Little things you like about Pokémon

[DrPumpkinz]

Aspear Berry
The hard berry is dense with a rich juice. It is quite sour.

Iapapa Berry
This berry is very big and sour. The juiciness of the pulp accentuates the sourness.

Grepa Berry
One bite of this very tender berry fills the mouth with its sweet and tangy flavor.

Pumkin Berry
This berry is amazingly sour. It’s heavy due to its dense filling.

Give me the fruit, Game Freak. I want it.

 

[Pikachu315111]

View attachment 232434
Aspear Berry
The hard berry is dense with a rich juice. It is quite sour.

View attachment 232435
Iapapa Berry
This berry is very big and sour. The juiciness of the pulp accentuates the sourness.

View attachment 232436
Grepa Berry
One bite of this very tender berry fills the mouth with its sweet and tangy flavor.

View attachment 232437
Pumkin Berry
This berry is amazingly sour. It’s heavy due to its dense filling.

Give me the fruit, Game Freak. I want it.

Much like the recent curry descriptions, I liked how in Gen IV they gave each berry a more indepth description. It's the kind of detail I like as it makes the Berries actually feel different instead of just having different flavor levels or strictly defined by what they do in-battle. And it's not just describing the flavor, they also describe about parts of the berries (and the plant its grows on such as if it has a flower), how the berry grows, and additional trivial details you wouldn't guess from looking at the berry (like the Sitrus being related to the Oran, Nanab was the seventh berry discovered, Pinap & Babiri were crushed into medicine, Hondew are given as luxury gifts, Pamtre drifted ashore Sinnoh from another region, Passho floats cause of air bubbles it has, Wacan draws in lightning strikes, Coba is a hybrid made when winds crossbred two other berries, Charti are the Pokemon's world pickles, Kasib is made into a good luck charm, Chilan are cored and made into whistles, Starf had so much power it was abandoned at the world's edge, Rowap's pieces were made into toy tops).

Also each Berry is based on a real world fruit, vegetable, nut, etc.. It's interesting to see the inspiration for each berry as some may be food you never heard of. Also it's fun to see how they incorporated the food's name into the Berry's name, both in English and Japanese (most other countries just use the English name).

However I do have some complaints. Since they were introduced after Gen IV the Roseli, Kee, and Maranga Berry sadly don't have a more indepth description. They perfectly could have in ORAS where Berries purpose to making Pokeblocks, they could have copied and pasted all the other Berry descriptions from Gen IV so it's only these three they needed to make new descriptions for.

Also there was a series of E-Reader exclusive Berries which were all unique but never officially added into the games. Heck, a batch of them were never even translated to English!

Finally find it a missed opportunity for GF not to give all Berries some kind of effect.

Like here are ideas I quickly came up with

• Razz, Bluk, Nanap, Wepear, & Pinap will double a stat boost to a certain type. Razz=Atk, Bluk=SpA, Nanab=Spe, Wepear=Def, & Pinap=SpD.
• Cornn increases the next move's Power by 50% until another move is used when consumer's HP goes under half.
• Magost increases the next non-OHKO move's accuracy by 50% until another move is used when consumer's HP goes under half.
• Rabuta will use consumer's highest offense stat if next move goes off lowest offense stat.
• Nomel will use consumer's highest defensive stat if hit by a move that goes by lowest defensive stat.
• Spelon, Pamtre, Watmel, Durin, & Belue will ignore the opponent's stat increase to a certain stat for the rest of the battle or until switched out. Spelon=Def, Pamtre=SpD, Watmel=Spe, Durin=Atk, & Belue=SpA.

 

[HottieLamatie]

I'm totally enamoured with the artwork from Gen II. The shading technique and colour palate is my favourite out of any generation. And in Ecruteak, music where the dancers are and them all battling with an Eeveelution was where it was at for me. I think it really stimulated my interest in Japanese culture - the music, art style, and architecture were all prominent in G/S/C and it was amazing.

