Gimmicks you wish worked better

[Petrico94]

A lot of the time Game Freak releases a pokemon or ability that's unique or offers a different way of playing, or maybe it just gives the option to look different. Some of them work well like Mew learning any and every TM move or Zoroark's weird Illusion paranoia. But too often there are things like the Unown library that have no battle use and just have no use other than taking up Box space for collection purposes. What are some of the non-conventional pokemon abilities, designs, or things that just didn't last a lot of generations that should have been better thought out?

Anything unique to one or a small number of pokemon that separates them from others, even just their overall design, or a game mechanic that added after gen 1 but never really caught on is fair game.

 

[The Avalanches]

Solrock and Lunatone have been two of the biggest disappointments to me. I really wanted to like them and I tried my best to like them, because they have alright designs, but a bad typing, terrible stats and a barren move pool probably were the reason it faded into obscurity for me.

 

[Red G]

Most gimmick pokemon are too bad to actually use even in-game. RSE was bad with both Kecleon and Castform (both were decent when you first got them, at least). Despite their flaws, as a kid I loved both of those guys (the Anime helped). Castform's weather transformations were so cool that I created a big comic strip on the backs of worksheets in grade school featuring the crossbreed between a Castform and a Ditto: Pokeform! Kecleon always should have been awesome; low speed and low attack power let it down. Ash's battle with Harrison in the anime (pikachu vs Kecleon, specifically) showcased how fast Kecleon was, all while nearly invisible. That was not at all played out in-game.

That said, some gimmicks turned out really well. Slaking, Spiritomb, Shedinja, Archeops, and Imposter Ditto all are great and usable.

 

[The Avalanches]

That said, some gimmicks turned out really well. Slaking, Spiritomb, Shedinja, Archeops, and Imposter Ditto all are great and usable.

lol

 

[BunearyOffice]

If only Archeops was a bit faster.
Good Attack, good Special Attack, they did a great job with an attacker, but having a Base Speed of 110 just doesn't make the cut. You want to be able to use it's mixed abilities or flexibility in movesets to your greatest advantage, but practically get outsped by almost all Meta Scarfs or faster Pokes, and you are forced to run a +Speed nature or else you will get outsped by even things like Infernape. This wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that Defeatist activates after almost any hit, because Archeops isn't exactly bulky.
Why, Archeops.....
:I

 

[Durant]

I really wish Rampardos had some better stats outside of it's huge attack. You can attemp a sweep with rock polis but good luck setting up a rock polish.

 

[aVocado]

Archeops wpuld have been a lot better with any other ability.. Defeatist blows so hard.

 

[BunearyOffice]

Archeops wpuld have been a lot better with any other ability.. Defeatist blows so hard.

Yeah :I

 

[Majestic Electric]

Archeops would have been a lot better with any other ability...Defeatist blows so hard.

Yeah I wish Archeops got a (awesome) DW ability at least. Intimidate would of been good (I guess it would make up for its shitty defenses). Well, truth be told, anything is better than Defeatist (except for...Truant). I love how GameFreak screwed it over and gave it Defeatist as its DW ability. -_-

I really wanted Color Change to be good. It seems like such a cool ability and Kecleon is one of my favorites from Gen 3. I love chameleons! Why did they give it such crappy stats outside its special defense? And they should of made Color Change similar to Protean. :(

 

[The Avalanches]

I really wanted Color Change to be good. It seems like such a cool ability. Why couldn't it have been like Protean? :(

The only thing that has Color Change has Protean too.

 

[Majestic Electric]

The only thing that has Color Change has Protean too.

I am aware of that. But I just think it's odd. Protean and Color Change are pretty similar abilities and why GameFreak didn't give Color Change a buff in Gen 6 is beyond me. And even with Protean, it doesn't make Kecleon a better Pokemon. It can't utilize it like Greninja can due to its crappy stats.

 

[kabbes]

Archeops wpuld have been a lot better with any other ability.. Defeatist blows so hard.

They gave it brutal attack stats precisely because they were giving it a shitty ability to make up for it.

 

[Durant]

Archeops wpuld have been a lot better with any other ability.. Defeatist blows so hard.

Well if it got something else like moxie or rock head it would have been broken.

 

[BunearyOffice]

Well if it got something else like moxie or rock head it would have been broken.

