Little things you like about Pokémon

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
Ok so Earthquake is a move famously missing in Legends Arceus and that's most likely just for mechanical purposes since they seemed to have wanted to avoid spread moves generally.

HOWEVER

Whether by accident or even the 1% chance it was actually intended, Earthquake not existing actually lines up with the in-game canon.

"TM26 contains Earthquake. It is a powerful attack that causes a massive tremor. I made it when I ran the Gym here, far too long ago..." -Giovanni, FRLG. It's TM41 in LGPE but otherwise the same line.
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
Speaking of Ultra Beasts, something interesting is that the stats of the version exclusive ones don’t actually line up with one-another, but for soof them they *do* line up with one that *isn’t* version-exclusive.

-You’d expect the counterpart of the Physically-inclined Buzzwole to be the Specially-inclined Nihilego... but it’s instead the hyper-frail mixed attacker Pheremosa
-You’d expect the counterpart to Kartana with it’s absurd ATK to be Xurkitree with its similarly bonkers SPA... but instead it’s the obsessively balanced Celesteela.
-And you’d expect Stakataka to have a(n as-of-right-now undesigned) counterpart with absurdly high SPD yet again SpD is the neglected stat... but instead it’s another frail mixed attacker in Blacephalon.

Just another way the Ultra Beasts come across as alien.
You could look at it that way, though I think the version exclusive UBs do match-up in ways which aren't just opposite stats but sort of having complementary roles:

Buzzwole is a Physical Tank while Pheromosa is a Mixed Glass Cannon Speedster.
Kartana is famously known for its min-maxing making it a Super Frail Speedy Physical Powerhouse while Celesteela is a Balanced Mixed Tank.
Stakataka is a (literal) Physical Wall while is a Frail Mixed Attacker.

Whether by accident or even the 1% chance it was actually intended, Earthquake not existing actually lines up with the in-game canon.

"TM26 contains Earthquake. It is a powerful attack that causes a massive tremor. I made it when I ran the Gym here, far too long ago..." -Giovanni, FRLG. It's TM41 in LGPE but otherwise the same line.
Also works with Toxic which Koga mentions is a secret technique passed down through his family for 400 years.
 
Ok so Earthquake is a move famously missing in Legends Arceus and that's most likely just for mechanical purposes since they seemed to have wanted to avoid spread moves generally.

HOWEVER

Whether by accident or even the 1% chance it was actually intended, Earthquake not existing actually lines up with the in-game canon.

"TM26 contains Earthquake. It is a powerful attack that causes a massive tremor. I made it when I ran the Gym here, far too long ago..." -Giovanni, FRLG. It's TM41 in LGPE but otherwise the same line.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that text originally used for TM27 Fissure in the original Pokémon Red and Blue?

I never saw FR/LG as correcting that, rather that they changed the TM given and didn't change his flavor text.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Two things today:

1. Messy Pokedex listings > straightforward listings.

This topic has come up before - there was some talk a while ago about how certain dex listings don't follow an obvious logic (with Pokemon who appear early positioned late, or vice versa) while others "make sense" (Hoenn's is the most logical of all the listings, with nearly every Pokemon having a number in the listing that reflects its position in the game). But I think the ones that make sense are just... dull.

I was looking at the Hisui Dex earlier and it's just so gloriously all over the place. Loads of Pokemon which one would expect to be early in the listing (Budew, Ralts, Machop) are way back, possibly to contrast with Sinnoh's numbering. The Sinnoh starters are spread out and not in the usual Grass-Fire-Water order. Once again Garchomp (and Goodra for that matter) is in the middle of the dex instead of at the back, while Lucario occupies the typical "pseudo-legendary position" of being the final regular species before the legendary section. Rotom, which generally also tends to be near the back, is similarly free-floating.

Obviously PLA is open-world therefore less beholden to any logical expectations about order when it comes to numbering the Pokedex, but I'm talking in terms of Pokemon strength and rareness as much as anything else. Generally speaking, weaker and common Pokemon tend to come first while strong and rare Pokemon tend to come later.

And what's especially janky to me is the legendary ordering. Phione, Manaphy, Shaymin, and Darkrai all come after Arceus - which makes sense for the latter two since Shaymin and Darkrai aren't mandatory encounters, but it still feels so profoundly odd to have anything be after Arceus.

But you know what? I like the messiness. Honestly the fact that I'm expecting there to be any conventions or traditions when it comes to numbering demonstrates why the orderings should be messy. I feel like the Pokemon fandom as a whole often tends to expect things to fall into patterns and then we get surprised when those patterns are broken.


