Little things you like about Pokémon

[R_N]

I like the Villa in Platinum. The Battle Zone is a sick post game area, and I like that you have this swanky place to go back to after your Battle Frontier challenges.

I also like that it's alleged to have belonged to Steven previously. As if it's handed down from one champion to another. Makes it seem more prestigious.

Well, it was more he threw the keys to the villa to Some Guy and then they hocked that villa off to someone who wound up being the champion.

But I agree the Villa was nice. It was just some light customization but so far as money sinks go it was pretty neat! I liked all the conversations with leaders that could happen, too.

 

[Deleted User 465389]

some cards from the upcoming celebrations set

pure perfection right here folks

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

One thing I sort of like about the Professors in many of the regions is that their specialty in research aligns with a particular gimmick or defining feature of that generation.

Like Professor Elm's research is about Pokémon breeding and baby Pokémon, and Gen 2 introduced a lot of baby pre-evolutions and the breeding mechanic in general.

Professor Rowan's specialty of research is Pokémon evolution. While this may not seem all that special at a glance, four generations into the series, one of Gen 4's biggest features was the introduction of many new evolutions to older Pokémon to make them stronger. So him studying evolution specifically aligns really well.

Professor Sycamore's specialty of research is obviously Mega Evolution, in the generation that introduced it. But the coolest thing is that especially in the anime, Mega Evolution is obviously related to evolution as a special form of Pokémon evolution, indicating the Pokémon capable of it are capable of evolving further in this way into their ultimate evolutionary stage. The anime explicitly calls it evolutionary research.

While this may not seem like much, this also ties further into one fact: Sycamore is known to be have studied under Professor Rowan when he was younger. And Rowan's own specialty is studying evolution: it's like Sycamore even after he became a professor himself took from that and furthered it down to studying a special branch of evolutionary research.

Of course, the later generations have done this as well. Professor Kukui's specialty is studying Pokémon moves and attacks, all in the generation that had Z-Moves, which are super charged powerful moves. Gen 8 went for something rather blatant but the theme continues since Magnolia's research focus is the Dynamax phenomenon, granted that's not really that impressive.

The professors I haven't mentioned have less remarkable specialties, but Birch's focus is on Pokémon habitats and distribution, granted that's largely tied to the nature of Hoenn's region layout in general and the large number of Pokémon introduced.

Juniper specializes in the origins of Pokémon, but I think this doesn't really tie in that well with Gen 5: granted, Gen 5 didn't really have a gimmick or anything to stand out, besides focusing heavily on lore.

 

[Imperial Magala]

The professors I haven't mentioned have less remarkable specialties, but Birch's focus is on Pokémon habitats and distribution, granted that's largely tied to the nature of Hoenn's region layout in general and the large number of Pokémon introduced.

Ruby and Sapphire's main conflict was whether it is better to advance the development of People or Pokemon through the use of their respective legendaries. Special note to Maxie, Courtney, and Tabitha being derived from maximize (the land), country, and habitat. ORAS built off this with the introduction of the DexNav and the numerous National Dex Pokemon appearing throughout Hoenn after the main story climax. This includes legendaries that are mostly only accessible with soaring, another new mechanic, although it was more of a coincidence than anything else.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Special note to Maxie, Courtney, and Tabitha being derived from maximize (the land), country, habitat

Holy fuck

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Ruby and Sapphire's main conflict were whether it is better to advance the development of People or Pokemon through the use of their respective legendaries. Special note to Maxie, Courtney, and Tabitha being derived from maximize (the land), country, habitat. ORAS built off this with the introduction of the DexNav and the numerous National Dex Pokemon appearing throughout Hoenn after the main story climax. This includes legendaries that are mostly only accessible with soaring, another new mechanic, although it was more of a coincidence than anything else.

Wow! Never thought about that lol.

How about Archie, Matt, and Shelly? I don't see a pattern here...

 

[Pikachu315111]

the wind arrives at a unusual time today…

Sky Stream/Towering Perfection Alt Arts;
(which’ll be updated with better images when they come out(edit 1; better images time))​

precipice of yoga

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go lurk more

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bat in the night

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#selfie #currie #hashtag

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Medicham: It took me WAY too long to realize all those weird pink plants with a single yellow petal were actually other Medicham...