 

[Yung Dramps]

I like it when they occasionally give important trainers signature Pokemon not from their home region. When done in moderation and in a way that doesn't overshadow the new species (cough cough GSC cough) it helps these trainers stand out and makes them feel more real, like they're respecting other regions' Pokemon. My highlights in this regard are Lysandre, Ilima, Oleana and Leon.

 

[Merritt]

I like it when they occasionally give important trainers signature Pokemon not from their home region. When done in moderation and in a way that doesn't overshadow the new species (cough cough GSC cough) it helps these trainers stand out and makes them feel more real, like they're respecting other regions' Pokemon. My highlights in this regard are Lysandre, Ilima, Oleana and Leon.

Ehhhh

Ilima kinda fits but he drops Smeargle as his signature Pokemon in favor of Komala for postgame and USM rematch during the 8th trial.

The other three, meanwhile, use exclusive forms for those Pokemon introduced in their native game. Mega Gyarados isn't really a Kanto Pokemon, it's a Kalos one if anything, and a similar deal for the gigantamaxes.

Most of the notable trainers who actually use other region Pokemon as their signature generally get dumped on by the fanbase at large, see: Morty (Gengar even in Gen 5), Chuck (Poliwrath), Juan (Kingdra), Tierno (Crawdaunt).

 

[Pikachu315111]

Don't forget Caitlin, while sometimes her signature is Gothitelle during BW2 Challenge Mode and rematches her strongest Pokemon is Metagross (and this is before Mega Evolutions so she's just straight using a previous gen Pokemon). Also Korrina's Signature might as well be (Mega) Lucario.

And you know what, I think maybe that's more the way to go. Because I do feel it's more appropriate for a trainer to have their signature Pokemon also have debut in the generation they're from, however if you're re-challenging them or are doing a special mode there's no reason to force them to use their signature. Sure, I would like it to be on their team and if its a strong Pokemon certainly keep it as their ace, but if their signature Pokemon has some problems and there's a stronger option available I would rather have them use that if I'm going out of my way to do a more challenging battle/mode. Initial/Story battle is meant to give a unique challenge and leave an impression of who is that character and this is what they're about.

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

Speaking of Mega Evolution...

I’ve been playing X again, and while the gym leaders are infamously forgettable, the gym designs are some of the best in the series. Anistar is my favourite, and I’m not so fond of Lumiose or Laverre, but every one of them has something interesting going on.

 

[R_N]

Speaking of Mega Evolution...

I’ve been playing X again, and while the gym leaders are infamously forgettable, the gym designs are some of the best in the series. Anistar is my favourite, and I’m not so fond of Lumiose or Laverre, but every one of them has something interesting going on.

I really love the doll house aesthetic for Laverre.

Personally I'm also a huge fan of Viola's gym.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Ehhhh

Ilima kinda fits but he drops Smeargle as his signature Pokemon in favor of Komala for postgame and USM rematch during the 8th trial.

The other three, meanwhile, use exclusive forms for those Pokemon introduced in their native game. Mega Gyarados isn't really a Kanto Pokemon, it's a Kalos one if anything, and a similar deal for the gigantamaxes.

Most of the notable trainers who actually use other region Pokemon as their signature generally get dumped on by the fanbase at large, see: Morty (Gengar even in Gen 5), Chuck (Poliwrath), Juan (Kingdra), Tierno (Crawdaunt).

Oh yeah I knew about Illima making a change for Komala. Still uses a non-Alola mon at some point tho kinda like Caitlin uses Metagross sometimes. I guess Faba would be a better example from Gen 7 with his ace being Hypno

Lysandre in particular has 2 fights before the last one where he just uses normal Gyarados as his main dude when they could've either given him the Mega off the bat or made Pyroar a temporary ace of sorts. Also SWSH in particular showed they can and will give lots of new Pokemon the hip transformation gimmick (which is IMO what they should've done for Gen 6 and given some of their new mons Megas off the bat) so I think those examples still count.