Not something as broken as that, just maybe something a little better.
Anyways, in OU Theorymon, ironically enough, Archeops does get Rock Head

HEAD SMASHIN' FOR DAYZ

 

[Hulavuta]

I think Regigigas was interesting because I'm not exactly sure why Game Freak decided to try to "balance" it at all. I mean, it's not like they haven't made purposefully overpowered Pokemon before. Its stats aren't even that ridiculously high, its BST is equal to Groudon and Kyogre which have excellent abilities. One of my biggest hopes for XY is that they'd change Slow Start to only go for 1 or 2 turns...sadly that did not happen.

 

[spiresquire]

It always bugged me that Regigigas had such a terrible ability, being a legend and all. And a hard-to-obtain one at that. Slakoth at least was found early game, and having a legendary powerful pokemon by level 36 would be odd. :T

And even though Regi's ability was total trash, they add insult to injury by making sure it can't learn Protect or Rest. :/

I wish Castform were a bit more than "meh." But even a mega-evolution wouldn't do it much favors, unfortunately.

 

[Age of Kings]

The Ice type (as in being one, not its offensive uses).

 

[noobcubed]

Guys, I don't know about you but I would rather have my gimmicks remain gimmicky. If you make a Pokemon competent outside of its gimmick factor then it becomes overbearingly good.

 

[spiresquire]

Yeah, I could see where you're coming from. Things like Slaking, Shedinja, and Archeops are probably fine right where they are. The only "nerfed" gimmick that really bothers me is Regi, since he's already a legend, and one that's incredibly hard to get without knowing what Braille is or without access to Gen III games. Or that one time it was released as an eventmon. Nowadays they've pulled a Rayquaza/Landorus way of catching it in BW2, so I guess that helps a bit.

Plus, as the leader of the "golem trio" I find it a tad disappointing that he's actually worse than his subordinates for a set time, both offensively and defensively. The fact that you have to raise him from level one in Platinum only adds to the mockery. :P

 

[Age of Kings]

Guys, I don't know about you but I would rather have my gimmicks remain gimmicky. If you make a Pokemon competent outside of its gimmick factor then it becomes overbearingly good.

Politoed and Mawile aren't OP despite having been gimmicks until recently. Hell, Azumarill was a complete and utter piece of shit in gen 2 and look how far it's gone - one of the best Pokemon in the game. That being said, stuff like Slaking and co aren't awful in relation to Megas and the power creep, or (way too much) stuff that quite frankly is way too underpowered.

To use Archeops as an example, I was actually rather excited for it when I first saw it (before I came across its ability). Even without Defeatist, it's quite frail and fairly easily checked by pretty much every variety of priority, weak to Bullet Punch and Aqua Jet which are the most common ones. Also, Terrakion is way better in the 'fast Rock types' department, exchanging 11 Attack and 2 Speed for above average defenses, better dual STAB, resistance to Stealth Rock, and overall versatility.

The only reasonable one mentioned imo is Wonder Guard, I think that it's balanced for what it does. The others just make the Pokemon simply unfun to play because of their limitations; you can't even get creative about it. And this is coming from someone who raised a Wartortle and a Wooper from egg to lv100.

Balance isn't Gamefreak's strong suit; you don't need to be a competitive player to see that. Unfortunately some Pokemon are nerfed way too much and for no reason, since so many unbalanced things do exist.

 

[BaffleBlend]

-Spinda. Your pokémon could look like nobody else's in the world!... but everything else. ARGH.

-Delibird. Love the design, but do I even need to say it?

-Phione actually makes me feel guilty for training it despite its weakness because of one thing: the big "BANNED" in the Battle Maison. Why did Nintendo ban freaking PHIONE?!

-Mega Kangaskhan... she was my best friend in the game. I loved her so much. When she was banned, it hurt me on a personal level, but I couldn't argue with the facts - Parental Bond is broken.

 

[Petrico94]

How about contests from Gen 3 and 4? I didn't play them much but it seemed like an interesting way to use pokemon and create a new meta around. It probably stopped because all moves had different effects that required more work in designing and it wasn't getting very popular anyway. Plus Smeargle could probably run the show with any moves he damn well pleased.

 

[BaffleBlend]

I imagine contests will get a revamp in the G3 remakes. And there will be G3 remakes. So don't worry too much about that.

 

[chaostothemax]

I really, really wish that every Pokemon was viable with their signature moves. Things like Bonemerang on Marowak, Electroweb Galvantula, Octazooka on Octillery, Mist Ball/Luster Purge...the list goes on.

 

[SpaceCake]

Delibird. It has Destiny Bond + Spikes and shit but can't use them effectively, which is a real damn shame because I really like Delibird. If it only was faster then it could be decent.