Unpopular opinions

Even ignoring how unbalanced Scald is (which is a pretty hard ask, but that's beside the point), it just doesn't make any sense from a flavor perspective how every Water type learns it, either. How, exactly, are most water types producing the heat necessary to spray boiling water? Scald just feels very poorly considered, both in terms of balance and how it fits into most Pokemon's movesets. Strictly from a flavor perspective (balance may warrant a few more Pokemon losing it), I'd restrict Scald to the following Water types:

  • Blastoise: The cannons on its back is sufficient justification to shoot boiling hot water, even if it doesn't learn any other moves associated with fire. Make it a pulse move for extra chaos in NatDex, because why the hell not?
  • Lapras: It's always had an oddly diverse movepool, and it's said to be highly intelligent; I'm sure it can figure how how to produce scalding water. This is probably the biggest stretch out of the entire list, but also consider that Lapras deserves it
  • Lanturn: The electricity it produces should be capable of heating up water.
  • Octillery: Its design draws from a tank, and it learns Fire Blast as is. Learning Scald is well within reason for it.
  • Simipour: Notably, this is one of the only Pokemon to naturally learn Scald by level-up, and it connects with their primarily associated trainers, the Striaton Trio, as chefs. The pattern on its chest also somewhat resembles a geyser, which is more than what most Water types can say.
  • Clawitzer: This little guy is based off pistol shrimp, which can produce water bubbles that can briefly reach temperatures of almost 4,800 degrees Celsius - and yes, this is a real animal, not an exaggerated Pokedex entry! I see no reason why it can't shoot scalding water.
  • Volcanion: duh.

    You could also make the argument for... pretty much anything that isn't Toxapex, which doesn't deserve it; a couple that come to mind are Inteleon and Gyarados. The point is more that Scald is too widely distributed, and taking a good hard look at what Pokemon can actually logically use the move and reducing it would be ultimately a good thing for the meta, as well.
two things:
1) Lapras (and every other Ice/Water type) cannot learn the Scald TM
2) So almost every non-Ice type water being able to make Ice is a-okay(even the few that can't learn Ice Beam get something like Icy Wind outside of of a few rare cases like Rotom-W and Volcanion), but making scalding hot water is too weird?
 
two things:
1) Lapras (and every other Ice/Water type) cannot learn the Scald TM
2) So almost every non-Ice type water being able to make Ice is a-okay(even the few that can't learn Ice Beam get something like Icy Wind outside of of a few rare cases like Rotom-W and Volcanion), but making scalding hot water is too weird?
To add to this, scientifically to make something cold is HARDER than to make something hot
 
To add to this, scientifically to make something cold is HARDER than to make something hot
To be fair, boiling-hot water is pretty rare thematic concept, which is more relevant for the magical creature game. In terms of the natural world, mythology, culture, etc, the only themes I can think of involving boiling-hot water are:
- Geysers/hot springs/underwater geothermal vents (Volcanion)
- Steam engines (Coalossal)
- Cooking (Polteageist)
- Fossil fuel/nuclear power plants (none really)
All of these are fairly rare as inspirations for Pokemon, and there aren't many concepts that you can stretch to include these (Pokemon with water cannons such as Blastoise and Clawitzer work, as mentioned previously). On the other hand, ice/coldness is more generic and pretty clearly thematically associated with Water.

An analogy would be that even though auroras are caused by solar/electromagnetic phenomena, Aurora Veil is learned by Ice-types because it's associated with cold places.

That being said, from a competitive standpoint I don't think I'd be in favor of taking (Gen 7+) Scald away from so many Pokemon because I like "support attacks" and not having enough of them makes a lot of defensive Pokemon too passive (especially with the removal of universal Toxic). There's still plenty of janky flavor in movepool distribution and giving Scald to so many Water-types is far from the worst offender (though I still like it when Pokemon have a thematically coherent movepool that still works well competitively). Maybe when they've made more support attacks to replace it so the defensive Water-types aren't just slapping on Ice Beam instead.
 
While I don't think it really matters, if you want to label the games as the "Red Version" and "Blue Version" you could use the recent Legendary Hunts which has the mascots be version exclusives:
That's one way to look at it, but it doesn't really work. US/UM and S/S switched around Dialga/Palkia, Reshiram/Zekrom* and Xerneas/Yveltal. They are in the game which is the opposite color of their game of origin.

