Pokémon you had fun using in in-game runs

HGSS: Sudowoodo. Needed a mon to fill up a spot on my team and decided to use Sudowoodo. Man this thing was a beast in my team. Gave it a Quick Claw so it can actually have a chance of outspeeding anything. It was a MVP in my team only being slightly below Ninetales. It even helped to take down one of Lance's Dragonite and weaken the strongest to let Lugia sweep Lance's team.
Shoutout to the shiny Gyarados after teaching it dragon dance that thing was a beast

FRLG: Hitmonchan was pretty fun to use. Looking back at the team I used it in idk what i was thinking with giving it Thunder Punch but Sky Uppercut destroyed anything that didnt resist it. I think it also destroyed Lorlei

XY: Pikachu was surprisingly pretty good. Caught it with it holding a Light Ball could be the reason. It held up pretty well until the elite 4 where it could only do good against Seibold where it couldn't do anything to anyone else afterwards. Still fun tho
Aegislash was also pretty fun to use. It tore through everything that stood in its way

USUM: Man I love Vikavolt. As far as I can recall it did pretty good through out the main game. I still remember using it to beat Ultra Necrozma without using any Z-Moves which was pretty neat. (No I didnt know about toxic or zoroark strats beforehand). Necrozma was also great. Wish I learnt you could catch Nebby before the Elite-4 but it still did pretty well there.

Plat: Still playing this game but ambipom is pretty fun :)

Also Ninetales is extremely fun (for me) as its my favourite pokemon and designing teams with it are pretty fun
 
XY: Aegislash no doubt. No wonder it got kicked upstairs to Ubers for two generations in a row. It basically made most of the game a joke. Diantha ain't no Cynthia. (nickname: Clare)

SM: Garchomp. Not gonna lie, wasn't a fan of this pseudo until I saw it in action. Allowed me to get through the Lusamine battles without a single loss via all Pokémon fainted. (nickname: Typhon)

USUM: A tie between Comfey (nickname: Watashi) and Metagross (nickname: Gina) - the former allowed me to avoid being complete fodder to Giovanni's Mega Mewtwo Y by virtue of Triage and the latter allowed me to completely turn Ultra Necrozma from a legit Nuzlocke killer into a complete laughingstock.

SWSH: Hydreigon. Yeah, I keep using pseudo-legendaries, but it started to become this way since B2W2. Its late Level 64 evolution conditions prohibited me from ever using it until SWSH's forced EXP share allowed me to have a Lv. 64 Hydreigon before the post-game which is truly a blessing in disguise. It came at the most important time: helping a lot on Externamax Eternatus and actualy getting enough damage in to make the doggos applaud me for actually putting in similar damage output to them. (nickname: Tio)

DPPT: Blissey. Remember that pink blob stall is only fun when you're the one using it. (Nickname: Nightngale [sic])

HGSS: Jumpluff. I like this Pokémon despite most saying it's super bad. U-turn and Sleep Powder are a godsend. (nickname: Tanpopo)

BW: Scolipede. Even without Speed Boost, it's actually very useful - Black and White does a good job selling on making new connections with the Unova region's 156 new mons and this centipede's no exception. Never thought I'd actually care so much about Bug-types. (nickname: Kaede)

RSE: Blaziken, my starter who ended up with a Naive nature to help circumvent its mediocre 80 Speed stat and was a female Blaziken to boot. SubPunch is good for a reason ppl. (nickname: Kutaka)
 
I enjoyed Orbeetle and Thievul in Sword. I managed to go in blind, without getting a good look at any of the new mons' stats or abilities, and even had to guess at some of their types. Having screens and parting shot made it a lot easier to scope out the other teams. I love orbeetle's design and color scheme too. Even kept my route 2 orbeetle, and wound up giving in a gold bottle cap so that I could try it out in VGC.

I used alolan Marowak in by first playthrough of USUM after I grew to dislike Incineroar, and it made the whole game a lot more enjoyable to me. I like its design, and its offensive typing is great, with thick club its a complete monster.

Lastly, I really enjoyed Golem in Legends Arceus. It always bothered by when I played graveler in the old games Its quite bulky on the physical side, with useful STAB moves and it is available in the first caves of several games. Graveler was often the MVP of my childhood playthroughs. For instane it absolutely demolishes four gyms in a row in Sapphire and still makes itself useful against the endless swarms of zubats.
But I didn't normally have a friend with the same game and link cable, so I couldn't evolve Graveler. Evolving a Golem that I'd caught early on using the linking cord felt very cathartic to me.
 