Morty and Chuck get ragged on because they're some of the most glaring symptoms of Gen 2's bizarre phobia of using its own Pokemon that no other game aside from DP can match (not a single trainer in Morty's gym in either GSC or HGSS uses Misdreavus, for instance). As for the other two examples their problems do not stem from their signature Pokemon choice, hell I'd argue that if they just used a Hoenn/Kalos Pokemon respectively they'd be even more boring, at least with their current arrangement they have some novelty value.

As for the gym design discussion that just popped up: Sure I guess. I'd like to say more, but honestly I don't remember the XY gyms that well lol. Maybe if the leaders themselves weren't so underwhelming...

 

[R_N]

Oh yeah I knew about Illima making a change for Komala. Still uses a non-Alola mon at some point tho kinda like Caitlin uses Metagross sometimes. I guess Faba would be a better example from Gen 7 with his ace being Hypno

Lysandre in particular has 2 fights before the last one where he just uses normal Gyarados as his main dude when they could've either given him the Mega off the bat or made Pyroar a temporary ace of sorts. Also SWSH in particular showed they can and will give lots of new Pokemon the hip transformation gimmick (which is IMO what they should've done for Gen 6 and given some of their new mons Megas off the bat) so I think those examples still count.

Morty and Chuck get ragged on because they're some of the most glaring symptoms of Gen 2's bizarre phobia of using its own Pokemon that no other game aside from DP can match (not a single trainer in Morty's gym in either GSC or HGSS uses Misdreavus, for instance). As for the other two examples their problems do not stem from their signature Pokemon choice, hell I'd argue that if they just used a Hoenn/Kalos Pokemon respectively they'd be even more boring, at least with their current arrangement they have some novelty value.

As for the gym design discussion that just popped up: Sure I guess. I'd like to say more, but honestly I don't remember the XY gyms that well lol. Maybe if the leaders themselves weren't so underwhelming...

XY's designs were fun because a lot of them, they felt more "dungeon" esque to me:
-Viola: Climb into a forest underbrush climbing around on spider webs that sproing and such, with nice wooden plans for flavor
-Grant: IT's a giant rock climbing challenge as the camera turns around the giant inner waterfall area
-Ramos: You're circling aorund this giant tree, swinging on vines until you get to Ramos' cozy tree house office
-Valerie: A teleporter maze with a lot more pizzazz since it has an interesting doll house aesthetic
-Olympia: Crazy space nonsense
-Wulfric: I don't know why he had giant spinning ice wheels but they're sure iconic!

Only "duds" are Korrina's roller rink & Clemont's quiz battle. And those are still, like, fine.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Oh yeah I knew about Illima making a change for Komala. Still uses a non-Alola mon at some point tho kinda like Caitlin uses Metagross sometimes. I guess Faba would be a better example from Gen 7 with his ace being Hypno

Some other examples I can find:

Eusine: Electrode (infact he doesn't have a Gen II Pokemon, his other known Pokemon being Drowzee and Haunter). Oddly you only battle him once, feels like you'd battle at least one more time with a more fully evolved team.
Brandon: While Brandon is mostly known for his use of the Regi Trio (think he'll appear in the Crown Tundra expansion?), that's only for the Silver Symbol, his Gold Symbol team is the Legendary Birds. Not sure if that counts or not.
Greta: Umbreon.
Anabel: Snorlax.
Dahlia: Doesn't have a Pokemon she uses twice. While she has a Dusknoir and Togekiss, she also has a Medicham, Ludicolo, Zapdos, and Blaziken.
Cheryl: Chansey/Blissey
Buck: Claydol
Mira: Kadabra/Alakazam
Marley: Arcanine
Battle Chatelaines: Not sure if this counts as they don't use the same Pokemon between their first and last battle. Nita and Evelyn are particularly notable as they never use a single Gen VI Pokemon. Also all their last battles are past Gen Legendaries (the grouped ones).
Sina: Glaceon
Dexio: Espeon
Mina: While probably not intentional, Mina has had Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff on most of her teams.
Lillie: Clefairy has been pushed for her for some reason.

