Little things you like about Pokémon

Approved by Codraroll

So at the time of writing this, I think any Orange Island regular is well-aquainted with the Little things you dislike about Gen 6 thread. And the unpopular opinions thread. And the worst Pokémon sprites thread...
And I'm not gonna say those are bad at all; I regularly post to them as well -- but at the point we've made 66 pages of little things we don't like about Pokémon, I think it's probably time we reminded ourselves that we actually like this series lol. So basically, what are the little things you actually enjoy about it?
Not necessarily the major things like it's specific archetype exclusive to it and not any other RPG, or the fact they come out with great Pokémon each gen. I'm talking about the little things; the intricate things only a fan would know that separate them from the casual player, onlooker or reviewer. What smart evolution method, design quirk or statement by an NPC made you smile? What gave you a little chuckle or increased your enjoyment of the game? There's quite a lot of these and I think it's enough for us to keep this thread going.

How about I start us off?


1. While I personally don't like baby Pokémon that much the way Gen 2 done it, I adore what Gen 4 did with Budew. Roselia is a pretty decent grass-type and Roserade made it very good, but the way it was Roselia was far too powerful to be caught at the start of the game feasibly. However, introducing a baby Pokémon around the same power level of the starters, bird, shinx etc. gave you a feasible way to get a previously too powerful Pokémon early and let it grow with you throughout your whole adventure. They also pulled this off well later with Riolu, Magby and Elekid in BW2.

2. I like that they made Mega Pidgeot specially-orientated. While arguably still not the best Mega competitively, if they had just gone with a generic physical attacker it would be way outclassed by the likes of Staraptor and Talonflame still. While it could probably do with some movepool expansions, Mega Pidgeot's status as a special attacker allows it to stand out from most other flying-types and do something different.

3. I like that Sableye's Shiny actually has some meaning and lore behind it. For those not in the know, Sableye is based on an urban legend known as the Hopkinsville Goblin. It was an alleged close encounter with aliens that police apparently caught sight of in a small city in 1955. While this is an already really cool thing to base a Pokémon off of, what makes it better is that Sableye's shiny colouration is Gold - and the original police sketches of the Hopkinsville Goblin had that same colour scheme.


Those are just a few of mine off the top of my head; how about you lot?​
 
Thank you for making this thread since we really need some more positivity around here.

1) I love how so many people care about Pokémon all around the world. If it wasn't for Pokémon, none of us would be talking to each other. That's special.

2) I like how some moves are distributed by theme, especially Will-O-Wisp being learned by almost every Ghost-type.

3) I love how Mega Gengar's design reflects its ability (it literally is the shadow in Shadow Tag) and previous Dex entries (it hides in people's shadows).

4) They made a Ghost/Grass-type Jack-o-lantern Pokémon. And it knows Flamethrower and Fire Blast. As a lover of Halloween, that made me so happy.
 
I agree with Vader about how so many people like Pokemon, considering that Smogon as a whole exists.

If it weren't for Pokemon, I don't know where I would be. I would probably be driven to insanity, especially if it were confiscated from me for life.

EDIT: I love how the franchise tries to remain self-contained after all these years (Smash Bros. is the exception), not taking into factor how protective Game Freak is of it. I meant that for real.

I also agree with Kurona about the specially-oriented Mega Pidgeot.
 
I love how Viola's gym subverts expectations.

To elaborate, being a Bug type gym you would expect the Fire starter to have an easy time, the Water type to be middle of the road and the Grass type to be hard mode. In reality, Chespin probably has the easiest time of all the starters because he can easily set up Rollout against Viola's Surskit and sweep the gym in three turns. Meanwhile, Fennekin faces resistance from the aforementioned Surskit by virtue of it being part Water, having Bubble and also Water Sport to fuck you up. It still has an advantage against Vivillon, though the latter's special bulk still makes it able to take more Embers than one might expect. Froakie has the hardest time in the gym because his stab is resisted by Surskit and Vivillon can take quite a few Bubbles before it goes down.
 