*in my opinion
Red/Version 1: Gold, Ruby, Diamond, Black, X, Sun, Sword
Blue/Version 2: Silver, Sapphire, Pearl, White, Y, Moon, Shield
If we go by colors, this does not really work either as Diamond, Black*, X and Sword are blue, while Pearl, White*, Y and Shield are red.

*again, in my opinion
I'm wondering if they were maybe more trying to match Legendary by not Version 1 & 2 but by colors? Omega Ruby's Legendaries were "lighter/warmer" colors: orange, red, pink, & white; Alpha Sapphire's were "darker/cooler" colors: blues & black. when you lined them up they all nicely went together.
Not only the legendaries, but if we look at all of the version exclusives for OR/AS, Omega Ruby generally has exclusive Pokémon which are red, white or have lighter colors, while Alpha Sapphire has exclusive Pokémon which are blue, black or have darker colors.
HGSS also switches around what Hoenn legendaries you can find. Kyogre and Latias are exclusive to HeartGold, while Groudon and Latios are exclusive to SoulSilver.
You are correct about Groudon/Kyogre, but the Lati@s match the color of the game. Latias is red like HeartGold while Latios is blue like SoulSilver.
 
You are correct about Groudon/Kyogre, but the Lati@s match the color of the game. Latias is red like HeartGold while Latios is blue like SoulSilver.
Latios is exclusive to Ruby, and Latias is exclusive to Sapphire. Ruby and Sapphire are much more obviously analogous to the colors red and blue than HeartGold and SoulSilver are.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
I feel like people are needlessly overcomplicating this. Version 1 is the first title, and version 2 is the second.

HeartGold and SoulSilver.
Ruby and Sapphire.
Black and White.
X and Y.
Sword and Shield.

Etc.

Various titles have switched up what Pokemon are exclusive to where, but that doesn't change which title is 1 and which is 2. I suspect HGSS's switching the typical exclusives was very consciously done as a sop to those people, like me, who typically trend towards one version (in my case, version 2 - Sapphire, LeafGreen, Pearl, SoulSilver etc*) to give them those Pokemon like Groudon, Latios, and Mawile that they usually wouldn't get.

ORAS didn't deviate from the usual formula - it got all the "version 1" exclusives like Ho-Oh, Reshiram, and Tornadus, with the only exception being the Sinnoh fossils - Cranidos is exclusive to AS while Shieldon is exclusive to OR. XY, USUM, SwSh, and even BDSP to an extent have all continued this pattern. If they were going to mix things up we'd see a more random mix of what legendaries are exclusive but it's ALWAYS Version 1=Ho-Oh, Dialga, Reshiram et al. It's unrelated to their colouring.


*though for SV, I'm leaning towards Scarlet unexpectedly... curious as to whether that'll continue as more details are revealed
 
Latios is exclusive to Ruby, and Latias is exclusive to Sapphire. Ruby and Sapphire are much more obviously analogous to the colors red and blue than HeartGold and SoulSilver are.
Oh. It seems I misunderstood what you were trying to say.
I feel like people are needlessly overcomplicating this. Version 1 is the first title, and version 2 is the second.
I agree. But as I am the one who started this, let's get back to the point.

Paired Pokémon games can generally be divided in two colors, which are red and blue. For some of them, it is easy to see which one is red and the other blue. There's no question about R/B, R/S, B2/W2, X/Y and S/S. For the others, it is generally accepted that Gold/HeartGold, Pearl/Shining Pearl, Sun/Ultra Sun and Scarlet are red, while their counterparts are blue. For B/W, the general opinion seems to be that Black is red and White is blue, while my unpopular opinion is that it is the other way around.

The ones I am unsure about are LGP/E. I have no idea which one of them should be seen as red and which should be blue. Neither of them really leans to either color, so I guess they might be an exception to the rule of pairs coming in red and blue colors.
 
The ones I am unsure about are LGP/E. I have no idea which one of them should be seen as red and which should be blue. Neither of them really leans to either color, so I guess they might be an exception to the rule of pairs coming in red and blue colors.
Well I believe the exclusive pokemon are respectively almost identical to Red (Pikachu) and Blue (Eevee) so not exactly hard to connect them ;)

Iirc the only difference is that Magmar and Electabuzz are not version exclusives but they were in RB
 

Celever

i am town
is a Community Contributor
Hot take: Red and Blue versions have never been a thing. If we can call versions 1 and 2 consistently the "red and blue" versions then the third version should be the Yellow version, right? But the most common colour for a "yellow version" is actually... white, or thereabouts, with Crystal and Platinum holding that fort.

