(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

Like yeah most of those are still Kanto but they're also some of the most popular Pokemon across all generations so of course they're going to be featured prominently.
Aipom is popular in the same way Dr. Marvin Monroe and Bleeding Gums Murphy are. But you are right. Still, Kanto gets a bigger slice because.

I wouldn't count this one as it's the exact same starter list as the original. It is true there are all but one of the non-traditional starters are Gen I Pokémon, the only exception being Skitty (for whatever reason), but the original game was released long before this recent pandering.
Well, Explorers of the Sky changed the starters compared to the original releases. Nothing stopped DX from having the newly added Riolu replace Machop, or adding a Gen 2 Pokémon as that generation has NOTHING beyond the starter trio. Let's just say it wasn't made with this purpose but isn't helping either.

As for Digimon, yeah, the reboot exists. It's also unpopular due to its massive filler. Proof nostalgia pandering doesn't mean instant success. Speaking Toei they also have Dragon Ball, a franchise that by virtue of Torishima wanting more production money has its first 16 manga volumes and 153 anime episodes ignored by every modern material. Or PreCure, where outside the "15" years anniversary (celebrated on their 14th year) they barely try to imitate the oldest seasons. In fact that's one franchise that could use being more like ye olden seasons, but I digress.
 

Samtendo09

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While I would also love for more spotlights to be shined on recent Pokemon and have them included in more media, the Kanto pandering is understandable from a marketing perspective and definitely not a uniquely Pokemon "problem." I'd wager that most franchises from 20-30 years that are still active currently are a rehash of their respective "Gen 1," especially in ancillary media. Many of these properties have taken an "expanded universe" approach in which characters from later iterations are included in roles of varying depth and focus, and introduce some original characters, but the stories still primarily focus on the old well-known characters to drawn in people who were familiar with the franchise but haven't been following it. A few examples:

  • Transformers: following the original run the series/toyline made a big change and introduced Beast Wars (and the related Beast Machines), in which the transformers took on animal modes (which looked organic and not robotic in "beast mode," unlike, e.g., the Dinobots in Gen 1) which drew from the original series in having many characters named after the originals but otherwise having their own characterizations. Even then, the show did ultimately tie its lore back to the original series. Japan localized the Canadian-produced TV show but also developed its own Beast Wars animes with all new characters. Following the Beast Wars era the toyline pivoted back to vehicle modes and introduced new characters but with new iterations of "Optimus" and "Megatron," as well as some other well-known Gen 1 characters. Following this was Transformers: Energon trilogy which again introduced many new characters and gimmicks but also had iterations of Optimus, Megatron, Starscream, etc. After this it seems like many of the recent stories have been rehash after rehash of the Autobot vs. Decepticon war, often starting with a contrived reason to end up on Earth and interact with squishy humans who prove to be valuable to the Autobots' war effort, but sometimes starting before the war. The most recent Netflix show takes this latter approach while mostly follows the status quo of Optimus-led Autobots vs. Megatron's evil Decepticons, but the next season will introduce Beast Wars characters (who have mostly played side roles in recent media). There was a good run of the IDW comics which, while still focusing on old well-known characters, disrupted the status quo and actually had the war end and explored post-war life, but that run ended and it sounds like the new run is back to rehashing the "leading up to the war" era again.

  • Power Rangers: while it seems like the Power Rangers TV show has continued to introduce brand new characters every season, with occasional connections to earlier seasons, other media is predominantly based on the original Power Rangers in an expanded universe setting. The TV show is perhaps then most analogous to the games, with the format mostly staying the same (a team of rangers with Zords versus monsters of the week ~ 8 challenges, evil team, become champion) with new characters and powers (~ new pokemon). The current run of the comics appears to have two branches, one based on the 2nd season squad of Power Rangers with some OC as the Green Ranger vs. the original villains and another based on the original Red, Yellow, and Black ranger off in space on a mission (with an alternate universe evil deposed dictator version of Tommy). In the previous series set in the same continuity before these two launched there was a multiverse-type thing in which Power Rangers from other TV seasons appeared, but I don't know if any have shown up in the current run. There was apparently also a video game based on this multiverse run of the comics.

