How did your favourite Pokemon become your favourite?

[bdt2002]

I definitely don’t think Shaymin is a flawed Pokémon by any means, but for the purpose of this post, things are a little bit different. I’m not talking about Shaymin on my behalf today, but rather on behalf of a close friend of mine whose birthday is today. Said friend is known to suffer from pretty severe anxiety, so for their sake I won’t disclose any details about this person.

That being said, Shaymin has more or less become a symbol synonymous with this friend’s birthday over the years, in a similar notion to how August 7th is emblematic of a certain Psychic-Type feline for me. I believe this story started back when my friend was much younger, and got some various Pokémon merchandise as a birthday gift. Among the gifts was a Shaymin trading card my friend must have really liked for whatever reason. My best guess is that Shaymin’s classification as the Gratitude Pokémon felt very fitting given my friend’s rising interest in Pokémon at the time and because of what day it was.

At some point, a number of strange coincidences started happening during the early parts of July that happened to involve Shaymin in some capacity. I can think of two from recent memory. Just recently, a Shaymin-themed Pokémon Café Remix event was announced for early July, and before that, there was the Poké Fair Scout of Rosa (Special Costume) & Shaymin in Pokémon Masters EX. The latter is notable not only because of the time the scout went live, but also because my friend’s first main series Pokémon game they ever played was White 2. It’s tiny things like these that help me to appreciate these games more because of the small but significant memories they can leave behind.

 

[bdt2002]

That being said, Shaymin has more or less become a symbol synonymous with this friend’s birthday over the years, in a similar notion to how August 7th is emblematic of a certain Psychic-Type feline for me.

Oh, how I love my foreshadowing. Eagle-eyed users have noticed that a singular post on this thread mysteriously vanished a couple weeks ago. The truth of the situation is, I was a bit dis-satisfied with my original Espeon post from a few years back and wanted to give it a well-deserved remake.

The since-discontinued Pokémon Rumble series was never really one of the franchise’s more prominent spin-offs, and would rarely catch anyone’s attention as much as other series like Mystery Dungeon, the GameCube saga, or the Ranger trilogy to name a few. Only the first two Rumble games ever received any sort of critical acclaim, with the original WiiWare game still having a few people that like to look for Shinies and 2011’s Pokémon Rumble Blast being the only game in in the series to sell over a million copies. There’s just one problem- only the original WiiWare game had random Shiny Pokémon in it, and the two 3DS Rumble games instead had an ultra-rare special trait your Pokémon could make use of.

Saying that encountering an Epic Trait boss Pokémon at the end of a stage in Pokémon Rumble World is next to impossible is an understatement. The entire process takes not only patience, but even a slight degree of skill and strategy not usually seen with Shiny hunting. But August 7th, 2019 would be a day that would go down in history. Four years ago today was the day that after over three and a half years of collecting, I would find arguably the single rarest encounter I’ve ever come across in a video game. An Epic Espeon boss in itself was already quite the accomplishment after 19 “regular” Epic Pokémon were found on this save file in that time span, but this was more than that. Just before the encounter took place, I correctly made a very specific prediction on what I would later discover to be 1 in 120 million odds of success. At this point in my time as a Pokémon fan, I was losing faith in the franchise’s direction by virtue of several major changes happening in my personal life alongside the controversies brought about during the early Nintendo Switch era. Without going into further details, I needed any sort of sign to tell me it was my time and effort to keep going. An argument can be made that a toy Espeon from a spin-off game is the sole reason I’m still a Pokémon fan to this day.

 

[MTB'er Ben]

The original reasons are lost to me now, but I know my Flygon-favoritism started with Pokémon Emerald, in the desert route. Quite annoyed with where to go, being marred in the sand, and encountering cacturne for the hundredth time, I trudged on, making sure to battle every trainer along the way. In between one of those battles, a little orange fella suddenly clasped its maw around my ankle. *Crunch!* "Oww you little-"..."hmmm wonder what you evolve into....get in the pokeball!"

Eventually the orange, dotted-eyed little freak evolved into a meak bug ground/dragon....thing, with wings and a penchant for vibration. I used it to little effect, most often it would get knocked out before it could do anything meaningful in battle. But mama didn't raise a quitter, nor would I allow Vibrava to quit.