2. I really like the way that, with less than three months to go, we know pretty much nothing about Scarlet and Violet beyond the fact that it's a Pokemon game. I know a lot of people are annoyed that the pre-release cycle isn't following the same sort of pattern previous games did, and if you'd asked me a few months ago I'd have been adamant that I want to know as much as possible, but it's been honestly so refreshing not to have loads of little scraps of information to obsess over like has so often been the case before.

I think we were all expecting a slow but steady trickle of trailers and images, in which we'd see new characters and Pokemon. Instead, we've been told virtually nothing. We still don't know the region name; we've been shown... what? 8 or 9 of the new game's Pokemon (out of what I'm cautiously assuming is going to be around 80 or 90); it seems fairly clear that the games will have a modern/historical divide based on the professors and the mascots. That's about it.

I will still obsessively follow all the coverage of the game once it's released, on here and on other sites like Serebii, but for now it's been nice to just sit, knowing only that the new games are coming but not much else. It's been a refreshing change of pace.
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
Oh geez, that story about painted chicks is just horrible! :blobastonished: Like, at least with a goldfish you keep it until it dies (which would likely be a few days).

Anyway, well I guess I'm a good pet owner as I kept my Blaziken, infact I guess I'm great as it was the star of my team. Though, that shouldn't be too much of a surprise, even today the Starter is usually the star of my team, Fire-type unless I'm playing a third version or remake. Also I never had any problems with Blaziken, I thought it looked cool. Yeah, sure, it looked more humanoid, but being it fought via kicking it kept on getting longer legs as it evolved made sense.

Though the idea behind why it was designed as such is an interesting one. Not the pushing boundary stuff (I feel they do that all the time now), talking about how it would make some players want to box it and use other Pokemon. Thinking about, it many other RPGs the beginning equipment you get you pretty much replace with better stuff. But with Pokemon, while we do have the early route mons, the Starter itself isn't a crutch but a viable partner throughout the entire adventure. Now obviously they would never do this, the Starters are the most marketable Pokemon of any generation, but would be interesting if they actually ever fully went into this idea: Starters that don't evolve (probably also mono-Type), are strong at the very beginning of the game, but soon are getting outclassed by stronger captures later until you come to a point it might be better to replace them. Now not to make them totally useless maybe make it so that they're actually more fulfill a supporter role than offensive (they're only good early game cause they just have a higher BST and rare Typing), giving them a niche later on if a player decides to keep them (or have some use competitively).

