types in kanto that I loved was how the koffing/grimer families were based off different types of pollution, obviously koffing being based off air pollution and grimer being based on sludge. They hinted at this in celadon city because of the 1% chance to find koffing and grimer in the pond near the center of the city
Trubbish got added in gen 5 as a reference to littering
koffing and weezing were originally named ny and la, referencing the cities & how polluted they are
one detail i just noticed is how magnemite = coil and magneton = ...rarecoil. because it's a rare coil! 3 coils! it's a triad of coils its a rarecoil
this sounds sarcastic but i fucking love how dumb they are
one detail i just noticed is how magnemite = coil and magneton = ...rarecoil. because it's a rare coil! 3 coils! it's a triad of coils its a rarecoil
this sounds sarcastic but i fucking love how dumb they are
I didn't know that lol, thats pretty cool
Kind of reminds me how machop was originally named kara-tee and machamp ju-doh
Unrelated but when I was a kid I took my DS to gamestop to get the celebi event code and woah that shit was SO FUN. Seeing giovanni in heartgold in that little cave and getting to battle him was freaking ridiculous. Bigger crossover event than avengers endgame. I hope in the future they bring those back because those little stories that came with events were such a nice little touch
Kind of reminds me how machop was originally named kara-tee and machamp ju-doh
Unrelated but when I was a kid I took my DS to gamestop to get the celebi event code and woah that shit was SO FUN. Seeing giovanni in heartgold in that little cave and getting to battle him was freaking ridiculous. Bigger crossover event than avengers endgame. I hope in the future they bring those back because those little stories that came with events were such a nice little touch
1. One of the most interesting things about Anville Town are the train descriptions. They have nothing to do with Pokemon, they just made these extra train models and had a guy who excitedly told you about that kind of train car (my favorite is the Hyperspeed Train). It was extra work they didn't really need to do but did so anyway. The extra items you can get is also nice and I like that the explanation is that it's a lost-and-found for items the depot worker found left behind.
2. My favorite one of these is for ORAS. You're more likely to encounter the first instance after the Delta Episode but technically you can get this after becoming Champion and having your first encounter with Zinnia (you have to enter and leave your house again I think). Anyway, in the post game go, after leaving your house you hear Birch screaming for help again. He's being chased by a Shroomish so asks you to take a Pokemon from his bag, but this time it gives you a choice of the Johto Starters! Though you don't have to battle the Shroomish, it wasn't as fierce as he thought it was.
Jump to beating the Delta Episode, you hear Birch once more after leaving your house and he's being chased again, but this time by a Machoke holding a box. This time the Starters are the Unovan ones! And once more, you don't need to battle as Birch realized the Machoke is just from the postal service to deliver a package.
Entering the Hall of Fame a second time, once more you hear Birch and this time he's being chased by his wife! Apparently unable to tell his own human wife from a Pokemon (either he's sleeping on the couch tonight or is seeing the eye doctor tomorrow for a pair of glasses, or both), you now get to pick one of the Sinnoh Starters.
3. New Mauville is neat but sadly feels underdeveloped, especially in ORAS. We're told it was originally meant to be an underground city expansion to Mauville but the project was abandoned. Now you'd think the map would resemble something akin to an apartment building, but in Gen III feels more like a lab (though was still at least explorable) and ORAS was just a generator room (with stairs leading down and doors beside the generator being blocked off). Considering the amazing job they did with the new Sea Mauville, I'm wondering if they wanted to do something more with New Mauville in ORAS (hence having visible other entrances) but ran out of time. Well, as I said we at least still have Sea Mauville so it's not a complete loss.
4. Actually my favorite Horde Battle combinations are the antagonistic ones: Zangoose & Seviper and Heatmor & Durant where instead of attacking you the Horde Pokemon will instead focus on their mortal enemies. It's like walking in on a nature documentary.
Some other neat ones are Roggenrola & Carbink and Tauros & Miltank (semi-confirming GF at least sees them as breeding partners yet still aren't officially in the game code, aka breeding them could result in an Egg either containing a Miltank or Tauros). Wish they did more (well they did but some combination don't quite make sense like Geodude & Makuhita, Wingull & Lotad, and Zigzagoon & Oddish), though a similar odd pairing idea at least lived on with SOS Battles where you get ones such as Cubone calling a Kangaskhan, Baby Pokemon calling a Happiny or Chansey, Corsola calling Mareanie, Scraggy calling a Fearow, Carbink calling Sableye, Pyukumuku calling Wingull, and let's not forgot Bagon on Route 3 able to call a Level 10 Salamence!