Morty and Chuck get ragged on because they're some of the most glaring symptoms of Gen 2's bizarre phobia of using its own Pokemon that no other game aside from DP can match (not a single trainer in Morty's gym in either GSC or HGSS uses Misdreavus, for instance). As for the other two examples their problems do not stem from their signature Pokemon choice, hell I'd argue that if they just used a Hoenn/Kalos Pokemon respectively they'd be even more boring, at least with their current arrangement they have some novelty value.

While Chuck had a few other options (Heracross I think would have been fine), I can sort of forgive Morty as Misdreavus really isn't "ace" Pokemon material, though he could have at least replaced one of his Haunter with a Misdreavus.

I’ve been playing X again, and while the gym leaders are infamously forgettable, the gym designs are some of the best in the series. Anistar is my favourite, and I’m not so fond of Lumiose or Laverre, but every one of them has something interesting going on.

I feel the best Gen VI Gyms were Cyllage, Coumarine, and Anistar as they best used & showed off what the 3DS were able to let GF do.
Santalune & Shalour were just rooms. Santalune was platforms over a pit you travel via a spiderweb (could probably create a similar room on one of the DS games) & Shalour was just a roller rink.
Lumiose was the Hearthome Gym from DP.
Laverre was a vertical version of Saffron Gym.
Snowbelle at first looks like it effectively showed off the 3DS graphics but thinking about it I think you'd probably be able to recreate it on DS hardware.

 

[R_N]

Some other examples I can find:

Eusine: Electrode (infact he doesn't have a Gen II Pokemon, his other known Pokemon being Drowzee and Haunter). Oddly you only battle him once, feels like you'd battle at least one more time with a more fully evolved team.
Brandon: While Brandon is mostly known for his use of the Regi Trio (think he'll appear in the Crown Tundra expansion?), that's only for the Silver Symbol, his Gold Symbol team is the Legendary Birds. Not sure if that counts or not.
Greta: Umbreon.
Anabel: Snorlax.
Dahlia: Doesn't have a Pokemon she uses twice. While she has a Dusknoir and Togekiss, she also has a Medicham, Ludicolo, Zapdos, and Blaziken.
Cheryl: Chansey/Blissey
Buck: Claydol
Mira: Kadabra/Alakazam
Marley: Arcanine
Battle Chatelaines: Not sure if this counts as they don't use the same Pokemon between their first and last battle. Nita and Evelyn are particularly notable as they never use a single Gen VI Pokemon. Also all their last battles are past Gen Legendaries (the grouped ones).
Sina: Glaceon
Dexio: Espeon
Mina: While probably not intentional, Mina has had Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff on most of her teams.
Lillie: Clefairy has been pushed for her for some reason.



While Chuck had a few other options (Heracross I think would have been fine), I can sort of forgive Morty as Misdreavus really isn't "ace" Pokemon material, though he could have at least replaced one of his Haunter with a Misdreavus.



I feel the best Gen VI Gyms were Cyllage, Coumarine, and Anistar as they best used & showed off what the 3DS were able to let GF do.
Santalune & Shalour were just rooms. Santalune was platforms over a pit you travel via a spiderweb (could probably create a similar room on one of the DS games) & Shalour was just a roller rink.
Lumiose was the Hearthome Gym from DP.
Laverre was a vertical version of Saffron Gym.
Snowbelle at first looks like it effectively showed off the 3DS graphics but thinking about it I think you'd probably be able to recreate it on DS hardware.