Red and Blue are appealing from a market standpoint because they're bold, opposite colours. That's also why Black and White worked, and for a long time Red and Blue were being used as a pseudo-callback or brand thing, but with the intended Gen V reboot they wanted to try out two other completely opposite colours. Gold and Silver I also wouldn't characterise as a red or blue version, they're also their own colour scheme, as opposite to red and blue as Crystal is to Yellow. Interestingly the red-blue-GREEN theme can be found in spinoffs like Mystery Dungeon Explorers, where Time is blue, Darkness is red, and Sky is green. Was this as a callback to Gen I, or because it gave each version of the game clear identity from the others and ensured people knew they were different to one another? In my opinion it's the latter.
 
I see the Red/Blue term in the same vein as "Eeveelution" used to be used: a fandom shorthand that the company hasn't directly adopted in this manner (yet) for marketing despite both parties seeming to share views on the concept that term is referring to.

One big issue I feel by comparison is that while Eeveelution is a categorization that explains something for the individual member (i.e. "This Pokemon evolves from Eevee"), the Red/Blue idea for Paired versions doesn't necessarily explain much about the individual game so much as just distinguishing the two paired members as not being the other, since there isn't always a consistent rule for which version gets what kind of perk (EX: Kyogre is attached to the "first" version of the Gen 2 remakes, while being "Second" version in Gen 3 appearances or USUM, and then both-appearing in its Gen 8 availability), not least of which probably stemming from small additions the games have had over the years like Pinsir (who is Version Exclusive in Kanto and Sinnoh, but otherwise a "both versions" Pokemon) changing its pair-off from Scyther (as a Gen 1 V-E) to Heracross (who's always a Double-Version Pokemon).

Like, the term "Red" only has meaning in saying the other version is its "Blue" as the second paired version, but while that tells you the two games are like 95% identical, saying which one is "Red" doesn't necessarily impart a consistent idea of what that 5% different content consists of until both versions are thoroughly looked at in the first place.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Yeah, the true order of Pokemon main games goes like:
1. Pocket Monsters Red and Green
2. Pokemon Red and Blue (released in Japan as Blue only)
3. Pokemon Yellow
.
.
.
22. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Speaking of which, my unpopular opinion is that I'm not really excited for SV for now. Aside from Lechonk and Quaxly, none of the mons grab my interest, and we're not sure how much this open world direction would affect the game.
 
Yeah, the true order of Pokemon main games goes like:
1. Pocket Monsters Red and Green
2. Pokemon Red and Blue (released in Japan as Blue only)
3. Pokemon Yellow
.
.
.
22. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Speaking of which, my unpopular opinion is that I'm not really excited for SV for now. Aside from Lechonk and Quaxly, none of the mons grab my interest, and we're not sure how much this open world direction would affect the game.
It's actually more like
Red/Green (J)
Blue (J)
Red/Blue
Yellow

Japanese Blue is its own entity, and is for all intents and purposes the true "third version" of Gen 1, with a bunch of aesthetic overhauls (most notably the front battle sprites), shakeups to encounter tables and mon availability, and redesigning Cerulean Cave. The Red and Blue we're most familiar with are something of a hybrid between Red/Green and Blue, using Red/Green's mon encounter tables and mon availability and Blue's aesthetic and Cerulean Cave. Also weird glitch stuff is different between versions but I ain't researching all those differences for a small forum post.

Imagine if someone made ROM hacks of Emerald or Platinum that recreated Ruby/Sapphire or Diamond/Pearl.
 
My personal theory is based off of Mysterial's Masters team in Battle Revolution.
1654592674474.png

Box Art Legendaries are divide with whether they're good in the Sun or Rain, or are more "passive" or "active", with red mostly being sun and blue being mostly being rain. There are exceptions throughout though.

For Black and White, Zekrom primarily uses blue electricity, which is typically found more so on rain teams due to Thunder, while Reshiram uses red fire, which primarily make up sun teams.

1654592974506.png

While both Tornadus and Thunderus both benefit from rain support, Tonadus was exclusive to Black and can learn Heat Wave while Thunderus is exclsuive to White and more so associated with Thunder.

For X and Y, while Xerneas is blue and Yveltal is red, Xerneas is associate with light compared to Yveltal's darkness, so they end being in team sun and rain respectively.

