(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[Yung Dramps]

Clair uses special moves (Dragonbreath, Dragon Pulse, Twister et al) to differentiate her from Lance, who uses physical moves like Dragon Rush and Outrage.

That said, I remain baffled that the remakes gave her a Gyarados. Least-needed roster update EVER.

I'd beg to differ: Gyarados is some much-needed variety. 3 Dragonairs is just... ewwwwww.

snip

I don't recall saying Adventures was the first to make the changes? Only that it was/is atrocious that a manga made the changes before the core games did. The rematch teams are nice, but that doesn't excuse the original teams not being fixed, if anything it makes it worse because it shows GF knows there's a problem but dun wanna amend it.

 

[Zowayix]

I don't recall saying Adventures was the first to make the changes? Only that it was/is atrocious that a manga made the changes before the core games did.

[logic]
The goal of Adventures is to promote and sell the main games, so we have to give everyone the shiny new Pokemon! But once they've bought the games and we have their money, we have to keep everything in the games familiar and easy or else tHe kiDs wiLl gEt bOrEd aNd tUrN tO tHeiR mObiLe pHoNeS wHiCh bArEly eXiStEd iN 2O00
[/logic]

sorry

 

[greentyphlosion]

I'd beg to differ: Gyarados is some much-needed variety. 3 Dragonairs is just... ewwwwww.

Everyone and their aunt cousin uses Gyarados in HGSS. Three Dragonairs wasn't particularly diverse but it was bloody tough and the Ice-Fire-Electric triangle she had going on complemented Kingdra nicely.

Nidoqueen, Meganium, Feraligatr, and Ampharos all are just as viable if Clair fancied aping Lance's style by using non-dragons. But that's another topic altogether.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Pokemon Smile.

No, I'm not going to complain about a game obviously meant for young kids doesn't have any appeal to an adult player like me. BUT I will complain about Gen I pandering to an audience who has NO nostalgia for Gen I!

Seriously, I looked at the hats and Pokemon available for Pokemon Smile, and its all Gen I. Why? Wouldn't it be more sense to have it be a selected amount of Pokemon in the SwSh dex? You know, the games they would likely have played and be making memories for right now?

EDIT: Derp, forgot about Let's Go. Okay, so maybe they'll have some memories from Let's Go which only had the Gen I Pokemon... and also the Alolan Variants and Mega Evos. But still, I doubt this game is going to get updates so why not include variety of Pokemon from over several gens instead of once again clinging to Gen I. I'm sure there are several Pokemon they could have made a joke with being in someone's mouth, like Pokemon which are known for biting such as the Gabite family and Bruxish (even if they aren't in the initial Galar Dex).

EDIT 2: Also surprised there aren't that many hats. Not expecting them to make a cap for every Pokemon but thought they'd at least have one cap for every family.

 

[earl]

Pokemon Smile.

No, I'm not going to complain about a game obviously meant for young kids doesn't have any appeal to an adult player like me. BUT I will complain about Gen I pandering to an audience who has NO nostalgia for Gen I!

Seriously, I looked at the hats and Pokemon available for Pokemon Smile, and its all Gen I. Why? Wouldn't it be more sense to have it be a selected amount of Pokemon in the SwSh dex? You know, the games they would likely have played and be making memories for right now?

EDIT: Derp, forgot about Let's Go. Okay, so maybe they'll have some memories from Let's Go which only had the Gen I Pokemon... and also the Alolan Variants and Mega Evos. But still, I doubt this game is going to get updates so why not include variety of Pokemon from over several gens instead of once again clinging to Gen I. I'm sure there are several Pokemon they could have made a joke with being in someone's mouth, like Pokemon which are known for biting such as the Gabite family and Bruxish (even if they aren't in the initial Galar Dex).

EDIT 2: Also surprised there aren't that many hats. Not expecting them to make a cap for every Pokemon but thought they'd at least have one cap for every family.

Generally, the Pokémon that have been advertised the most heavily in the past decade has been gen 1. Hence, the target audience (sub 10 yr olds) are probably most familiar with that gen even if they didn’t grow up with RBY

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Pokemon Smile.

No, I'm not going to complain about a game obviously meant for young kids doesn't have any appeal to an adult player like me. BUT I will complain about Gen I pandering to an audience who has NO nostalgia for Gen I!

Seriously, I looked at the hats and Pokemon available for Pokemon Smile, and its all Gen I. Why? Wouldn't it be more sense to have it be a selected amount of Pokemon in the SwSh dex? You know, the games they would likely have played and be making memories for right now?

