Pokemon that disappointed you in-game despite looking good initially?

[doipy hooves]

Trying to think of other underwhelming mons in-game...Pineco is pretty awful. You see Forretress as some awesome thing, and then you actually USE Pineco with those horrid offenses and pretty bad Bug STAB (Bug Bite is meh, have fun getting to level 31). And Forretress isn’t much better.

I usually have the opposite experience. I never expect to actually use Forretress, but Pineco was always a great earlygame exploder.

Some mons in Sword were disappointing to me in that they weren't exactly killing machines. Shiftry's buffed learnset was awesome, but it still couldn't quite kill. On the other hand, Sirfetch'd barely got much of a learnset. Last and least, Wonder Trade Dreepy fooled me into thinking it would learn moves. I had a more satisfying time using Drizzle Pelipper on its route.

 

[UninspiredLunch]

In B2W2 specifically I often see people using Lucario and Arcanine and they sure seem like they would be strong pokemon but I have found that both require a metric ton of babying. Arcanine especially is a pain in the ass with how long you have to keep it as a Growlithe for it to actually learn damaging moves. Lucario is just the same lesson most people learned in Sinnoh with Budew and Buneary: early friendship evolutions suck. I would say that they are pretty good examples of "trap" 'mons, especially considering those games have imo the most gamebreaking set of early powerful PvE pokemons (Magnemite, Excadrill, Darmanitan are all on the same powerlevel as early Hawlucha).

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Pokémon that I expected to be good but wasn't:

Feraligatr and Nidoking in HG/SS. I used both of them on my SS team and they weren't all that great. Feraligatr was ok, but nowhere near as great as I expected it to be, or as great as I remembered it from G/S/C. Nidoking was just underwhelming all around. I had used it to great success in R/B/Y and I had hoped it would be as great in SS, but it wasn't. That said, I don't think I taught it Earthquake through TM (but now that I look back at it, the Earthquake TM is located in Victory Road, so it would probably not have made that much of a difference anyway). Those two are not top-tier Pokémon for HG/SS if you ask me.

Tentacruel in US/UM. Probably the most disappoining Pokémon I have ever used. I had used it previously on a team in LG and I had few to no real bad memories from using it there, so I thought it would work decently in Ultra Sun as well. I couldn't have been more wrong. It KO'd nothing and died to everything. Weak and pathetic in every possible way, even during the post-game. I can see it being slightly better in S/M since it gets access to Scald earlier, but it was the worst Pokémon I used in US/UM, that's for sure.

Pokémon that I didn't really expect to be all that great, but were still pretty bad:

Chimecho and Tropius in R/S/E. I used these in my Sapphire team (along with Absol since I wanted to try to use rare Pokémon) and I don't recall them being all that great, they had lackluster stats and movepools.

Drifblim, Octillery and Noctowl in D/P. Used all of them for my Diamond team (which I also consider one of my worst in-game teams ever, but that's a different story), and they were just plain bad. Drifblim lacked firepower because I didn't teach it any moves through TM, I didn't want to "waste" them on my in-game team since I was saving them for better teams that I had planned to raise during the post-game. Octillery had a decent movepool but was too slow with average bulk at best, which made it take too much damage in most battles. Noctowl was just bad all around with mediocre stats and a lackluster movepool.

Farfetch'd in HG/SS. Another member of my SS team, I didn't have quite as high expectations on it as I had on Feraligatr and Nidoking, but I had previously used Farfetch'd to great success in R/B and FR/LG so I thought it could work here as well. Unfortunately, it didn't. I found it weak, slow and frail, which is not a good combination.

Swoobat in B2/W2. Used one on my team in White 2 and it was easily the weakest member of that team. Fortunately, it was also the only weak member of that team. It was pretty weak without a Calm Mind boost, and setting up was difficult because it was frail. It also had to give up a moveslot for Fly, which it could otherwise have used for extra coverage.

Gogoat in X/Y. Used one in my Y team and while there are several other members of said team that could be mentioned here, I remember Gogoat being a bit underwhelming. Despite having decent stats and access to recovery in Milk Drink, I recall that that it did not always work as well as I had hoped.