  • Digimon: Youtube keeps trying to recommend me clips of some new Digimon show that is based on the original characters, and to the extent that I've watched any of them it's only because I recognize the characters. My familiarity with anything passed the... 4th season? The one where they finally went "screw it, just make the humans turn into Digimon," is negligible.
I'm sure there are more examples as well. In all of these cases I have to admit I would be unlikely to watch a video or check out the comics if it weren't for Gen 1 familiarity, and I imagine that that is true for many people that are casual fans of a franchise. More dedicated fans want new novel content*, but getting returning eyes on the franchise, especially offshoots, usually requires a focus on the old familiar characters perhaps with new designs/powers. Even when it seems like this doesn't make sense for some products like Smile, which would be for kids who don't even have this familiarity, the goal is to get the parents' attention and give them an angle that they can use to connect with their kids. The Kanto pandering is something that I think the Pokemon community just has to make peace with, since it doesn't seem like it will be going away anytime soon.

(*An exception to this seems to be a certain clade of Transformers fans who appear to only want TF media to be a continuation of the original cartoon universe in perpetuity)
While fans from Japan have more love toward Gen 5, there is also a massive hypocrisy about the overall fanbase whereas they don’t like the excessive Gen 1 pandering and yet let slide fan projects that are just Kanto and nothing more, despite these project having an even more varied quality than even the official mainline Pokémon games.

Another and more important thing, is that there are major differences between Pokémon and the other franchsies with massive pandering of Gen 1 of how they do it.

The other three franchises are simply retellings or even entirely new stories for the most parts, despite some common well-known patterns. This allows new interpretations and fresh new takes on the franchises. Aside of Detective Pikachu, Pokémon Ranger and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, and to an extent Pokken and the many manga lines of the Pokémon franchises, the many other spin offs only stray a bit from the traditional formula of the Pokémon as a whole beyond distinct gameplay.

Another difference is how they handle new additions, often done to help make the next iteration stands out to various extent of success. I am not in a position of judging the new additions of Digimon, Power Ranger and Transformer, but I believe the Digimon franchise avoids giving buff to already strong and popular Digimon, something that Pokémon is very guilty of giving Mega Evolution to Pokémon that are already strong and popular, and ends up being overpowered.

Pokémon tend to go overboard with Pokémon that proved to be popular, as seen with the Kanto starters (with the Charmender line being the biggest culprit of the three), Gengar, Greninja, Lucario, but especially Pikachu, and while the franchise as a whole is not the only culprit for sure, it is very obvious that they focused way too much on marketing lately to the point that it ended up hurting the quality of certain things.

One of the reasons why people eventually make peace with Alolan forms being Gen 1 only is that most of the orignal form of the following Pokémon are not popular to begin with or are severely overshadowed, which include but not limited to the Geodude line, Raichu, Exeggutor, Marowak, Grimer line and the Ratatta line. In short, it focused on those that are not the most popular Pokémon out there. It helped that this aspect is continued to the Galarian forms in Sword and Shield, expending to Generations beyond Gen 1 this time.

Same cannot be said with Gigantamax forms, which the distribution feels not only unnatural, but also something that felt slapped on instead of something that is organic with Galar as a whole. They also barely more rewarding than capturing a Dynamax Pokémon in a Max Raid despite the chance of missing the capture, because the G-Max Moves are not always better than their standard counterpart of the same Max Move type... if not worse. They don’t even change Abilities! (Not necessary for Urshifu.)

tl;dr Pokémon focused too much on marketing to the point that the pandering ends up coming off as insincere.
 
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The Mind Electric

Calming if you look at it right.
Hey at least they stopped one of the biggest and worst kanto panderings (for now): new eeveelutions lol
I will go to bat for Eeveelutions.

I don't think they're Kanto pandering at all. Yes, they all stem from a Kanto Pokémon, but each new one is a fresh design/typing/way of evolving Eevee. It's not like Charizard just coming back for no reason every generation. If they are Kanto pandering, they're pretty good pandering.
 
Yes, they all stem from a Kanto Pokémon, but each new one is a fresh design
I'll disagree on that, I always saw eeveelutions too similar to each other, less like proper evolutions and more like a bunch of regional forms. And their evo gimmick isn't even lasting anymore, considering glaceon, leafeon and sylveon just got lumped with other eeveelutions' evolution ways
 

The Mind Electric

Calming if you look at it right.
And their evo gimmick isn't even lasting anymore, considering glaceon, leafeon and sylveon just got lumped with other eeveelutions' evolution ways
Wait, they did?

*Checks Bulbapedia.*

Damn, that sucks. I liked their original gimmicks. I think the designs are pretty distinct between each evolution, but that's subjective and not really arguable. I'm bummed out about the lost evolution methods though.
 
