Well if the current name of the game is discussing how pokemon would do in games with some change, how about this one?
What if Platinum's Kazza the Abra was a Snover instead?
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While everyone knows about the woes of using Fire types in Diamond & Pearl, and how Platinum rectified it by making a lot more fire types available before the postgame, such as Houndour, Magmortar, and Flareon.
But I wouldn't call the Grass type lineup very impressive either. Like, we have Torterra and Roserade and their pretty good. But if you want to use a different grass type in an even remotely timely manner, you have to either use Cherubi -> Cherrim (ok mon, but locked to Honey Tree farming) or use
Grass Wormadam. Who is only a grass type because it's wearing the grass itself. Not because it's an actual plant.
Otherwise your only other options are Leafeon, which means not only backtracking to Eterna Forest, but also losing out on Espeon and the other better Eeveelutions unless your willing to either breed another Eevee, or are willing to put up with the Trophy Garden Daily Pokemon mechanic to get your hands on another Eevee. With our other options being the questionable Tropius, the decent Tangrowth, and Carnivine, who just as questionable as Tropius is, if not more so due to a wasted ability.
So yeah, if you want a grass type in Sinnoh, your options for a
viable grass type are severely limited.
As for why I'm going with Snover, I think it's an interesting idea for a pokemon, it's probably one of the more famous Sinnoh grass types, thanks in part to the interesting concept of a snow covered abominable tree monster that can summon hail, though this last part doesn't get as much time in the spotlight . I also think it would be a good way to introduce the player to Hail as an ability summoned weather, and help make the line even more memorable to fans.
The one issue is that Snover only tends to spawn in the snow covered reaches of Routes 216 & 217, as well as near the peak of Mount Coronet. So making it available early is a bit of an issue without moving it to a not snowy location. Thus, the idea to swap Kazza out for a Snover.
We'll say that the little fella wandered down from the mountain and got caught by Hillary. But upon opening the ball, the Hillary and her family were hit with a sudden hailstorm inside their house, and had to put our little Snover back in the ball to make it stop. So when our trainer comes along, they trade us Douggie the Snover (after the Douglas Fir tree) for a much more managable Budew, and our trainer is now on their way!
This will assume that the player is trying to keep Douggie under, at, or around the level cap (in this case, the level of the gym leader's ace), that Douggie is has had nothing else changed about them (I.E they have a Quiet nature, and have 15 IVs in HP, Atk, Def, 25 IV in SpA and SpDef, and 20 IVs in Spe) and are holding an Oran berry to start with) and that they are playing Platinum. So with that out of the way, let's get started!
Also, as a refresher, here is Snover's Gen 4 Serebii page.
Roark (Level Cap: 14): While Douggie does need to fear getting hit by a Rock Throw from Geodude,
Douggie can easily OHKO Geodude before it can even attack with just about any move (don't forget, Gen 4 Sturdy only stopped the OHKO moves like Fissure, Horn Drill, etc) and just as easily OHKO Onix with Icy Wind, though it does need to be afraid of a potential Screech or Rock Throw. As either would all but ensure that Douggie will go down to Cranidos and it's Headbutts off of a monstrous base 125 Atk without a chance to Icy Wind Cranidos. But if we get the Stealth Rock, Bind, or a Screech + a low Headbutt roll
without FLINCHING then Douggie can Icy Wind Cranidos to slow it down and finish it off next turn / chunk it with Razor Leaf. Not 100% perfect, but still a good start for our little tree guy.
8/10
Gardenia (Level Cap: 22): Snover freaking
DEMOLISHES most of this gym. Straight up. Turtwig is pretty much a non-issue, and Cherrim is just as not threatening. The only one that remotely threatens Douggie is Roserade thanks to it's high SpAtk. But even then your just a pair of low damage rolls from Roserade away from cleanly sweeping the Gym thanks to Douggie.
9/10
Fantina (Level Cap: 26): Douggie is ok here in Hearthome. It can handle the Drifloon easily enough. But it's lacking against the numerous Gastly, Haunter, and Misdreavus thanks to their typings and higher defenses. He can at least contribute some Hail chip. But is otherwise not going to do much against Fantina and her ghost types. Especially with all the statuses they can inflict.
4/10
Maylene (Level Cap: 32): HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You seriously think this thing has anything more to contribute to this gym than Hail fodder? No way, no how, Duggie is a non-factor in this gym. Everything hits too hard for it to meaningfully contribute. And if you thought the horde of Meditite, Machoke, and occasional Croagunk & Heracross were not reason enough to not use this thing, Lucario walks in saying "hold my poffins" and uses any of Drain Punch, Force Palm, or Metal Claw to punt Douggie into the sun.