 

[DreamPrince]

Only one on top of my head, and it’s Vullaby in Moon. Thing didn’t evolve until the Elite 4. Probably should have known better than to pick it up.

Chatot in XY. Chatter’s 100% to confuse the target was pretty hilarious and was useful for breaking out of dangerous situations.

Haxorus in XY as well. Managed to set up 3 Dragon Dances and Sweep Diantha.

 

[Codraroll]

USUM makes Larvitar available quite early, so I decided to give it a spin in my Ultra Sun run. After all, Tyranitar is awesome, isn't it?

...unfortunately, Pupitar decidedly isn't. At all. It outsped nothing, kept getting KO'd by stuff, and didn't hit back particularly hard. Pupitar's power curve drops like a rock relative to the opponents from level 40 or so onwards, and unfortunately, it evolves as late as 55. That means you're unlikely to have a Tyranitar before Mt. Lanakila, which means dragging Pupitar through Poni Island. It was constantly underleveled, so I had to put it in the lead position very often. There, it tended to eat a coverage move to the face and faint, getting no XP at all, which only exacerbated the problem. Its level-up moveset is also not really that great. True, it gets Rock Slide from the get go, which is a nice and powerful STAB move, but it's inaccurate and doesn't quite have the oomph to KO stuff in the mid-late game. At that time, opponents definitely have the oomph to knock Pupitar out.

So yeah, the road to Tyranitar is long and painful, and best undertaken using Exp. Share in the postgame. Same goes for the Dratini line, which really doesn't pull its weight until Dragonite. I had similar experiences with the Ralts line in XY, but at least Kirlia has the decency to evolve at level 30, roughly halfway through the game.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

it evolves as late as 55. That means you're unlikely to have a Tyranitar before Mt. Lanakila

Well, when I play, I have level 55 (sometimes 56-57) by the time I reach Totem Kommo-o. Granted, I generally only use 5 mons actively and also use Pokemon Refresh to get the boosted exp, but the latter also means you can potentially take Rare Candies from Cafés so not unreasonable. Though I do realize that the lower levels might be possible due to Larvitar not being actively used and due to slow Exp. group, but I think it should still be in range for at least 1-2-3 candies to get it as Tyranitar. But that's besides the point.

Regardless, it doesn't change the fact Larvitar is terrible and I doubt it'd make a big difference as Ttar anyways, other than maybe taking out Totem Ribombee with Z-Stone Edge or whatever you have as Rock STAB. Maybe also dent Ultra Necrozma seriosuly hard with a Dark Z-Move, depending on if it survives a Smart Strike

now, as to what I can contribute to this thread, I am gonna talk about Tepig in BW1.

I often see people regarding it as the best starter and whatnot. I mean, it has a great typing, which gets Lenora (pretty notable, I am gonna admit), Burgh, and Brycen. However, I had issues with Tepig when I used it in BW1, which made me consider Oshawott the best BW1 starter. The biggest letdown of Tepig is its movepool. It's very great early-game but it becomes terrible as you advance through the game .Your strongest STAB by the end of the game is either Brick Break or Hammer Arm, the latter causing Speed drops, which actually made it hard to sweep with at the Pokemon League. Its strongest Fire STAB is either Heat Crash, which fails to hit some of the heavy targets end-game or Flamethrower (I know Emboar has a fine Special Attack, but still, it's a physical attacker and having a special attack as one of your best moves is... weird). It also suffers heavily from 4MSS. You want to run Work Up, first and foremost. Then you need to run STAB moves, but because of your 4 moveslots, you cannot run the strong moves and the weak, but safer moves together (e.g. it'd wish it could run both BB and Hammer Arm, along with both Heat Crash and Flamethrower).

All in all, Tepig starts off rather greatly, but when you reach the Pokemon League, you will notice its movepool really doesn't help it at all and just makes some already tough matchups worse.

 

[DrumstickGaming]

Well, when I play, I have level 55 (sometimes 56-57) by the time I reach Totem Kommo-o. Granted, I generally only use 5 mons actively and also use Pokemon Refresh to get the boosted exp, but the latter also means you can potentially take Rare Candies from Cafés so not unreasonable. Though I do realize that the lower levels might be possible due to Larvitar not being actively used and due to slow Exp. group, but I think it should still be in range for at least 1-2-3 candies to get it as Tyranitar. But that's besides the point.