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:bw/sewaddle:
Sewaddle I feel is pretty overlooked in general but in BW2 it is a genuine sleeper threat. Coming super early at just outside Flocessy Ranch this thing is a legit powerhouse early-game thanks to STAB Bug Bite at level 8, which at 60 BP is unmatched in power by anything else at that point except maybe Azuril Frustration. This alongside high defense makes it one of the few solid "counters" vs Cheren, being able to trade damage with his mons easily. Otherwise Sewaddle is pretty easy to read for most of the game, it basically has STABs plus Shadow Claw for coverage and it succeeds in the fights you'd expect it to succeed (Clay and Marlon) and falls flat in the fights you'd expect it to fall flat (Roxie, Colress, Skyla). But the real game changer lies in SD at level 46, making Leavanny a strong setup sweeper late-game, as it has already high attack and solid enough speed to outpace a majority of the competition at ~equal level. The big highlight is being able to sweep Ghetsis, one of the hardest boss fights in the game, so long as you heal off the poison from Cofag. I might've just had a really fast Leavanny but outpacing and one-shotting Hydreigon feels so fucking good lol. I recommend any BW2 runners try this guy out, he's sick.

:xy/absol-mega:
Including basically all the megas in the main story might've been a death knell balance-wise for ORAS but if you're a fan of any of those mons it's pretty cool. Mega Absol basically does what regular Absol does anyways but better, SD and sweep, I just think it's a really good design. The design changes from base Absol aren't super drastic, just simple details like the big angel wings and the curvier horn add a lot of beauty without detracting what makes Absol a good design to me in the first place. Aside from that, yeah, SD Night Slash go brrr.

:dp/steelix:
HGSS's lower powerlevel and kind of odd enemy pool allow a lot of random pokemon to shine when they would suck in normal games, and I could do a whole post of them, but I'll focus on Steelix cuz legit when else do you get to feasibly use a Steelix. Granted, it's gonna have to start as an Onix, speciifcally the trade Onix in Violet, but it comes with good IVs, boosted XP, and Onix's typing matches up against the early-game really well (also why Geodude is amazing in this game), so it's actually not a big deal at all. From there you have to do the Pokeathalon minigames for a bit to afford the Metal Coat (the alternative being trying to thief one off a Magnemite :eeveehide:) but once that hassle is over, the ball really gets rolling. Steelix genuinely crushes the rest of the game with Curse + STABs and its amazing typing and high bulk make it good in just about every scenario. The only really bad fight it has from memory is Lance but everyone has a bad fight against Lance, and even into fights where it has the distinct disadvantage like Chuck or Pryce it can still do work. If it weren't kind of a pain in the ass to acquire it might legit be broken.
 
On the subject of HGSS, Heracross. Turned Whitney into a complete joke, and then proceeded to put the team on his back, taking down such difficult opponents as Clair, the Elite Four rematches, and Red mostly unaided. Mostly just raw power here, I didn't even need Guts, just click Close Combat or Megahorn and watch mons drop. Against Red, I will remember the critical hit Megahorn he landed to put Venusaur away and secure the win until my dying day

Another one to shout-out here, too, in Starmie. You need fishing luck (2% encounter rate at night only), Pokeathelon skill, a free Wednesday to pick up the Water Stone, and knowing your Voltorb Flip doesn't hurt either to round out its moveset. Fortunately, the effort involved was well worth it. (Finding a Timid Nature Cure Staryu after maybe ten minutes of fishing didn't hurt.) Carried the day against Lance in both rounds of the E4, including a clean sweep of his rematch team, which is leveled into the mid-seventies and swaps out two of his Dragonite for a Salamence and Garchomp. Yah.
 
:ss/sylveon:
I think Sylveon just might be my favourite Eeveelution now. I managed to get her early in Legends Arceus, and she was an absolute powerhouse through most of the game. Calm Mind is ridiculous in Legends, Fairy is a great offensive and defensive type, she has amazing bulk and Special attack for the early game, and to top it off she has probably the best coverage out of all the Eeveelutions (Shadow Ball, Dazzling Gleam and Mystical Fire hit everything for at least neutral). Yes, her Speed is terrible and Gardevoir and Togekiss outclass her later in the game, but if you want a powerful early-game Fairy-type, you really can't go wrong with Sylveon.
 