EDIT: Derp, forgot about Let's Go. Okay, so maybe they'll have some memories from Let's Go which only had the Gen I Pokemon... and also the Alolan Variants and Mega Evos. But still, I doubt this game is going to get updates so why not include variety of Pokemon from over several gens instead of once again clinging to Gen I. I'm sure there are several Pokemon they could have made a joke with being in someone's mouth, like Pokemon which are known for biting such as the Gabite family and Bruxish (even if they aren't in the initial Galar Dex).

Now I have my own annoyance. An annoyance with the community.

Whenever things are limited to the original 151, people always bitch and moan about "oh they're nostalgia pandering to the wrong audience". Even though half the time, that idea makes absolutely no sense. Do you really think a fucking teeth brushing app has any reason to nostalgia bait, Kanto or otherwise? No! The original 151 is just an easy choice for when Game Freak (or really anyone making Pokemon media) wants a smaller selection of Pokemon and doesn't want to waste effort hand-picking them because again, it's a teeth brushing app. As long as the selection is some permutation of "Pikachu and others" it's really not going to matter what the others are. Might as well just use the easiest choice.

 

[R_N]

Here's one I'm not sure if its an oversight or not:
So Klara/Avery can show up in Armor raids with their Slowbro. They even have their dynamax bands but...they still wont dynamax in raids.

I am kind of surprised at this because when you pair up with Hop & gym leaders for the post-game raid battles they can dynamax their Pokemon if you don't (except Piers, of course). It'd add a certain bit of spice if you could wait a few turns for Klara/Avery to Dynamax and help out isntead of no, you need to dynamax at the start of battle sorry.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Now I have my own annoyance. An annoyance with the community.

Whenever things are limited to the original 151, people always bitch and moan about "oh they're nostalgia pandering to the wrong audience". Even though half the time, that idea makes absolutely no sense. Do you really think a fucking teeth brushing app has any reason to nostalgia bait, Kanto or otherwise? No! The original 151 is just an easy choice for when Game Freak (or really anyone making Pokemon media) wants a smaller selection of Pokemon and doesn't want to waste effort hand-picking them because again, it's a teeth brushing app. As long as the selection is some permutation of "Pikachu and others" it's really not going to matter what the others are. Might as well just use the easiest choice.

But that's the thing. This is such a little side thing that it would be the perfect chance to put in a batch of Pokemon that otherwise wouldn't get much spotlight. Using the original 151 as a "quick thing to do" is the exact reason why there's so much Gen I pandering in the core series games. It's a self perpetuating cycle.

 

[R_N]

The real reason to be miffed over it is we don't get excellent adorable derpy artwork of the other generations of Pokemon imo

 

[Yung Dramps]

Pokemon Smile.

No, I'm not going to complain about a game obviously meant for young kids doesn't have any appeal to an adult player like me. BUT I will complain about Gen I pandering to an audience who has NO nostalgia for Gen I!

Seriously, I looked at the hats and Pokemon available for Pokemon Smile, and its all Gen I. Why? Wouldn't it be more sense to have it be a selected amount of Pokemon in the SwSh dex? You know, the games they would likely have played and be making memories for right now?

EDIT: Derp, forgot about Let's Go. Okay, so maybe they'll have some memories from Let's Go which only had the Gen I Pokemon... and also the Alolan Variants and Mega Evos. But still, I doubt this game is going to get updates so why not include variety of Pokemon from over several gens instead of once again clinging to Gen I. I'm sure there are several Pokemon they could have made a joke with being in someone's mouth, like Pokemon which are known for biting such as the Gabite family and Bruxish (even if they aren't in the initial Galar Dex).

EDIT 2: Also surprised there aren't that many hats. Not expecting them to make a cap for every Pokemon but thought they'd at least have one cap for every family.

In addition to what all the others here have said it's worth noting that the other spinoffs (Snap and Cafe Mix) have a much broader selection

(New Snap screenshots not required since everyone has seen them)

But that's the thing. This is such a little side thing that it would be the perfect chance to put in a batch of Pokemon that otherwise wouldn't get much spotlight. Using the original 151 as a "quick thing to do" is the exact reason why there's so much Gen I pandering in the core series games. It's a self perpetuating cycle.