Regardless, it doesn't change the fact Larvitar is terrible and I doubt it'd make a big difference as Ttar anyways, other than maybe taking out Totem Ribombee with Z-Stone Edge or whatever you have as Rock STAB. Maybe also dent Ultra Necrozma seriosuly hard with a Dark Z-Move, depending on if it survives a Smart Strike

now, as to what I can contribute to this thread, I am gonna talk about Tepig in BW1.

I often see people regarding it as the best starter and whatnot. I mean, it has a great typing, which gets Lenora (pretty notable, I am gonna admit), Burgh, and Brycen. However, I had issues with Tepig when I used it in BW1, which made me consider Oshawott the best BW1 starter. The biggest letdown of Tepig is its movepool. It's very great early-game but it becomes terrible as you advance through the game .Your strongest STAB by the end of the game is either Brick Break or Hammer Arm, the latter causing Speed drops, which actually made it hard to sweep with at the Pokemon League. Its strongest Fire STAB is either Heat Crash, which fails to hit some of the heavy targets end-game or Flamethrower (I know Emboar has a fine Special Attack, but still, it's a physical attacker and having a special attack as one of your best moves is... weird). It also suffers heavily from 4MSS. You want to run Work Up, first and foremost. Then you need to run STAB moves, but because of your 4 moveslots, you cannot run the strong moves and the weak, but safer moves together (e.g. it'd wish it could run both BB and Hammer Arm, along with both Heat Crash and Flamethrower).

All in all, Tepig starts off rather greatly, but when you reach the Pokemon League, you will notice its movepool really doesn't help it at all and just makes some already tough matchups worse.

Would like to echo this myself. Tepig is a weird starter.

When you get it, it sounds good! Fire / Fighting is an excellent type offensively, and the start isn’t so bad, getting Flame Charge decently early. I always think to myself “maybe this thing is underrated or something or I’m using it wrong.”

But in addition to the movepool problems Ryota mentioned, at a certain point in the midgame, the game just starts hating it. Elesa’s Emolga with Aerial Ace, Clay and Skyla in general, 8th gym is meh right when you have been using your good moves like Hammer Arm for a while...

...and then you get to the League. The few threats Emboar can’t outpace will hurt it majorly, with even Grimsley being eh because it will get worn down, plus Intimidate Krookodile stops an Emboar sweep cleanly. And the other members aside from Marshall prey on its myriad of weaknesses (Caitlin and Shauntal). The final battles? It’s still just too slow to do much, and the targets like Bouffalant are bulky enough to live Hammer Arm.

It’s not the worst starter ever, it’s just very inconsistent after the pretty good earlygame.

 

[Siggu]

USUM makes Larvitar available quite early, so I decided to give it a spin in my Ultra Sun run. After all, Tyranitar is awesome, isn't it?

...unfortunately, Pupitar decidedly isn't. At all. It outsped nothing, kept getting KO'd by stuff, and didn't hit back particularly hard. Pupitar's power curve drops like a rock relative to the opponents from level 40 or so onwards, and unfortunately, it evolves as late as 55. That means you're unlikely to have a Tyranitar before Mt. Lanakila, which means dragging Pupitar through Poni Island. It was constantly underleveled, so I had to put it in the lead position very often. There, it tended to eat a coverage move to the face and faint, getting no XP at all, which only exacerbated the problem. Its level-up moveset is also not really that great. True, it gets Rock Slide from the get go, which is a nice and powerful STAB move, but it's inaccurate and doesn't quite have the oomph to KO stuff in the mid-late game. At that time, opponents definitely have the oomph to knock Pupitar out.

So yeah, the road to Tyranitar is long and painful, and best undertaken using Exp. Share in the postgame. Same goes for the Dratini line, which really doesn't pull its weight until Dragonite. I had similar experiences with the Ralts line in XY, but at least Kirlia has the decency to evolve at level 30, roughly halfway through the game.

Pseudo-legendaries overall are in that situation.

They are often criticized as "easy mode" when they are anything but. I'd say they are early game hell instead. I went with two in USUM (Bagon and a breedject Jangmo-o) and I often felt like I was using 4 Pokémon instead of 6. Well, more like 3 (Rowlet, Hawlucha, Ekans) instead of 6 because you have to add the aforementioned Rufflet into the mix...

