Pokemon that were more prominent in a generation besides their own

[Yung Dramps]

Dang, we're on a roll here, thanks for the responses, they're all really interesting! Since we're on a bit of a Kanto theme here, lemme throw my hat into the ring once more.

Mr. Mime has always been a decently popular Gen 1 mon that has ebbed and flowed in relevance, never being a stranger to generational updates whether it be the introduction of Mime Jr. in Sinnoh or gaining the Fairy type in Kalos. For the past 2 years, however, I can't help but feel like it's been on a pretty crazy streak. It began with the Detective Pikachu movie giving it an important (and hilarious) role that was prominently showed off in trailers. Then in SWSH it got a Galarian form and evolution, with both receiving plenty of exposure as overworld encounters and a Pokemon used on one of Champion Leon's teams respectively. Heck, even the original Mr. Mime played a central role in the Spikemuth Gym! Finally, it's most recently turned up as a playable character in Pokemon Unite. And it ain't gonna stop there: with BDSP coming out and Mr. Mime destined to be in those games, we may be looking at the first time since the Game Boy that Mr. Mime has been usable in the story of all the mainline games on a specific console, depending on if it also makes the cut for the Legends dex.

 

[R_N]

100% convinced that gamefreak/TPC just really liked the Mr Mime in Detective Pikachu and now they're pushing for him all the time.

 

[khlaylav]

This is a bit of a funky example since it was already the signature Pokemon of a rival, but Gardevoir getting the Mega treatment, signature spot on a champion's team AND a spot in Pokken made sixth gen a great gen for it.

Girafarig was never all that popular, but it at least got a spot on Lucian's Diamond and Pearl team. So it's got that going for it, which is nice (though it was immediately dumped in Platinum).

 

[ausma]

I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned Zygarde yet; the thing literally has been done super dirty in its base generation. In the generation following, though, it was given its own in-game gimmick, a ton of new toys with 3 signature moves and 2 new forms which were previously inaccessible, and even a unique battle.

 

[BIG ASHLEY]

I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned Zygarde yet; the thing literally has been done super dirty in its base generation. In the generation following, though, it was given its own in-game gimmick, a ton of new toys with 3 signature moves and 2 new forms which were previously inaccessible, and even a unique battle.

i think the moves were coded into xy, but not all of them were accessible - so arguably even crueler to poor zygarde

 

[R_N]

Gen 6 zygarde toys:
-The 10% & Complete form....in the anime
-But hey literally half the Kalos anime was about Zygarde so that's good
-Thousand Arrows & Thousand Waves were in the code, clearly intended for Zygarde
-Core Enforcer was in the anime, though I can't recall if it was ever actualy named. Strangely I don't think thousand arrows or waves were in the anime

Gen 7 put 10% & Complete into the games, finally gave it the 2 moves, and then also gave it Core Enforcer & the whole sidequest but...honestly that feels less like gen 7 elevating it as more "we literally couldn't give these in gen 6, so we're putting them here". It's actual presence in gen 7 was paradoxically about equal; it wasn't aggressively marketed, it made no appearence in the alola anime, its side quest was radically altered in USUM, etc

 

[PokemonCrusader]

One little thing you forgot to mention: in SM and USUM, Eevee was one of the few who was fortunate enough to get its own signature Z-Move: Extreme Evoboost.

Also the anime has pushed Eevee even harder in recent times than in the past. In the XY anime Serena got an Eevee that eventually evolved into a Sylveon. Lana has a special Eevee in the SM series. And now in the current Journeys series, Chloe has an Eevee as her starter Pokémon. Ever since XY at least one main character has gotten an Eevee to align with the attention it's been receiving in the recent generations.

Yeah, the anime really didn't push Eevee hard until Virgil appeared in the late stages of BW.

Gen 1: They had the Eeeve and its evolutions episode but basically every Pokemon species receives one of those spotlights. (Unless you are part of the Porygon family!). If Gen I was made today, Misty has a Vaperon. Oh yeah at the end of Orange Islands, Gary is revealed to have an Eevee.

Gen 2: Two new Eeevevolutions. The anime sort of realizes it. Gary's Eevee evolved into Umbreon but since Gary rarely appeared in Johto, Umbreon rarely appeared. Also, despite the hinting of a Pikachu/Eevee rivalry established after Ash's loss to Gary in the Pallet Town battle, neither Pikachu or Umbreon appear in their trainers' Silver League fight. If the anime wasn't anti-Ash having cool types at the time, he could have had an Espeon to match with Gary but nope. Misty befriends a Kimono Girl whose Eeeve evolves into Espeon but she is a minor character.