0/10. The good news though is that we now have access to Giga Drain, Blizzard, Protect, Ice Beam, Swords Dance, Focus Blast, Substitute, and Hidden Power (though it's just Ice so lol)
Crasher Wake (Level Cap: 37): Ok this is
much, MUCH better. Gyarados is a bit shaky at base, but with an X-Defense it gets much safer. Quagsire is the definition of free thanks to our newly acquired Wood Hammer at level 36 (though it results in some substantial recoil damage.) or Giga Drain via TM for the sustain. A quick healing should allow it to easily deal with Floatzel without much else hassel (or a few Giga Drains).
9/10 while it can easily take down the gym, it is a bit reliant on item usage to do so.
Byron (Level Cap: 41): Duggie is now a fully grown Abomasnow so it has better stats, and can use the Earthquake TM from Wayward Cave, assuming you didn't give it to something else (like the Wayward Cave Gible, a Gyarados, etc) to make this gym much easier. Or more than likely your using the Focus Blast TM from Veilstone. That said Magneton easily outspeeds Douggie to chunk it with Flash Cannon before getting KO'd by EQ/FB. Steelix gets OHKO'd easily by Ice Beam. Bastiodon complicates things with Stone Edge but if you can land 2-3 EQ's you can take it out, or a single FB. So you'd definitely need an X-SpDef to survive the Magneton & Steelix, and some luck to get the high damage roll from FB and maybe an X-Accuracy for Bastiodon, but it's doable.
6/10 works on paper, but a bit too luck and item reliant for my liking.
Candice (Level Cap: 44): You'll want another X-Def, and another X-Accuracy for this one. But Focus Blast can easily destroy Sneasel. Ice Beam OHKO's Piloswine but you'll need to avoid the really low roll. Focus Blast 2HKOs Candice's Abomasnow, but you also have to avoid the 2HKO from her Focus Blast. If you held onto Wood Hammer it can easily 2HKO Froslass. But you will need to heal off the recoil damage and hope it doesn't go for Blizzard.
7/10 item reliant again, and somewhat luck reliant, but not as much as last time. Honestly fairs better than I thought it would.
Team Galactic: I had avoided talking about them as a whole up until now. As for most of the time, Douggie here isn't going to be a ton of help. Lots of flying, poison,
and steel types make getting Douggie in properly a bit of a hassle as they can all threaten Dougie pretty strongly, especially in Platinum where they also throw in heaps of Houndour with their Fire type moves. Your probably better off bringing in your other pokemon for the Galactic portions. At least you can chunk Giratina with Blizzard / Ice Beam to try and avoid using your Masterball on it?
Volkner (Level Cap: 50): Easy in theory, not in practice though. Jolteon can try and threaten with Iron Tail, and Raichu can do the same thing with Focus Blast and Signal Beam. Luxray and Electivire are non starters though, their too fast, and have fire coverage. Again, your probably better off with something like a Garchomp here.
6/10 decent at least against Raichu and Jolteon, dead weight for the rest of the fight.
E4 and Champion Cynthia (Level Cap: 62): Aaron, and Flint are non starters due to their strong type matchup against Douggie. Lucian has at least Mr. Mime that Douggie can take care of due to it's lackluster coverage. But the rest of the team either resists Douggie's attacks, has super effective coverage against it, or both. Bertha at least gives Douggie a chance to shine with her team of Ground types all falling pray to Grass/Ice (though you will need to switch Dougie around to get rid of Hippowdon's Sand Stream). Cynthia herself though is in a class of her own, each of her mons having strong coverage to deal with Douggie with ease, and either being too fast, too strong, or too bulky for Douggie to safely deal with. Especially her Garchomp having Flamethrower to end any dreams of ending the run with a heroic Blizzard (unless your willing to get a focus sash and make Douggie hold it for the fight to ensure it gets Blizzard off).
3/10 and that's being generous, as all it can really do is hard counter Bertha.
Overall 4.8 / 10: Honestly not as good as I thought it would be. The early to midgame is solid. But as you get deeper into the lategame, it becomes a lot more reliant on set up with X items to stick around and contribute outside of specific situations it's suited for. So sadly, not even making it available earlier can help Snover escape E Tier. So you're probably better off just using Torterra or Roserade.