Solgaleo I shouldn't have to explain why is on team sun with Lunala being rain by default.

Sword and Shield is where things get interesting since Zacian (blue) and Zamazenta (red) are warriors without an elemental affinity, but there is something to note. Rain teams lower Fire moves' power, helping Zam be a better wall while Sun teams typically help bolster offensive Pokemon, like Zacian with Solar Blade for example. This is also why Latias is with team rain while Latios is with team sun.

I'm basing this off of SwSh's version exclusives since it's the most recent pair of games.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Cherrim of all things is used as Manaphy's sun counterpart?
Well DUH, it's not like there's a Grass-type Mythical oh wait nevermind

Joking aside it's probably because Celebi doesn't benefit that much from sunny weather, whereas Flower Gift makes all of Mysterial's team incredibly OP. Only Groudon appreciates the Attack boost, but everything else benefits hugely from a 1.5x Special Defence increase.
 
Almost two weeks without activity in this thread. That means it is time for a new unpopular opinion! I want to give some praise to a game (or a pair) which is generally unloved and criticized within the fandom, but that I personally like a lot. Even more now that I have gone back to the game and played though it again. I also want to give some criticism to a game which is generally more liked, but that I personally do not think is as great as others make it out to be. I thought about posting this in the likes thread at first, but I think it is more suitable for this thread since it is very unpopular but not completely positive.

Previously, I felt that I could appreciate Sword a lot more after playing L:A. But now, I feel that I can appreciate Sword even more after actually going back to it and playing it again. The game is just so much fun! It was fun back when it was released and it is still great nowadays. I’m enjoying every second of it. In comparison, L:A was also fun but it made me frustrated far too often when I played it. There were so many things L:A tried to do but failed so hard at. It also got many things wrong that Sword and other main series games had gotten right, which was sad to see.

I won’t deny that Sword has some serious issues, the biggest ones for me are dexit and the Battle Tower nerfs. But the game was still fun. Especially battles, I can appreciate the traditional battle system so much more now. Always making your decision for the turn at the same time as the opponent is such a great feature that I will always be grateful for. L:A also has a lot of issues, I have talked about my issues with the game in more detail here. The biggest one for me is that the battles in the game just aren’t fun. I really liked the Gym Leader battles and other “boss” battles in Sword, but in L:A, I didn’t like either the Noble battles or any of the trainer battles. Even battling wild Pokémon wasn’t very enjoyable. In the end, both games have their flaws, but while Sword was fun despite its flaws, L:A was often frustrating because of its flaws.

Sword also gave me more of a “WOW”-feeling since it was my first Pokémon game for the Switch, thus being my first Pokémon game in HD and the first main series game I could play on my TV. L:A did not give me this feeling. I think I also like the graphics in Sword better than the graphics in L:A. The style in Sword just appeals to me more, somehow. Though I think both of them are good graphically (now that’s an unpopular opinion!).

I have seen some people say that L:A was a big step up from S/S, but I disagree. If anything, I think L:A was a step down. It tried much harder than S/S but it also failed much harder with so many of the things it tried to do. S/S didn’t try as hard but they did at least succeed with most of the things they did.

Regarding dexit, my popular opinion is that I do not like it. But that’s not what I wanted to say here. I have seen some people say that we got nothing for dexit, and I definitely agree with that. Even more after playing L:A. While we have gotten Pokémon games that have been fun and enjoyable to play, we had that before dexit as well, so dexit have yet to give us something that we didn’t have before.

So yeah, I can appreciate Sword more after playing L:A. This is similar to how it has been for some previous generations in the past. I could appreciate Gen 5 more after playing Gen 6, and Gen 6 more after playing Gen 7. Oddly, I have yet to feel this way for the Alola games despite being a fan of them. I’m not sure why. Maybe I just overplayed the Alola games so much when they were new to the point that I have yet to miss them. Or maybe it is because they failed in some aspects which I consider very important in Pokémon. I’m not really sure. I still like them and Gen 7 is still my third favorite, I just don’t feel that I can appreciate S/M and US/UM more after playing Sword and L:A.

Now to another unpopular opinion, related to the above. I really like the story and characters in Sword. Like with the game itself, I have come to appreciate the story a lot more after replaying it, and I definitely prefer the story in Sword over the one in L:A. I like how the story in Sword was a bit more light-hearted and down-to-earth compared to the more extreme stories of previous games, especially Gen 7. I liked the stories of the Alola games as well, but it was nice to get something different as a change of pace.