Golurk: So, I notice the bridge has the same symbols on its post as Golurk does on its shoulder and hands. So, I'm guessing that means it built them, but did it build them for itself? Does this Golurk belong to a trainer? That axe looks way too small for Golurk to use. Is this scene from the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon universe where Pokemon sometimes act like people and build structures like bridges? And don't think I don't notice you Unown on those stone circle in the background, trying to add even more mystery to this card!

Noivern: Like, all the other cards are drawn beautifully, but this card art just blows me away! It looks like a stylized, moody art piece with the night setting and the city lights shining making Noivern glow from underneath. This wouldn't look out of place as a Batman poster, you know if you replaced Noivern with Batman.

Duraludon: #HowAmISupposedToEatThisWithoutFingers?

I like the Villa in Platinum. The Battle Zone is a sick post game area, and I like that you have this swanky place to go back to after your Battle Frontier challenges.

I also like that it's alleged to have belonged to Steven previously. As if it's handed down from one champion to another. Makes it seem more prestigious.

Just wished you could do more with it.

Juniper specializes in the origins of Pokémon, but I think this doesn't really tie in that well with Gen 5: granted, Gen 5 didn't really have a gimmick or anything to stand out, besides focusing heavily on lore.

Maybe the connection of Juniper studying Pokemon Origins is because the initial gimmick for Gen V was it was ALL new Pokemon (you know, at least before the post game)? Maybe also a connection with the theme of Truth & Ideals; truth seeks out origin to answers, ideals are made from origin beliefs

Special note to Maxie, Courtney, and Tabitha being derived from maximize (the land), country, habitat.

No, Maxie is derived from Magma, albeit loosely. Similar to how Archie is from Aqua.

 

[Imperial Magala]

How about Archie, Matt, and Shelly? I don't see a pattern here...

Matt can be derived from mast (of a ship), Shelly can be derived from seashell, which can be considered a home for creatures, while Archie is derived from Arch (the highest of something, similar to Maxie), or possibly Ark (ironically used to save people and animals from water). English honestly has the poorest name origins in my opinion due to Matt and Archie being stretches from being water-themed, with most other languages having better names like Adrian (Adriatic Sea), Ivan (navy with an I spelled backwards), Angie (Angling), and Izumi (means spring of water and I like the name).

Adding to DexNav, Ohmori's comments on its focus of showing Pokemon locations makes more sense knowing it was made to make Hoenn's biodiversity more noticeable. Whether it achieved this well is a whole other debate.

 

[lucariomaster2]

People have mixed opinions of Z-moves. Personally, I was never a fan. They were unpredictable, fairly overpowering, made battles revolve too much around using them at the right time... but most of all, had some of the most cheesy, cringe-inducing names I've ever seen.

I know what you're thinking, and no, I haven't mistaken this thread for the other one. That's because if you go just a single set of games back in time, from SuMo to ORAS, you'll find some more names for type-based super-moves: the Spectacular Talents from contests, which had not just one move name per type, but *five*; one for each contest division and appropriately themed. While some of them are still pretty cheesy (Normal, Fire, Flying, Water, and Grass all just add different adjectives to the base name, though at least Fire's and Flying's bases are single words so they still sound pretty good), some of the other types' attack names are downright inspiring. Some of my favourites are:

• Poison: Toxiquad CL, Venin Quartet BT, Poison Orbit CN, Vitriolic Division CV, Blighted Force TG. Edgy, futuristic-sounding names of toxic weapons. Each one finishes with a two-letter abbreviation of the division name that really hammers in the idea that these are top-secret code names.
• Ground: Planet Burst, Global Shuddering, Shaky Ground, Tectonic Shift, and Supershear Quake. SO much imagery here with respect to what's happening. Even "Shaky Ground" sounding a bit cutesy works because it's, well, the cuteness division move.
• Rock: Rising Above, Roaring Fantasia, Echo Ridge, Ambient World, These Stone Walls. Everything I said about Ground also applies here, with the addition that I can't emphasize enough how much I love the name "These Stone Walls" as a Rock-type super move. It's so... imposing. Way better than "Continental Crush".
• Psychic: Techno, Serenade, Lullaby, Madrigal, Anthem. The most straightforward of the bunch: five different styles of music. But it's simple, neat, elegant, and very fitting in my opinion.
• Ice: Sublime Iceberg, Glistening Icicles, Twinkling Diamonds, Acute Frost, Powerful Blizzard. What I really like about the Ice moves is that it would have been easy to slap an adjective onto the front of something generic, but instead they chose to reflect all of the different ways that ice can be viewed, from powerful and distant icebergs to the sparkling snow covering the landscape to the howling fury of a blizzard. (So why can't the roster of Ice-type Pokemon be equally diverse?)
• Dragon: Doom Incarnate, Regal Courtesy, Passionate Archetype, Proven Sagacity, Agent of Divinity. Fittingly for the proud and royal Dragon-types (fairies gtfo), these names all exude power and demand reverence.
• Dark: Moonlit Pledge, Moonscape Reflection, Moonrise Beckoning, Moonbright Vision, Moonshadow Sorrow. Similar to Ice, the Dark-type moves reflect the different ways the moon can be viewed. These names are, in a word, beautiful.