I used TM Earthquake which made a huge difference. Miraculously it could score KOs on its own and soon after leveled up enough experience to evolve into Flygon, and I was in love.

520 BST, average distributed stats all around, and a Swiss army knife to boot, Flygon always ends up in RU or NU, but I think that's the reason I like it; it's a bit of an underdog, and everyone likes a good underdog story. I picked up competitive formats late into Gen 6, and then mainly 7 and 8, spamming Scarf Flygon on the ladder. You could imagine my disappointment when the artist for its potential mega evolution in ORAS couldn't pass the design stage, but all they needed to do was give it an extra set of wings, Tinted Lens, Bug/Dragon typing, and nice dump into special attack and speed, and voila you'd have your mega.

Sadly, that didn't happen and I guess for the better at this point because theres no need to improve upon perfection. I've come to accept my favorite for just being itself!

thx for reading...

 

[Catzzadilla]

Oh my god, imagine if Snorlax is taking a nap and they are just bouncing on it! Like they are on a trampoline!

 

[Local Dog]

He's a chad

 

[Catzzadilla]

Reminder that this tool exists to help people who still don't know/can't decide. It had to be done by process of elimination for me, and even when picking the final one, I still had to open the windows capture tool and manually cross out the ones that I felt less than the others. Ultimately, in the end, narrowly beating Goodra-Hisui (whom I call Snoodra) and Quagsire, my favorite Pokémon is Flygon.

 

[Cobalt Empoleon]

Back in 2007, I was 10 and didn't really use the Internet much. I had a fair amount of experience with Pokemon, having played Yellow, Sapphire, and FireRed on my brother's GBA, but I wasn't up to date with the latest news about any upcoming games. I don't think I even knew that Pokemon Emerald existed. One day, I stumbled across Serebii after Googling "Top 100 Pokemon" and, while scrolling down the list, saw some Pokemon I didn't recognise. One in particular that really caught my eye was called Empoleon. Its Water/Steel typing fascinated me; back then, the Steel type wasn't as notoriously powerful as it is now, but it was very rare. Seeing it on a Pokemon that I quickly discovered was the final evolution of a starter was intriguing, to say the least. At that point, DP had been out for a few months worldwide, but it wasn't until Christmas that year that I got a DS and a copy of Pokemon Diamond (choosing Piplup as my starter, of course).

Empoleon's been my favourite Pokemon ever since. My fondness for it has grown and matured as I have: when I was a kid it felt like this unstoppable force, with immense power and innumerable resistances, but as I've gotten older I've come to understand its flaws and appreciate it all the more for having them. In general, I like tanky Pokemon with clear strengths and shortcomings. Sweeping through teams with a Pokemon that has the power, coverage, and speed to mow down everything in front of it is much less interesting to me than developing a strategy (even a very basic one) to compensate for each team member's weaknesses.

Empoleon hasn't gotten a ton of attention or new toys in the generations since its debut, but it's always had enough going for it to have its moments. At the very least, it's never been strictly outclassed, as its dual typing is still unique to this day. Roost, Competitive, and Flip Turn are exciting developments for it in the competitive scene, but I was always going to find a way to make it work even if it never got any stronger. I made a point of including Empoleon on my BDSP Battle Tower team, conquering the Masters mode with my childhood favourite, and whenever Empoleon is available in any fangame I will always use it.

It's also what kicked off my love for the Steel type in general :)

 

[SpiritGuy]

Well, let me introduce you to my new favorite Pokemon:

Ursaluna has become my favourite Pokemon since really not long ago (by that, I mean a short moment after the first DLC for SV came out). I got interested into Pokemon inspirations for several years, and since then, I pay more and more attention to the symbolism behind each creature (this is probably also due to growing up and appreciate a Pokemon for something else than "it looks cool" btw). Hence why I started to love Pokemon where deep concepts and inspirations are hidden behind them, and that's exactly what Ursaluna have, as well as many others Hisuian Pokemon. I've always appreciated Ursaluna per se, but I never really noticed it before that moment. When I look at its design and all the small details in it, I can say "This is a Pokemon GF took time to conceive."; plus, it got an awesome alternative form in the DLC. Also, it's a great Pokemon in competitive: it hits like a truck and if you want, you can use it with Swords Dance. Its Bloodmoon for is not left with Calm Mind sets. Exactly the kind of Pokemon I love to use. They created this as an evolution to a Pokemon that is both pretty bland concept-wise and not great competitively.