I like how there are basically two stories told alongside each other. First the player’s journey to complete the Gym Challenge and beat the Champion, then the story of the legends and Sonia’s investigations. They then come together at the end and the final battle against Eternatus is one of my favorite moments in the series. Teaming up with your rival and the cover legends in a battle against a powerful opponent is one of the best battles in the series.

I like the DLC stories as well. The Isle of Armor with Kubfu, Mustard, Honey and Klara/Avery, as well as the Crown Tundra with Peony, Calyrex and the other legends. Those were great and fun to play through.

I really like the characters too. The rivals are all splendid. Klara is fantastic, Hop is great, Marnie is good and Bede is pretty good too, I like him better than I did earlier now that I have replayed the game. He was better than I remembered. I haven’t played Shield so I don’t know about Avery, but from what I have seen, he seems to be on the same level as Klara. Most of the other characters like Sonia and the Gym Leaders are great too.

One recurring theme in the games is succession and growth. Many of the characters get new roles over the course of the game, like Marnie and Bede taking over as Gym Leaders, Klara/Avery also becoming Gym Leaders, Sonia becoming the new Professor and the player character taking Leon’s place as the Champion.

The story had some issues though. I think Rose’s plan was rather stupid, it could have had a better execution or it could have been something different altogether. But overall, I really enjoyed the story in Sword.

I liked the story in L:A as well, but it just didn’t resonate with me in the same way as the story in Sword did, it didn’t leave a big impression on me either. It was okay, but not super great. I disliked how the player was portrayed as “the chosen one”, picked by Arceus to travel back in time to save Hisui. I would have liked it better if the player had instead been a young new member of the Galaxy Expedition Team who later gets picked by Arceus because of their actions and kindness towards Pokémon (or something). While this would have caused problems later on when Kamado believes the fault with the space-time distortion lies within the player, I think it could have been solved in a different way without too many problems.

Still, there’s a lot I like about the story and characters in L:A. I absolutely love how Ingo was brought "back" and his role in the game. I think Volo was a great twist villain, I also like the rivalry between Adaman/Irida and their clans, as well as the romance between Iscan and Palina. But on the whole, it just didn’t leave a lasting impression on me. Overall, I think Sword is among my 5-6 favorite stories in Pokémon games, while I think the story of L:A is good but only slightly above average at best.

So in the end, I definitely like Sword better than L:A. Sword is far from perfect, but it is still a really fun and enjoyable game. It is my 6th favorite Pokémon game on the whole. I still think L:A is good, but Sword is really great. I’m not sure if I will get any future Legends games because of all the problems I had with L:A, but replaying Sword has definitely made me appreciate the regular main series games more and it made me a bit more hyped for S/V!
 
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Between all the fanmade types, Sound is one of the most popular ones, and I don’t know why any human would want Sound type in the game and is arguably second to Wind type (not renamed Flying, a brand new type) in dumbest type idea.

First, would Sound type fit a good portion of moves?
Sure. Exploud, Chatot, and Meloetta being part Sound makes sense, and having Boomburst be Sound type makes sense (thematically at least).
However, many Pokemon that would be associated with Sound already have dual typings that doesn’t include Normal and there are already Non-Normal type Sound moves like Bug Buzz. Pokemon like Kommo-o and Toxtricity could be part Sound but it would honestly ruin how they were established as Dragon/Fighting and Poison/Electric (I will concede that this can be solved by regional forms, but you’re need a good excuse for Toxtricity to be Sound type in a new region but not Galar). Their signature moves would also be potentially ruined by becoming Sound like Bug Buzz and Snarl would. A solution for supporters of the moves like Flying Press, but I feel like that would have the affect of making a bunch of characters Metal Benders in TLoK. It forgets why Flying Press is a cool move just so they can fit in Sound type that has no business in the game already.
Supporters of Sound type will also just attach the typing to Pokemon marginally or not at all related to Sound like Electrode or Altaria. Why? They make sound, but so do a ton of Pokemon already. And that brings me to my next point.