But the big winner is Steel. The Steel-type moves have Latin names: "Clarior E Tenebris" (Light from darkness), "Luceat Lux Vestra" (Let your light shine), "Amor Vincit Omnia" (Love conquers all), "Scientia Potentia Est" (Knowledge is power), and "Audaces Fortuna Iuvat" (Fortune favours the bold). In other words, each of these attack names, translated into English, is a saying that fits the contest division. Sure, I'm biased, but I love a bit of well-placed Latin, and this usage absolutely qualifies.

 

[Samtendo09]

(So why can't the roster of Ice-type Pokemon be equally diverse?)

That’s Game Freak and their insistence of ”archetype” for each Pokémon type they are doing, even long after they were already established since the first three Generations.

Though looking into the names, I definitely agreed that these names you mentioned fits well into the respective contest category. Curious that Steel-type is referring light aspects in Contest Super-Moves while Psychic did that a lot more in battle alongside the cosmos, especially during Generation 7. Which makes light-based Psychic Pokémon weak to darkness-based Ghost or even Dark all the more jarring, unlike Steel who can use light-based Steel moves like Flash Cannon for neutral hit and taking neutral hits just fine.

Now truth be told, we do see a step in the right direction with in Generation 7 and 8 among Ice-type; while we still have Ice-type that fits the “slow ice” archetype such as the Snom line and arguably Mr. Rime, the regional variants added much needed diversity, with Alolan Ninetales being a fast Hail setter, and Galarian Darmanitan is basically “Ice-type Darmanitan”, but worked too well due to Gorilla Tactics being underestimated.

Oh, and Weavile from Gen 4 is sitting comfortably in Gen 8 OU right now (as of this post, written in July 15th 2021) thanks to a combination of high Speed, high Attack, actual coverage such as Low Kick, and useful tools such as Knock Off!

And Glastrier, while not OU by any means, is a lot more threatening in official Pokémon competitive format thanks to a combination of really beefy bulk, powerful 145 Attack and 30 Speed that allows it to exploit Trick Room. On top of that, it has insane coverage compared to Spectrier’s one-note movepool, with the ice horse having access to Close Combat, High Horsepower and Heavy Slam. That means trying to switch a Fire-type, Rock-type or Steel-type into Glastrier is a potentially very high risk, leaving Fighting-type the real threat against it. A “slow ice” done right, something not even Regice did so well.

 

[lucariomaster2]

Though looking into the names, I definitely agreed that these names you mentioned fits well into the respective contest category. Curious that Steel-type is referring light aspects in Contest Super-Moves while Psychic did that a lot more in battle alongside the cosmos, especially during Generation 7. Which makes light-based Psychic Pokémon weak to darkness-based Ghost or even Dark all the more jarring, unlike Steel who can use light-based Steel moves like Flash Cannon for neutral hit and taking neutral hits just fine.

The way I've always pictured it working is that the Steel-type light-based moves (Flash Cannon, Mirror Shot, etc) are artificial light, and more specifically the glaring and unnaturally-coloured white light you would get from a fluorescent bulb. Contrast, say, Dazzling Gleam, which fits the "elemental/magical light" archetype much more closely.

 

[Ironmage]

The way I've always pictured it working is that the Steel-type light-based moves (Flash Cannon, Mirror Shot, etc) are artificial light, and more specifically the glaring and unnaturally-coloured white light you would get from a fluorescent bulb. Contrast, say, Dazzling Gleam, which fits the "elemental/magical light" archetype much more closely.

