Little things you like about Pokémon

Level 2 Desert-Day had a sequence where
You crest the hill to what's usually a wide open expanse of desert but thanks to being level 2 suddenly a bunch of onix start emerging from the sand and "swimming" all around you as they look for a place to pose and such.

It put a big smile on my face, what a nice moment.
 

AquaticPanic

Intentional Femboy Penguin
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Spoilers for Journeys ep 65

In this episode, Iris challenges Ash to a battle, in which they do a 2v2. One of Ash's pokémon is Dragonite, who's feeling stressed because of the battle. Iris notices this and helps Dragonite calm down and have more fun with the battle, after which, Ash's Dragonite learns Draco Meteor. Why is this relevant? Well...

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In the Unova games, Iris is the Move Tutor for Draco Meteor. You also need high friendship for this move to be learned and Ash's Dragonite is very close to Ash.
 
Spoilers for Journeys ep 65

In this episode, Iris challenges Ash to a battle, in which they do a 2v2. One of Ash's pokémon is Dragonite, who's feeling stressed because of the battle. Iris notices this and helps Dragonite calm down and have more fun with the battle, after which, Ash's Dragonite learns Draco Meteor. Why is this relevant? Well...

View attachment 338763
In the Unova games, Iris is the Move Tutor for Draco Meteor.
I'm... not entirely sure if this is the intention.

And besides, Drayden teaches the move in Black and BW2
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

On to new Horizons!
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I'm playing through Diamond again right now and I must say, the Vs. Seeker is such a huge treat for EXP grinding. It not only helps your main team keep up with the level curve in terms of the rematch Trainers who level up their teams over the story, but you can even rematch the trainers who don't level up at all, and you can battle any Trainer at any time.

While that may not seem like a big deal, it helps so much when training low level Pokemon. I recently hatched a Riolu and caught a Gible, both very low leveled for the point that I can get them, but raising them is so much easier and fun because I pit them against many Trainers I already battled by rematching them, and the fact that they are Trainer battles means the experience is boosted, so you get EXP and level up faster than if you go for Wild Pokemon grinding. I caught a wild Gible last night that was Level 17, and now it's a Level 29 Gabite, and with just a bit more grinding it will catch up to the rest of my team as I hunt down Vs. Seeker trainers. This only took me like 1-2 hours so far.

Like yeah, I know Platinum Gible is way better and more iconic because you can get it early in the game, but DP Gible is not that bad either: it's underleveled and comes late sure, but all you need to do to get it to catch up is hunt down the Trainers in the past routes and Vs. Seeker them, and Gible gets experience pretty quickly and it can catch up to the rest of your team without having to rely on the old Exp Share item to get it to catch up.

It's also just a fantastic grinding tool in general because rematching Trainers is way way more fun and gets you more EXP more quickly than going in the wild and KOing Wild Pokemon.

On a side note, I also really like how BW2 allows you to rematch the Pokemon Breeders as many times as you want. This helps tremendously with grinding for EXP in tandem with the Stadiums and Audino.

In fact I just really like how modern Pokemon games since DP have made an effort to make grinding less boring and tedious and/or reduce the need for it altogether. Granted with recent gens it's a bit too overboard with the current EXP All, but it also allows me to rotate my team at any time and use over 6+ Pokemon without the need for extremely boring tedium. Whether it be DP's Vs. Seeker, BW's awesome Training Spots in the Stadium, Audino, and the Breeders in BW2, and XY's Battle Chateau, and even Sword and Shield giving you EXP by catching Pokemon in the Wild Area allowing it to be a good training spot makes grinding a lot less of a chore than it would be otherwise.
 
and even Sword and Shield giving you EXP by catching Pokemon in the Wild Area
But it would be odd if that were not the case, as gaining experience on catching a Pokémon has been a thing since XY.

I'd mention the Exp. Candies instead, as they can be grinded very easily through raids, and you can take your Pokémon's levels to 100 (and thus gain the ability to apply Bottle Caps on them if needed) with little effort.
 
