(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[Dusk Mage Necrozma]

The gen 1 Pokemon designs. I feel like people only defend these out of habit/nostalgia, because the vast majority are extremely uninspired:
It’s some sludge
It’s more sludge
It’s a boxer
It’s a seal

Like, I understand why one would trash on some of the newer designs. and are the blandest box legend pair yet, and are boring, is just Swampert but buff. But Kanto has these problems tenfold: most are just a single concept like “a bird” or “a rat”. Most have no design origin whatsoever and are just “what if we had a Pokemon that’s a snake?”

Compare:
: a bird
vs
: a toucan that uses its beak as a cannon to launch the seeds of berries it’s eaten

or
: a butterfly
vs
: a psychic ladybug based on radar, UFOs, possibly a certain real-life wasp infection

Even the legends fall victim to this: while the Swords of Justice are honorable heroes based on the three musketeers, and the Tapus are Hawaiian-based capricious protector gods, the Kanto Birds are just birds with elements.

Gen 1 creativity tier list

creative idea or interesting real life origin:














decent, maybe some real life inspiration, but nothing special:
(the Nidos would be in Boring because they're just kaijus except the split gender evolution is a neat idea)




















animal + element, animal + monstrous features, or just a sentient type of plant
(Starters get a pass because they're supposed to be basic)

























good or decent prevo but bigger:
(the other middle starters have design traits that differentiate them from the other stages, but Charmeleon is just big Charmander)
(whereas Magneton makes sense given magnets stick together, there's really no reason for Dugtrio to exist)




boring, basically just a ____:
















(Gastly is unique because it's also a gas cloud, but these two are just ghosts)






boring prevo but bigger:

I do quite like many Kanto designs, but every generation GF has been improving their designs to be more unique and inspired, and I don’t get why one would like to return to a time when Pokemon designs were “Okay, here’s a monkey Pokemon, and it’s really angry. What if it evolves into a bigger angry monkey?”

 

[R_N]

being in the pokemon fandom is just seeing the same arguments ad nauseum

 

[Dusk Mage Necrozma]

being in the pokemon fandom is just seeing the same arguments ad nauseum

I mean, this kinda is a place to complain

 

[R_N]

I mean, this kinda is a place to complain

this is less a complaint towards you & you're not even wrong, really

Just this specific argument is so tiring and Im grumpy and feeling snippy

 

[Imperial Magala]

being in the pokemon fandom is just seeing the same arguments ad nauseum

I don't even have to explain why I have this file just because we have seen the same complaint for years now.

 

[Dusk Mage Necrozma]

I don't even have to explain why I have this file just because we have seen the same complaint for years now.

…but finally, PLA does it justice! Mostly.

 

[Millky95]

…but finally, PLA does it justice! Mostly.

I love Typhlosion and I will never forgive PLA's dopey eyes disgrace to it

Yes I still picked it

 

[Worldie]

I love Typhlosion and I will never forgive PLA's dopey eyes disgrace to it

Yes I still picked it

Are you daring trashtalk lord and savior Highplosion

 

[khlaylav]

I'm replaying Y because it may be unironically my favorite Pokemon game (that might go in the Unpopular Opinions thread) and I keep running into hordes of Gulpin. There are 5 Gulpin. Only 3 cries play. WHY ARE THE OTHER TWO SILENT???!

 

[Sonikku A]

Russian roulette, but pokemon squeak toys

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Since Bugsy give the U-turn TM in Gen 4, the devs decided to have Bugsy lead with his ace. This is a really cool idea, and would later be reused by Guzma to similarly cool effect.

In the rematch, they still have him lead with his ace, but they removed U-turn from its moveset, defeating the whole purpose of leading with it. They also don't have any of his Pokemon know U-turn, which is a huge shame since it's one of the most mechanically interesting gym leader TMs in HGSS (it and Chuck's Focus Punch are really the only two good ones) and thus has very high potential for building the entire team around it and giving the fight a distinct identity. His first fight is a brilliant showcase of U-turn, and then his rematch just throws it in the garbage.