I actually think the other way: other types with light based moves get it as part of a secondary focus (Solarbeam as part of Grass's association with the sun, Psychic with the various space phenomena, Fairy with the moon), but it's Steel that gets the pure light. It's kind of like Flying and Wind: several other types get wind moves, but flying has the main ones. (also similarly, all of the non-signature special Flying moves are wind-based, and Steel Beam is the only non-light special Steel move)

Edit/addendum: Remember that the Dark type doesn't actually have much, if any, association with actual darkness, so there's nothing gained from Fairy having an interaction with it. All of the Darkness/Shadow moves are Ghost.

 

[Samtendo09]

I actually think the other way: other types with light based moves get it as part of a secondary focus (Solarbeam as part of Grass's association with the sun, Psychic with the various space phenomena, Fairy with the moon), but it's Steel that gets the pure light. It's kind of like Flying and Wind: several other types get wind moves, but flying has the main ones. (also similarly, all of the non-signature special Flying moves are wind-based, and Steel Beam is the only non-light special Steel move)

Edit/addendum: Remember that the Dark type doesn't actually have much, if any, association with actual darkness, so there's nothing gained from Fairy having an interaction with it. All of the Darkness/Shadow moves are Ghost.

Counterpoints!

• Darkrai, and the whole darkness, not just nightmares, situations in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time / Darkness / Sky was all because of him, as well as the main antagonist in PokéPark 2.
• Dark Void
• Max Darkness - even in Japanese where it is called Dai (Max) Dark!
• Sableye being called the Darkness Pokémon (though it’s also part Ghost to be fair)
• Murkrow also being called the Darkness Pokémon, and evolves into Honchkrow through Dusk Stone. Every other Pokémon that evolves through Dusk Stone are Ghost-type.
• Night Daze (Night Burst in Japanese)
• Several Dark-type Pokémon, such as Umbreon, Alolan Raticate, Sneasel, and Galarian Zigzagoon line, have association with the night similarly to several Ghost-type such as Gastly line, Misdreavus line, and Alolan Marowak.
• The whole moon aspect in ORAS contests as Super Contest Moves, which the moon is heavily associated with the night.

Of course, the whole darkness / shadow aspect is ultimately more associated to Ghost, but the two Ghost and Dark types are already distinct (one that is about supernaturals, ghosts, ghouls, and extinct species that aren’t fossils, the other about tragedy, pragmatic fighting and dastardly acts) that it shouldn’t mattered too much anyways.

 

[Rain Moon]

I recently learned about how in BW you can catch N's Pokemon in the wild, and I just thought it was a super neat little detail. It's a clever way to show that he did in fact release them (which in turn shows that he really does care about them) and it's also a cool thing for players to discover. This is the kind of thing I'd never notice when I was playing myself, but I saw a video about it recently which is what brought it to my attention.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I recently learned about how in BW you can catch N's Pokemon in the wild, and I just thought it was a super neat little detail. It's a clever way to show that he did in fact release them (which in turn shows that he really does care about them) and it's also a cool thing for players to discover. This is the kind of thing I'd never notice when I was playing myself, but I saw a video about it recently which is what brought it to my attention.

Can you explain what you mean? I knew about N using Pokemon found in the surrounding area, but I've never heard anything about catching specifically the Pokemon that N used in battle and later released.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Can you explain what you mean? I knew about N using Pokemon found in the surrounding area, but I've never heard anything about catching specifically the Pokemon that N used in battle and later released.

Not the person this is addressed to, but in BW2 if you Memory Link to a complete BW1 file you can on the odd chance run into N's former Pokemon that he released. These Pokemon have a special sparkle effect to them, have 30 IVs in each stats, a special ID number, and have set natures.

 

[lucariomaster2]

Counterpoints!

• Darkrai, and the whole darkness, not just nightmares, situations in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time / Darkness / Sky was all because of him, as well as the main antagonist in PokéPark 2.
• Dark Void
• Max Darkness - even in Japanese where it is called Dai (Max) Dark!
• Sableye being called the Darkness Pokémon (though it’s also part Ghost to be fair)
• Murkrow also being called the Darkness Pokémon, and evolves into Honchkrow through Dusk Stone. Every other Pokémon that evolves through Dusk Stone are Ghost-type.
• Night Daze (Night Burst in Japanese)
• Several Dark-type Pokémon, such as Umbreon, Alolan Raticate, Sneasel, and Galarian Zigzagoon line, have association with the night similarly to several Ghost-type such as Gastly line, Misdreavus line, and Alolan Marowak.
• The whole moon aspect in ORAS contests as Super Contest Moves, which the moon is heavily associated with the night.