I don't get what's so hard to understand here. Gen 1 Pokemon are popular. Therefore they get more exposure. This is nothing unique to Pokemon, "plaster the popular stuff on the merchandise and new material" is the most base-level Marketing 101 shit out there and yet this community just can't fucking run it through their thick-ass skulls. The whole GMax Charizard nontroversy in particular would be the equivalent of Dragon Ball fans complaining about one of Goku's new transformations in Super because "wow smh can't believe they're pandering to Goku fans". Look I love it when the underdog picks get special attention or a surprise big role but there's no shortage of that in the Pokemon franchise right now and there's certainly no conspiracy involving a tooth-brushing app to make kids worship Kanto or whatever the fuck

 

[DrPumpkinz]

But that's the thing. This is such a little side thing that it would be the perfect chance to put in a batch of Pokemon that otherwise wouldn't get much spotlight. Using the original 151 as a "quick thing to do" is the exact reason why there's so much Gen I pandering in the core series games. It's a self perpetuating cycle.

Sometimes it is pandering. But not this time. "Putting in a batch of Pokemon that otherwise wouldn't get much spotlight" would just be wasted time and effort because it really doesn't matter what Pokemon they put in there as long as it includes Pikachu. A teeth brushing app is a pretty dim spotlight. As someone who will shamelessly take the easy road when effort won't matter (setting utensils in the "proper" position vs putting them anywhere next to the plate, meticulously folding clean t-shirts vs just shoving them into the drawer, etc.) I'm always going to defend others that do the same (not praise, but defend).

The real reason to be miffed over it is we don't get excellent adorable derpy artwork of the other generations of Pokemon imo

This is why I won't praise. The more Pokemon Smile art that exists in the world, the better.

 

[Rapti]

"Putting in a batch of Pokemon that otherwise wouldn't get much spotlight" would just be wasted time and effort because it really doesn't matter what Pokemon they put in there as long as it includes Pikachu.

This is a pretty dangerous attitude for a company to have
let me give you an example of why this is:

once upon a time in the early 90's Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) was very popular but Marvel instead of giving him a cartoon decided to make one of their old favorite franchises, the Fantastic Four, Marvel's first hit which was floundering at the time
to date the Fantastic Four are still floundering even after been given a few cartoons and even several movies to bolster their popularity, meanwhile Ghost Rider was left out of any media spin-offs, his popularity left to whiter on the vine, and is now an almost forgotten also-ran

which is why leaving popular pokemon like Umbreon or Luxray out and going with frigging Dodrio in any spin-off is a really stupid idea (and I love Dodrio, but then again I also love the Fantastic Four)
doing so out of laziness is even more stupid

 

[DrPumpkinz]

This is a pretty dangerous attitude for a company to have
let me give you an example of why this is:

once upon a time in the early 90's Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) was very popular but Marvel instead of giving him a cartoon decided to make one of their old favourite franchises, the Fantastic Four, Marvel's first hit which was floundering at the time
to date the Fantastic Four are still floundering even after been given a few cartoons and even several movies to bolster their popularity, meanwhile Ghost Rider was left out of any media spin-offs, his popularity left to whiter, and is now an almost forgotten also-ran

which is why leaving popular pokemon like Umbreon or Luxray out and going with frigging Dodrio in any spin-off is a really stupid idea (and I love Dodrio, but then again I also love the Fantastic Four)
doing so out of laziness is even more stupid

Oh, no doubt this mindset should not be applied on larger scales. But c'mon. A teeth brushing app? That's not at all close to "cartoon based on a comic book hero" level. This is "plug and play game based on a comic book hero that you find in a bin at Walmart buried under other plug and play games" level.

 

[Codraroll]

This reminds me of an annoyance I have. I'm fine with bucking mechanical trends with legendaries, but it's frustrating to look back at older generations and see Pokemon who got robbed of the legendary status.

I'm actually of the opposite opinion here. Being a legendary is not going to do Kubfu any favours, while Volcarona really benefits from not being one.

Legendaries have specific rules to obey and traditions to adhere to. Can't be bred, can't be found during the story (unless they are the focus of the story), generally a pain to obtain if they are obtainable at all, and you'll hardly ever see multiples of them together in any media. They tend to be relegated to obscurity once they've had their minutes in the limelight in the game of their origin. For a legendary to flourish, it needs to be cast in a special role, and that usually only happens once.

Non-legendaries like Larvesta and Volcarona are much easier to fit into a game, as they don't have that baggage. Sure, in the particular case of Larvesta its high evolution level makes it poorly suited for anything but a lategame appearance, but in general you don't have to shape the game around Volcarona for it to appear. It can feature on the teams of random trainers without any special explanation of how they got it. You can have it roam the countryside without having to write a story for it. It can have Egg moves.