In fact I just really like how modern Pokemon games since DP have made an effort to make grinding less boring and tedious and/or reduce the need for it altogether. Granted with recent gens it's a bit too overboard with the current EXP All, but it also allows me to rotate my team at any time and use over 6+ Pokemon without the need for extremely boring tedium. Whether it be DP's Vs. Seeker, BW's awesome Training Spots in the Stadium, Audino, and the Breeders in BW2, and XY's Battle Chateau, and even Sword and Shield giving you EXP by catching Pokemon in the Wild Area allowing it to be a good training spot makes grinding a lot less of a chore than it would be otherwise.
I agree. This is something I really like about modern Pokémon games as well: the fact that training and level grinding in them is both fun and easy. Just plain training Pokémon is one very important aspect for me in the games, and I consider it the very biggest reason as for why Gen 5 and 6 are my two favorite generations. These two are just so great for training! That said, I think most other modern Pokémon games are good when it comes to training as well, the only exceptions IMO are HG/SS and S/M. While training is possible in them, it is not as enjoyable as in other modern games. Interestingly, they are my least favorite installments from the DS and 3DS eras of main series games, respectively. Coincidence? I think not! I haven't played LGP/E so I don't know about them but I have understood that they have Gym Leader rematches, so it sounds like something at least. Either way, I think that apart from HG/SS and S/M (and maybe LGP/E), all modern Pokémon games have training spots that range between great and epic! Which is something I like a lot.

I also think that training was pretty good back in Gen 3 as well. There was the PokéNav and Secret Bases in R/S/E... though you pretty much needed lots of Secret Bases in order to make it really efficient, at least for R/S. Emerald is a little better thanks to Gym Leader rematches, but benefits a lot from Secret Bases as well. FR/LG had the VS. Seeker just like the Sinnoh games. So while they weren't quite as great as most of the games from Gen 4 and on, I still think they were solid enough.

There is a lot more to say about the greatness of training in modern Pokémon games, I feel like I should make a longer post about it when I can find the time for it. Maybe later this week.

Let's say some positive things about other stuff as well! First, one thing I recently noticed because of my current project. When you obtain the Event Celebi in Gen 4, the title of the Wonder Card is "Time to travel with Celebi!". That's just a genious play on words and I love it.

Another random thing I just thought about today. I liked how, during the first few months after the release of X/Y, the games were completely "safe" as neither the games nor the 3DS had been hacked. This meant that everything you obtained through online trading and the GTS was 100% legitimate. I thought this was really cool because it meant there were no risks when it came to trading. I also liked how the games weren't datamined at first. I remember that it took a long time before we learned about the existance of Diancie, Hoopa and Volcanion, as well as other things like the two extra patterns for Vivillon, Zygarde's new moves, the Mega Lati@s and Eternal Flower Floette. It was a really good time now that I look back at it. I wish it had lasted forever but the fandom ensured that it could of course not stay that way, we are just too greedy for our own best. I would also love to see another situation like the first few months after X/Y happen again in the future, but it feels like it never will.
 
All the neat little features in Gen 8, that even though I rarely use, are still really fun. These being:

Pokemon Camp
Poke-Jobs
Digging Duo
Digging Pa/Ma
Mustard Rematches
Cram-o-Matic

Poke-Jobs especially adds some lore to Galar, because it makes it clear that there are companies and businesses, and even schools.

OH! And Rotom Rallies! Those are pretty fun too! Wish IoA and CT had them.
 
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Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
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All the neat little features in Gen 8, that even though I rarely use, are still really fun. These being:

Pokemon Camp
Poke-Jobs
Digging Duo
Digging Pa/Ma
Mustard Rematches
Cram-o-Matic

Poke-Jobs especially adds some lore to Galar, because it makes it clear that there are companies and businesses, and even schools.

OH! And Rotom Rallies! Those are pretty fun too! Wish IoA and CT had them.
  • Pokemon Camp: We really need a collective name for all the Pokemon-Amie expies. But yes, much like with Amie & Refresh, Camp not only keeps with the much needed feature Pokemon needed but also adds onto it with seeing your Pokemon walking around and interacting with each other. I do miss being able to feed your Pokemon individually though at least replaced it with toys to play with them. It's hard to imagine where they'll go from here, obviously they can improve upon Camp but this is GF where they like to make new mechanics whether it's an upgrade of something we like or something new we have to hope at least parallels it. Though, considering Dexit, maybe they'll keep Camp around long enough to that at least every single Pokemon had at least one game where you can watch it run around in it.

