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Little things you like about Pokémon

Oneeeee Hundred!!!

Well done, Smogon! We did it! We managed to do what was thought impossible for this fandom -- finding things we actually like about the franchise we spend ages talking about! And for 100 pages!

I'm not gonna go on some big emotional spiel or act like there was anything intentional when starting this thread beyond what's stated in the OP, but it's just nice to see -- much as it may same the opposite, I actually don't like going on negative tangents too much; and it's just so much more enjoyable to go on about the things that make you happy and what you enjoy. So there's something I like about Pokemon right now -- this thread. It's been a good one so far
 
Yung Dramps said:
As the little thing I like to before we reach the 100th page of this wonderful thread...


I love that somewhere, some little boy or girl has listened to this song or is currently listening to it on their own first Pokemon adventure, and that when they grow the track will mean as much to them as Twinleaf Town's music means to me
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man swsh has some good music doesn’t it
 

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In a good mood this morning (let's see how long that lasts) so here are some - you guessed it - little things I like about Pokemon:

-Meteor Falls' soundtrack

-The way Leon's Charizard covers the player and Hop right before Eternatus' PokeBall explodes

-The Sport Ball. I just like that it exists at all. Could have just been a regular Pokeball. Could have even been a Safari Ball. But no, we have this weird little Pokeball with a little design on it that exists for this one incredibly specific purpose. It's cool that (prior to SwSh) only a handful of Pokemon could legitimately be caught in it. I received a Regidrago in this ball the other day and it amused me because it's such a wildly out-of-place ball for that to be in.

-Black and White's amazing ending credits, never yet beaten by any other game. Awe-inspiring, nostalgic, and makes me feel like the story I witnessed is only part of a larger whole. Genuinely brilliant artistic choice

-Inter-game references, but reeeeeeally subtle ones. Like there being scorch marks and a small crater in Victory Road in FRLG where Moltres used to be.

-Colosseum and XD's Relic Forest. One of my favourite locations in any game. Was apparently supposed to be bigger according to beta files and I'm glad it wasn't: the finished version is simple and beautiful.

-Eevee's new cry. As much as I like the original, I adore the new version

-The music in the trailer for LGPE, which is wonderful and I wish had an official name/release
 
I didn't notice at first, but I enjoy seeing that Pokemon XD gives Shadow Pokemon some neat egg moves. I am doing a run just so I can teach my Dodrio Double Edge and my Charizard Substitute, and decided to pick 1 Pokemon I have never used in a run and 1 Pokemon I have had bad experience with because it's awful.
Said awful Pokemon is Spinarak. I decided to use it just because it had Signal Beam which was physical this gen. It was relaxed nature, but I thought that may not be an issue. And to my surprise, it worked. Ariados is useful member of my team who takes care of nasty Lombre and Nuzleaf that annoy me in the runs.
At least so far in the mid-game. I have just beaten Team Snaggem and catch Zangoose.

It feels pretty satisfying having a viable Bug Type for once and it has decent synergy with Shiftry in Battle just from the match ups I get commonly.
So whoever added Signal Beam to XD Spinarak, thank you. Just wish there was Sludge Bomb were accessable in the main campane.
 
bb skarm said:
This is one of my favorites. Was playing USUM and when facing a sightseer I noticed they had a Kantonian form of a Raticate.

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Yeah, Sightseers use the normal version (Kantonian) of Alolan Regional Variants, it's a nice touch.

EDIT: Oh, and let's also not forget the one pair of male and female Sightseer couple who form the singular Honeymooner class in the game.
EDIT 2: AND also the Tourist Couples in USUM where each gender hooks up with another trainer class, the Sightseer using the normal version and local using the Alolan variant.

And with that said, if you battle all Sightseers (plus a few of their rematches), Honeymooners, & Tourist Couples in the game, you'll battle one of each of the normal version of the Regional Variants.
 
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Yung Dramps said:
I love that somewhere, some little boy or girl has listened to this song or is currently listening to it on their own first Pokemon adventure, and that when they grow the track will mean as much to them as Twinleaf Town's music means to me
Click to expand...

I love this song, it’s probably my fav tied with Stow-on-Side and Freezington if you count CT. My first game was Silver but it’s always Littleroot that gets me.