Second thing wrong with Sound type, is conceptually what is a Sound Pokemon? What I mean by that, let’s look at other typings.
Grass is more than just Pokemon based on actual species of Grass (funnily enough there is like 2 and one of them is Steel/Flying. I could be wrong on how many actual species of Grass are actual Pokemon). Grass encompasses all sorts of Plants and even Fungi. Trevenant is comprised of a tree possessed by a ghost. Sceptile is a reptile covered in leaves. Roserade is a humanoid rose.
Grass additionally makes sense for what its weak to and what it resists. Bugs/Birds eat grass and leaves, plants would absorb the water attacks, ect.
Fire types are similar. They don’t just encompass actual flames, but encompass a lot of things associated with heat (unless you’re the Pokemon Sun mascot that doesn’t even have Flash Fire despite eating stars), and it has common sense type effectiveness.
We also have Fighting, which is pretty weird as a type if you actually think about it. However, there is still come sense as Fighting defensively would easily be seen as martial arts and encompasses multiple martial arts.
The problem with Sound in this case is that it’s completely nonsensical as either a state of being or how it interacts with other types. What the hell would a being made out of Sound even look like? What would it even be defensively? You can imagine Pokemon like Exploud being Sound type, but what would the Sound part of it even be defending the actual Pokemon? And also what would be even encompassed for Sound type Pokemon? It would just be Music Pokemon and Pokemon that are really loud somehow, which is both too specific and too broad.

Third thing wrong with Sound is that it’s basically just Normal. This is an issue with a lot of Fanmade types.
Light is just Fairy.
Wind is just Flying.
Earth is just Ground.
Material is just Rock.
Cosmic is just a specific set of Psychic.
Sound is just a specific set of Normal.
The only way for Sound to make sense on the type chart is to have it be a modified really, besides being SE on some types. I also really don’t see why Sound really count be Normal type for most Pokemon besides special cases.

Fourth thing, SOUND ALREADY EXISTS AS A CATEGORY!!!
Making Sound type is stupid because it’s already a category of moves. Making Sound type would be the same as making a Fist type or a Bullet type. That’s what makes it second worst fanmade type imo. You don’t see people making Fist type, Bullet type, or Contact type because it would be stupid to have something that only makes sense on moves and not as a Pokemon type.

It’s a real shame since Sound gets so much attention while cooler ideas for types will get shafted. I’m a personal supporter of the Regal/Royalty type. Besides changing already dual type Pokemon, it checks off the boxes that most other Fanmade types don’t.
Do most potential Regal type Pokemon lose out on interesting types?
Most of them would keep having interesting types, while Slowking, Kingdra, Empoleon, and Calyrex could drop their Psychic/Dragon typings, or have regional forms. Nidoking/queen could do the same with Poison/Regal and Regal/Ground typings. Pokemon like Vespiquen could also have far more interesting type with Bug/Regal too.
Does Regal make sense on the type chart?
Yes. It has plenty of potential when it comes to offensive and defensive effectiveness. There are plenty of myths and real life history to come up with type interactions for Regal.
Does Regal encompass the right amount of things?
Sure does. Regal can be given to all the King and Queen Pokemon, which are surprisingly diverse with Nidos, Kingdra, Tyrantrum, Cofagrigus, and a lot more. It can also be considered for higher titles. Like Machamp being Fighting/Regal because it’s Champion, Wailord being Water/Regal because it’s massive and a lord, Regigigas can be pure Regal because it’s the Regi Master, and of course Serperior, a rich Noble type that is already the Regal Pokemon.
Can Regal be just another type?
Not really. It’s entirely its own category distinct from other types.
Does Regal have potential for future designs without being stale?
Hell yes. There are plenty of cool things to base Regal type Pokemon on. You have mythical kings like Jade Emperor, the Bull King, Dracula, Mt. Olympus Trio, King Cole regional form of Coalassol. You got animals like the Jumping Regal Spider, King Protea Flowers, King Cobras, Rat Kings, Monarch Butterflies, Queen of different hives, Queen Angelfish, Emperor Tamarins, and so much more.

But yeah, we should totally have a type as boring and uninspired as Sound over Regal.
This is why Democracy doesn’t work, but that’s a whole other post that would be way longer.
 
Between all the fanmade types, Sound is one of the most popular ones, and I don’t know why any human would want Sound type in the game and is arguably second to Wind type (not renamed Flying, a brand new type) in dumbest type idea.