 

[Codraroll]

Pseudo-legendaries overall are in that situation.

Gible in Platinum begs to differ; that thing is a beast that only gets stronger as the game goes on. But yeah, as far as I can tell it's the only notable exception. The gift Beldum in ORAS was no slouch either, but that's because it had event moves that patched the awful, awful movepool Beldum normally packs (full list: Take Down). Its phase as Metang isn't half bad, though.

Earlier-generation Trapinch is another 'mon to place in the same category as the pseudo-legendaries. As Trapinch it packs a punch but is slow and frail. As Vibrava, it's faster but only marginally less frail, and it's a good deal weaker. Adding insult to injury, Vibrava gets a slew of fun new moves that it really wants later, such as Bug Buzz or Earth Power, but which it doesn't have the stats to use itself. The result is that the Vibrava phase feels pretty dang underwhelming despite having great moves on paper - and the Vibrava phase lasts until level 45. It seems that Gen VII has patched up its movepool with a bunch of powerful moves from the get go, however, making this less of a problem.

I'd also like to mention Pansear in BW as a serious noob trap. You get it for free and are expected to use it against the first Gym, and things look pretty peachy. Then the game goes on and the damn thing just becomes more and more awkward. Flame Burst, a decent enough STAB for the early game, quickly drops in utility. You're stuck with it and Bite to do damage, off pitiful base 53 offenses. To get decent moves, you have to stick to Pansear until level 34, when Acrobatics and Fire Blast can be added to the mix. 43 if you want Crunch, but that's awfully late for a Pokémon with such low stats. Then again, it's one of the few available patches for Pansear's generally lackluster movepool, so pick your poison: Weak 'mon for a few more levels, or Bite for eternity.
Then you evolve it into Simisear, and immediately facepalm because Simisear is butt ugly. It doesn't quite have the stats to make a splash either. Its STAB moves of choice are either somewhat weak (Flame Burst) or inaccurate (Fire Blast), and the Flamethrower TM isn't available until postgame. For coverage moves, you have Bite/Crunch, Acrobatics and something like Brick Break or Grass Knot or whatever. Not bad, but not amazing enough to warrant keeping the monkey around. And to add to its mediocrity, the Gen V games love to shove the elemental monkeys into your face on every occasion throughout the entire game.

One should also not forget the ultimate answers to the thread question: the crapmons from Gen I and Gen II. Have fun saving up a mountain of cash and then mashing A for ten minutes to get Porygon, only to ... get Porygon. Or hunting down the somewhat rare new Gen II 'mons such as Bellossom, Gligar, Wobbuffet, Dunsparce or Aipom, only to realize they all suck pretty badly.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

I'd also like to mention Pansear in BW as a serious noob trap. You get it for free and are expected to use it against the first Gym, and things look pretty peachy. Then the game goes on and the damn thing just becomes more and more awkward. Flame Burst, a decent enough STAB for the early game, quickly drops in utility. You're stuck with it and Bite to do damage, off pitiful base 53 offenses. To get decent moves, you have to stick to Pansear until level 34, when Acrobatics and Fire Blast can be added to the mix. 43 if you want Crunch, but that's awfully late for a Pokémon with such low stats. Then again, it's one of the few available patches for Pansear's generally lackluster movepool, so pick your poison: Weak 'mon for a few more levels, or Bite for eternity.

My main issue with Pansear is the Incinerate period. Incinerate is hilariously weak. I don't know if I have ever told you the horror story of its power.

Basically, I am using Pansear and go through Pinwheel Forest's inner area to do Plasma quest. There are 2 twins in there that use Sewaddle in double battle. So I decide to use my Pansear there and click Incinerate, which should hit both at the same time. And then...

then...

then...

Incinerate 3HKOs the Sewaddle. A 4x super effective STAB move 3HKOs Sewaddle. I know there's the spread damage penalty, but you'd expect it to at least 2HKO them, not 3HKO. Needless to say, it took quite a bit of time to get Pansear to level 22 for Flame Burst.