The DS was definitely capable of doing any of the gyms in the 3DS, it'd just be at lower resolution & probably with less visual effects depending on the gimmick in particular. Like I'd say beyond visual effects, and accounting for differences just by the 3DS games being full 3D worlds vs 3D-As-2D none of them are that flashy and absurd they couldn't be done. Remember how BW2's dragon gym was 2 giant dragon statues moving and clashing at the end? or Skyla's cannon jamboree? Or environments like the Marine tub.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Some other examples I can find:

Eusine: Electrode (infact he doesn't have a Gen II Pokemon, his other known Pokemon being Drowzee and Haunter). Oddly you only battle him once, feels like you'd battle at least one more time with a more fully evolved team.
Brandon: While Brandon is mostly known for his use of the Regi Trio (think he'll appear in the Crown Tundra expansion?), that's only for the Silver Symbol, his Gold Symbol team is the Legendary Birds. Not sure if that counts or not.
Greta: Umbreon.
Anabel: Snorlax.
Dahlia: Doesn't have a Pokemon she uses twice. While she has a Dusknoir and Togekiss, she also has a Medicham, Ludicolo, Zapdos, and Blaziken.
Cheryl: Chansey/Blissey
Buck: Claydol
Mira: Kadabra/Alakazam
Marley: Arcanine
Battle Chatelaines: Not sure if this counts as they don't use the same Pokemon between their first and last battle. Nita and Evelyn are particularly notable as they never use a single Gen VI Pokemon. Also all their last battles are past Gen Legendaries (the grouped ones).
Sina: Glaceon
Dexio: Espeon
Mina: While probably not intentional, Mina has had Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff on most of her teams.
Lillie: Clefairy has been pushed for her for some reason.

Funnily enough I know a lot of these because I made a document of them! Didn't include Frontier Brains because my own rules bar postgame content from being considered, also didn't count Lillie because you never battle her directly. Figure I'd share this doc now since imo it's not anywhere near substantial enough for its own post.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Lillie: Clefairy has been pushed for her for some reason.

It's probably a combination of Clefairy being more support-oriented as opposed to combat-oriented (Friend Guard, dual screens, and Sing), as well as Clefable being Lusamine's lead. It's a shame that most of Faba's Pokemon don't lend themselves well to spread moves, as a Wide Guard Stufful would have been an even better fit for Lillie. Not only is Bewear Lusamine's ace, but Stufful despises being cuddled by anyone other than close friends, mirroring Lillie's resentment of Lusamine's deranged coddling.

 

[R_N]

It's probably a combination of Clefairy being more support-oriented as opposed to combat-oriented (Friend Guard, dual screens, and Sing), as well as Clefable being Lusamine's lead. It's a shame that most of Faba's Pokemon don't lend themselves well to spread moves, as a Wide Guard Stufful would have been an even better fit for Lillie. Not only is Bewear Lusamine's ace, but Stufful despises being cuddled by anyone other than close friends, mirroring Lillie's resentment of Lusamine's deranged coddling.

Lillie also has a clefairy doll in her room at Kukui's doesn't she? I figured it was symbolic

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Hematite's mention of menu sprites in the little annoyances thread reminded me of a little detail I liked in older games: animated menu sprites. These simple little animations, especially in gens 3-5, just show Pokemon bopping along to some unheard tune, alternating between two poses. And yet despite their simplicity, they often nicely convey physicality and personality. Many airborne Pokemon will flap their wings, and loose appendages like Chikorita's leaf or Lucario aura sensors similarly lag behind. There are also more specialized animations, like Krabby and Kingler shifting side to side instead of up and down, Hitmonchan and Mienfoo seemingly staying warmed up with some jabs, and lazy Pokemon like Snorlax or Slaking not really moving and instead breathing or scratching itself, respectively. They also tie in with the gameplay, as the animations will slow down if a Pokemon is hurt or afflicted with a status ailment.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Forgive the double post, but I have just laid witness to the glory of Cool Trainers Katelynn and Quincy.

Ant's and chat's reactions just say it all.

 

[R_N]

Forgive the double post, but I have just laid witness to the glory of Cool Trainers Katelynn and Quincy.