Of course, the whole darkness / shadow aspect is ultimately more associated to Ghost, but the two Ghost and Dark types are already distinct (one that is about supernaturals, ghosts, ghouls, and extinct species that aren’t fossils, the other about tragedy, pragmatic fighting and dastardly acts) that it shouldn’t mattered too much anyways.

Adding onto this, while the Dark type does have a bit of an identity crisis between elemental darkness, night power, etc vs. pragmatism and fighting dirty, it's not too hard to reconcile the two when you consider that it's easier to be sneaky under cover of darkness, and many of the Pokemon you mentioned are nocturnal for this reason. Beyond that, I don't think it's a huge stretch of the imagination to think that many Dark-types *do* have a supernatural element to their underhanded tactics that's akin to "elemental darkness", and makes them better at what they do. Most Water-types are that typing simply because they live in the water, yet they can conjure and control it; why should Dark-types, many of whom thrive at night or otherwise in dark places, be any different?

 

[Rain Moon]

Can you explain what you mean? I knew about N using Pokemon found in the surrounding area, but I've never heard anything about catching specifically the Pokemon that N used in battle and later released.

Basically what the other person said, you can catch Pokemon that will have N's OT instead of yours.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I know what you're thinking, and no, I haven't mistaken this thread for the other one. That's because if you go just a single set of games back in time, from SuMo to ORAS, you'll find some more names for type-based super-moves: the Spectacular Talents from contests, which had not just one move name per type, but *five*; one for each contest division and appropriately themed.

I had no idea! That's pretty neat (well, for the ones that had some thought put into them). Curious why from some they had a different noun and others it's the same; not to mention the ones which really go off and do their own thing.

Going through some of them

• Normal: Okay, so they wanted a "road" theme. Well, "shinning road", but I think it would be better to also change "shinning" to other words. Thinking "Incredible Stylish Street", "Graceful Glamorous Runway", "Pretty Adorable Lane", "Bright Shinning Road", "Strong Boisterous Alley".
  
  
• Flying: Really, you couldn't think of other words to describe the sky? Glorious Skies, Celestial Heavens, Pleasant Daydream, Keen Piloting, Intrepid Storm.
  
  
• Poison: I don't quite get the theme they were going for here. The names are already odd, but then adding in the Contest's abbreviation feels like Poison was one of the last few Types done and for the last few decided to get fancy and came up with strange themes. With Poison feels like they had no clue what to do so just came up with rock band names.
  
  
• Rock: Okay, for some of these I think they lost the theme. Rising Above? Roaring Fantasia? For ROCK-Type? The others are alright at least. All of them sound like names of songs, alright I guess, but gotta keep in Type here guys. Like how about "Climbing Above" and Crumbling Fantasia"?
  
  
• Bug: I think the adjectives could have been better, especially with "Cool Chrysalis" for Coolness.
  
  
• Steel: Another of the last ones finished. "Hey guys, how about one all in Latin?" "Sounds neat, but for which Type?" "Let's see what we have left... Steel, a lot of metals have neat sounding Latin names" "Cool, let's do it..." (HOURS LATER) "Huh, coming up with Latin phrases is HARD" "Should we do something else for Steel than?" "It's almost time to go home, how about we just use generic Latin phrases and call it a day" "But that makes no sense for the Type, sounds like something that'll more fit for something like the Normal-type or maybe Fairy-type or" "AND DONE, let's go home!".
  
  
• Fire: REALLY? You couldn't think of other words describing FIRE? Not even going to suggest names, just going to list some of the synonyms that pop-up when I type in "Fire": Blaze, Burning, Heat, Hot, Charring, Coals, Combustion, Embers, Flames, Flare, Glow, Luminosity, Pyre, Scorching, Searing, Smoke, Sparks.
  
  
• Water: Looks like someone listened to Toto one too many times. Okay, so we're going for "Blessed Rain" this time: "Amazing Refreshing Shower", "Serene Blessed Rain", "Pattering Splashing Sprinkle", "Clear Crisp Mist", "Soaking Rushing Deluge".
  