From experience, I have found the best way to use Pansear is evolve immediately at level 22 by taking Fire Stone in Castelia. Even with Flame Burst, Pansear wouldn't prove very good, so you are better off using Simisear with Flame Burst. Regardless, you get Acrobatics and Fire Blast (latter is bought) as TMs anyways and there aren't any matchups where you would need Acrobatics before Skyla.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

RSE Taillow: Taillow period is kind of cool (avoid -Atk nature like the plague) and it's fine in the mid-game but the second it hits level 40 it drops off a fucking cliff

RSE Gulpin: sooooooooooooo weak

RSE Lotad: Lombre is the literal worst thing to ever exist


FRLGRSE Rhyhorn: A ground rock type. In gens with shitloads of Water. With no naturally learned ground moves. Arriving underleveled in the late-mid-game. With a late evolution. Rhydon can smash one or two unique matchups (Phoebe!) but otherwise the entire line is total deadweight.


on the flip side, Mightyena is surprisingly good, between Howl and Shadow Ball it can do some respectable damage. Favorable matchup against T+L too

 

[Jerry the great]

USUM makes Larvitar available quite early, so I decided to give it a spin in my Ultra Sun run. After all, Tyranitar is awesome, isn't it?

...unfortunately, Pupitar decidedly isn't. At all. It outsped nothing, kept getting KO'd by stuff, and didn't hit back particularly hard. Pupitar's power curve drops like a rock relative to the opponents from level 40 or so onwards, and unfortunately, it evolves as late as 55. That means you're unlikely to have a Tyranitar before Mt. Lanakila, which means dragging Pupitar through Poni Island. It was constantly underleveled, so I had to put it in the lead position very often. There, it tended to eat a coverage move to the face and faint, getting no XP at all, which only exacerbated the problem. Its level-up moveset is also not really that great. True, it gets Rock Slide from the get go, which is a nice and powerful STAB move, but it's inaccurate and doesn't quite have the oomph to KO stuff in the mid-late game. At that time, opponents definitely have the oomph to knock Pupitar out.

So yeah, the road to Tyranitar is long and painful, and best undertaken using Exp. Share in the postgame. Same goes for the Dratini line, which really doesn't pull its weight until Dragonite. I had similar experiences with the Ralts line in XY, but at least Kirlia has the decency to evolve at level 30, roughly halfway through the game.

As someone who also used the larvitar line in USUM (although mainly because I love Tyranitar's design so much) I agree that it is horrible to use... Until it becomes Tyranitar anyways! Once it did, it destroyed so much. Totem Ribombee? Take a super effective hit, do amazing damage, and let Sand stream wear it down! Gladion? Instakill to Crobat and fire silvally! Zoroark too, because even if it has focus blast (though I do not remember if it does) it takes it just fine! And if it doesn't, it won't do much to Tyranitar at all! Accerola and the flying elite four member are basically defenseless, except for the flying one if she has hawlucha, but that's what switching is for! Hau? Good bye Alolan Raichu, Jolteon, Flareon, Noivern, Inceneroar and Decidueye (maybe)! It also fares well against the many RR grunts and evil team leaders crobats you'll see in RR castle, as well as Cyrus' houndoom, Lysandre's Pyroar, and more!

Anyways, I have some Pokemon I myself want to say how disappointing they can be.

RBY: Chansey. Bit of a surprise considering how good it is competitive, I know. To be honest, I'm only mentioning Chansey for this gen because in other gens, you'd expect it to be bad. You'd think that healing, 250 HP, and 105 special would be awesome. Ice beam and thunder wave too?! What's not to love?! Well, it's 5 defense holds it back quite a bit. I can name SO many bosses that gives this trouble. Such as... Koga, every rival battle, Giovanni (final), Bruno, Lance, and those are just EXAMPLES! Sure it gets thunder wave and blizzard, but you won't bet blizzard until REALLY late, and thunder wave is far better competively than in-game. You may think Blizzard helps it against Lance, but it's too slow to actually get to use it much, if at all! So yeah, it may be rare, and it may seem promising, but it's really quite bad. If you want a great normal type for gen 1, use snorlax, and if you want a good rare normal type in gen 1, use Tauros!