I think Kubfu can best be compared to Riolu. Both are humanoid Fighting-types that evolve once, both got a ton of attention from TPC and fans alike, both are used by prominent NPCs in their game of origin ... but Riolu is so immensely more versatile than Kubfu will ever be. Game Freak can plop Riolu into any ol' Pokémon game without a second thought, but because Kubfu is a legendary, it needs a lot more attention in its appearances, and as a result it and Urshifu will probably fall into obscurity within a generation or two while Riolu and Lucario will still be present at every opportunity.

 

[Pikachu315111]

This is a pretty dangerous attitude for a company to have
let me give you an example of why this is:

once upon a time in the early 90's Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) was very popular but Marvel instead of giving him a cartoon decided to make one of their old favourite franchises, the Fantastic Four, Marvel's first hit which was floundering at the time
to date the Fantastic Four are still floundering even after been given a few cartoons and even several movies to bolster their popularity, meanwhile Ghost Rider was left out of any media spin-offs, his popularity left to whiter, and is now an almost forgotten also-ran

which is why leaving popular pokemon like Umbreon or Luxray out and going with frigging Dodrio in any spin-off is a really stupid idea (and I love Dodrio, but then again I also love the Fantastic Four)
doing so out of laziness is even more stupid

I wouldn't say this is exactly the example I would jump to. The example I would jump to, which is also a superhero company analogy, would actually be DC comics. DC has has a ton of superheroes... but years ago they might as well have just been the "Batman Company" as Batman is pretty much all they did (at least seemingly outside of comics). Superman, Wonder Woman, Justice League... they might as well not have existed. And I'm not just talking about movies and video games, though those are the most obvious example to go to, but sticking to DrPumpkinz's point is that if there's any thing DC could slap one of their heroes IP on it would likely have been Batman as that was the only IP that DC was fixated on at the time. Heck, it wasn't until Marvel began making bank with the MCU did DC, after dragging their heels, finally decided it too wanted a cinematic universe so made another Superman movie... and well, where all that leads is another story.

But still, yes, it's just a stupid brushing app. But still it's probably going to be an app that thousands of little kids will use. Little kids who have fresher eyes at, when they would be asked to name a batch of Pokemon, probably wouldn't strictly stick to the original 151. Maybe me going for the nostalgia angle didn't get across what I was thinking. So let me try again: Pokemon has gone out of its way to make Pokemon past the 151, yet for little side projects such as this teeth brushing app or, if you want a bigger example, the Pokemon Quest game (which they still remember as in the recent Expansion they had Mustard playing it on his son's Switch post-story) they default back to the original 151. I love the original 151, was my gen and Charizard is my favorite Pokemon, but these little side projects are the time to sprinkle in all the other Pokemon you've created past the 151 to give them even the smallest bit of exposure. Because, honestly, IS IT that much more time consuming to sit down and pick a batch of Pokemon (like if you just went gen-by-gen or Type-by-Type wouldn't take you that long methinks)?

Now, I'll also agree we do see other games that GF and the Pokemon Company have more interest in does show a much bigger range of Pokemon from other gens such as Pokemon Cafe and NEW Pokemon Snap. However, just remember, if GF or Pokemon Company ever does a project or mechanic where they default to the original 151 when you think they could have done a myriad of gens, someone could very tell you the same thing you're all saying now: who cares, it's just a small project/part of the game. Also I hope any kid using the tooth brushing app doesn't have a favorite Pokemon that's not part of the original 151.

 

[Ironmage]

I would also add that being excluded is going to breed resentment from fans of things that may have only started out as slightly more obscure. Advance Wars and Fire Emblem started out at about the same level. Fire Emblem had appearences in Smash due to having more implementable characters, but Advance Wars had the not-insignificant advantages of having released first and being better suited to multiplayer. Then Fire Emblem's popularity exploded when both series were in the dumps, and there hasn't been an Advance Wars game since. The fans don't forget, of course, and point to FE's success to show that tactics games are viable, but FE itself is now seen as an obstacle to getting a new AW game. Back to pokemon, I know I'm at this point when it comes to Steel-types: I would gladly throw out Lucario so that there canbe more prominence of magneton/scizor/skarmory/aggron/metagross/empoleon/excadrill/aegislash.

I know full well GF doesn't care about us, but that doesn't make saying it's a bad idea from our perspective any less valid.

 

[Siggu]

The problem with Smile focusing only on Kanto mons is that it's a game targeted to kids and kids only. There is no nostalgic, old fanbase to pander to here. It's a cycle they keep feeding this way.

 

[Worldie]

To be fair, you need to purposely pretend to not see why GameFreaks overuses gen 1 pokemon *even* in a context of a app completely aimed at kids who maybe can't even read.