He's also the only Johto gym leader to discard team members. Granted, Butterfree and Beedrill are perhaps underpowered for a postgame fight, but I still don't like it. It's not like Shedinja is much better (wow, you're fighting a boss whose entire team is Bug-type; I wonder if you'll have a move that can hit Shedinja).

 

[Sonikku A]

View attachment 429838

Since Bugsy give the U-turn TM in Gen 4, the devs decided to have Bugsy lead with his ace. This is a really cool idea, and would later be reused by Guzma to similarly cool effect.

View attachment 429845

In the rematch, they still have him lead with his ace, but they removed U-turn from its moveset, defeating the whole purpose of leading with it. They also don't have any of his Pokemon know U-turn, which is a huge shame since it's one of the most mechanically interesting gym leader TMs in HGSS (it and Chuck's Focus Punch are really the only two good ones) and thus has very high potential for building the entire team around it and giving the fight a distinct identity. His first fight is a brilliant showcase of U-turn, and then his rematch just throws it in the garbage.

He's also the only Johto gym leader to discard team members. Granted, Butterfree and Beedrill are perhaps underpowered for a postgame fight, but I still don't like it. It's not like Shedinja is much better (wow, you're fighting a boss whose entire team is Bug-type; I wonder if you'll have a move that can hit Shedinja).

His team in Stadium 2

Speaking of, it's weird how both FRLG and HGSS never really referenced or took anything from Stadium 1/2. They were the entire reason GF got somewhat aware of Pokemon Competitive. The idea to mix up Gym leaders to have unrelated types for coverage also is a good idea

 

[Imperial Magala]

Bugsy using Pupitar is pretty ingenious theming. As for his HGSS rematch team, I appreciate him using more Johto affiliated Bugs.

 

[R_N]

Shedinja exists to make yo uregret trying to train other pokemon

 

[Hugin]

View attachment 429838

Since Bugsy give the U-turn TM in Gen 4, the devs decided to have Bugsy lead with his ace. This is a really cool idea, and would later be reused by Guzma to similarly cool effect.

View attachment 429845

In the rematch, they still have him lead with his ace, but they removed U-turn from its moveset, defeating the whole purpose of leading with it. They also don't have any of his Pokemon know U-turn, which is a huge shame since it's one of the most mechanically interesting gym leader TMs in HGSS (it and Chuck's Focus Punch are really the only two good ones) and thus has very high potential for building the entire team around it and giving the fight a distinct identity. His first fight is a brilliant showcase of U-turn, and then his rematch just throws it in the garbage.

He's also the only Johto gym leader to discard team members. Granted, Butterfree and Beedrill are perhaps underpowered for a postgame fight, but I still don't like it. It's not like Shedinja is much better (wow, you're fighting a boss whose entire team is Bug-type; I wonder if you'll have a move that can hit Shedinja).

I like that Bugsy leads with Scyther, but I don't think they go far enough. Thing is, it'd be so easy to do a good U-Turn team with early-game bugs. Give him a fast U-Turn sweeper(Scyther, but also Beedrill or basically any other decent attacker), and pair it with a couple of cocoons who have(possibly illegal) U-Turn. And no one has any other moves, because AI. Suddenly the battle becomes Scyther U-Turn, PC gets 2 attacks against Kakuna, Kakuna U-Turn, repeat. It'd be the most annoying fight in the world, and would reward clever strategies. Instead the Cocoons are just yet another bug trainer who can't evolve their pokes.

The electric trainers have been even worse. When they do have Volt Switch, their team is never set up to take advantage of it at all. Volt-Turn is one of the easier archetypes to build and play, so why has there never been an NPC using that to overcome the weaknesses of the AI?

 

[R_N]

I like that Bugsy leads with Scyther, but I don't think they go far enough. Thing is, it'd be so easy to do a good U-Turn team with early-game bugs. Give him a fast U-Turn sweeper(Scyther, but also Beedrill or basically any other decent attacker), and pair it with a couple of cocoons who have(possibly illegal) U-Turn. And no one has any other moves, because AI. Suddenly the battle becomes Scyther U-Turn, PC gets 2 attacks against Kakuna, Kakuna U-Turn, repeat. It'd be the most annoying fight in the world, and would reward clever strategies. Instead the Cocoons are just yet another bug trainer who can't evolve their pokes.