  • Poke-Jobs: I like the idea on how it world builds... but I also kind of found the benefits a bit lacking. Like, when you're first playing the game thus are catching lots of Pokemon it's an incredibly useful tool to level-up your Pokemon to at least evolution level. But there is a point where I just stopped using it cause I didn't need it or it was too slow. I wished they allowed us to choose the type of reward we wanted: Experience, Items, or Money (maybe even offer BP and Watts).

  • Digging Duo: If you have the Watts and using them on nothing else it's a fun feature to burn them on, though I wished it was FASTER. From what I can tell we have no input on the results, so just have a list pop-up of the items that are found. At most, to build tension, have it look like it stopped... but then the Digging Bro gets a second-wind and the list starts adding more items (repeat until finally ends).

  • Digging Pa/Ma: Same thoughts with Pa really. Nice way to use any extra Ore you have to get Watts either to use with the Digging Bros or to finish Dojo upgrades; though once again just list all the Watts earned on a list in a few seconds instead of having us to tap through text box after text box (at least with the Digging Bros there was an element of surprise to what item you got, but it's just Watts with Pa). Ma I think could be better, I don't like how one time she messes up and she keeps ALL the Ore, like what? Why? Half is fine. Also the excuse for her taking all of them is lame, if I recall it's because her shovel broke. Fine, I'll pay you MONEY to replace it, but let me keep the Ore! Heck, I'll even buy the Ore, I doubt you're buying a new shovel with the Ore directly, you're likely selling it so instead of not letting us have any period instead charge us like 500 per Ore she dug up.

  • Marnie/Mustard/Avery/Klara/Peony Rematches: Always nice we can rematch trainers without needing to jump through hoops. Unfortunately Hop and Bede you can only rematch via Champion Tourney or Galar Star Tourny. Heck, also wouldn't mind if we could just have a normal battle outside of the Power Spots like with the Marnie and Peony rematches.

  • Cram-o-Matic: I'm mixed on this. I like the idea... but not the execution. Especially that now to get Apricorn Balls we need multiple of them to just get one (though I do like we could also get a Poke Ball that there's no other way of obtaining). If anything feels like something meant to use all the treasures you get from the Digging Bros and Max Raid Battles.

  • Rotom Rallies: I like them though curious if they could actually have players try racing each other on screen (or at the very least have players "enter" a race and after the race is done compare the times). Maybe even go one step further, let players make their own relay courses and place Pokemon & obstacles in the way.
 
So recently, I was thinking about the ability Lightning Rod, and wondering "why Electric-type moves specifically?"

So, Lightning Rod was pretty different in its debut appearance, with the most important difference being that it didn't provide an immunity to Electric. It only redirected them. This is the first reason for why Electric was chosen. In order to optimally redirect Electric moves, the user must be naturally immune to Electric moves, and sure enough, most of the original Lightning Rod users were Ground-type. Okay, but why not an ability that redirects Ground-types moves? Or Normal, Fighting, Psychic, or Poison?

Here's where things gets interesting. The Ground type was uniquely qualified to not only effectively redirect Electric attacks, but exploit that ability to its fullest.

Redirection only has an effect in double battles, so its users need to be able to thrive in a doubles environment. And Ground-types had the potential to be extremely powerful in Gen 3 doubles. Unlike modern games, which apply a universal 25% damage reduction to all spread moves in doubles, Gen 3 applied a harsher 50% damage reduction to spread moves, but left spread moves that also affected your ally at full power. In Gen 3, only four such moves existed: Explosion, Self-Destruct, Earthquake, and Magnitude.