Some other stuff mentioned in the video:
  • Reboot: Huh, so reason Hoenn's Dex is mostly new Pokemon and you only see new Pokemon up to the 3rd Gym isn't because they wanted to push the new gen Pokemon but because they did want to make this a full reboot but needed the Type diversity so decided to add in the older Pokemon. Nowadays, except for Gen V, older Pokemon are used from the start to fill Type gaps even before the 1st Gym. While Pokemon has grown so huge we'll probably never have a dex where the new Pokemon outnumber the old, I wouldn't mind them trying to push the newer Pokemon on the forefront even on routes where you can catch the older Pokemon. Like just give them higher encounter rates, this is their debut region so this is where they're most common, then if used in later games will have lower rates so that gen's new Pokemon can be made more common. Doesn't close off getting the older mons, just gotta put in a little extra effort.
  • Expies: Taillow and Wurmple are specifically mentioned to be expies of Pidgey and Caterpie; if the games weren't initially designed as reboots they possibly wouldn't have been made. Now this is interesting as it implies Hoothoot, Ledyba/Spinarak, and Sentret aren't meant to be the "Region Bird/Bug/Rodent" of Johto, or at least not intentionally but were kind of able to fall into that subgroup. Makes sense in hindsight, Hoothoot had the whole gimmick of catching it at night or via headbutting trees during day, Ledyba/Spinarak weren't your usual gen bugs, and finally Pidgey and Ratatta were available early on along with the likes of Hoothoot and Sentret.
  • Wasn't Worth It: Lol, so apparently the reason Vigoroth evolves into Slaking is because, after becoming very active during its middle stage, it decided "it wasn't worth it" and turns into a fat gorilla/sloth that now doesn't move around so much.
  • Zig, Line, & Block: Another theme was Zigzagoon, which moves in zigzags, evolves into Linoone which moves in a straight line. James Turner kept that theme in mind so designed Obstagoon to being essentially a "full stop" which he emphasized in some artwork he drew for his Twitter.
  • Designed Not To Be Gen 2: So several design decisions were made specifically because of critics of Gen 2 Pokemon. Gen 2 Pokemon were designed to be more kiddy & cute, so Gen III went with more cool, tough, and monstrous designs. Gen 2 designs were kept simple so they were cheaper to make into merch (like toy figurines) and draw in the anime, but Sugimori decided he wanted to make Gen III mons more complex (hence probably why people say they look more like Digimon than Pokemon at the time, not only did they abandon the Gen II "simple" design philosophy but wanted them to look more complex and fantastical).
  • But I Made Moves For That Part: Sugimori at points wanted to remove certain parts of a Pokemon like its tail or horn, but someone would then say they can't because they already gave that Pokemon a move using that part of the body so it stayed and worked it into the final design. So, at least during the Gen III development, Pokemon movesets are/were made alongside the Pokemon's design development and deciding features it would have. Curious if that's still the case or, after this issue, Sugimori changed things so that either movesets were made after the Pokemon was done or the Pokemon's initial concept came along with what kind of moves it would use.
  • White Dragon Rayquaza: News to me, there was a beta dex entry for Rayquaza (sadly no image) where its described as the "White Dragon" Pokemon, attacked using its beak, and would shed its white scales while flying creating a belt of light in the sky. While the white scales never came back, the beak and creating at "belt of light" idea might have with Mega Rayquaza via the mouth adornments it grows and resembling a streaking meteor in its "Delta Mode".
  • Sprinkler Shrub: There was also this Grass-type which was a shrub that collects water and sprays it out like a sprinkler. I'm going to guess this Pokemon eventually became the Lotad family.
  • Gem Of A Name: Ruby & Sapphire was picked because they wanted to go back to Gen I's naming convention (*SIGH*) and pick names which were red-colored and blue/green colored (remember that in Japan blue & green are more considered shades of each other than separate colors). They couldn't agree on names and any they did was already "taken" (?) until four months before release. Since the last game was Crystal they looked up gems and learned that the stone corundum was either called "Ruby" if it was red and "Sapphire" if blue/green, they liked it and went with it. HOWEVER Nintendo didn't want to for some reason (maybe not wanting people to be confused and think it was another set of Johto games?), BUT it was too late in development so allowed it. As a side note, Crystal was picked as a reference to the minerals used in electronics as a big part of Gen II was the Mobile System GB. It's fun learning about the early days of a franchise where the rules for things were so much looser and we get stories like this which would probably never fly today (mostly since the Version titles now have a more direct reference to the version mascots starting with Gen IV).
  • Speaking Of Loose... Canon: Because of the reboot mindset they did not want to set in stone if Hoenn was even part of the same world as Kanto & Johto, just definitely saying they're not physically connected. GF even joked that the space center in Mossdeep is maybe where Team Rocket came from, as in they took a rocket from Hoenn and flew to the world of Kanto/Johto.
  • Kiri: The girl who gives you Berries in Sootopolis is named after Masuda's daughter who was born just before the release of Gen III. As he was in the hospital and even when holding her for the first time he was receiving calls & messages asking for him to sign off on things. Kiri's Birthstone also just so happens to be a Sapphire, being born in September. She's one of the few NPCs who name isn't changed in the English version (sadly other international versions didn't get the memo except for the Italian; all Asian versions kept her name or a form of it)
  • Didn't Know Nothing: Finally getting to the title of the video, indeed the Devs of the Colosseum game never played Pokemon before, they were formed from a group of Sony developers who main experience was with Dragon Quest. When given to task to make the games, they decided to make them both different and mature. The protagonists are same age that fans of the Gen I games would be (Gen I was 6/7 years ago, target audience was 10/11, so Colosseum's protags were made to look 17), Wes was made to look more intimidating to give the villain group someone to be afraid of (deep down still a nice guy of course), to set it apart from the lush forests of Gen I was set in the desert using Arizona as the basis (Phenac City specifically based on Arizona, Pheonix and the story how it came to be, a nice little detail). In particular one dev, Shinichi Hiromoto, joined the project just to make the style mishmash and was the one who came up with the idea of Shadow Pokemon. The composer of the game, Tsukasa Tawada, said some of the music was inspired by Arizona such as the use of the harmonica (there's also music he made that wasn't used in the game though sadly can't share it; also on his Youtube channel he has released piano compositions of Phenac City in 2017 and Relic Forest in 2021).

Messy Pokedex listings > straightforward listings.
Would actually be neat if they programmed the Pokedex to record Pokemon in the order that we caught them in. Like of course there would be an official National Dex numbering (which I personally think needs a redo with all the cross gen evos and forms they've made, but I digress), but if the player is supposed to be the one collecting the data on the Pokemon wouldn't it make sense for each player to have their own personal order? Maybe they can also include a "Professor's Listing" to have a more "logical" listing for ease of use.

I really like the way that, with less than three months to go, we know pretty much nothing about Scarlet and Violet beyond the fact that it's a Pokemon game.

(...)

