Tonight one thing that particularly interests me in general is experience groups. I know some people here have had complaints about them in the past, but that's beside the point right now. What intrigues me about them is the intention behind them, especially in the context of Gen 1, which of course in spite of its remarkably flawed game design, clearly drew from RPG game design in several ways.
Among these is the experience groups. In Gen 1, there were four experience groups: Fast, Medium Fast, Medium Slow, and Slow. Going down the list of Gen 1 mons that exist, this is basically all of the original 151 who are in each EXP Group:
Fast: Clefable, Wigglytuff, Chansey
Medium Fast: Butterfree, Beedrill, just about every two-stage evolutionary line, and most single-stage Pokemon
Medium Slow: Most three-stage evolutionary lines (except Butterfree, Beedrill, and Dragonite), Mew
Slow: Arcanine, Tentacruel, Cloyster, Exeggutor, Rhydon, Starmie, Pinsir, Tauros, Gyarados, Lapras, Aerodactyl, Snorlax, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Dragonite, Mewtwo
It seems there is a trend, where most mons who are the typical two-stage family and evolve once are in the Medium Fast EXP Group, and the majority of three-stage mons, especially the starters, are in the Medium Slow EXP Group, both of which are the medium EXP groups. Interestingly, the big thing that stands out is that based on the functions that are calculated with these two groups, the Medium Fast group levels up more slowly earlier on than in the Medium Slow EXP group, but the two groups do even out and as you head into the 40s and onwards, the Medium Fast group levels up a bit more quickly from that point. Meaning that a typical three-stage Pokemon will level up at a faster rate than a typical two-stage Pokemon in RBY for a large portion of the game, while a two-stage mon will level up at a notably slower rate.
What strikes as especially fascinating, however, is the Fast and Slow groups. The Fast group belongs only to Wigglytuff, Clefable, and Chansey. I am not sure what is supposed to be the design intention behind these three in particular leveling up so quickly, and needing so few experience per level, other than that they are pink and cute and two of them are early game stone evolutions. The Slow group seems to be intended for Pokemon who are strong Pokemon or are conceived as "high effort, high reward Pokemon". You have cases like legendary Pokemon, who are immediately powerhouses off the bat, as well as Lapras, Snorlax, Tauros, and Pinsir, who are remarkably good single-stage Pokemon who are powerful off the bat as well. On the other hand, you have Gyarados and its pre-evolution Magikarp, who is obviously pathetic until it finally evolves in which Gyarados becomes insanely powerful, thus the Slow EXP group is intended to further reinforce the high amount of effort you need to invest for the high reward you get Gyarados. The other case is Dragonite, who originated the pseudo-legendary archetype, and given its high evolution levels, and Dragonite being so statistically powerful, it is clear the intention is that it's a high effort Pokemon who pays off incredibly in the end, but needs significant investment to reach its potential.
But then you have cases like Arcanine, Tentacruel, Cloyster, and Starmie, who are odd standouts in the Slow group. None of them strike as particularly "special" or "powerful" or needing the high effort for high return, and all four of them are mostly random two-stage mons. Exeggutor and Rhydon also stand out, though one could argue in Rhydon's case that it's a late game strong mon in RBY who needs high effort to yield high reward.
I do find these EXP groups fascinating in terms of what the intended game design was behind them.
As another example, I decided to look down Gen 5's EXP groupings, as it's the closest expy to Gen 1 in terms of Pokemon rosters.
Fast: Musharna, Audino, Cinccino, Alomomola
Medium Fast: Most two-stage lines, most single stage Pokemon
Medium Slow: Most three-stage lines, Darmanitan, Zoroark, Mienshao
Slow: All legendaries and mythicals, Vanilluxe, Eelektross, Haxorus, Braviary, Mandibuzz, Volcarona, Hydreigon
I highlight Gen 5 as the biggest example, but the trends have persisted across generations. With some exceptions, most three-stage families are in the Medium Slow group, and most are in Medium Fast, but in some cases, some two-stage families, such as Darmanitan and Mienshao in Gen 5, are in the Medium Slow group. Meanwhile, in Gen 6, both Florges and Aegislash are in the Medium Fast group despite being three-stage families.
Then you have the Fast and Slow groups. I note a trend that is further highlighted in Gen 5, but the Fast group seems to consist of the cute mons for some reason, with Cinccino, Clefable, Azumarill, Wigglytuff, and Togekiss all being in such group, as well as "cleric" oriented mons such as Chansey, Audino, Alomomola, and Comfey.
The Slow Group consists of every pseudo-legendary and legendary for obvious reasons, but in a case like Gen 5, you have a few standouts in the Slow group, such as Vanilluxe, who is an odd case. Eelektross, Haxorus, Braviary, and Mandibuzz could be argued to be like Rhydon in that they are late-game and among the strongest in the Gen 5 roster's power curve, though the fact that they are in the Slow group still stands out.
Just a bit of rambling. I know many may consider EXP Groups to be an annoyance, but I do wonder what's the design process behind EXP Groups: more specifically, the intention behind them and which mons go into which groups from a game design standpoint.