With the power to attack both opponents with a full-power Earthquake simultaneously, Ground-types could deal out massive damage, but they also risked knocking out their own ally. However, that could easily be avoided by pairing up your Ground-type with a Flying-type Pokemon, and here's where the magic starts. Flying-type Pokemon are weak to Electric attacks, so by pairing your Flying-type with a Ground-type with Lightning Rod, you not only allowed your Ground-type to spam its STAB with reckless abandon, but you also protect your Flying-type from Electric attacks that might threaten it. And it goes further. Suppose your opponent brings out their own Flying-type to block your Earthquake. You could put Rock Slide on your Ground-type to deal with them, but that 50% damage reduction will hit you hard. So you'll likely need to rely on your ally to take care of the Flying-type. But won't Lightning Rod bite you in the ass by redirecting your own Electric attacks? In fact, no! Lightning Rod redirecting ally attacks wasn't a thing in Gen 3, so you were still free to use Electric attacks to take out the opponent's countermeasures to your Electric-redirecting Ground type.
 
Lightning Rod is a very easy to justify ability given... well, how lightning rods work in real life. Kind of like how Storm Drain when it was introduced in Gen IV.

What I do find interesting is how Lightning Rod and Storm Drain provided an immunity from the moves they redirect in Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team (except for Storm Drain which didn't exist) and Explorers, way before such a thing was implemented in the main series games.
 
Lightning Rod is a very easy to justify ability given... well, how lightning rods work in real life. Kind of like how Storm Drain when it was introduced in Gen IV.

What I do find interesting is how Lightning Rod and Storm Drain provided an immunity from the moves they redirect in Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team (except for Storm Drain which didn't exist) and Explorers, way before such a thing was implemented in the main series games.
I don't really know what they were thinking with Storm Drain. Unlike Electric, Water has no immunities, and not only is Water mostly defined by spread moves Surf (which now hits your ally; too bad the Water immunity didn't come until Gen 5) and Muddy Water which will ignore Storm Drain, but Gen 4 was also when spread moves not named Earthquake and Boom got buffed. Its utility was greatly increased in Gen 5 due to the addition of an immunity, Scald, and Drizzle, but in Gen 4... why does this ability exist?
 
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Iguess the gameplay intent with storm drain was "single target water moves can be drawn to the pokemon that would resist it". A more niche lightning rod, certainly, but a niche to possibly protect your rocks, grounds, fires in a double battle!



That only applied to Lumineon at release because as a water/ground type Gastrodon is neutral to water type moves, not resistant. bit of an oops
 
A minor thing I thought about recently. In FR/LG, Blue uses his original teams from R/B up to the Champion Battle, but in the rematches, his team changes a bit. Notably, he adds a Heracross and a Tyranitar to his team. In HG/SS, Blue uses his original team from G/S/C in the first battle, but during the rematches, it changes a bit. Notably, he uses a Tyranitar once again! And his Rhydon has evolved all the way into Rhyperior. I think that is a nice continuity nod to FR/LG. While I didn’t like how HG/SS ignored most of the things that FR/LG did, I appreciate how they at least kept this, small as it is. It continued even further in Gen 7, where Blue can use Tyranitar and Rhyperior on his teams at the Battle Tree (as well as several other Pokémon he has used on previous teams as well).

Now, to what I really wanted to say. I really like Galarian forms, and Galarian evolutions. I wanted to make a post with my thoughts on all of them. This is something I have talked about in the past but I never got around to it because I have been delaying it for a very long time. But now, it is finally time. This will not be super in-depth or anything, just some short thoughts on all of them.

I want to give a shout-out to Pikachu315111 who made a post with his thoughts on all of the Galarian forms/evolutions and on all Alola forms as well! You can find his post here.

Meowth/Perrserker
I love cats, but I have always felt that the original Meowth is a pretty boring Pokémon. It feels like a prime example of a boring Kanto Pokémon that was in dire need of some changes in order to make it interesting. I thought they did very well with Alolan Meowth, and the same goes for Galarian Meowth. I think that giving a beard to a Pokémon is a great way to make it cooler. It worked for Alolan Golem, and it works for Galarian Meowth as well. It does look a bit ridiculous, and I remember that when I first saw it in the game, I really couldn’t believe it was Meowth! But it isn’t too ridiculous, so I think it is fine. I consider it "silly in a good way", similar to Alolan Exeggutor. Perrserker feels more serious, which suits it very well. I think it hits just the perfect balance of being similar yet also different to Galarian Meowth at the same time. I also like how they are inspired by Vikings, I think it is really cool because I like Vikings. Though I might be biased as I am from Scandinavia and the Vikings are my ancestors. Either way, the combination of cats, beards and Vikings make Galarian Meowth and Perrserker two awesome Pokémon. I used a Perrserker on my Tundra team and it was great.