I'm so happy to see this thread! I have my own grumblings but I find it hard to stand the little annoyances thread sometimes.

I agree with what everybody's said about Pokemon being such a worldwide thing. I've been with the franchise almost since it first came out and I have so many happy memories of it. It's helped me with quite a few relationships, even. I can't ever forget sitting on the bus behind my kiddie crush every morning, talking about Pokemon and showing off our latest captures/cards/whathaveyous. It's the only thing my first brother and I have in common too. We hate each other's guts 99% of the time, and the other 1% we're talking about Pokemon and helping each other with our games.

One of my favourite things in Gen 6 is how your character crouches down to talk to kids and small Pokemon. That is ridiculously adorable.

I really like that each mega stone is unique to its Pokemon too. I would not have expected such a small detail to be included, but some of the mega stones are really gorgeous. My favourites are Altarianite and Venusaurite.

Speaking of Altaria, I just love that it's partly based on The Blue Bird! The play has such beautiful imagery and Altaria makes me think of how much I love it every time. I know this probably isn't intentional, but the fact that Altaria can go either physical or special means I can breed two shinies, one to name Mytyl and the other to name Tyltyl. Nerdy references give me life ^_^
 
I really love how open Gen 1 and it's remakes are.
Like, sure okay you could do the gyms in order... or you could totally skip Lt. Surge until you've grabbed a Cubone from the Pokémon Tower and gotten Celadon's badge. You could do Sabrina's gym sixth, or you could leave it until the Seventh because you feel she's a more climatic and dynamic character. You could spread out the Team Rocket plot of Game Corner > Pokémon Tower > Silph. Co throughout the game, or you could just knock it out of the way before you've even gotten your third gym badge.
The point I'm getting at here is that while there are of course certain limits, the Kanto games were extremely open-ended and non-linear which really help create the immersion of this being your own adventure rather than something everyone else goes through; something which was already done well with of course the fact that due to there being so many Pokémon your endgame team - unless doing speedruns - will be different from anyone else's.
 

Xen

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I really love how the series is able to draw in all types of gamers; from the young to the old, from the casual to the competitive. There are many different ways to enjoy the games; you can simply cruise through the game using your favorite Pokemon, you can trade and hoard collect Pokemon to complete your Pokedex, you can breed the top percent of Pokemon for competitive battling, and there's even things such as contests and the Pokeathlon for those less crazy about trading and battling, and some variation of the Battle Tower/Frontier for those more keen on challenging their skill level and survival skills against the AI. Heck, we even have unofficial variations to ways we can play through the games now (Nuzlocke, Wonderlocke, etc). Just about anyone who can consider themselves a gamer (and even those who do not) can find something to love about Pokemon, and it brings together people from all ages and backgrounds together as a result, both online and real life. Smogon is a testament to that. :)
 

Cresselia~~

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I like the existence of fairy type, and how most of their designs are cute and girly. It opens a way to attract more females into the franchise.

I like how each gen has pretty, cute, cool but also ugly Pokemon. Without ugly Pokemon, the game would lack diversity and become boring. Ugly Pokemon also invites scrutiny and attention. As long as they remain a small portion of each gen, they should exist.

I like how you can breed Pokemon. And that you can control its IV's natures and moves.
 
I play a lot of VGC, and I find that it, like just about every other competitive game, has this whole cutthroat, play-to-win aura surrounding it. And yet, when I go to tournaments, everyone is so friendly. There are people discussing strategies, laughing at silly things they saw on Battle Spot, or making jokes about how they were swept by someone's Mega Blastoise. And it's really easy for me to talk to people, which is huge since I'm normally really shy/awkward IRL, and literally nobody else in my family or at school plays Pokemon. Normally when I start a conversation I need to bring a subject and hope it's something the other person's interested in, but that's unnecessary at VGC competitions, because we're all Pokemon nuts! And of course, the battles themselves are also fun; it's really more like solving a puzzle than anything.

So yeah, one thing I love about Pokemon is just the competitive VGC community.
 
