Ninja'd by
Suspicious Derivative but I also love how each new generation makes the Pokemon they introduce feel unique. Gen 2 and 3 have quite a bit of mons that feel like baggage now, but were more interesting back then. The mons they introduced were unique in terms of the games core systems, being a more common variant of an otherwise rare type, having a unique evolution method, possessing some unique combinations of moves or abilities, etc. Gen 4 expanded on this with more unique form changes, gender differences and new Pokemon to take advantage of the physical special split. Most of the Pokemon Gen 4 introduced were great, but some felt a bit half-baked. Stuff like Electivire and Dusknoir, for example, were tailor made to be physical attackers, but didn't have any high-power physical STAB attacks or coverage moves.
Gen 5 is the most interesting case, since it didn't make any drastic change to the battle system and you could only use Unova Pokemon during a playthrough. As such, a lot of new Pokemon had to fill in the void left behind older Pokemon (i.e. Timburr and Rogenrola for Machop and Geodude, respectively). Several Pokemon fell into the interesting limbo of outclassing or being outclassed by older Pokemon as a result. Still, a lot of the Pokemon introduced had some really interesting gimmicks that seemed to be the start of a lot of the trends we see in new Pokemon now. Meloetta and Darmanitan had in battle transformations that completely changed how they were used, Lilligant had Own Tempo Petal Dance, Unfezant had unique forms and a guaranteed critical hit with Scope Lens + Super Luck + Sky Attack, Klingklang had 2 signature moves, Archeops being the strongest non-legendary Pokemon but would become incredibly weak if below 50% HP, etc. Many of these gimmicks were interesting and made with a certain strategy in mind (even if said strategy wasn't exactly good). My guess is this was done to promote competitive play, which seemed to be more pronounced in gen 5 than past gens due to the Global Link. This is just speculation, but my guess is that Gamefreak took data they got from Global Link (later Battle Spot and Stadium) and has been using that to implement competitive changes and designing the new mons in gens 6 - 8. All of the latest gens have been designed with more practical competitive strategies in mind, with stuff like Protean Greninja being able to change its typing on the fly, Ash-Greninja, Zygarde-Complete, and Megas having form changes that was significantly more practical than Zen Mode Darmanitan ever was, Hatterene being a Trick Roomer sweeper that also has access to Magic Bounce, etc. Some may call this powercreep, which isn't an incorrect assessment, but it does create a lot of interesting strategies and makes many of the new Pokemon memorable for their battle poweress alone.
Surprised this post devolved into a analysis of how Pokemon are created, but TL;DR Gamefreak has shifted how they design new Pokemon, but they still make them feel unique. Also designs are cool.
Might have mentioned this before, but another tidbit I like is how new Pokemon have natural relationships with older monsters (i.e Golisopod and Grapploct, Oranguru and Slowking, etc.).Makes it feel like the new monsters were always there.