Ponyta/Rapidash
Ponies! The Ponyta line is yet another boring old Kanto Pokémon which was in serious need of getting spiced up in order to become more interesting. It took eight generations, but they finally did something with it, and I love it! Instead of a generic fire-horse, Ponyta became more of a magical unicorn-style horse. As I am a brony, I highly approve of this. It is just so cute, and I think the color scheme really manages to capture the “magic” feeling just so fantastically well. Rapidash is not as cute, but it feels like it is a very natural continuation of Ponyta, which is great. I still wish it was an alicorn though, but whatever! It is still fantastic and I love it. I used a Galarian Rapidash on my Armor team and it was fun.


Slowpoke/Slowbro/Slowking
Sad as it is, Slowpoke is my least favorite Galarian form. I don’t dislike it, but I think it is just too similar to regular Slowpoke without any real upgrades or changes. It isn’t bad, but compared to all the others, it is “only” okay. But it is still Slowpoke, and Slowpoke is a fun Pokémon, so I still like it. Slowbro is better though. It is different from regular Slowbro in a very unexpected way. Shellder on the hand instead of on the head? Really weird, but it works. I guess it becomes a sort of hand-cannon which ties in well with its signature move. Then there’s Slowking, which I think was just plain unexpected. When it was first revealed, we got to see the body but the head was hidden. I knew they were up to something special with its head since they were hiding it. But I was still surprised when it was fully shown. I had expected something different, but I was not prepared for this! Slowking got taken over by Shellder? Really creepy but still a very cool concept. I like it a lot. It really looks like a lunatic maniac wizard or something, which is cool.


Farfetch'd/Sirfetch'd
I have always been a fan of Farfetch'd. It is my second favorite Normal/Flying Kanto bird, beaten only by Dodrio. I have used the original Farfetch’d to great success in some older games. Notably R/B, but also FR/LG. I was really happy when I played Sword and saw that Farfetch’d had gotten a regional variant. It looks quite a bit more menacing compared to regular Farfetch'd, which is cool. The leek it carries is also notably bigger. Regarding Sirfetch'd, I accidentally got spoiled on its existence during the pre-release for the games. I remember that I was happy but also surprised when I saw it, they finally gave Farfetch’d some attention by giving it an evolution! Little did I know then that it was not the only thing they had done as they had given Farfetch’d a regional variant as well. Either way, I really like Sirfetch’d, used one on my in-game team in Sword and it was cool. I like how it carries a sword and shield, nice way to reference the names of the games and it makes it look like a soldier from older times.


Weezing
Yet another excellent example of how to successfully make a boring old Kanto Pokémon interesting. I have never cared much for Koffing or the original Weezing (sorry, Smogon!) but Galarian Weezing is a lot of fun! Instead of just being a generic flying bomb, it gets hats with smoke coming out if them, moustaches and eyebrows. I also find the black/green color scheme to be a lot more visually appealing than the purple colors of original Weezing. I used a Galarian Weezing on my Tundra team and it was pretty great there.


Mr. Mime/Mr. Rime
I have never been overly fond of Mr. Mime. It has always felt a bit unsetting to me. I think one reason is that it lacks one defying human trait: a nose. Which is something Galarian Mr. Mime has. I think it looks a lot more fun and less creepy than original Mr. Mime. It is also a dancer, and the way it dances around in the games is so funny! Mr. Rime looks more like an old man with a cane, it makes me think of Charlie Chaplin and clowns, which is great.


Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres
The only legendaries with regional variants so far. I think the birds were a great choice for legendaries to give a regional variant to because honesty, if they were going to bring back the birds once more, they needed to do something special with them. Which they did! They each got a regional variant and they are all awesome. Articuno feels like a psychic mastermind, Zapdos landed and became a roadrunner, while Moltres is burning with Darkness! This has the side effect of their names becoming a bit misleading though, just like for Alolan Sandshrew and Sandslash. I like to call the birds Psychicuno, Fightdos and Darktres because of their new types.