Anyone else with an Hisuian Pokemon as their favorite one ? That'd be lovely to hear.

 

[pika pal]

Well, let me introduce you to my new favorite Pokemon:

View attachment 567415

Ursaluna has become my favourite Pokemon since really not long ago (by that, I mean a short moment after the first DLC for SV came out). I got interested into Pokemon inspirations for several years, and since then, I pay more and more attention to the symbolism behind each creature (this is probably also due to growing up and appreciate a Pokemon for something else than "it looks cool" btw). Hence why I started to love Pokemon where deep concepts and inspirations are hidden behind them, and that's exactly what Ursaluna have, as well as many others Hisuian Pokemon. I've always appreciated Ursaluna per se, but I never really noticed it before that moment. When I look at its design and all the small details in it, I can say "This is a Pokemon GF took time to conceive."; plus, it got an awesome alternative form in the DLC. Also, it's a great Pokemon in competitive: it hits like a truck and if you want, you can use it with Swords Dance. Its Bloodmoon for is not left with Calm Mind sets. Exactly the kind of Pokemon I love to use. They created this as an evolution to a Pokemon that is both pretty bland concept-wise and not great competitively.

Anyone else with an Hisuian Pokemon as their favorite one ? That'd be lovely to hear.

I had a very long Slither Wing post but if I could give a recent runner-up, Sneasler ranks pretty highly for me, since I think it goes hard enough on the "this is ridiculously humanoid" criticism I normally have with Pokemon to the point of crossing the line a 2nd time into liking it again. Also I like its playstyle in PvP (whether competitive or just friendlies-you-try-in)

 

[PokePoindexter]

Spoiler

I know it's been a year since this thread last had a post in it, but I figured I'd just bump this one instead of starting a brand new one just to share this.

Volcarona and Alolan Ninetales have been all but tied for my all-time favorite Pokemon for several years, but a third member has recently joined that exclusive club:

Hisuian Samurott was my starter the first time I played Legends Arceus, and while it took some time for it to establish itself as one of my all-time favorites, I still grew to love it in short order and had a lot of fun using it in its inaugural game. To me, it feels like what regular Samurott - something I always liked but never considered anywhere close to my favorites - should've been all along, at least in terms of design and usefulness in battle. The design changes aren't that major (the most notable being turning the shells black with red accents), and yet they still feel like a gargantuan improvement. In battle, its Attack stats were swapped (it never made sense for regular Samurott to have lower Attack than Sp. Atk), it gained Sharpness as an Ability in SV (regular honestly should've had an Ability like that all along, and somehow still doesn't), and has a whole treasure trove of attacks it can power up with said Ability (including its signature Ceaseless Edge, which again regular should've had its own version of from the beginning). And once I got to see all of that truly come together when it was released into SV, let's just say it ultimately proved itself worthy of standing alongside my other two all-time favorites.

Some of the lore does scare me a bit (primarily the part about it being the malevolent and less honorable version of Samurott), but frankly, if I were a samurai myself and my "master" was boneheaded enough to get himself killed in a pointless battle, I daresay I'd probably spurn the seppuku as well. So I guess Hisuian Samurott and I are both ronins in our own ways.

 

[Krockodile]

I think about how Krookodile came to be my favourite Pokémon, and I think I know how.

I remember trading in my Sonic Generations 3DS for Pokepark 2: Wonders Beyond, where it was my first experience with Pokémon. Even tho I didn't understand type matchups, I had a blast with the game, roaming around and battling opponents like Timburr and Cofagrigus. In Pokepark 2, when you knock down an opponent, you can still deal damage whilst they're trying to get up, getting free damage.

And then came Krookodile.

He's a guardian of the gates that leads to other areas (if I'm right, he's looking out for Pikachu and the gang), but also has a soft spot for Audino. To get access to the gates, I gotta fight Krook. Here's the thing: when Krookodile gets knocked down and I try to get close to deal free damage, he retaliates by swiping his tail. And that left me aghast (I was a teenager at the time), realizing that brute force is not always the answer. It's a shame that most bosses aren't like him, but that left me impressed nonetheless. Plus, he looks pretty cool.