Pichu
Pikachu
Raichu

In my latest Pokemon Crystal run I hatched a shiny Pichu from the odd egg. I wanted to use it until I can replace it with Magnemite later. It evolved eventually into Pikachu and learned Thunderbolt and I quickly got a Thunderstone from that one calling trainer who I wanted to abuse the phone call glitch on. And Raichu even at lv58 helped defeating some of the mightiest Pokemon. One being Red's Pikachu and Snorlax. I spammed Charm and wore down the fat cat with a bunch of Iron Tails getting that defense drop. Umbreon also helped a little with Sand Attack.
Didn't expect to do much work and obviously I did waste some time to grind for friendship. I had Golbat and Eevee in my team after all and wanted them to get that evolution.
But Friendship evolution in Gen 2 is really annoying to get.
 
I spammed Charm and wore down the fat cat with a bunch of Iron Tails getting that defense drop. Umbreon also helped a little with Sand Attack.
I've used charm raichu in VGC and its pretty handy. I'll often see someone dynamax turn one hoping to attack through a flinch, only to find their main pokemon getting cut down to -2. Yesterday it managed to hit a physically offensive groudon twice with charm because it was sashed.
 
Pichu
Pikachu
Raichu

In my latest Pokemon Crystal run I hatched a shiny Pichu from the odd egg. I wanted to use it until I can replace it with Magnemite later. It evolved eventually into Pikachu and learned Thunderbolt and I quickly got a Thunderstone from that one calling trainer who I wanted to abuse the phone call glitch on. And Raichu even at lv58 helped defeating some of the mightiest Pokemon. One being Red's Pikachu and Snorlax. I spammed Charm and wore down the fat cat with a bunch of Iron Tails getting that defense drop. Umbreon also helped a little with Sand Attack.
Didn't expect to do much work and obviously I did waste some time to grind for friendship. I had Golbat and Eevee in my team after all and wanted them to get that evolution.
But Friendship evolution in Gen 2 is really annoying to get.
Literally the rarest possible Odd Egg (alongside Shiny Tyrogue, 1% each) you can get. I'd be proud too.

Odd Egg DVs are fixed at 2/10/10/10 for the Shiny and 0/0/0/0--yes, the absolute worst possible--for the normal coloration. I normally don't even bother with it anymore since it's too much of a crapshoot to get something actually useful, but if you do hit that Shiny...
 
Exeggcute in gold and silver. I picked one of these up on my most recent Pokemon silver playthrough thinking I could evolve it with a leaf stone, but I sadly wasn't thinking and didn't realise that evolution stones would only be available after the elite 4 (why they don't make these purchasable in every Pokemon game I don't understand). By the time I realised I had already spent a significant amount of time training and using it so I didn't wanna give it up. Eventually I got to the elite 4 with a moveset of confusion / solarbeam / leech seed / sleep powder and it put in a surprising amount of work. My Typhlosion would set up sunny day and bait out water types which gave my exeggcute a free switch in. From there it could either sweep with solarbeam or set things to sleep and leech seed them, allowing other Pokemon of mine to set up. Although it was frail it still had a bunch of useful resistances and a low HP stat just meant leech seed would heal a ton of damage. It actually became a bit of an MVP during the elite 4, that small little unevolved egg basket of mine :psytear:
 
Misdreavus in BDSP. I caught one in Eterna Forest having never used one before and it was the MVP of the run. It has pretty good stats even before evolution, three immunities, and even without being powered up it’s satisfying to click Hex and watch things die. Once it evolves it gets even better Special and Speed and has incredible coverage moves like Psychic, Thunderbolt and Energy Ball. My Mismagius took down Aaron by itself using Substitute/Nasty Plot and then was able to do the same to Cynthia.
 