I'll disagree on that, I always saw eeveelutions too similar to each other, less like proper evolutions and more like a bunch of regional forms. And their evo gimmick isn't even lasting anymore, considering glaceon, leafeon and sylveon just got lumped with other eeveelutions' evolution ways
I'd bet Leafeon and Glaceon's evolution methods return in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
 

Pikachu315111

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Wait, they did?

*Checks Bulbapedia.*

Damn, that sucks. I liked their original gimmicks. I think the designs are pretty distinct between each evolution, but that's subjective and not really arguable. I'm bummed out about the lost evolution methods though.
I'm not, especially since the changes they did make sense.

GF always seemed to have difficulty placing the Ice Rock in a convenient place, if you wanted to use Glaceon you're either having to wait till late game when you finally get to the snowy part of the region and I think there's a few cases it was post game. I think they even had issues with the placement of the Moss Rock where it was put in a more hidden location you couldn't get to until later in the game.

Speaking of Moss Rock, always felt a bit off we had a Grass-type Eeveelution but it didn't use the Leaf Stone to evolve. Of course, that was sort of mitigated by sharing an evolution method with Glaceon so could be overlooked... until Gen 7 introduced the Ice Stone. So now we had a Grass & Ice evolution stone and a Grass and Ice Eeveelution pair, so there goes that excuse.

And to add some final nails in the coffin:
  1. Considering both evolution methods are essentially using Type empowered rocks, exactly what elemental radiation were the Moss Rock and Ice Rock giving off that the Leaf Stone and Ice Stone didn't?
  2. Leafeon and Glaceon were the ONLY Pokemon that used the Moss Rock and Ice Rock, the only other location-based evolution was a strong magnetic field (and later high altitude). Which, BTW, they also changed so Magnezone, Probopass, and Vikavolt not only need a Thunder Stone (meanwhile Crabominable isn't in SwSh though when they do add it back in I have a feeling they'll be changing its evo method so you don't need to climb a high mountain; probably also make it Ice Stone).
In conclusion, while I get the concept of a location-based evolution, it was poorly implemented and GF had hard times finding places for them (heck, HGSS didn't have any of these so you couldn't get a Magnezone, Probopass, Glaceon, or Leafeon without trading from DPPt). It doesn't make the Pokemon any less special, if only makes the Pokemon more easily accessible.

Honestly, I kind of wish they made Umbreon and Espeon evolve via the Moon Stone & Sun Stone, respectively. However I guess that would leave Sylveon the odd one out unless they made it something like the Dawn Stone, but if they did then would set a precedence for all Eeveelutions to be connected to a Stone so having 3 that are Friendship-based I guess is for the better. Speaking of which, changing Sylveon from the no longer in-use Affection stat to the Friendship stat was also a better decision. It still has the requirement of needing to know a Fairy-type move so doesn't cause any issues (unless you forgot it had learned a Fairy-type move and wanted an Espeon or Umbreon instead).

Trust me, no one is missing the location-based evolution method. That said, I wouldn't completely throw out the idea. While I wouldn't make it the only way for a Pokemon to evolve, maybe in future games they could include locations where either certain Pokemon or certain Types resonate with the location they're in and are likely to evolve when there. Would obviously need some balancing out but I think could offer a useful tool.
 
Part of the issue is that there doesn't seem to be any actual balancing of the various evolution methods. We've all talked about the issues with GenV mons in other games with a shallower level curve staying in base forms until or past Gym 8, but stones and similar are just as bad. Friendship-based evolutions will show up maybe 10 levels after you catch a mon*, but everything else seems like it's random from game to game and even stone to stone. You can get Arcanine in the Wild Area in SwSh, but Glaceon is near Gym 7. The species-specific held items tend to just show up in the hands of a random NPC GF wants you to talk to.
They <i>should</i> be able to determine what sort of power boost an evolution is and put the items/locations/weather in a reasonably close location to that, but it doesn't seem to happen. And I'm not asking for magic, I realize that putting a fire stone somewhere where Simisear will still be semi-useful and Arcanine won't break the game isn't easy, but I don't need perfection. Most of the mons that evolve based on a specific stone don't swing /that/ far one way or another, and the gym order is likely more relevant than specific mons**. Instead, there's plenty of games where the stone locations make 0 sense. Dawn Stone in Sun/Moon is postgame-only unless you get it as a minigame reward. In USUM your team should be lvl 20 when you get it. WHAT CHANGED?

*YMMV, I'm generalizing
**Thunder Stone before or after the water gym is a better question than whether the player is using it for Raichu or Magnezone
 
Trust me, no one is missing the location-based evolution method.
I am. I will also say I am weird and missed HMs in Gen 7.