  
• Grass: There's more plants than "Flowers" and more botanical locations than "Gardens". "Fresh Grassy Field", "Cultured Perennial Topiary", "Enchanting Flower Garden", "Blooming Harvest Orchard", "Impressive Tropical Jungle".
  
  
• Psychic: So, just a genre of music. Not even going to add a "Psychic" word? "Telekinetic Techno", "Sensory Serenade", "Levitating Lullaby", "Meditation Madrigal", "Apportation Anthem".
  
  
• Dark: I like how, while they used the word "moon", they found different words that begin with moon thus creating a nice theme.
  
  
• Fairy: Now, I don't mind the symbol, but I kind of wished they used different symbols: Cool can stay as the star and the others could be card suites: Beauty is diamond, Cuteness is heart, Cleverness is spades, and Toughness is clubs.

The way I've always pictured it working is that the Steel-type light-based moves (Flash Cannon, Mirror Shot, etc) are artificial light, and more specifically the glaring and unnaturally-coloured white light you would get from a fluorescent bulb. Contrast, say, Dazzling Gleam, which fits the "elemental/magical light" archetype much more closely.

I actually think the other way: other types with light based moves get it as part of a secondary focus (Solarbeam as part of Grass's association with the sun, Psychic with the various space phenomena, Fairy with the moon), but it's Steel that gets the pure light. It's kind of like Flying and Wind: several other types get wind moves, but flying has the main ones. (also similarly, all of the non-signature special Flying moves are wind-based, and Steel Beam is the only non-light special Steel move)

It could be both. I always took "light" Steel moves as it just reflecting light. Don't the matter source, can be reflecting the natural rays of the Sun or a radiance of a lightbulb, as long as it can gather the light particles on its reflective surface it's all good.

Edit/addendum: Remember that the Dark type doesn't actually have much, if any, association with actual darkness, so there's nothing gained from Fairy having an interaction with it. All of the Darkness/Shadow moves are Ghost.

Of course, the whole darkness / shadow aspect is ultimately more associated to Ghost, but the two Ghost and Dark types are already distinct (one that is about supernaturals, ghosts, ghouls, and extinct species that aren’t fossils, the other about tragedy, pragmatic fighting and dastardly acts) that it shouldn’t mattered too much anyways.

I think Samtendo09 used the right word here: Pragmatic. That's the Dark-type summed up all in one word. They're going to do whatever it takes to win/survive. Play a dirty trick, relentlessly attack, hide in the shadows, use dark magic, materialize their negative emotions; whatever gets them the results they want it's just another tool on their belt and they don't care if you think negatively toward them for doing so.

EDIT: Shedinja'd by lucariomaster2.

Can you explain what you mean? I knew about N using Pokemon found in the surrounding area, but I've never heard anything about catching specifically the Pokemon that N used in battle and later released.

Others explained it... but here's also Bulbapedia and Youtube video:

• Bulbapedia article on "N's Pokemon".
  
  
• Youtube vid showing the Memory Link process & where to find them.
  
  
• Another Youtube vid showing you where they are without commentary.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Time to give some praise to another specific Pokémon line. This time, something from Gen 1(!), but a little from Gen 6 as well.

I have always been a big fan of the Magikarp line. The whole concept of a weak, pathetic, useless fish which evolves into an aggressive, angry, terrifying dragon-like sea monster is amazing. I think they absolutely nailed the execution of the concept as well. I find their designs to be solid too.

I have said this before in another thread long ago, but I’ll say it here as well: I think Magikarp has one of the best models in the 3D games. It captures the essence of a weak, pathetic fish so perfectly. I don’t think any of its 2D sprites ever managed to capture it that well.

Training a Magikarp in any game is going to be painful as it can’t really do anything on its own and requires assistance from other Pokémon in order to grow. But once it reaches level 20 and evolves, Magikarp literally goes from zero to hero. It becomes a Gyarados, and the trainer who had the patience to train it gets rewarded with a very powerful Pokémon.