Corsola/Cursola
Corsola is underappreciated. I think it is one of many Gen 2 Pokémon which could benefit from getting a bit more attention. And now they decided to give it some more attention by giving it a new form, in which they killed it! Poor thing! I really like this concept though, it is simple but still very dark. Cursola is an evolution I never thought would happen, but it is great and I like it too.


Zigzagoon/Linoone/Obstagoon
At first, I thought it was weird how these guys had their tongue out. But several Gen 1 Pokémon do the same thing, so I guess it isn’t exactly new. Then I learned that they were based on glam rockers which tend to do that as part of their style or image, so that made it understandable and okay. Either way, they are all great. Zigzagoon and Linoone moved to Galar, and they became badgers! Really cool. Obstagoon is yet another unexpected evolution, I never thought they would give an evolution to Linoone out of all Pokémon. But it is great, I like it a lot. I used an Obstagoon on my Armor team and it was great there, my best memory is when I used its combination of Guts and Facade to turn the tables against Klara in her cheating battle!


Darumaka/Darmanitan
The Darumaka line went from fire to ice. I was so happy when I saw them in the game. Darumaka no longer looks happy but it is still cute, and I think Darmanitan looks silly in a good way. A snowman yeti-monkey with a giant snowball on its head… I love it. I am also happy that they kept Zen Mode and made a completely different approach to it for Galarian Darmanitan. It became a fiery snowman. It seems Japan has a thing for fire and ice in combination, I have seen it in other video games too, I guess it is a cultural thing of some kind? I approve of it either way though. I used a Galarian Darmanitan on my mid-game team and it was great there.


Yamask/Runerigus
Yamask isn’t too different from its regular form, but it is still great so that’s all okay. Runerigus on the other hand, is on a whole new level. Completely different from Cofagrigus in every possible way… and that’s a good thing, since it is a completely different Pokémon. So I approve of that. It seems to be based on runes with a snake motif, which is really cool. I like how it has a Viking-theme just like Galarian Meowth and Perrserker. I used Runerigus on my Tundra Team and it was pretty good there.


Stunfisk
Galarian Stunfisk really takes trapping to a whole new level. I was so happy when I first saw it in the game. I got surprised at first, I thought I saw a Poké Ball, but it looked smaller than usual. So I approached it, but got into a Pokémon battle instead. Against a Stunfisk! That was a very positive surprise for me since I didn’t know that Stunfisk had a regional variant before I saw it at that point, learning about it by seeing it in the actual game was great. I really like how it is designed to be a trap that fools people (and Pokémon?) into thinking it is just a regular Poké Ball laying on the ground. Fantastic concept on the whole.
I wanted to pick some of my favorites from the Galarian forms and evolutions, but I found it very hard because I like them all so much (except Slowpoke, but as said, it is still okay). So I won’t make a list of favorites.

On the whole, I really like Galarian forms. I was very happy when they continued with the concept of regional variants after Alolan forms, but with a way better execution this time around. I really hope they’ll continue with them in future generations as well.

I would love to write something like this for Alolan forms as well, but if I ever get around to that, it will have to be in another thread since it won’t be 100% positive.

I am also really happy to finally get this post done since I have been delaying it for so long. Now I just need to finish that one other post I have left to make as well. But that will be another time, and in another thread.

Next up, something else. ScraftyIsTheBest mentioned training in games earlier, and I really wanted to do a somewhat more in-depth post about training spots in the Pokémon games because this is an important aspect of the games for me. I decided to do this for all games, including Gen 1 and 2 as well because why not? Not sure if this is the best thread for this, but this will mostly be positive so I think it is suitable here.

As a general disclaimer, I will not mention the E4 unless there aren’t a lot of other training spots, nor will I mention Rare Candies or alternate methods of training like leveling up at Join Avenue/Festival Plaza.