Ant's and chat's reactions just say it all.

You know
I like how bot hEmerald and SWSH have this special double batle where they really built the team up for a crazy gimmick like this


But it is insane to me how in both instances this is just a random pair of nobodies on a route/VR and not, you know, the gym leaders whose gimmick is double battles

 

[Ironmage]

Interestingly, because the gym rematches in Emerald are all doubles for some reason, Norman gets in on the Skill Swap action.

 

[Yung Dramps]

I like how they went through the effort of making the Trainer's School in Alola look like an actual school for once. Multiple floors, classrooms, lockers, a PA system and courtyard, it's a step up from the dingy one-room shacks the other Trainer Schools have had to settle for.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I was looking through ability descriptions so I could make a post in the annoyance thread about how only some of them have flavor text, when I came across this:

Justified
Being hit by a Dark-type move boosts the Attack stat of the Pokémon, for justice.

The phrase "for justice", especially when it's just tacked onto the end of the sentence, makes me think of a hero giving a hammy battle cry, and it's hilarious. I can't help imagining Lucario or Gallade tanking a Dark move, and then just screaming "FOR JUSTIIIICE!" at the top of its lungs as it powers up with a Dragon Ball aura.

 

[Jerry the great]

I personally like the fact that the highest number for one stat to this day is 255 (Blissey's HP). I think it's a pretty neat way to reference the 8-bit era of gaming.
Edit: I mean, regardless of the facts, it's still something little I like about Pokemon. So it fits well for this thread. And sorry for any confusion I may have caused as well, I'm not exactly the easiest man to understand sometimes.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I personally like the fact that the highest number for one stat is 255 (Blissey's HP). I think it's a pretty neat way to reference the 8-bit era of gaming.

Ummm, the Game Boy and Game Boy Color were 8-bit consoles, you know. I'm pretty sure having base stats cap at 255 wasn't a neat reference to 8-bit limitations, but rather a direct result of them. While it's true that nowadays Game Freak probably could make stats higher than 255 if they wanted to, they likely won't because A: it would bloat Pokemon data (a base stat of 88 would be stored as 00000000 01011000 instead of just 01011000), B: it might require a lot of menial adjustment of all the Pokemon data (gotta stick those eight zeros everywhere so that the game doesn't read whatever data was before the base stat as part of the base stat), and C: there are very few reasons why stats should ever need to go higher than 255. Rarely do even the strongest, bulkiest, and fastest Pokemon in the game have a base stat higher than 160.

 

[Jerry the great]

Ummm, the Game Boy and Game Boy Color were 8-bit consoles, you know. I'm pretty sure having base stats cap at 255 wasn't a neat reference to 8-bit limitations, but rather a direct result of them. While it's true that nowadays Game Freak probably could make stats higher than 255 if they wanted to, they likely won't because A: it would bloat Pokemon data (a base stat of 88 would be stored as 00000000 01011000 instead of just 01011000), B: it might require a lot of menial adjustment of all the Pokemon data (gotta stick those eight zeros everywhere so that the game doesn't read whatever data was before the base stat as part of the base stat), and C: there are very few reasons why stats should ever need to go higher than 255. Rarely do even the strongest, bulkiest, and fastest Pokemon in the game have a base stat higher than 160.

I mean, like you said, they could easily make a stat higher than 255 nowadays with a new Pokemon, but simply have no need. I still find it neat though how that number just happens to be 255. They easily could've made it 200, 250, 150, 222, or all sorts of numbers. But having it be 255, even to this day, THAT'S what makes it feel like a nice little reference to the 8-bit era.
Edit: I meant the highest singular stat of all time for any Pokemon, not the HP of Blissey or Chansey or anything.

 

[R_N]

Chansey's HP stat was 250, their options were either leave it at 250 or give it 255 and they wanted it to be even better at its job so it got part of the flat +5 all its non special stats got.