Pokemon Picker Thread

[Basedwell]

Hey All!! My name is basedwell and this is my first thread

I like to replay old generations of Pokemon, where team members need to be chosen carefully because there is a finite amount of xp to spread around amongst Pokemon, unless you want to go out of your way and grind against wild Pokemon. This is fun because it helps me form deeper bonds with the Pokemon i choose to use, but also leads to problems because I am an indecisive person, and every time I play one of these games there are more than 6 Pokemon I want to use.

In the past, I've solved this by making charts to determine which Pokemon will function best against the Elite 4, other times I will sacrifice a small animal and ask spirits for a sign. But I have found a better idea: getting other people to solve it for me.

Here's what I have in mind: lay out your current team members, where you are in the game, and what factors are important for your decision. Then, list out the options you can't decide between, or keep it open ended.

For Example, here's where I'm at right now:

Currently, I'm playing through Pokemon Gold, near the end of the Team Rocket Radio Tower plot. I'm planning on taking Heracross, Ursaring (pkhexed in at beginning of game), Jumpluff, Ampharos, Girafarig to the Elite 4 and maybe Kanto. For my last slot, I'm stuck between Mantine and Meganium, but I'm not in love with either one, so feel free to recommend somebody else. I'm not particular about if they're strong or not because I trust my current squad. I'm kind of thinking about bringing in Growlithe and pkhexing a stone, or using Wobbuffet



what separates this from something like a tier list is that you don't have to recommend strong Pokemon unless specified. Feel free to recommend favorites, or lie and tell someone your favorite is the strongest option so they'll use it. I don't know if this will take off but I feel like it's a new way to have some lighthearted discussion about older generations :)

 

[Jungle cruiser]

Unfortunately, I'm a fake fan who hasn't gotten around to playing the first 4 gens, so I can't really say anything about em...
With that said though, I did manage to do a Pokemon black playthrough about a year or two ago. And amongst my squad, the MVP was definitely crustle!


Admittedly, he wasn't an unkillable wall that stopped everything in their tracks, but he functioned extremely well as a tank that could take hits reasonably well and dish back good damage! He was the earliest evolver amongst my final team, which was particularly useful considering 4/6 of my team all happened to be late game evolvers (I don't work under the 'function over form' mentality, ok?). He happened to learn stealth rock naturally as a dwebble, which also helped against Elesa's emolgas (though I did end up replacing the move afterwards cuz hazard chip in general isn't as useful in game were trainers don't switch around as constantly).

Long story short, I eventually winded with a moveset of shell smash, dig, rock slide and x scissor. And boy did it rock (hehe...) Shell smash really cranked up his damage potential, and rock/bug/ground hit practically everything for big damage (dig also had the utility of letting me escape any caves if need be, which was very helpful!)

He's not perfect ofc. Pretty predictably slow, and even after a shell smash boost he wasn't THAT speedy. His special defense wasn't good either, so he didn't encompass both attacking spectrums defensively. His type combination only has TWO resistances, so he was relying on his natural bulk to hang on. And in general I can see why people who can get em would prefer gigalith instead for actual fire and flying resistances. But overall I can say crustle was a pretty fun choice and would definitely recommend!

Also dwebble is adorable, just look at em.

 

[Basedwell]

Unfortunately, I'm a fake fan who hasn't gotten around to playing the first 4 gens, so I can't really say anything about em...
With that said though, I did manage to do a Pokemon black playthrough about a year or two ago. And amongst my squad, the MVP was definitely crustle!


Admittedly, he wasn't an unkillable wall that stopped everything in their tracks, but he functioned extremely well as a tank that could take hits reasonably well and dish back good damage! He was the earliest evolver amongst my final team, which was particularly useful considering 4/6 of my team all happened to be late game evolvers (I don't work under the 'function over form' mentality, ok?). He happened to learn stealth rock naturally as a dwebble, which also helped against Elesa's emolgas (though I did end up replacing the move afterwards cuz hazard chip in general isn't as useful in game were trainers don't switch around as constantly).

Long story short, I eventually winded with a moveset of shell smash, dig, rock slide and x scissor. And boy did it rock (hehe...) Shell smash really cranked up his damage potential, and rock/bug/ground hit practically everything for big damage (dig also had the utility of letting me escape any caves if need be, which was very helpful!)

He's not perfect ofc. Pretty predictably slow, and even after a shell smash boost he wasn't THAT speedy. His special defense wasn't good either, so he didn't encompass both attacking spectrums defensively. His type combination only has TWO resistances, so he was relying on his natural bulk to hang on. And in general I can see why people who can get em would prefer gigalith instead for actual fire and flying resistances. But overall I can say crustle was a pretty fun choice and would definitely recommend!

Also dwebble is adorable, just look at em.

I'll definitely use it on my next playthrough. I had some lingering animosity towards it due to Gen 5's sturdy mechanics lol, but you make a compelling argument. I never use stealth rocks in my playthroughs due to a lack of familiarity from earlier games more than anything.