Gen 3: Nothing of substance until the Battle Frontier Arc where May obtains an Eeeve. Finally, a main character has the plushy fox.

Gen 4: A little more representation. The two new evolved forms (Leafeon and Glaceon) don't take much of an active role, though. Zoey (Dawn's main rival) has a Leafeon but it is second string compared to her ace, Glameow. May returns with Eeeve becoming a Glaceon but it loses to Piplup in the Wallace Cup final. Another Dawn rival, Ursula, EVOLVES two Eevees into Flareon and Vaperon during a Contest performance round! (Where is N when you need him?!). Still, neither Dawn or Ash receive an Eeeve. And really, Dawn seemed like a prime candidate for it. Oh yeah, Volkner has a Jolteon that Infernape destroys in one hit.

Gen 5: Obviously not much for most of the anime with the only Unova Pokemon policy. Finally, boring Virgil arrives and wins the Unova League despite not having a single Unova Pokemon. (Isn't that telling.) His entire team is Eeveevolutions with an Eeeve being his ace.

Gen 6: A COTD has a Sylveon pretty early in the series. Serena receives an Eevee but it is pretty late in the run but it does get a large arc. It evolves into Sylveon. Valerie uses a Sylveon against Ash.

Gen 7: Lana receives an Eeeve which doesn't evolve. Gladion had an Eeeve and currently has an Umbreon. Ilima has an Eevee.

Gen 8: Chloe catches an Eevee who can't evolve.

Movies: Ash helps Risa catch an Eevee in "The Power of Us."

PS: If you look at minor appearances on the Eeeve page on Bulbapedia there are 50 appearances. 32 of them come from Gen 7 onwards. There has been a fundamental shift in Eevee representation. Definitely being pushed by the merchandise department.

EDIT: Somehow forgot that Valerie used a Sylveon in the Gym Battle.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Another (mild) example just occurred to me: Tropius.

In RS Tropius is pretty anonymous. Seriously, no-one uses it. Not even Winona, the Flying-type gym leader who lives literally next door to the route it can be caught on. She adds it to her team in Emerald, as does your rival for their final battle. But that's still all you'll see of it. Pokemon Colosseum made it one of the snaggable Shadow Pokemon, which was nice. But ultimately it suffered from the curse of being a mostly underwhelming and largely outclassed single-stage Pokemon you never really hear about. Probably the most exposure it got was in the Pokemon Adventures manga, in which it was part of Sapphire's team; it was reminiscent of Brock's Onix in the anime in that it was rarely used for battle and was more of a utility Pokemon which flew her around.

And then Platinum inexplicably added Tropius to the Sinnoh Dex. Which was an unusual choice, given that most of the additions were simply the evolutionary lines connected to new Pokemon (Elekid, Magby, Togepi et al) or improved the Sinnoh Dex's famously awful diversity (Houndoom, Altaria, Absol) and that Tropius, being a tropical dinosaur, doesn't really suit Sinnoh's colder aesthetic. But it's quite a popular Pokemon when it comes to bulking out regional dexes: B2W2 and USUM both added it to their expanded listings too.

Gen IV actually treated it quite kindly, all things considered. A bit of cool trivia: Tropius was the first Pokemon ever to be available in a Cherish Ball! Yes, it was the first proper event Pokemon of Gen IV, weirdly enough. It gained access to the Solar Power ability, which synergised fairly well with its other moves and its typing, and HGSS then gave it Dragon Dance as an egg move! Unfortunately neither of these things was enough to make it great but it was nice to have them nonetheless. Gen V then gave it a great Hidden Ability in Harvest, which is actually worth the time it takes to obtain and gives it a shred of viability.

Since then, though, it's largely fallen back into obscurity again. Neither Gen VI or VII gave it any further upgrades, and it's been Dexited since. Still, as a Tropius fan (no pun intended), I live in hope that the mighty banana dinosaur will someday have its day in the sun (again, no pun intended). Seriously, Google Mega Tropius fan art. People have given it some serious love.

 

[Codraroll]

Great thread idea!

Here's another one from Gen III, but with a twist: The "generation besides their own" in question was the generation before it debuted.

Munchlax was the poster Pokémon for Gen IV before its release. It was first revealed in May 2004, two and a half years before the Gen IV games released in Japan. That's a really long time. Munchlax had guest appearances in Pokémon XD, Pokémon Dash, and Red/Blue rescue team, which are otherwise Gen III games. It featured as the comic relief of Movie 7, it was caught by a main character of the Anime, and generally existed everywhere to remind people that a future generation of Pokémon was on its way.