It's not... good, per se, but it's surprisingly fun to use Dustox in Omega Ruby. Poison-Venoshock is a fun combo and it is very satisfying for Shield Dust to not proc. I was doing a Bug-type only run a while back and I was able to plink away at Altaria while its Dragonbreaths did a mediocre amount and never paralyzed. I'm using it again on a re-run through the game.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

On to new Horizons!
is a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
I'm getting super close to finally completing Violet, but here's a few mons I found very enjoyable to use in my runs



Espathra. I didn't expect much out of it, and frankly Flittle was okay early on, struggled in the 30s, but then Espathra got good once it evolved, but there was one instance in the game where I found it extremely clutch: against Eri, the strongest Team Star Boss, especially against her Caph Starmobile. Normally in competitive people recognize Espathra for Speed Boost and Stored Power, but its usual ability is Opportunist, which was extremely clutch. Why? Because the Caph Starmobile has Shift Gear as one of its moves, and Stamina as one of its abilities. I used a Tera Psychic Espathra against the Starmobile, and it copied the Speed boosts from Shift Gear as well as the Defense boosts from Stamina which allowed it to take the Starmobile's hits better, and then fired powerful Terastallized Lumina Crashes while outspeeding it. Definitely came in handy, and a situation where its otherwise gimmicky signature ability actually came in handy.



I have to admit, I was not expecting a pure Rock-type rock salt Pokemon to be anything worth noting but I caught a Nacli early in the game in Violet and it's been one of my most dependable allies. Their immense bulk came in handy on many occasions, and as Naclstack and Garganacl their signature move, Salt Cure, often came in clutch. I had the fun way of dealing with the Titan Orthworm by using Salt Cure on it and watching its HP wither away quickly while winning a war of attrition with it, pretty amusing. Very solid, reliable, and dependable Pokemon overall.

These were two I had particular amounts of fun with.
 
God help me, Jumpluff is freakin nasty in X and Y if you put in the work, and it's all down to "Acrobatics go brrrrr." Ramos is not a good gym leader but the dude knows ball. I was trying to set up a sweep on him, realized Braixen was gonna go down, switched in Jumpluff as a sac, it proceeded to survive an Acrobatics and subsequent Take Down from Gogoat and reverse sweep. An Icon.

Also, it learns Swords Dance. Why does it learn Swords Dance? Who cares! Acrobatics go brrrrrr
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
Even with Defeatist, :bw/archen: is f***ing broken in Black & White. Unrivaled offensive stats for that point in the game coupled with a solid typing and movepool, not to mention Defeatist isn’t as bad as Truant or Slow Start, and you can even cheese certain matchups by using moves that will active a Yamask or Cofagrigus’s Mummy simply by using Crunch on it.

The last time I played through Pokémon White, I used one as my mandatory Flying-Type for that team, and while I didn’t end up finishing the run due to unrelated problems, the fact that Archen can legitimately do things against Elesa of all Gym Leaders with Rock-Type STAB and Dig should tell you all you need to know.
 
Spr 3e 027.pngSpr 3e 028.png
During my [unspecified number] play through of Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness I lured a surprisingly powerful Sandshrew who's Scratch did a surprising amount of damage at lv22. I was going to catch it anyways but seeing how impressive it was and having a Naughty Nature, I decided to use it. I played through one colosseum to get TM31 and taught it to it. I was suprisingly useful especially once it evolved to Sandslash. The only moves I ever needed where non-STAB Slash and Brick Break. Paired with Espeon, they were destroying teams left and right.
Now I used TM26 on it and the jump in power is insane. It came really in handy wearing down Shadow Pokemon while simultaniously finishing off non-Shadow Pokemon. I honestly did not expect it to do this well considering it lacked STAB for so long and there being many possibly better Ground Types.
Certainly Camerupt does a great job too but the lack of a dual weakness really helped Sandslash and being able to use Brick Break is a bonus. And one doesn't need to waste much time waiting for it to get good like Flygon.
It will probably fall off the end game but there I usually swap to Shadow Pokemon to catch the rest of them.
 
No idea if nuzlockes count on the thread, but im pretty sure its still fun in normal runs
:sv/Lokix:
This thing is so fun to use even when its a bug type, you can catch Nymble really fast, but its a bit of a burden, since it doesnt do a lot of stuff and its kinda underwhelming, but it evolves really early, and Lokix is so incredibly good i love this fella, Lunge and Leech Life feel so good to spam, even against resisting targets, has some surprising bulk (i swear this thing got 3hko'd by AI Turo's Iron Valiant using Spirit Break, i have no idea if it was just because it was some levels higher or not) and its one of the only mons to get Axe Kick, which is not as spammable but still fun to throw around, also just wanted to point out that this madlad survived from the 2nd gym and fire team star boss, to the end basically finishing my blind nuzlocke, long live Voltorb :( the Lokix
 
my ampharos in my original nuzlocke of my favourite game, ultra sun! her name is crumpet and she's an absolute champ. i've had her for over 2 years and she's my best bud. honourable mention to martin, my galvatula i caught in a master ball for my special nuzlocke of alpha sapphire (my second favourite game) in which i wasn't allowed to use any mon i've beat the game with! i called it a seltlocke and it was very fun, i highly recommend it. and martin was very useful for the e4, sweeping through sidney and providing sticky web and thunder wave support with the rest of the e4 and steven! :woop:
 