When headbutting trees in Johto at night, non-nocturnal Pokemon start the battle asleep. It's the little details...
And nocturnal Pokemon start asleep during the day. I believe HG/SS had them all start the battle wide awake regardless of time, which while a tad unfortunate... if you've been sent tumbling out of the tree you were perched in, you'd probably wake up real quick too. So I can see where they may have been going with it.

I like that Game Freak made Destiny Knot extremely useful this generation by adding the breeding mechanic of passing 5 random IV's from the parents to the offspring, leaving the last one up to chance. No one was really using it for its battle effect of making the opponent fall in love if the holder becomes infatuated, so why not give it an extremely useful purpose yet in a way that doesn't shove breeding for perfect IV's into the faces of casual players who don't care about that? Brilliant!

I also like the introduction of Super Training as a way to casually introduce Effort Values to casual players who'd like to get the most out of their beloved favorites. The chart shows their base stat distribution which can hint at where best to train the Pokemon in, either bolstering its strong areas or patching up its weaker areas. Because of it, the stats also cap at 252 points each so more experienced players needn't fuss about 'going over' if maxing out a stat. The mini-game itself is a bit tedious, but it's so satisfying to see the Balloon Bot go 'blasting off agaaain!' complete with the little twinkle of light.

And I love Flying Press. A Fighting-type move that's also treated as a Flying-type is so far quite unique, much like Hawlucha itself, but I love the fact it looks and even sounds like a luchador's signature move to pin their opponent to the mat, which perfectly fits both Hawlucha and Pikachu Libre's theme. (at least one part of the former's)
 
My favorite location in the entire series is the Bell Tower as seen in HeartGold and SoulSilver. Mainly for the trees.

I mean, look at it!
As I've said before, I love Halloween and I love fall. Seeing all these beautiful autumnal colors just makes me incredibly happy, especially since I live in an area where trees are green until December, in which the leaves are orange for about 5 seconds then fall off.
 

Xen

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Quite a minor detail, but I love how the routes in Kalos all have names, as opposed to just being called Route 1, 2, etc. It adds character to the region beyond just the towns. Hopefully they'll do the same thing in the next Gen.
 

Codraroll

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The first gym in B2W2. The gym actually looks like a place where Pokémon trainers study under the guidance of a Gym Leader, rather than an elaborate and pointless dungeon existing solely for housing a "boss battle". It has loads of little details, but my personal favourite is the field marker and rake leaning against the fence in the back yard. Gyms always look like pointless, elaborate mazes where gym trainers and Leaders have no reason to be except for providing the player with battles, but that equipment in Aspertia Gym tells of a place that has to be maintained by its users to function. It isn't sustained solely by the needs of the plot (see for instance Opelucid Gym), but is a place where battles take place and people clean up the field afterwards. It just makes the world so much more immersive.
 
That part in XY where you have to choose what button to press. While most people probably got it right, I... got it wrong. I took the entire thing so seriously. I thought that blue must be it, but then I thought "He has a blue handerchief... and it seems so obvious! But orange is their color... but blue is so obvious!" I ended up getting it wrong and freaking out, thinking I ruined the game. It's little details in the characters that make the game shine so much, because Xerosic, while creepy, has these subtle touches that made that one moment so difficult for me. Things like that I love in a game, that get me thinking for no reason at all.
 

Pikachu315111

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So many posts to Like but not to look "Like" crazy I'll keep it to the posts I really like.

Much like Fluke said, there are so many things about Pokemon to like it would be like a thesis. So instead I'll just mention the first thing that comes to my head:

Pokemon Designs. I know there's plenty of Pokemon designs people don't like and I guess I also have some, but I never caught myself thinking the design was unimaginative or wasn't a Pokemon (though the Gen III Legends were pretty close to looking like Digimon, let alone the concept of Mega Pokemon). However there's just something about the creature design of Pokemon that makes them look appealing. Heck, I'd say that you having a response to even the designs you don't like shows a sign that at least its getting a response showing you recognize it being distinct. Worst thing for someone to say about a fictional creature is that it looks no different from a real animal. Sure there are some simple designs that have the Pokemon strongly resembling the animal its based on, but there usually have something to set it apart some way.
Also when I talk design I just don't mean how its colored and shaped, I also mean design choices they make; specifically what is chosen to be made into a Pokemon. GF isn't afraid to make an ordinary object or some obscure animal/myth into a Pokemon, and I feel this makes the franchise strong for it. Not only do we get to see a large variety of Pokemon from doing this but also they don't play out all the "popular" creature possibilities. Let's take Fossil Pokemon for example. Yes we joke it took them 6 gens to make a T-Rex Pokemon, but since then we got Pokemon based on an ammonite, trilobite/horseshoe crab, pterosaur, crinoids, anomalocaris, protoceratops, protostega/archelon, and archaeopteryx. Had they stuck with just the popular extinct animals we wouldn't have such a wide array of interesting Fossil Pokemon. In addition when they revealed Tyrunt and then later Tyrantrum the internet went wild that Pokemon was finally getting a T-Rex Pokemon. Pokemon, a franchise that's nearly 20 years old, is still able to get people excited from just the release of one Pokemon.

Types. Now previously to Pokemon the idea of something being weak to one type and resistant/immune to another wasn't anything new. However usually the opponent only had one or two weaknesses and just resistant to the power they wielded. Pokemon brought this simple game of rock-paper-scissors to the next level by introducing a whole list of types and really thought about what these types would be weak and resistant/immune to. But they just didn't leave it at that, they also have dual-types with further complicated the type chart and opening new ways to think about battling against and with this Pokemon. Now some people may say some type match-ups don't make sense or how this way of thinking has made some types better than others, but as we saw with Gen VI some match-ups aren't set in stone (and we're now even further extending the idea of types by having some immune to certain moves or status ailments (and yes that existed before, but it was more a forethought)).

Being these are two pretty all expanding I'll stop here for now. Maybe next time I'll get into some specifics. ;)
 
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I like the fact that Game Freak actually paid attention to some of the memes or rumours that the fans made.

1) In RBY, Eevee can evolve into 3 different Pokemon, leading fans to speculate that there was a way for Eevee to get a Moon-based evolution or Grass-based Evolution (since they're the only Stones which Eevee is not compatible with). Later on in the series, we get Umbreon (Moon-based evo) and Leafeon (Grass-based evo) although not based on Stones. Oooh, and they make the term "Eeveelutions" official.

2) A lot of people have probably heard of the truck that was near the S.S. Anne. Normally just a random sprite (and a unique one at that!) and it was normally inaccessible except through a series of steps (such as deliberately losing a battle after obtaining Cut or just exploit the Surf glitch), fans speculate that there was a Mew under the truck. Later on, Game Freak added a Lava Cookie under the truck and had an NPC singing a song with the lines "There was no Pokemon under a truck."

3) There were persistent rumours that the RBY starters and Mewtwo can have another evolution in the original games (not helped by the events in the movie where the "Clone Starters" were stronger than the originals and Mewtwo gets to wear some badass armour). Come Generation 6, all of them gets Mega Evolution. Oh, and Charizard gets a Dragon-typing, which many fans wished for.


Some of the moments in which Game Freak paid extra attention on:

1) Pikachu in the Yellow Version when you walk into Bill's House for the first time is hilarious. Game Freak also gets bonus points for making another sprite when you helped Bill out.

2) The move "Ingrain" makes the user unable to switch out manually while also negating any Ground immunity which the user has. If Baton Passed, it also makes the recipient make contact with Spikes / Toxic Spikes.

3) Flame Wheel, Flare Blitz and Sacred Fire instantly cures the user of the Freeze status condition. Why? Because the user sets itself on Fire. For the same reason, a Frozen Pokemon will thaw out instantly if hit by a Fire-type move. Freezing also doesn't occur under intense sunlight.

5) Finally, if you use Diglett or Dugtrio in the Pokeatheleton Hurdle Dash, they go underground instead of jumping through obstacles like every other Pokemon.
 
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