I will still obsessively follow all the coverage of the game once it's released, on here and on other sites like Serebii, but for now it's been nice to just sit, knowing only that the new games are coming but not much else. It's been a refreshing change of pace.
And a day later they announced a Direct. :blobnom:
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
And a day later they announced a Direct. :blobnom:
HA! It was a subtle double-bluff which Game Freak duly fell for, I wanna know everything about the new games before they come out.

You can all thank me later.


(which I personally think needs a redo with all the cross gen evos and forms they've made, but I digress)
EDIT: Also big disagree with this idea too. I've seen people discuss the idea of a rework of the NatDex order from as far back as Gen IV and my issue with that is: when? As long as the dex keeps growing and new evolutions are constantly added, you'd have to keep redoing it all the time - pretty much every generation so far (except V and VII). Chansey got an evo in Gen II and a pre-evo in Gen IV. Galar introduced some cross-gen evos and then so did Hisui a couple of years later. There's a reason why the official order has Pokemon in the order they were introduced; it'd be completely unworkable otherwise. You'd be constantly bumping old Pokemon further and further back to make room for new ones.

Frankly I think newer Pokemon "deserve" (for lack of a better word) to be at the end of the listing. Why should Wyrdeer get to occupy one of the earliest spots in the National Dex when it only debuted less than a year ago?

The "catch order" idea is nice though, be cool if a future game adopted that as an experimental thing.
 
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Dusk Mage Necrozma

formerly XenonHero126
Messy Pokedex listings > straightforward listings.
I don’t know if there are any oddities in other games but for the most part the regional dex is based not on rarity but on when you can first catch it. Of course this gets harder in PLA with its open-world gameplay but I think I can explain the examples you pointed out. Budew is the first Pokemon in the Mirelands section. The Water Pokemon before it can be caught in the Fieldlands ocean, even though you wouldn’t be able to catch them until later, probably for sake of consistency (although they are ordered at the end of the Fieldlands Pokemon.) Ralts is also in the Mirelands section: they seem late in the dex because there are so many Fieldlands Pokemon. Goodra is early in the dex because you can catch Goomy in the Mirelands. Machop is about halfway through, in the Coastlands section, because that’s where it’s first found. Gible and Rotom seem early because you find them in the Highlands, so they would go before stuff like Bergmite. Manaphy is treated like Darkrai and Shaymin as a sort of extra BDSP bonus (although 95% of players just look online) and isn’t necessary to catch Arceus; still, I agree that putting Arceus at the end would be better.

I noticed two weird things of my own: the Togepi line is listed in the Mirelands section, but you can catch a Togekiss flying in the Fieldlands. I guess placement is based on the first stage? And the distortion Pokemon are at the end of the Mirelands section because distortions only appear after you unlock the Mirelands, but technically they should be between the Fieldlands and Mirelands, becuase you can get them in a Fieldlands distortion before going to the Mirelands.
 
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It's something that's easy to miss about Swadloon because it tends to evolve a few levels after you get it, but if your Sewaddle had the Swarm Ability (with the other normal option for all three members of the line being consistent in Chlorophyll), it instead changes to Leaf Guard as Swadloon before changing back to Swarm when it evolves into Leavanny. I've been playing the Unova games since release and never known this! This makes a lot of sense with Swadloon's shielded-by-leaves design and Pokedex entries in White and Y / Alpha Sapphire.
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Leavanny's Pokedex entries talk about making clothing from leaves for small Pokemon and to make warm wrappings for Sewaddle which is pretty "aww" worthy.
Screen Shot 2022-08-04 at 4.50.04 PM.png


Speaking of Pokedex entries, Sewaddle's Black entry says: "Leavanny dress it in clothes they made for it when it hatched. It hides its head in its hood while it is sleeping." Sewaddle in a grass hoodie is also pretty cute.

It's not a world beater in the games it originates in, but the flavor text and theming around the Sewaddle line is great!
 
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Anytime Pokemon character design creeps into Persona is good news for me. The only downside is I'm reminded how lame the player characters look by default. Blazers are hopefully earlygame.
 
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i was hoping humans could have cool appendages like horns or long noses while still being regular humans otherwise. i'm not saying fantastical races per se but was wondering if they could superficially resemble pokemon without being them, clothes notwithstanding.
 
A lot of Pokemon are surprisingly powerful and capable in ways you normally would not expect.

As someone playing Crystal, I recently started using Dunsparce for the first time ever; and boy, is she AMAZING (so far). Butterfree was also a lot better than I expected, even with non-existent STABs in GSC and reliance on Confusion -> Psybeam and Sleep Powder + Nightmare to take foes down. Yet another hidden gem was Furret, who for me could nearly solo Lance with Defense Curl + Rollout and did pretty well against the majority of bosses.
 

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