I haven't ever played beyond HGSS, so my answer will be for very old games.

Since in-game Pokémon are both weaker and less likely to be switched out, using a support Pokémon like Lopunny is a lot of fun to me. Even though I know there's no human on the other side, it's still satisfying to give the game a taste of the hax and annoyance it usually gives.

Smeargle is a really fun one just because it's so unique, and when you can make up for its low stats by overleveling it, it really becomes the perfect utility Pokémon. Catching roaming Pokémon drove me absolutely insane back in the day, but Smeargle takes the randomness out of it. It requires some setup too, so it doesn't feel cheap or too easy. False Swipe, Spore, Block, and Heal Block is fantastic. I actually have multiple sets that I tweak depending on exactly what Pokémon I'm going for (for example, I might swap out Heal Block for Ingrain).
 
:sm/Golduck:
Pokemon Omega Ruby

Golduck seems like a generic Water-type in a game full of them, but I had a lot of fun using it in Omega Ruby. In a game where weather is so dominant, Golduck was a surprisingly effective check to weather-themed trainers and locations thanks to Cloud Nine.

Desolate Land what?
 

Cheryl.

Celesteela is Life
1678769061210.png
Diamond/BDSP

Honchkrow was the OG for my favorite mon to use in-game. Early on, the Murkrow you can catch in Eterna Forest is actually quite good for an early bird, getting a strong Wing Attack early and having a useful typing for taking on the Psychic and Ghost-types you fight from random trainers. That enjoyment continues until around mid-game, when Murkrow's stats start to become a problem. Luckily, you eventually get access to the Dusk Stone that unlocks Honchkrow, the even cooler, much stronger version of Murkrow who has enough bulk to not be Potion/Revive fodder ingame most of the time. As a kid, I loved mowing down everything with Night Slash and Fly from my Honchkrow in Diamond, so much so that I would just go on solo Elite Four runs with Honchkrow to overlevel him, and he eventually became my first Level 100 because of that. Those fond memories carried over to Brilliant Diamond, where you catch Murkrow in the same spot, and its pretty much more of the same performance you get from both it and Honchkrow. However, if you go getting one from the Underground, you can have some ridiculous fun destroying everything with Brave Bird, which I did end up doing and it was extremely funny.
 
:sv/breloom:
Scarlet

Breloom is a Pokemon that seems to just get better and better every gen, not only in competitive but for in-game usage as well. Gen 6 was finally when it hit a good stride thanks to Dexnav and early availability combined with the Physical/Special split letting it use both STABs from the start (giving it a good go at Roxanne before evolving), but Gen 9 is where I think it's off to the best yet in that regard.

Between the Wild Tera Breloom in Area 3 and spawning in 1* dens (where I got mine), Shroomish has pretty early availability AND averts the main issue I have with the line: Shroomish taking until level 40 to learn its most important move in Spore. With this I can just evolve my Shroomish "on-schedule" with the rest of the team, and Breloom proceeded to be MVP of the run. Mach Punch, Leech Seed, Bullet Seed, and Spore meant he had something ready for any opponent, be it stalling out, setting up, or barreling through them, and surprisingly I didn't see a lot of stuff he couldn't hit after evolving with at least one of those moves.

Effect Spore is also pretty neat for in-game, because it makes item-stalling valid against physical targets until they cripple themselves with Status, whether it's a debuff to get a move in from Burn/Paralyze/Sleep, or Poison to accelerate a waiting game with Leech Seed. Loaded Dice from the East Providence League Rep made it even easier to bowl over things with Bullet Seed and his early high ATK, alongside another favorite of mine in Gallade.

... why do so many mons I like end up being ~120 Attack and then like 60-80 Speed specifically?
 

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