First, would Sound type fit a good portion of moves?
Sure. Exploud, Chatot, and Meloetta being part Sound makes sense, and having Boomburst be Sound type makes sense (thematically at least).
However, many Pokemon that would be associated with Sound already have dual typings that doesn’t include Normal and there are already Non-Normal type Sound moves like Bug Buzz. Pokemon like Kommo-o and Toxtricity could be part Sound but it would honestly ruin how they were established as Dragon/Fighting and Poison/Electric (I will concede that this can be solved by regional forms, but you’re need a good excuse for Toxtricity to be Sound type in a new region but not Galar). Their signature moves would also be potentially ruined by becoming Sound like Bug Buzz and Snarl would. A solution for supporters of the moves like Flying Press, but I feel like that would have the affect of making a bunch of characters Metal Benders in TLoK. It forgets why Flying Press is a cool move just so they can fit in Sound type that has no business in the game already.
Supporters of Sound type will also just attach the typing to Pokemon marginally or not at all related to Sound like Electrode or Altaria. Why? They make sound, but so do a ton of Pokemon already. And that brings me to my next point.

Second thing wrong with Sound type, is conceptually what is a Sound Pokemon? What I mean by that, let’s look at other typings.
Grass is more than just Pokemon based on actual species of Grass (funnily enough there is like 2 and one of them is Steel/Flying. I could be wrong on how many actual species of Grass are actual Pokemon). Grass encompasses all sorts of Plants and even Fungi. Trevenant is comprised of a tree possessed by a ghost. Sceptile is a reptile covered in leaves. Roserade is a humanoid rose.
Grass additionally makes sense for what its weak to and what it resists. Bugs/Birds eat grass and leaves, plants would absorb the water attacks, ect.
Fire types are similar. They don’t just encompass actual flames, but encompass a lot of things associated with heat (unless you’re the Pokemon Sun mascot that doesn’t even have Flash Fire despite eating stars), and it has common sense type effectiveness.
We also have Fighting, which is pretty weird as a type if you actually think about it. However, there is still come sense as Fighting defensively would easily be seen as martial arts and encompasses multiple martial arts.
The problem with Sound in this case is that it’s completely nonsensical as either a state of being or how it interacts with other types. What the hell would a being made out of Sound even look like? What would it even be defensively? You can imagine Pokemon like Exploud being Sound type, but what would the Sound part of it even be defending the actual Pokemon? And also what would be even encompassed for Sound type Pokemon? It would just be Music Pokemon and Pokemon that are really loud somehow, which is both too specific and too broad.

Third thing wrong with Sound is that it’s basically just Normal. This is an issue with a lot of Fanmade types.
Light is just Fairy.
Wind is just Flying.
Earth is just Ground.
Material is just Rock.
Cosmic is just a specific set of Psychic.
Sound is just a specific set of Normal.
The only way for Sound to make sense on the type chart is to have it be a modified really, besides being SE on some types. I also really don’t see why Sound really count be Normal type for most Pokemon besides special cases.

Fourth thing, SOUND ALREADY EXISTS AS A CATEGORY!!!
Making Sound type is stupid because it’s already a category of moves. Making Sound type would be the same as making a Fist type or a Bullet type. That’s what makes it second worst fanmade type imo. You don’t see people making Fist type, Bullet type, or Contact type because it would be stupid to have something that only makes sense on moves and not as a Pokemon type.

It’s a real shame since Sound gets so much attention while cooler ideas for types will get shafted. I’m a personal supporter of the Regal/Royalty type. Besides changing already dual type Pokemon, it checks off the boxes that most other Fanmade types don’t.
Do most potential Regal type Pokemon lose out on interesting types?
Most of them would keep having interesting types, while Slowking, Kingdra, Empoleon, and Calyrex could drop their Psychic/Dragon typings, or have regional forms. Nidoking/queen could do the same with Poison/Regal and Regal/Ground typings. Pokemon like Vespiquen could also have far more interesting type with Bug/Regal too.
Does Regal make sense on the type chart?
Yes. It has plenty of potential when it comes to offensive and defensive effectiveness. There are plenty of myths and real life history to come up with type interactions for Regal.
Does Regal encompass the right amount of things?
Sure does. Regal can be given to all the King and Queen Pokemon, which are surprisingly diverse with Nidos, Kingdra, Tyrantrum, Cofagrigus, and a lot more. It can also be considered for higher titles. Like Machamp being Fighting/Regal because it’s Champion, Wailord being Water/Regal because it’s massive and a lord, Regigigas can be pure Regal because it’s the Regi Master, and of course Serperior, a rich Noble type that is already the Regal Pokemon.
Can Regal be just another type?
Not really. It’s entirely its own category distinct from other types.
Does Regal have potential for future designs without being stale?
Hell yes. There are plenty of cool things to base Regal type Pokemon on. You have mythical kings like Jade Emperor, the Bull King, Dracula, Mt. Olympus Trio, King Cole regional form of Coalassol. You got animals like the Jumping Regal Spider, King Protea Flowers, King Cobras, Rat Kings, Monarch Butterflies, Queen of different hives, Queen Angelfish, Emperor Tamarins, and so much more.