I think it’s really cool how you can take your Story Team on SwSh and make them competitively viable in the Post-game. I did this on my recent playthrough of Sword and it was a blast using my crew in the Battle Tower, even if they didn’t have the best synergy. I mean it took me quite long to get the patch for Libero but at least I got a decent streak on endless mode.
 
The odds of this interaction actually occurring are pretty much nil, but I love this detail. In XD, Shadow Sky summons a shadowy aura that increases the power of Shadow moves and passively damages all non-Shadow Pokemon. It is also considered a weather condition by the game, and as such, Weather Ball will double in power and change type, becoming typeless.
 
skarmory.gif
celesteela.gif
corviknight.gif

Love how all 3 of these mons, despite being defensive Steel/Flying types at their core, all have distinct properties that give them all a niche over one another. Celesteela has the great all-rounder stats and movepool and Skarmory has the coveted hazards and a stronger Body Press over the otherwise defensively sturdier Corviknight. As of this writing they're all ranked on the OU VR. That's just super neat to me and very thoughtful, anti-powercreep design when we very easily could've had a Machamp VS Conkeldurr situation, especially with Corviknight added to the mix.
 
Yung Dramps said:
skarmory.gif
celesteela.gif
corviknight.gif

Love how all 3 of these mons, despite being defensive Steel/Flying types at their core, all have distinct properties that give them all a niche over one another. Celesteela has the great all-rounder stats and movepool and Skarmory has the coveted hazards and a stronger Body Press over the otherwise defensively sturdier Corviknight. As of this writing they're all ranked on the OU VR. That's just super neat to me and very thoughtful, anti-powercreep design when we very easily could've had a Machamp VS Conkeldurr situation, especially with Corviknight added to the mix.
Click to expand...
I know this is on the completely opposite spectrum to your point, but they're also a fantastic example of how different Pokémon of a given type combo can be. Celesteela is an Ultra Beast, sure, but it's so wildly disparate from the steel/flying birds you're used to -- and of those, Skarmory and Corviknight are pretty different design-wise too. Lovely variety in this type!
 
Yung Dramps said:
skarmory.gif
celesteela.gif
corviknight.gif

Love how all 3 of these mons, despite being defensive Steel/Flying types at their core, all have distinct properties that give them all a niche over one another. Celesteela has the great all-rounder stats and movepool and Skarmory has the coveted hazards and a stronger Body Press over the otherwise defensively sturdier Corviknight. As of this writing they're all ranked on the OU VR. That's just super neat to me and very thoughtful, anti-powercreep design when we very easily could've had a Machamp VS Conkeldurr situation, especially with Corviknight added to the mix.
Click to expand...

Let's exclude Skarmory from the group and highlight how different Celesteela and Corviknight play out despite their incredibly similar stat distributions (the only good stat Celesteela has, that Corviknight hasn't, is Special Attack).
 
jordanthejq12 said:
The odds of this interaction actually occurring are pretty much nil, but I love this detail. In XD, Shadow Sky summons a shadowy aura that increases the power of Shadow moves and passively damages all non-Shadow Pokemon. It is also considered a weather condition by the game, and as such, Weather Ball will double in power and change type, becoming typeless.
Click to expand...

I believe Snattle actually does this in his first battle in XD, as he has a Castform on his team.

Off that, I actually really love Snattle, he's my favourite villain in any of the games by far. His sense of style is like no other: his ridiculous costume (seriously, it's like he's wearing a frock coat over a wetsuit) is oddly endearing, as is his battling style - he uses spherical and non-humanoid Pokemon like Electrode, Regirock, and Metang and all of his Shadow Pokemon have a cosmic theme (Starmie, Solrock, and Lunatone).

Considering Cipher's goal is to use Shadow Pokemon to control the whole world, it's kind of darkly adorable that his personal ambitions apparently go no further than just becoming the governor of the Orre region. The governance of the Pokemon world is a topic I find extremely interesting (does Orre already have a governor? If not, who rules the region currently?) so I always appreciate characters who lean into this. My headcanon is that he's a failed politician whose dream of becoming Orre's governor by legitimate means were crushed when he was implicated in a scandal and kicked out of office, so he went rogue and joined Cipher.