So when Gen IV finally arrived, where was Munchlax? In the main series, it was a ridiculously rare encounter in Honey Trees, or could alternately be obtained by the obscure "incense breeding" method. It didn't make much of a splash, being an optional pre-evolution to a much more powerful Pokémon. It left the Anime when May did, at the end of the Ruby and Sapphire series. It remained an available starter in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, and was one of the cameo Pokémon in Super Smash Brawl, but otherwise didn't have any big roles even in Gen IV and was quickly overshadowed by Lucario as that generation's poster boy. Before long, it was rather forgotten, despite having had a huge presence throughout Gen III.


Similarly, Togepi was a pretty prominent Pokémon in Gen I. It had a whole mini-arc centered around its hatching in the first series of the anime, and being a regular to the series for as long as Misty stayed in it (usually getting astray so somebody had to save it, or saving the day with Metronome). It featured in merchandise, cameo'd in the Official Pokémon Handbook, and generally became the poster child of "more Pokémon to come". I was actually surprised to learn it didn't have a game appearance until Gen II, because it feels like it was everywhere even back in Gen I.

Togepi has remained a pretty popular Pokémon from Gen II onward too, but I think its definitive spotlight days were in Gen I. Still, I think it was less prominent than Munchlax before the game came out and more prominent afterwards, so I'd count Munchlax as a better example.

 

[R_N]

Another (mild) example just occurred to me: Tropius.

View attachment 362850


In RS Tropius is pretty anonymous. Seriously, no-one uses it. Not even Winona, the Flying-type gym leader who lives literally next door to the route it can be caught on. She adds it to her team in Emerald, as does your rival for their final battle. But that's still all you'll see of it. Pokemon Colosseum made it one of the snaggable Shadow Pokemon, which was nice. But ultimately it suffered from the curse of being a mostly underwhelming and largely outclassed single-stage Pokemon you never really hear about. Probably the most exposure it got was in the Pokemon Adventures manga, in which it was part of Sapphire's team; it was reminiscent of Brock's Onix in the anime in that it was rarely used for battle and was more of a utility Pokemon which flew her around.

And then Platinum inexplicably added Tropius to the Sinnoh Dex. Which was an unusual choice, given that most of the additions were simply the evolutionary lines connected to new Pokemon (Elekid, Magby, Togepi et al) or improved the Sinnoh Dex's famously awful diversity (Houndoom, Altaria, Absol) and that Tropius, being a tropical dinosaur, doesn't really suit Sinnoh's colder aesthetic. But it's quite a popular Pokemon when it comes to bulking out regional dexes: B2W2 and USUM both added it to their expanded listings too.

Gen IV actually treated it quite kindly, all things considered. A bit of cool trivia: Tropius was the first Pokemon ever to be available in a Cherish Ball! Yes, it was the first proper event Pokemon of Gen IV, weirdly enough. It gained access to the Solar Power ability, which synergised fairly well with its other moves and its typing, and HGSS then gave it Dragon Dance as an egg move! Unfortunately neither of these things was enough to make it great but it was nice to have them nonetheless. Gen V then gave it a great Hidden Ability in Harvest, which is actually worth the time it takes to obtain and gives it a shred of viability.

Since then, though, it's largely fallen back into obscurity again. Neither Gen VI or VII gave it any further upgrades, and it's been Dexited since. Still, as a Tropius fan (no pun intended), I live in hope that the mighty banana dinosaur will someday have its day in the sun (again, no pun intended). Seriously, Google Mega Tropius fan art. People have given it some serious love.

Tropius was treated "well" by gen 4 probably because they treated it badly to begin with: It & Tangela (& by extension, Tangrowth) were the only "normal" Pokemon completely 100% unavailable without transfer.
I really don't think it's coincidental that it was the first event Pokemon and put in the Platinum dex, is what I'm saying. Tangela at least had Tangrowth to make people look at it for transfer and trade

 

[bdt2002]

In my opinion, there's no better Pokémon that hasn't been mentioned on this thread yet than Furret. Hey look, another Johto Pokémon. Is anyone surprised? No, of course not.

What can I say about Furret in Gen 2? It's the regional rodent... in a game where the previous generation's rodent is just as if not more prominent. It's a Johto Normal-Type that Whitney doesn't use on her team. It learns a good amount of HMs, but so do other Pokémon. Yeah... not exactly the best reputation to work with. I get that not every Pokémon is going to be popular, but if Bidoof taught us anything, it's that regional rodents at least have that potential.

Aaaand then 2016 happened.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the Furret Walk memes were born from unused footage of Pokémon walking animations, on top of Furret itself receiving a handful of nice new moves in a Generation where it wasn't even available in the region. In this way, Furret's absense in Alola actually worked out in its favor, because it was the first time it was ever openly absent from a generation's pool of catchable Pokémon thus attracting more attention to the possibility of transferring one up through Pokémon Bank.