Here we go!
Gen 1:

R/B/Y:
These games doesn’t have a lot, but what they have actually works. You can’t rebattle regular trainers, but wild Pokémon at high levels are available at Cerulean Cave. I also find the E4 to be very efficient in Gen 1, the credits are pretty short so you don’t have to spend an eternity watching them afterwards. It was not as great as in most future generations, but still a very solid start for the series.

Gen 2:

G/S/C:
Better than Gen 1 in some ways, but worse in others. You can rebattle the rival at the Pokémon League twice a week, there’s also Trainer House at Viridian which has a fairly good trainer by default, but he can be changed to something better by using Mystery Gift. It is also possible to rebattle trainers using the phone system, but it is fairly inefficient and you can only have a small number of other trainers stored in the PokéGear at the same time. Then there’s the SS. Aqua, which is a surprisingly good training spot. While it can only be used 4 out of 7 days every week, it is great on those days because you can rebattle the trainers on it an infinite number of times, you just need to exit and re-enter the boat, then the trainers can all be battled again. Then there’s Red which has a team at very high levels and I believe you can battle him multiple times as well, not sure though. Unfortunately, the Gen 2 games doesn’t have wild Pokémon at particularly high levels, capping at around level 50, and the E4 is capped at level 50 as well.

Gen 3:

R/S/E:
They had the PokéNav, which allowed you to rebattle specific trainers around Hoenn. There were also Secret Bases which were amazing if you had the ability to use them, though that required multiple games and at least 2 GBA systems. But if you could utilize them well, it was amazing. Emerald also had Gym Leader rematches which allowed for somewhat better training than in R/S.

FR/LG: These were the first games to feature the VS. Seeker, allowing you to rebattle any trainers in outside areas. They were also the first games where the E4 got stronger on subsequent visits, allowing for even greater training there.

Gen 4:

D/P/P:
They also had the VS. Seeker, and many other things. Rival rematches during weekends (with the ability to increase the levels of the rival’s team by beating the E4 multiple times), trainers which could be rebattled at Jubilife TV (D/P) or Pokémon Centers (Platinum), as well as a bunch of daily trainers at the Lake Valor restaurant. Platinum also had the Battleground where you could battle some of the Gym Leaders and Stat Trainers every day. Overall really, these games had really great training spots.

HG/SS: Unfortunately, a big step down. Compared to G/S/C, several things got nerfed. The Trainer House could no longer be used for training, and the SS. Aqua could no longer be used infinitely. The PokéGear still exists, but it requires you to know exactly which trainer to call at which time, which I personally found terribly inefficient compared to most other methods. There are also rival rematches twice a week, as well as Red. And unlike in the originals, the E4 gets stronger on rematches like in FR/LG and Platinum. But on the whole, I personally found training to be mostly frustrating and unenjoyable in HG/SS, which is unfortunate.

Gen 5:

B/W:
The Nimbasa Stadiums were amazing for training. There were also daily rematches with Cheren and Morimoto, as well Cynthia during Spring months and Bianca during weekends. B/W were also the first games to give out a free Lucky Egg, letting you gain even more Exp without problems. They also had Pass Powers for gaining more Exp, allowing you to train even better and more efficient. Overall, they had excellent training spots, I had previously never had as much fun with training Pokémon as I had in B/W.

B2/W2: Similar to B/W, but a bit better. They still had the Nimbasa Stadiums, Morimoto and Cynthia, but changed Cheren to Hugh, removed Bianca and added Nishino & Colress instead. They also had monthly battles with N and the Shadow Triad. Then they added Black Tower and White Treehollow, two areas which give amazing training, especially for high-level Pokémon. In total, the Gen 5 games were amazing when it comes to training Pokémon.

Gen 6:

X/Y:
The Battle Chateau is epic. While you need to rank it up to get the best training from it, doing so is easy and goes quickly, and then it is smooth sailing. You can also spend money on writs to raise the number of trainers or the levels of their Pokémon for even more training. There are also the Lumiose Restaurants, as well as daily rematches with Essentia, Calem/Serena and the Inverse trainer. Plus O-Powers, which succeeded the Pass Powers. X/Y also introduced the new Exp. Share which made it a lot easier to train multiple Pokémon at once.