Also every region has a forest, mountain/cave/ or icy area where you could easily put in a rock or have those kind of effects.

Kanto: Viridian Forest, Rock Tunnel, Seafoam Islands
Johto: Ilex Forest, Mt Silver/Dark Cave, Ice Path
For the regions that didn't have them that I have played


I hate how Eevee's evolutions have devolved into just stones. The fun gimmick was each new Eeveelution showed off a different new mechanic in that generation (stone, happiness/day cycle, location, affection). Everything back to stones just feels cheap imo
 
I hate how Eevee's evolutions have devolved into just stones. The fun gimmick was each new Eeveelution showed off a different new mechanic in that generation (stone, happiness/day cycle, location, affection). Everything back to stones just feels cheap imo
I suppose, but on the other hand, making them stones makes the Eeveelutions feel more like a cohesive set, especially for new players who don't have any reason to think of Glaceon and Leafeon as being different from Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon.

Personally, I wish they went all in and just made them all stone evolutions. The Sun, Moon, and Dawn/Shiny stones already exist.
 
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Albatross

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While the topic's sort of on evolution stones, I don't really see the point of them. I mean, sure, they're a cool idea, but why not just change the stone evolutions into normal level ups? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't see any reason why the likes of Growlithe, Staryu and Pikachu can't just evolve via level up/friendship. They're all similar to their prevos and don't undergo many changes that could only be caused by an outside force. The only evolutions I think actually work are:

- Bellossom (Sun Stone): It goes from Gloom, a foul smelling flower, to Bellossom, a nice smelling flower, whose dances are thought to be rituals to summon the sun. It's a drastic change from Gloom & it's counterpart Vileplume, and wouldn't suit a regular level up/friendship evo/trade evolution.
- Clefable (Moon Stone): Clefairy is heavily connected to the moon, so having it evolve via Moon Stone is neat. A level up evolution also makes sense here, but flavour wise the Moon Stone works too.
- Vikavolt (Thunder Stone): I guess you charge up the Charjabug with the Thunder Stone and that makes it evolve??
- The Eeveelutions: They all undergo drastic changes, so they all work I guess

I don't really see the point of them besides adding a little bit of forced variety into how Pokemon evole. It just seems like a bit of a contrivance that ultimately ends up as a massive pain, because if I want to use a Togekiss, Roserade and Florges all on the same team, or a mono-Ghost playthrough that uses Mismagius, Chandelure and Aegislash, then I'll have to try grinding for god knows how long to get the required stones.. There's no reason why Lampent should evolve with a Dusk Stone or Floette with a Shiny Stone
 
Originally Stone Evolutions come as quick evolution with a trade of immediate power vs strong level up moves. But with responding items and permanent TMs, that has no point anymore.
Most of the stone evolutions also learn far better moves or at least what you need.
Sword and Shield giving all stone evolutions access to their prevo's entire level-up movepool instantly with a move relearner in every Pokémon Center also defeats the original purpose of stone evos.
 

Albatross

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Originally Stone Evolutions come as quick evolution with a trade of immediate power vs strong level up moves. But with responding items and permanent TMs, that has no point anymore.
Most of the stone evolutions also learn far better moves or at least what you need.
Sword and Shield giving all stone evolutions access to their prevo's entire level-up movepool instantly with a move relearner in every Pokémon Center also defeats the original purpose of stone evos.
In addition to this, certain stone evolutions such as Honchkrow, Galarian Darmanitan and the Eeveelutions still learn plenty of powerful moves via level up, ones which their prevos already learn. The only exception to this is the eeveelutions, and I still think this is fine because they're all entirely different types, so of course they'll need a new level up moveset.

My main concern is that the actual evolutions for the stone evos don't actually change things up all too much, design wise or gameplay wise (for example, Honchkrow still performs largely the same as Murkrow, minus Prankster if you happen to have it), thereby making stone evolutions fairly redundant. And then on top of that you can normally only get one of each stone per playthrough, maybe twice. The worst offender here is the Dusk Stone in gen 7, where if you're playing Sun/Ultra Sun and want to use any of the Dusk Stone evolutions during the main game you're forced to either trade one over or get lucky with the Isle Aphun Stone-Hunting
 
And then on top of that you can normally only get one of each stone per playthrough, maybe twice. The worst offender here is the Dusk Stone in gen 7, where if you're playing Sun/Ultra Sun and want to use any of the Dusk Stone evolutions during the main game you're forced to either trade one over or get lucky with the Isle Aphun Stone-Hunting
This has been true for a lot of evolutionary items, not just stones. Sure, the held-item-that-evolves-one-specific-Pokémon-by-trading items (which, by the way, are a far worse concept than stones, mostly because they only evolve one Pokémon) can be obtained multiple times, but you usually have to grind out BP to get more than one. Like dang Game Freak, what if I want more than one Slurpuff?