5. It does?! I never knew that!... Wait how does that make any sense, was the PokeNav dropping calls before or something?
6. Simple actually, well simple if you're a programmer. Basically there are 4 spots on Spinda's head which can "move around". Each Spinda have a unique 8-digit hexadecimal code and every two digits of that code decide the placement of the spots. It's easier to see in work than explained, this app shows how it's done with the original Gen III sprite. It's probably a little more complicated with the 3D models as they would have the place the spots on the texture map, but a programmer shouldn't have too much problem doing that.
7. There's a few special ones, the one I distinctly remember is that bringing a Togepi to Cerulean Gym will have it "cry softly", referencing Misty's Togepi.
8. Same thing happens with BW's Badge Gate!
D'oh! Well, my point still stands not all gens had fossil Pokemon.
ORAS is so goated for the three extra starters lol. The only reason I put emerald was because at the time that was the only way to get a feraligatr/typhlosion/meganium without transferring and I feel like it's the only game that has a true incentive to complete the pokedex in, bar unova maybe (charms are cool but don't hit the same). Something USUM did differently that I thought was really unique was island scan, I mean in the past to get a starter you had to restart your whole game etc. but now that starters are more common just in terms of how many games give you extra starters all you have to do is use your scan on the right day. I made a post about a week back about why USUM is one of the series' best games and this is just another reason. Also, for as bad as Gen 8 was, they did give you two kanto starters and that's pretty cool too.
I feel like there's more "anville towns" in pokemon that I just missed. I think it's really cool when they do extra work especially with train descriptions and the like but really nothing comes to mind. That little battle resort in ORAS is a nice little settlement but that's just the postgame area like the fight area in platinum. I can't think of any locations that you would find in like an open world game that have no true relation to the plot (like places you could go the whole game without stumbling into). Pallet town in HGSS gives off that vibe when you're returning to it.
edit: Oh yeah, regarding lightning rod, I have no idea how it's supposed to make sense or even who discovered it for the first time. Lightning rod in galar also makes it a 50% chance to encounter an electric type if one is out in the wild. Static also does the same in pokemon emerald
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Eh, Flying/Steel. Totally different.
I always like when the series does special artwork for their games and in the run up to Crown Tundra, it seems they comissioned some special art pieces to showcase legendary pokemon
Here's the kanto legends at the entrance to the pokemon league. Very nice flair and airy quality
The beasts take a back seat here, but HGSS' Johto is gorgeous and this one captures that very nicely.
They seem to be doing these once a week, so I guess next week we'll get a Hoenn piece but after that who knows. Will they just skip straight to Galar or will they continue to do one for each region even after the DLC is out?
Here's the kanto legends at the entrance to the pokemon league. Very nice flair and airy quality
The beasts take a back seat here, but HGSS' Johto is gorgeous and this one captures that very nicely.
They seem to be doing these once a week, so I guess next week we'll get a Hoenn piece but after that who knows. Will they just skip straight to Galar or will they continue to do one for each region even after the DLC is out?
a post in the anime thread mentioned "the farfetch'd line" & that just made my inner, farfetchd'-loving 10-year-old self squeal with glee. it's the little things...
The fact that Seismic Toss is a popular move among defensive Pokemon. Only in a game like Pokemon could you expect to be suplexed by an egg.
Next week we'll obviously see, but I could also see them deciding to separate groups of Legendaries released in a generation from one another. So I wouldn't be surprised if we got the Beast Trio next. How I can see them separating them:
Gen I: All in one (Mewtwo & Bird Trio)
Gen II:
- Ho-Oh & Lugia
- Beast Trio
- Groudon & Kyogre
- Rayquaza & Eon Duo
- Regi Trio
- Dialga, Palkia & Cresselia
- Giratina & Lake Guardians
- Heatran & Regigigas
- Tao Trio
- Swords of Justice
- Forces of Nature
Gen VII:
- Cosmog family & Silvally
- Necrozma & Guardians Deities
- Wolf Duo & Eternatus
- Kubfu family
They are releasing these once a week and I would figure that, if they really wanted to do something like this, they would lead with Beasts not Birds.