Gen 5 does have many late-game evolutions. In my last playthrough of White I used Galvantula, Ferrothorn, and Reuniclus, all of whom I absolutely loved. Galvantula had compound eyes thunder + charge beam setup, Ferrothorn was a beast defensively, and Reuniclulus was a strong special attacker. Ferrothorn was my absolute favorite, sweeping the entire 8th gym by itself, hardly taking any damage in the process. Gen 5 has my #1 or 2 favorite dex in the series. There are tons of Pokemon I liked. Volcarona was an absolute blast to use when I played White 2 last winter.

I am curious tho, what did you think of of Black? And what's your favorite in the series? If I had to venture a guess, I'd say if you haven't played the first four gens your favorite is going to be Gen 7. I may start another White playthrough later this week lol.

 

[bdt2002]

The Magnemite family has consistently been, well, one of the most consistent Pokémon to use across all of the games it appears in ever since it gained the Steel-Type in Gen 2. There's a genuine argument to be made that Magnemite and its evolutions are the single best Pokémon for a playthrough in all of Black & White 2, but speaking as someone with a fondness for numbers and statistics, it's actually the Hoenn region that I think they're the strongest in, specifically in Sapphire and Alpha Sapphire respectively. This is because of a very unique distinction that Magnemite gets in these versions of Hoenn that, to my knowledge, there isn't a single other Pokémon that has this, at least in theory. What is that distinction, you might ask? To my knowledge, these are the only Pokémon in the entire series that have a 100% perfect head-to-head matchup record against every single major NPC in the game after being obtained. Hypothetically, at least. Don't believe me? Let's go down the list:

• Winona: Electric wins offensively and Steel resists (Altaria also only has Earthquake in Emerald I believe, could be wrong though)
• Tate & Liza: Steel resists and is technically super effective into both Pokémon but you don't get real Steel STAB in Gen 3
• Wallace: Electric wins offensively against most Waters that aren't also Ground; I believe you go 4-1 here
• Sidney: Dark is resisted by Steel in Gen 3 and Electric hits everything but the Grass-Types for neutral damage
• Pheobe: Just like Dark, Ghost is also resisted by Steel in Gen 3, and only one of the Dusclops has Earthquake
• Glacia: This might be the most free win in the entire series, you resist Ice and go 5-0 offensively with your dual STAB
• Drake: This is the only one that is arguably a loss, but even in the worst case scenario your typing should still go 3-2 (Kingdra is not in his Sapphire team, only Emerald and ORAS)
• Steven: You lose to Claydol and Gen 3 Metagross but win against Skarmory, both of the fossils, and Gen 6 Metagross due to it lacking Earthquake. Aggron is a toss-up
• Team Aqua fights: I don't think I need to explain this one; you destroy everything in both generations

Picking Mudkip gives your rival Treecko meaning you get to dodge the Torchic and Mudkip rival teams, and Team Magma is absent in the Sapphire versions. Gen 6 does provide buffs and nerfs, technically getting rid of your hypothetical 100% matchup record but I do think the buffs to Sturdy, Steel-Type STAB, and the rare Fairy-Types make up for this I think. Magnezone also gets wins against Wallace and Zinnia's teams in the Delta Episode to make up for the loss of the Dark and Ghost resistances. Even on my latest playthrough where I chose Treecko, my Magnezone was an absolute menace in Alpha Sapphire, and it can evolve extremely quickly because of the spawn levels in New Mauville. Getting to dodge the Fighting and Fire Gyms helps this family a lot in this region.

 

[Jungle cruiser]

I'll definitely use it on my next playthrough. I had some lingering animosity towards it due to Gen 5's sturdy mechanics lol, but you make a compelling argument. I never use stealth rocks in my playthroughs due to a lack of familiarity from earlier games more than anything.

Gen 5 does have many late-game evolutions. In my last playthrough of White I used Galvantula, Ferrothorn, and Reuniclus, all of whom I absolutely loved. Galvantula had compound eyes thunder + charge beam setup, Ferrothorn was a beast defensively, and Reuniclulus was a strong special attacker. Ferrothorn was my absolute favorite, sweeping the entire 8th gym by itself, hardly taking any damage in the process. Gen 5 has my #1 or 2 favorite dex in the series. There are tons of Pokemon I liked. Volcarona was an absolute blast to use when I played White 2 last winter.

I am curious tho, what did you think of of Black? And what's your favorite in the series? If I had to venture a guess, I'd say if you haven't played the first four gens your favorite is going to be Gen 7. I may start another White playthrough later this week lol.

Oh stealth rock isn't absolutely necessary, I just used it cuz I didn't prepare a ground type for her gym and couldn't stop her emolgas from spamming volt switch...

White in general was pretty solid tbh! Definitely harder than most of the other games I've played in the franchise (though that doesn't really mean much for me personally). The opening segment up to the first gym does feel a little restrictive, considering there's a whopping 5 total options, but it does open up from there. Oh, and the story's pretty good tbh, I get the hype for N now!

As for my overall favorite, that'd actually be Legends Arceus! It was pretty interesting to see the beginnings of the relationship between people and pokemon around them, and I enjoyed the dynamic catching mechanics and noble battles! With that said though, I can definitely see why fans of the older games would give this one a pass, considering it doesn't put as much of an emphasis on traditional battling and all.