Gen 1 had the right idea with all of its stones (minus Moon, which were portrayed as special in Gen 1) infinitely purchasable.
 

Albatross

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This has been true for a lot of evolutionary items, not just stones. Sure, the held-item-that-evolves-one-specific-Pokémon-by-trading items (which, by the way, are a far worse concept than stones, mostly because they only evolve one Pokémon) can be obtained multiple times, but you usually have to grind out BP to get more than one. Like dang Game Freak, what if I want more than one Slurpuff?

Gen 1 had the right idea with all of its stones (minus Moon, which were portrayed as special in Gen 1) infinitely purchasable.
Yeah that's also a really stupid idea on GF's part, and I agree entirely. I don't really see why they didn't make the items non-consumable and persist after trading, or have other Pokemon use them to evolve (off the top of my head Milotic could easily use Kingdra's dragon scale or vice versa). I never use them because I don't have access to quick, reliable trading (lost my old ds ages ago) so it's admittedly not that big of an issue for me
 
This is day I lost track whatevs of asking this
Why is there still no Physical HiddenPower

And somewhat related to Hidden Power
While I understand wanting to randomize and make a mon feel unique when you get, I don't see why a mon should be permanently gimped compared to another for IVs and Nature
And no, breeding another with perfect stats doesn't help. It defeats the purpose of individuality by never having ways (bar nature mints, which took till Gen 8) to improve one self. It's effectively "oh congrats. You suck forever, pray the next of kin is better"
The worst part, modern EVs ironically are good on the get-go unlike modern IVs (unless youre level 100, in which case, rip) in being able to reset and adjust with berries and vitamins.

Now obviously, having good iv training from the get-go is bad for game balance. But it should be "free reign" post game at the min
 

Pikachu315111

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Also every region has a forest, mountain/cave/ or icy area where you could easily put in a rock or have those kind of effects.

Kanto: Viridian Forest, Rock Tunnel, Seafoam Islands
Johto: Ilex Forest, Mt Silver/Dark Cave, Ice Path
For the regions that didn't have them that I have played
Yeah, there's places they COULD place the Moss Rock and Ice Rock that makes them easily accessible around the time you'd be evolving most of your Pokemon... but they didn't. And that's the problem.

I hate how Eevee's evolutions have devolved into just stones. The fun gimmick was each new Eeveelution showed off a different new mechanic in that generation (stone, happiness/day cycle, location, affection). Everything back to stones just feels cheap imo
Well, maybe look at it this way: them changing it now doesn't change how in the games they introduced that Eeveelution (and a few after) showcased that new mechanic. So in that regard the Eeveelutions did their job. However that showcasing then began holding them back, a showcasing they have no reason to do as the "new" mechanic is either know fully known or no longer in the game.

Personally, I wish they went all in and just made them all stone evolutions. The Sun, Moon, and Dawn/Shiny stones already exist.
As I said, while on one hand I would also prefer that... on the other hand still having them evolve in multiple ways keeps the door open for more Eeveelutions to be added. Like if they did give them all Stones that leaves two left: Shiny/Dawn & Dusk. Now they could maybe do something like they did with Sylveon, having an extra requirement that isn't too out-of-the-way. Considering Dawn Stone's strange use, maybe they could do something there like have the Eevee needing to be holding a specific item.
 
As I said, while on one hand I would also prefer that... on the other hand still having them evolve in multiple ways keeps the door open for more Eeveelutions to be added. Like if they did give them all Stones that leaves two left: Shiny/Dawn & Dusk. Now they could maybe do something like they did with Sylveon, having an extra requirement that isn't too out-of-the-way. Considering Dawn Stone's strange use, maybe they could do something there like have the Eevee needing to be holding a specific item.
They could always just add more stones, like they did with the Ice Stone.
 
I'm iffy on them doing that. I would like for their to be a good reason other than "more Eeveelutions need stones". I think working within current mechanics might be the better solution.
We're not likely to be getting a new Eeveelution any time soon. By the time Game Freak wants to introduce a new one that doesn't make sense to use the Shiny or Dusk Stone, it's possible that a new stone will already exist.
 

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