And it's also much more reasonable to expect 8 (assuming they care going past CT's initial release at all) of these total not, uh, 18 weeks.
on the topic of legendaries, im glad gf had a lower amount of them in the earlier gens + has more or less kept the number of readily obtainable legendaries consistent
left number is legendary, right and italicized is mythical; evolutions are grouped so typenull+silvally count as 1 (since you can only actually receive one and then evolve it unless your name is meltan, same w the rest)
[4/1] gen1: articuno, zapdos, moltres, mewtwo, mew
[5/1] gen2: raikou, entei, suicune, ho-oh, lugia, celebi
[8/2] gen3: regirock, regice, registeel, latias, latios, groudon, kyogre, rayquaza, deoxys, jirachi
[8/6] gen4: uxie, mesprit, azelf, dialga, palkia, giratina, heatran, cresselia, darkrai, shaymin, manaphy, phione, regigigas, arceus
[9/4]gen5: tornadus, thundurus, landorus, reshiram, zekrom, kyurem, cobalion, terrakion, virizion, keldeo, genesect, meloetta, victini
[3/3] gen6: xerneas, yveltal, zygarde, diancie, hoopa, volcanion
[8/3] gen7: tapu koko, tapu lele, tapu bulu, tapu fini, type: null-silvally, cosmog-cosmoem-solgaleo + lunala, necrozma, zeraora, magearna, marshadow
[1] gen7.5: meltan-melmetal*
[10/1] gen8: zacian, zamazenta, eternatus, kubfu-urshifu, regieleki, regidrago, articuno-galar, zapdos-galar, moltres-galar, calyrex, zarude
left number is legendary, right and italicized is mythical; evolutions are grouped so typenull+silvally count as 1 (since you can only actually receive one and then evolve it unless your name is meltan, same w the rest)
[4/1] gen1: articuno, zapdos, moltres, mewtwo, mew
[5/1] gen2: raikou, entei, suicune, ho-oh, lugia, celebi
[8/2] gen3: regirock, regice, registeel, latias, latios, groudon, kyogre, rayquaza, deoxys, jirachi
[8/6] gen4: uxie, mesprit, azelf, dialga, palkia, giratina, heatran, cresselia, darkrai, shaymin, manaphy, phione, regigigas, arceus
[9/4]gen5: tornadus, thundurus, landorus, reshiram, zekrom, kyurem, cobalion, terrakion, virizion, keldeo, genesect, meloetta, victini
[3/3] gen6: xerneas, yveltal, zygarde, diancie, hoopa, volcanion
[8/3] gen7: tapu koko, tapu lele, tapu bulu, tapu fini, type: null-silvally, cosmog-cosmoem-solgaleo + lunala, necrozma, zeraora, magearna, marshadow
[1] gen7.5: meltan-melmetal*
[10/1] gen8: zacian, zamazenta, eternatus, kubfu-urshifu, regieleki, regidrago, articuno-galar, zapdos-galar, moltres-galar, calyrex, zarude
So I barely watch the anime but I heard this song for the first time yesterday and it's so bizarrely great it definitely counts as a "little thing I like"
Route clearing is a pretty ho-hum activity in most games, so when a trainer has a TM or bred move tacked on to their usual most-recent-four-moves-as-of-its-level moveset, it both presents a bit of a challenge and implies that that particular trainer is something more than the ordinary forgettable people surrounding them.
This post inspired by a near-miss with Crystal's Swimmer Wendy west of Cianwood, whose second Horsea hit me with a surprise Dragon Rage (which is exclusive to breeding) and threw me for one hell of a loop.
This post inspired by a near-miss with Crystal's Swimmer Wendy west of Cianwood, whose second Horsea hit me with a surprise Dragon Rage (which is exclusive to breeding) and threw me for one hell of a loop.
A little thing I like about this opening is how its purposely made to be a counterpoint to the first opener, "Under The Alolan Sun". Alolan Sun is upbeat and fast-paced while Alolan Moon is calmer and slow-paced.
The Youtuber who made the above Alolan Moon extension also posted this video with both themes & the third Alolan season theme "Challenge of Life". Challenge of Life I guess could be considered a middle between the two themes though it is more its own thing, not bad though doesn't have the dichotomy as the first two Alola themes.
So I only recently got around to playing RTDX, and, while I don't know if its coincidental, there was an interesting extra nod to how the story was going at that point. Before the story visit to Magma Cavern, a big deal is made of how everybody was banding together to deal with Groudon. There really wasn't a good way to show this in the original, so you don't see much of it. In the remake, Magma Cavern had a high number fainted mons, most of which were Water-type (I think I had something like Starmie, Relicanth, and Armaldo for the boss fight, though I don't think they lasted through it). Again, it could be nothing, but I think that it's pretty cool if it was intended.