Every time I played Black, Black 2, or the SM games, I always made sure to recruit him. He looks cool, he got swag, his ability is cool, and the combination of Ground/Dark is pretty cool. I always find him to be a reliable Pokémon. I even try to use him in singles in UU-RU whenever possible, because I can trust him.
Thank you, Pokepark 2, for introducing me to Krookodile, and to the Gen 5 Pokémon.

 

[Basedwell]

When I got into Pokemon at the end of 2022, I became beyond addicted. I was on break from my Teaching job over the holidays, and spent every single waking hour playing Pokemon. I didn't shower. I had a copy of Leaf Green and a newly bought gameboy, and shortly after my dad gave me an old Switch Lite he no longer used which I played Scarlet on. Me getting into Pokemon perfectly coincided with most of my friends switching up on me.

As the semester started, I ended up getting a lingering cold and my mental health deteriorated as I realized my social life would start from scratch. Pokemon itself became an escape from that, but a lot of the games I played I don't have the best memories of, and I'm not sure if that's because of how I was feeling or because I didn't like the games. But one exception was the sense of peace I felt playing Crystal. I'd bought a 3DS and grabbed the game before the 3DS store closed. It took some getting used to as there were no running shoes, but it felt weird and I loved the art style. Eventually I got to Goldenrod, got a bike, and my adventure really took off.

I ended up in the National Park on a Tuesday and did the bug catching contest. It felt like perfect timing. I found a Scyther. I leveled it up as I explored Whirl Islands (I still didn't know the type chart lol) and it carried me through the game. I use Scyther whenever I can. I like Scizor too, but Scyther feels like mine in a different way.

For similar reasons, I love Quagsire. It's in my top 3.

In life, I tend to prefer underappreciated things. I didn't have a lot of friends growing up, so I don't trust popular things because I connect them with feelings of being left out. I feel an intense need to be different. I'd call myself a hipster but I don't want to be like them either, it's not original enough for me. And one Pokemon that is slowly becoming my favorite as a result of that thinking. Well, likely, more than one, but one in particular.

I love Johto and Kanto, and one Pokemon commonly found in those regions has good stats, but always gets put down: Exeggcutor. It has a psychic typing but if you look at any tier list you'll find it lower down due to a "poor moveset," "poor typing" and its stone evolution. Even in Gen 3, it stands out as final evolution pokemon with great stats that sees zero usage because Sun is too hard to pull off in Gen 3. I use it in games every chance I get and while it does have its weaknesses, I like finding ways to take advantage of its strengths.

 

[Omastar68]

I like arboliva a ton despite being new.s Usually I would prefer something older but not like ancient... Unless maybe fossil like ancient but I digress...but it and sinistcha are just really cool as strong grass types to me. I like grass in general, and the power level of it has steadily gone up with stuff like HA erp, these two, rilla, and ofc meow this gen. I have to give arb the nod over cha these days, for caly and versatility(set options, cha is only maybe a mystery in vgc, I do singles where you need 4 of just a small handful of moves, so only your Tera varies highly.) it also is a helpful mon into flutter, heals bigger with terrain giga than 90 acc matcha, and stuff. Sadly NOT a grass that can ever reasonably go after caly I, but ghost caly is meaner by a tiny bit even now. I like the design fine ofc, mirror coat is great, alluring was a decent buff over dazzling, and earth power is good coverage naturally.

One of my other big favorites is crawdaunt cause op damage, but it's not too much for anything else, even defensive type, so it has to try to Tera up, at min, a resist, and is sorta slow so can't really ever dd or switcheroo scarf, despite knowing those moves. You out speed and bop caly I, ting, ursas, etc, but it's not enough even with jet rounding it out.

Despite me practically being at the point of quitting the main game for good, at least for comp, I've liked tons of stuff. But basically fat grass is my fave, loved mega venu even in the mence era. I just have experimented a ton and have varied mons I like, why some might think I like fat ice the most, from regice and frosmoth use before. Still, most things that are or can kinda be made bulky are better for me, like even craw after sash ran def for me to block ohkos from any scale shot mostly. I used toile cresselia .best unsurprisingly, fave legend I think, and stilp miss drampa(ran it for reasons in full unrestricted even, last gen.)