They're tried and true to be working. No need to take gambles on if they enjoy the smiling Dedenne, when you can go with surefire Pikachu.

GameFreaks isn't a company that likes to experiment, they have far-too-often relied on the "if it aint broken don't fix it" formula, and the spam of gen 1 pokemon (what you guys still call pandering thinking there's any actual preference for them) is simply because they know they work and don't want to gamble with the new ones.

There's absolutely nothing deep or complex about it. That's the extend of the spam of generation 1 in last 15 years.
GameFreaks is just too scared to experiment with promoting new ones, unless they are absolutely acclaimed by the Japanese audience like Greninja and Lucario.

 

[Kurona]

I think the only thing I'd be surprised at is when Current Gen is excluded. Stuff like Scorbunny and Zacian are very much designed as the currently marketable Pokémon to be focused on; and with DLC that arguably extends to Kubfu, Calyrex and the new mythicals. For a game like Smile specifically, it's certainly surprising to not see the new 'cute' 'mon like the starters, rookidee etc not make an appearance. You'd think this is the sort of thing they were made for.

I also don't really care though? Like, it's odd, but. Toothbrush app probably only 4 people are gonna use.

 

[Worldie]

I also don't really care though? Like, it's odd, but. Toothbrush app probably only 4 people are gonna use.

Eh, as I mentioned some days ago, this stuff is actually somewhat popular in Japan, I've heard of this sort of apps in the past (something about a crocodile I think?).

I... don't think anyone in the west would really be using this, I think western parents have bigger issues on their hands with their kids than making them was their teeth right now... but I wouldn't be surprised if in the East this works well.

 

[Codraroll]

There is no nostalgic, old fanbase to pander to here. It's a cycle they keep feeding this way.

This. I often see people say "They're marketing the Gen Pokémon because they are popular". But the opposite is true as well: the Gen I Pokémon are popular because they are the ones you see all the damn time. The Gen I designs aren't necessarily better, or inherently more recognizable than the ones that came later, but they nevertheless serve as the go-to Pokémon whenever something is to be promoted. Of course all that exposure makes them recognizable, that would probably have happened had they promoted other designs too.

 

[Siggu]

unless they are absolutely acclaimed by the Japanese audience like Greninja

You mean the Pokémon that has had zero presence (outside of Detective Pikachu) since Ash-Greninja's very early announcement in Gen VII?

(Not counting Smash Ultimate because of the "everyone is here" part)

 

[Worldie]

You mean the Pokémon that has had zero presence (outside of Detective Pikachu) since Ash-Greninja's very early announcement in Gen VII?

(Not counting Smash Ultimate because of the "everyone is here" part)

You do have a point and to be fair I find Greninja's exclusion from the latest entryes weird myself so far, since as far as i know, out of the top 10 most liked pokemon, he's the only missing in the Galar-dex so far.
That could just because it's a starter and starters are a "either all or none" (yes I know technically only Charizard was in the galar dex, but Bulbasaur and Squirtle were already in the datafiles at the time)... but it's an interesting exception to that.

 

[willempju]

The problem with Smile focusing only on Kanto mons is that it's a game targeted to kids and kids only. There is no nostalgic, old fanbase to pander to here. It's a cycle they keep feeding this way.

This. I often see people say "They're marketing the Gen Pokémon because they are popular". But the opposite is true as well: the Gen I Pokémon are popular because they are the ones you see all the damn time. The Gen I designs aren't necessarily better, or inherently more recognizable than the ones that came later, but they nevertheless serve as the go-to Pokémon whenever something is to be promoted. Of course all that exposure makes them recognizable, that would probably have happened had they promoted other designs too.

Ever considered they are targeting the parents who grew up with gen 1? It's not like the children this game is targeted to choose the game themselves, they're way to young for that seeing it is geared towards toddlers. The parents, however, are precisely in the age group that grew up with gen 1 and they choose to use this game.

 

[Kurona]

Went to look at this game's stuff on Serebii actually because they started uploading stuff about it, and I realised I... kinda had the wrong impression.

See, when it was said "oh they just have gen 1 pokemon", the perception I had is that there were just a handful of little mascots on the screen. Pikachu, Eevee, the starters, maybe a couple others. Strange that you don't got Lucario or the galar starters but again who cares.

Turns out, uh, it's not just a few Kanto Pokémon? It's... all of them. All 151. This is a game where you catch every single Gen 1 Pokémon.


I'm still not mad I'm just REALLY confused now