Is this the best example of a Pokémon getting more prominent? Eh... not quite. But you know darn well that the eventual Unova remakes will pay homage to Furret somehow in Accumula Town. It'll happen. Just you wait.

 

[PokePoindexter]

I used Lucario once in Gen 4, and didn't really feel like it was worth the work to get. It wasn't until Black/White 2 when Riolu could be obtainable before the first gym badge that I began to appreciate it a lot more. It can evolve surprisingly early, its typing makes it lights-out for the first two gyms, and it stays useful pretty much throughout the game. Just about the only complaint I have with it is that it's stuck with Force Palm for 36 levels, but I guess that's the price to pay for being able to annihilate the inaugural part of the game.


Zoroark is always fun to use in-game to play some nasty mind games with opponents thanks to Illusion and its great offensive stats, but it peaks in USUM. Available super early on, can learn a variety of useful attacks, and can beat Ultra Necrozma without taking a shred of damage if you disguise it as something weak to Psychic - of which there are plenty of great options available (e.g. Salazzle, Hawlucha, Kommo-o).

 

[Pikachu315111]

Hey, anyone remember when Kecleon was a thing?

Much like Marill and Snubbull before it, it got a slight movie push appearing in the Pikachu Short before Pokemon 4Ever/Celebi Voice of the Forest. It also was revealed alongside Wailmer and Azurill but it was Kecleon that really took off for some reason (and with a strange thing that's not in the main games):

• Kecleon's debut in the anime was during mid-Johto in episode 205 "The Kecleon Caper". Not only did if prominently feature Kecleon, it featured two: the normal green and a purple one (said purple one has never been in a main series game, not even as its Shiny).
• It appeared one final time before Gen III's release via the Silver Conference where Harrison used one against Ash.
• It, Azurill and Wynaut appeared in second to last chapter of the Johto saga in the Pokemon Special Manga.

And then when Ruby & Sapphire were finally released... they were just glorified road blocks, its Ability made it easy to set up so you always did neutral or super effective attacks against it, and stat distribution left much to be desired. After that it's only other big exposure was the Kecleon Brother shopkeepers in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, confirming the purple Kecleon wasn't just the anime messing around.

 

[mertyville]

Do I even need to explain?
Charizard is largely known as the worst starter of Generation 1. Both in-game and competitive.

In terms of competitiveness, Gen 6 onwards Charizard was one of the best Pokemon to use not counting lower tiers. Tho it had a niche in Gen 3 OU but you get the drill.

In-game, Charizard is pretty good in Gen 3 because Metal Claw and early Flamethrower and kicks ass in Gen 6 because of 2 Mega Evolution. It may be unfair for me to say that because I only played X and not Y, but you are having Drought boosted Fire moves so I can't imagine where you could go wrong there.

Many may hate it, but Charizard is still my favorite, so I am glad he got these 2 megas. Tho the Gigantamax form was overkill. I would be fine if only Blastoise and Venusaur got one instead.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Surprised nobody's brought up this little dude. It was pretty freakin obscure and tough to get in Gen 4. Then in Gen 5 its appliance forms got their retypes, making them all more competitively prominent. It took something of a break in Gen 6, although even then it was readily obtainable in the wild in XY. And of course, SM is where it really came into the fold via the Rotom-Dex that accompanied the player all throughout the adventure. SWSH in turn expanded Rotom's in-world versatility to drones and the Rotomi thingies for Poke Jobs, as well as sleeker phones.

 

[Chadlad50]

Since then, though, it's largely fallen back into obscurity again. Neither Gen VI or VII gave it any further upgrades, and it's been Dexited since. Still, as a Tropius fan (no pun intended), I live in hope that the mighty banana dinosaur will someday have its day in the sun (again, no pun intended). Seriously, Google Mega Tropius fan art. People have given it some serious love.

Honestly this post kinda made me appreciate Tropius a bit more for some reason. It's a really nice design...which means of course it's shit, most cool Pokemon tend to be (Zoroark, Mawile, and many others). I'm honestly a bit inspired to come up with my own Mega Evolution concept for it, is there a place on this forum for that type of stuff?

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I'm honestly a bit inspired to come up with my own Mega Evolution concept for it, is there a place on this forum for that type of stuff?

If you're more interested in drawing a design, Smeargle's Studio is probably the best place. If it's mechanical design you're after, there's a Pet Mod called Megas for All that'll be accepting Tropius megas at some undetermined point in the future.