USUM: Noibat. If you want it to actually be around the usefulness of your other party members, I hope you're doing crazy ways of playing the game like me! ... Anyways. As a Noibat it's about as good as a freaking unevolved Cleffa is, it does absolutely horrible! Even when it becomes Noivern, it's still not all that good, as by the time you can get one, it'll be level 48! ... What boss does it actually fare well against, even as a Noivern? Well unlike Pesudo Legends where they wreak havoc at their final form, this one doesn't! Sure it gets good stab and decent stats, and it's actually a good Pokemon. But it's what bosses the game pits you up against that makes things bad. Totem Kommo-o, Ultra Necrozma, Totem Ribombee, several of the trainers in Mount Lanikilla, Molayne, Olivia, Lot's of RR and more!

 

[R_N]

FUN FACT: Noibat & Noivern's BST are exactly aligned with Zubat & Crobat's. Noibat & Zubat even have all-but-the-same stats: they just swap their attack & special attack.

So it is almost literally like if zubat didn't have golbat as an inbetween and also forced you to evolve at almost level 50. Good grief

 

[Hematite]

FUN FACT: Noibat & Noivern's BST are exactly aligned with Zubat & Crobat's. Noibat & Zubat even have all-but-the-same stats: they just swap their attack & special attack.

So it is almost literally like if zubat didn't have golbat as an inbetween and also forced you to evolve at almost level 50. Good grief

I still don't understand - why didn't they just make it a friendship evolution like Woobat to Swoobat... and... y'know... Golbat to Crobat?
Designating level 48 theoretically made sense in X and Y (I haven't actually used a Noibat, but I'm pretty sure you don't get it until your team is in the mid 40s anyway at Terminus Cave, so it would evolve extremely soon after), but it makes it bafflingly hard to raise in any game where Noibat is available early (see USUM).
Friendship evolutions solve this problem easily because they pretty much take exactly as long to evolve no matter what level you get the Pokémon - basically all of the Pokémon that are frustrating because they evolve too late (Noibat and Rufflet/Mandibuzz are standouts because they went from super lategame encounters to Melemele Island) are exactly the kind of Pokémon that should use this mechanic.
It's the simplest and easiest way to future-proof weak lategame encounters like this and make sure they're not borderline unusable every time they want to put them in an earlier area like this, haha. And I mean-- B2W2 showed us that they don't mind Braviary and Mandibuzz themselves being available way earlier than level 54, so what was even stopping them from making them evolve earlier?

Edit: yeah, confirming the lowest level you could even find a Noibat before the postgame in X and Y was 44, so it was a complete non-issue then - but it completely sabotaged the line's viability if it's caught any sooner than that...

 

[Siggu]

Edit: yeah, confirming the lowest level you could even find a Noibat before the postgame in X and Y was 44, so it was a complete non-issue then - but it completely sabotaged the line's viability if it's caught any sooner than that...

Aaand that's the problem. These extremely late evolutions only work if they are only available on the wild near that extremely late evolution level.

Say, Dreepy in Sword and Shield. It has a very late evolution by level at 50... but it's only available after that level in the wild.

If they ever make it available early (like they tend to do with past pseudos in recent games), it's going to be practically unusable.

 

[R_N]

I still don't understand - why didn't they just make it a friendship evolution like Woobat to Swoobat... and... y'know... Golbat to Crobat?
Designating level 48 theoretically made sense in X and Y (I haven't actually used a Noibat, but I'm pretty sure you don't get it until your team is in the mid 40s anyway at Terminus Cave, so it would evolve extremely soon after), but it makes it bafflingly hard to raise in any game where Noibat is available early (see USUM).
Friendship evolutions solve this problem easily because they pretty much take exactly as long to evolve no matter what level you get the Pokémon - basically all of the Pokémon that are frustrating because they evolve too late (Noibat and Rufflet/Mandibuzz are standouts because they went from super lategame encounters to Melemele Island) are exactly the kind of Pokémon that should use this mechanic.
It's the simplest and easiest way to future-proof weak lategame encounters like this and make sure they're not borderline unusable every time they want to put them in an earlier area like this, haha. And I mean-- B2W2 showed us that they don't mind Braviary and Mandibuzz themselves being available way earlier than level 54, so what was even stopping them from making them evolve earlier?