I like how Gyarados is practically a Dragon in everything except its typing. Its whole appearance just screams “Dragon!” yet it is not a Dragon-type, but a Water/Flying-type. When I was younger, I always thought it should be Water/Dragon, but as I have grown older, I have realized that I'm fine with it being Water/Flying. In terms of design, it doesn’t look very friendly or welcoming, but I think that’s good because that’s just a part of what it is. This is not a Pokémon you want to mess with, because if you do, it will end up making a mess of you! If you even survive, that is.

I have had great success with Gyarados in battles as well. It is a quite strong Physical Attacker with fairly good defenses as well as a great movepool with solid coverage. It also gets a great boosting move in Dragon Dance, which makes it stronger and helps to patch up its average Speed. Intimidate and Moxie are both great Abilities as well. The lack of a good Flying STAB is a little annoying, but it does get Bounce at least. Not the best Flying-type move, but I suppose it works. Personally, I found it to be is excellent as a Max Move when Gyarados is Dynamaxed. It was something I have made great use of in the Battle Tower in Sword. But I have had great success with Gyarados in other generations as well, notably Gen 5-7.

Gyarados has a really cool Mega Evolution too. It is not one of my top favorite Megas, but I still like it a lot. While the fact that it lacked a good Dark-type move at first was a little annoying, that quickly got fixed in OR/AS where it got Crunch. Like regular Gyarados, I have had great success with Mega Gyarados in Gen 6 & 7.

I also really like its typing, and its type change upon Mega Evolving. While it could be argued that it would be more logical for either regular Gyarados or Mega Gyarados (or both, for that matter) to be Water/Dragon, I have over the years realized how genius it was to make it go from Water/Flying to Water/Dark. It is really cool from a defensive standpoint as it changes how very many types affect it. Some are still unchanged, both regular and Mega Gyarados are resistant to Fire, Water and Steel, while they take neutral damage from Normal, Poison, Flying and Dragon. But the matchup changes for all other types. Let’s take a look at them:

Grass: Neutral -> Weak
Electric: 4x Weak -> 2x Weak
Rock: Weak -> Neutral
Fighting: Resisted -> Weak
Ice: Neutral -> Resisted
Ground: Immune -> Neutral
Psychic: Neutral -> Immune
Bug: Resisted -> Weak
Ghost: Neutral -> Resisted
Dark: Neutral -> Resisted
Fairy: Neutral -> Weak

11 out of 18 types affect regular Gyarados and Mega Gyarados differently. I think this is just awesome. Not sure about how it is in competitive, but I know from personal experience that in Battle Facilities, it means that choosing to not Mega Evolve Gyarados might sometimes be the better alternative. It all depends on what you are up against. I think it is genius and because of that, Mega Gyarados is my favorite Mega when it comes to type change, because of the type change it goes through upon Mega Evolving.

 

[TMan87]

When you are in Village Bridge, the Bicycle theme will never come up, even if you start riding it in the middle of the bridge.
The only other location with that superiority over the bicycle is the Badge Gate, which is the prelude to the League, Elite Four, and Champion.
Think about it this way: in terms of music priority, Village Bridge has the same as a location meant to inspire respect, fear and foreboding.
As it should be.

 

[Yung Dramps]

This might be cheating because it's technically not actually about a Pokemon game, but I really like how the Lumiose City stage in the latest 2 Super Smash Bros games is set during the day in its normal form and at night in the omega/battlefield forms. Very cool touch that gives the forms an extra bit of visual distinctness

 

[R_N]

This might be cheating because it's technically not actually about a Pokemon game, but I really like how the Lumiose City stage in the latest 2 Super Smash Bros games is set during the day in its normal form and at night in the omega/battlefield forms. Very cool touch that gives the forms an extra bit of visual distinctness

It's only at night time all the time in the 3DS version, likely because the omega form is set to run in the midair portion of the stage which is at night time.

For Ultimate it runs the same full day/night cycle as the normal version.

 

[ZettaiRyouiki]

Some foreign names for Pokémon are great. For example, Eelektross in France is Ohmassacre. No wonder Ghetsis has one.

 

[mertyville]

Maybe I am bias saying this, but I kinda like that the Gen 2 Pokemon were hard to obtain in GSC minus that most of them were useless. It was the first time we got new Pokemon and they were recently discovered, so it would make sense that they aren't easy to get, even if Johto suppose to be their "home".
For newer games I don't give such a pass. Especially Gen 4 which add more babies and more stuff to make them difficult to obtain with breeding items.