OR/AS: They had the Pokénav just like the original Hoenn games, and Secret Bases which were way easier to use thanks to online and QR codes. They also added the type specialist trainers at the Battle Resort. They did not give out a free Lucky Egg unlike previous games, but that’s okay since those could still be farmed easily from wild Pelipper. Epic training spots just like in X/Y, and I think Gen 6 on the whole is the best generation when it comes to training Pokémon.

Gen 7:

S/M:
Unfortunately, a big step down from the greatness of the two previous generations. These games only really had Morimoto and the Battle Buffet for daily rematches… and the latter had to be “abused” if you wanted to battle an infinite number of trainers from it. Other than that, I guess one minor improvement they had was that you no longer had to watch the credits every time after you had beaten the E4. But other than that, there weren’t much. Unlike Gen 5/6, they had no successor to Pass/O-Powers either. The new Exp. Share still helps a bit for training multiple Pokémon. But on the whole, I was very disappointed by the lack of good training spots in S/M and it is my biggest issue with these games.

US/UM: A step up from S/M in terms of training, just like in pretty much everything else as well. Morimoto and Iwao team up, and they now have a Blissey for even better training! The Battle buffet does no longer have to be abused, there’s also the Kantonian Gym, and Rotom Powers which can be used increase the amount of Exp you get, just like the Pass/O-Powers from previous generations. They also added wild Chansey and Audino to these games for even better training against wild Pokémon. All in all, it was a big step up from S/M, but sadly not quite on the same epic levels as Gen 5 & 6.

LGP/E: I haven’t played them, so I’m basing this purely on what I know and could find on Serebii/Bulbapedia. Anyone who has played the games is very welcome to tell me if I am missing something. From what I can find, they have Gym Leader rematches which can be done once a day, as well as daily rematches with Mina, Green and the Master Trainers (after beating them). There’s also Morimoto, but from what I can find, it seems like it isn’t possible to battle him more than once? (unlike in the other games where he appears, where he can be rebattled once a day). Either way, I don’t know how these training spots actually are in practice, but in theory, they honestly look quite good!

Gen 8:

S/S:
They had daily rematches with Morimoto and Marine, and all wild Pokémon get raised to level 60 or above after you beat the game. They did not have any Pass/O/Rotom Powers though. But they did add the new Exp. candies to supplement Rare Candies. And there is no E4, but the Champion Cup exists to fulfill the same role. Pretty good, but could have been better.

Expansion Pass: A very welcome improvement over the base game. They added daily rematches against Klara/Avery, Mustard, Honey and Peony (though some of them need to be unlocked). They also added some new wild Pokémon that give tons of Exp, notably Chansey in the IoA and Audino in the CT! There was also the Galarian Star Tournament as an alternative to the regular tournament. All in all, it was a pretty good improvement over the base game, just like the DLC on the whole.
This was what I could remember from the training I have done in the games, please let me know if I forgot anything important.

On the whole, I want to second what ScraftyIsTheBest said earlier. I really like how the modern generations have had really good training spots for the most part (again, only exceptions IMO are HG/SS and S/M) and how training spots in the games has improved a lot compared to the early days of the series. I think that training Pokémon is very fun if there are good training spots, so it’s no wonder I have had so much fun with most of the modern games.
 
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LGP/E: I haven’t played them, so I’m basing this purely on what I know and could find on Serebii/Bulbapedia. Anyone who has played the games is very welcome to tell me if I am missing something. From what I can find, they have Gym Leader rematches which can be done once a day, as well as daily rematches with Mina, Green and the Master Trainers (after beating them). There’s also Morimoto, but from what I can find, it seems like it isn’t possible to battle him more than once? (unlike in the other games where he appears, where he can be rebattled once a day). Either way, I don’t know how these training spots actually are in practice, but in theory, they honestly look quite good!
For what's worth it, simply ""grinding"" Chanseys in Cerulean cave easily shoots every pokemon in the party to 100 in very short amounts of times. The Chain mechanic causes them to spawn constantly so it doesn't require any gargantuan effort at all.

For what's even worth it considering the game doesn't really have a post-game (outside uuuh... master trainers /shrug) or battle spot anyway.
 

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