His defeat dialogue in XD confirms that he will continue to try to become Orre's governor, and that he's grown to respect and admire the protagonist enough to want him to be his private secretary when he makes it. I love the absurdity of that setup and my headcanon is that it happened and no-one can convince me otherwise.
 
P1cklee said:
i like it when hgss included a retro music player

that was neat
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I liked it when the retro music player wasn't locked behind 16 badges for arbitrary reasons.

oh wait

In all seriousness, I think BW2 is the best game in the series for how much QOL stuff there is and there are SO many Disc One Nukes.

I love how you get Fly early, I love reusable Repel, I love downplayed tutorials it’s all so good without ENTIRELY holding your hand, It respects your time.
 
DrumstickGaming said:
I love how you get Fly early, I love reusable Repel, I love downplayed tutorials it’s all so good without ENTIRELY holding your hand, It respects your time.
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You mention Fly, but it's the earlier Surf that I appreciate the most in that regard. The Gen 5 games had the extremely bizarre decision of making the Fishing Rod a post-game only item, and I feel like it kinda hampered the distribution of Water-Types throughout the region, where a huge part of them were only accessible after you got the Surf HM, which, in BW1's case, was only available quite late into the game, just before the pre-Gym 7 dungeon. BW2 brings it to a significantly earlier location, right after Gym 5, and it helps quite a bit in making all these Water-Types more accessible
 
I ordered some t-shirts from the Pokemon center, one of them having Mega Garchomp.
1606956965525.png

Love the shirt, but the description is what got me.

Some Pokémon are cute and cuddly—and this isn't one of them! Mega Garchomp is battle ready and quick to charge, just as you'd expect from a Mega-Evolved Pokémon! You can get going with Mega Garchomp: go go go! Available in Youth and Adult sizes.
  • Chompy chompy Mega Garchomp!
  • Printed both front and back
  • A Pokémon Center Original
Click to expand...
 
If you never read the pokemon center's product descriptions please do so, they very often have fun with them and are very good
Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz. Time to get up! Pikachu's Trainer stayed up too late last night and isn't getting out of bed anytime soon. But what's this? Pikachu is going to work in place of its sleepyhead Trainer! It's wearing glasses for a slightly sophisticated look.
This special plush is part of the Pikachu Celebrations collection, where Pikachu celebrates seasonal annual events. It was originally released in April, which is often described as the month of new beginnings in Japan—it is the month of the academic and fiscal year start. A lot of new college graduates start a new job in April. They’re often seen wearing a brand-new suit and carrying a new bag (just like Intern Pikachu).
  • Intern Pikachu is ready to impress the boss!
  • A motivated plush that inspires you to be your best
  • Part of the Pikachu Celebrations collection
  • Pokémon Center Original
Click to expand...
Get in touch with your Psychic-type side! This shirt from the Mewtwo Genetic Collection shows you know your Pokémon, and you appreciate a high-quality shirt.
  • Popular Pokémon
  • Psychic powers not guaranteed
Click to expand...

god I wish they still had the much older mewtwo hoodie (they have a new one with a different description) because it had wonderful bullet points like "feel the power of psychic pokemon!"
 
R_N said:
Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz. Time to get up! Pikachu's Trainer stayed up too late last night and isn't getting out of bed anytime soon. But what's this? Pikachu is going to work in place of its sleepyhead Trainer! It's wearing glasses for a slightly sophisticated look.
This special plush is part of the Pikachu Celebrations collection, where Pikachu celebrates seasonal annual events. It was originally released in April, which is often described as the month of new beginnings in Japan—it is the month of the academic and fiscal year start. A lot of new college graduates start a new job in April. They’re often seen wearing a brand-new suit and carrying a new bag (just like Intern Pikachu).
  • Intern Pikachu is ready to impress the boss!
  • A motivated plush that inspires you to be your best
  • Part of the Pikachu Celebrations collection
  • Pokémon Center Original
Click to expand...
I have to see what this looks like.

P6720_701-07292_02_full.jpg


OH MY GOD IT'S ADORABLE IT'S GOT A TIE
 
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