But yeah, we should totally have a type as boring and uninspired as Sound over Regal.
This is why Democracy doesn’t work, but that’s a whole other post that would be way longer.
Ok I hate the concept of a Sound type so I was 100% on board until the Regal stuff haha. The Regal type would have many of the same issues you outlined with Sound, while having the additional problem of a lack of moves. We have King's Shield as an obvious option but that's limited to a Pokemon that didn't even make the list of potential Regal-types. Noble Roar also works I guess, but neither is a damaging move and I think that's where the real challenges lie.

You've defined the type very broadly on a conceptual level. If Wailord is included because 'lord' then that means you're expanding the type to include not just royalty but all nobility. Does that include Pokemon based on knights, like Gallade? A lot of legendary trios are reminiscent of a lord and his retinue or a monarch and their unruly children. Are ALL of those Pokemon Regal-type? Is Tyranitar a Regal-type because a tyrant is an absolute ruler like a king? 'Don' is Spanish for lord, so are Donphan, Gastrodon, and Hippowdon candidates for a Regal retyping? None of this is even getting into the differences between the Japanese and English names, let alone other languages.

I feel like including Machamp is even more dicey because now the concept's seemingly been expanded to mean 'some kind of supremacy'. Machamp's name is derived from its physical strength, i.e. 1) it's in its final, strongest form and 2) it's strong like a heavyweight champ. If Regalness is derived from the notion of a title or moniker and these names are chosen based on strength, then a lot of Pokemon could reasonably gain Regal typing essentially because they're strong. Plenty of mons have names in the same vein as Machamp because including some kind of power-based superlative in the name of a final evolution is a common way to show progression from a Pokemon's weaker pre-evos to its 'complete' form. Is Rhyperior a Regal-type? Granbull? Walrein?

Does Toxapex earn a Regal typing by virtue of being based on the Crown-of-thorns starfish, going by your proposed bases for future designs? Who's a stronger king than Jesus, after all?
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Sound might have worked as a type if they'd introduced it right after Gen II - there are a few Pokemon from the first two gens who feel like they'd qualify to gain the type (Wigglytuff, Electrode, Snorlax, Bellossom, Politoed), but the more time has passed the harder it becomes to justify, and I agree it is better as a move category akin to contact moves.

There's an indication that Game Freak were interested in making it a category from the start (five of the sound-based moves from Gen I - Growl, Roar, Sing, Sonicboom, Supersonic - are grouped together in the internal listing, though Screech stands alone) but it didn't become an actual move category until abilities were introduced. That's not to say it couldn't have been a type - lots of abilities give immunities to moves - but overall it's more interesting for different types to have access to Sound as a feature rather than it being its own type.

I'm definitely in the camp of thinking we don't need new types unless there's a clear need for it. I actually wouldn't have chosen to introduce the Fairy type (though I've come around on it); my instinct was that the answer to Gen V's Dragon dominance was simply to buff the Ice-type. But the type chart atm feels pretty even, and doesn't need changing currently. I also agree with Cuddly that the vast majority of fanmade types simply fall under the existing categories - the eighteen we have are a pretty broad spectrum, so it's hard to come up with something that isn't covered by them already. Sound is one of the few things that is unique, but as I said, it's better now as a move category and not a distinct typing.
 
I'm not sure if "unpopular" or not, but honestly I think wanting new types is just showing lack of understanding of how difficult to balance a game like this is.

Just as is, the type chart is already a mess and certain types are significantly stronger than others. It's impossible to balance it perfectly, as for every type you buff, you are indirectly (or directly) nerfing another one. The existance of dual typing also further complicates it, and also acts as soft entry-barrier because not only you have to memorize the type chart, then you also need to factor in that many pokemon have 2 types which change their affinities and may negate or exacerbate an existing affinity.

The last thing this game needs is MORE of these making it even more of a mess than it already is.
 

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