The electric trainers have been even worse. When they do have Volt Switch, their team is never set up to take advantage of it at all. Volt-Turn is one of the easier archetypes to build and play, so why has there never been an NPC using that to overcome the weaknesses of the AI?

I would argue by virtue of spamming it, Elesa is the strongest and smartest volt turn user

 

[Nitro Indigo]

Speaking of which, Bugsy's gym battle team will never not baffle me. Two of his Pokémon are cocoons with one move each, after they level they evolve?

 

[Worldie]

I like that Bugsy leads with Scyther, but I don't think they go far enough. Thing is, it'd be so easy to do a good U-Turn team with early-game bugs. Give him a fast U-Turn sweeper(Scyther, but also Beedrill or basically any other decent attacker), and pair it with a couple of cocoons who have(possibly illegal) U-Turn. And no one has any other moves, because AI. Suddenly the battle becomes Scyther U-Turn, PC gets 2 attacks against Kakuna, Kakuna U-Turn, repeat. It'd be the most annoying fight in the world, and would reward clever strategies. Instead the Cocoons are just yet another bug trainer who can't evolve their pokes.

Question: why would a early game gym, aka one where the player has both limited access to resources and potentially low understanding of the game mechanic, have the necessity for "clever strategies" or want to be "an annoying fight"?

That's pretty terrible game design: early game challenges need to be simple and straightforward to get the player accustomed to the game basics (like type matchups and speed tiers).
Even in historically hard games like Dark Souls the first couple boss battles boil down to just slow dodge big sword swing or fancy telegraphed charge and strike back, they don't ask you to throw grenades from the roof while the enemy runs at 100 km/h in the arena.

Such a gimmick would be fine in a mid or lategame gym, but would be a terrible idea in the first couple gyms.

 

[R_N]

Speaking of which, Bugsy's gym battle team will never not baffle me. Two of his Pokémon are cocoons with one move each, after they level they evolve?

And there's a trainer in the same gym who has the evolved versions on their team


I have to assume it's because of Scyther. On paper it's a 500 BST pokemon and pretty strong and pretty fast, especially for the second gym of the game. So they gave two "duds" to balance it out. Similar to how Whitney, who all things considered you fight near instantly, is probably meant to be "balanced out" by Clefairy. Miltank's even a good comparison because both it & Scyther (In gen 2) have "get stronger every time you use the move" moves.

Obviously in practice this is over kill, and I think they vastly overestimated Scyther (especially in Gen 2, Fury Cutter's a lot more inconsistent than Rollout) and landed on the two most boring duds they could short of the unevolved caterpillars. But I imagine that was probably the logic to it.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

In literally every type expert tournament in the PWT where the type has some sort of innate immunity, there is at least one trainer who won't have gotten the memo.

 

[Zowayix]

In literally every type expert tournament in the PWT where the type has some sort of innate immunity, there is at least one trainer who won't have gotten the memo.

What do you mean?

 

[DrPumpkinz]

What do you mean?

The Grass tournament has someone use Leech Seed, the Dark tournament has someone use Psycho Cut, etc.

 

[Imperial Magala]

To be fair, every Pokemon used in the PWT are sets made for regular style matches first.

 

[R_N]

To be fair, every Pokemon used in the PWT are sets made for regular style matches first.

The dark type trainers are iirc unique to the Type Expert matches, and don't have overlap with other tournaments.
Likely just an oversight on the context (unless they really, REALLY thought people would be using things like ring target)

You are right about the rest though, all the Type Master sets are the same as their World Leader sets. So Erika has Leech Seed Abomasnow because...it's just the same set as in World Leader.

 

[hm why....]

I hate how in some games, there is shiny lock, but why? We will get them eventually in the next game/gen