 

[Chadlad50]

Oh no I can't draw at all, I'm just talking writing up stats, abilities and such for a hypothetical Mega Tropious.

Even if I could draw I wouldn't have the creativity required to actually come up with a design

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Oh no I can't draw at all, I'm just talking writing up stats, abilities and such for a hypothetical Mega Tropious.

Even if I could draw I wouldn't have the creativity required to actually come up with a design

Have you *seen* most of the mega evolutions? Just throw some spikes and random multi-coloured patches of fur on it and call it a day.

 

[Fusion Flare]

Clefairy in Gen 4
This is more of an ingame thing than a competitive thingamajig, but...

I'm playing a Platinum Nuzlocke, life is pretty fuckin nice. But while i'm gettin from town to town, region to region, encounter to encounter, level cap to level cap, there's just about always one constant that i see. Eterna's top floor where Jupiter resides, the Game Corner, Idol trainers, the Pokemon Mansion challenge, a member of Professor Rowan's assistant's team, it's like i can't go two seconds without seeing the damn thing, and honestly... i kinda dig it.

Clefairy, and by default, Clefable, have kind of had it rough, to be fair. Rejected as the mascot, bland-as-bread normal type other than being known for spamming metronome that was effectively outdone by chansey, and had its amazing magic guard ability swiped from it. of course, it did finally catch a break with the fairy typing, and eviolite as well i suppose, but other than that, it was down in the dumps for a while.

So, why not a little clefairy appreciation, eh?

 

[Chadlad50]

Gamefreak felt so bad about taking away Clefairy's mascot status they went ahead and made Clefable the best Pokemon in ORAS ou

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Even before that, Gen 4 Clefable was also an excellent Pokemon in Gen 4 OU. Not as dominant as Fairy-type Clefable in Gen 6 onwards, but thanks to Magic Guard and access to Wish, Heal Bell, etc. it was ascended to become a great staple of stall teams in its own right in the later HGSS meta and a common sight in higher level play, even if it wasn't actually OU by usage at the time.

Getting Magic Guard in Gen 4, which is an absolutely amazing ability, was godly for it back in the day. It fell off in Gen 5 but becoming a Fairy-type, which is a great typing, combined with its many already great qualities, allowed it to make a comeback and it's been rocking in OU ever since.

Also funnily enough Clefairy is actually better than Clefable in recent VGC both because of Eviolite and more importantly the ability Friend Guard, which is really good in Doubles (meanwhile Clefable has Unaware). Clefairy in VGC has seen quite a bit of use from my experience in VGC as a Follow Me bot that can increase the bulk of its allies and also because of After You support, with its bulk+Friend Guard being its main advantage over Togekiss.

 

[Chadlad50]

Yeah Clefairy is actually pretty good in VGC. That + Clefable being godly in OU that makes up for having the spotlight stolen by Pikachu I suppose. I mean Raichu is a decent doubles partner on Rain Teams with Lightning Rod and Fake Out but that's about it

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Clefairy, and by default, Clefable, have kind of had it rough, to be fair. Rejected as the mascot, bland-as-bread normal type other than being known for spamming metronome that was effectively outdone by chansey, and had its amazing magic guard ability swiped from it. of course, it did finally catch a break with the fairy typing, and eviolite as well i suppose, but other than that, it was down in the dumps for a while.

Outdone by Chansey, but in turn outdoing Wigglytuff!

(Seriously I'm convinced that the only reason Wigglytuff retained its Normal typing in Gen 6 was to give it some form of a niche and stop it from living in Clefable's massive shadow)

 

[Samtendo09]

Outdone by Chansey, but in turn outdoing Wigglytuff!

(Seriously I'm convinced that the only reason Wigglytuff retained its Normal typing in Gen 6 was to give it some form of a niche and stop it from living in Clefable's massive shadow)

Retaining Normal-type won’t mean anything so long it retained a poor BST and as a result, poor overall stats aside of HP. Plus Moon Stone tend to be obtained later than early, especially with how weak Jigglypuff and especially Igglybuff are. At most Wigglytuff serves best as a boss-type early NPC Pokémon.

Speaking of Wigglytuff though, there are two generations in particular that give a big spotlight for Wigglytuff.

Generation 4’s Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time / Darkness / Sky grant a Wigglytuff a prominent role as the Guildmaster and a true powerhouse underneath his bumbling behavior and cute appearance. Sky expended on that by giving Guildmaster Wigglytuff an explanation as well.

While not really getting steam at all in Generation 8, it did get a spot for Pokémon Masters as a support player. Despite a rough start due to poor defensive stats, such defensive stats get buffed enough for Wigglytuff to make use of its toolset.