Edit: yeah, confirming the lowest level you could even find a Noibat before the postgame in X and Y was 44, so it was a complete non-issue then - but it completely sabotaged the line's viability if it's caught any sooner than that...

The thing that gets me the most is it's still kind of an issue. You are effectively catching a zubat by that point, like right after the 7th gym & climax. Sure you're only carrying it around for about 4 levels but at that point...why is it so weak? Even Pawniard is stronger
If they wanted this to work they should have made it either as strong as Golbat (MINIMUM) or made it available in Zubat's roost and give it a more reasonable evolution level.

Aaand that's the problem. These extremely late evolutions only work if they are only available on the wild near that extremely late evolution level.

Say, Dreepy in Sword and Shield. It has a very late evolution by level at 50... but it's only available after that level in the wild.

If they ever make it available early (like they tend to do with past pseudos in recent games), it's going to be practically unusable.

It gets worse, not just from Dreepy's stats (I am fairly certain iy has lower BST than any other pseudolegend) and long term babying, but its move pool is heavily truncated. It only has its 4 moves by level up and a TM/TR list that's just Thunder Wave and a selection of moves everyone gets.

In contrast, Jangmo-o is in a fairly superficially similar position. You get it in the last main area of the game at a level where it already evolves. But it has higher BST, an actual move pool and most importantly evolves at levels 35 & 45.

At this point I think it just has to be resigned to a late game pokemon no matter what, like Deino/Zweilous/Hydreigon. Deino is Victory Road in BW1/2, Zweilous & Hydreigon are VR (not even a deino available normally) in XY, ORAS has Deino only as the quasi-postgame hidden pokemon at the end of the game. SM is the earliest you can get a Deino and that's more of a bonus pokemon for the island scan.
Dreepy just cannot function otherwise without a major overhaul.

 

[dodiabla]

The Coalossal line.

Fire types are uncommon in Galar during playthrough, and the ones that are available are often as lackluster as it is that you have to stick with the line if you want one on your team unless you picked Scorbunny. Rolycoly is available early (Route 3) alongside the TM for Rock Blast. Yeah, Steam Engine doesn't give you an immunity to Fire or Water type attacks like we initially thought, and yes, the first two gyms give it a type disadvantage but it is still very useful in steamrolling all the Bug/Normal/Flying mons that plague the early game. It evolves early at lvl 18 into Carkol (so by or immediately after Milo) and gains its Fire-type and immediately learns Flame Charge, which helps it with its horrible speed. Another low level (lvl 34) evolution means that you have a Coalossal right before Alistar/Bea.

And that's where the good news ends folks. Coalossal has mediocre offensive stats and crippling Speed (-20 base speed from Carkol!). Even worse, it's movepool is horrendous with its best level-up Fire moves being either Heat Crash or Burn Up and Rock Blast remaining as its best Rock move. Any coverage moves that are not STAB will also have to be taught using TMs/TRs since Coalossal doesn't get any non-STAB outside Tackle and Rapid Spin. Unless you get lucky with a high level raid of a Fire pokemon (which again, are uncommon in Galar) at some point during playthrough, you probably won't be able to get Fire Blast/Heat Wave/Flamethrower till mid-to-late game. Even then, by the end game, if you haven't replaced it with a Chandelure or Arcanine, it's still going to struggle with OHKO to 2HKO anything that isn't 2x weak to its moves. More often than not, I found its only positive role late game to be either a tank to attacks (especially Max Moves) while I healed my other mons and crippled my opponent with Rocks/Burns/Spikes or a bulky attrition sweeper to a team that is really weak to its STAB.

 

[Siggu]

The Coalossal line.

Fire types are uncommon in Galar during playthrough, and the ones that are available are often as lackluster as it is that you have to stick with the line if you want one on your team unless you picked Scorbunny. Rolycoly is available early (Route 3) alongside the TM for Rock Blast. Yeah, Steam Engine doesn't give you an immunity to Fire or Water type attacks like we initially thought, and yes, the first two gyms give it a type disadvantage but it is still very useful in steamrolling all the Bug/Normal/Flying mons that plague the early game. It evolves early at lvl 18 into Carkol (so by or immediately after Milo) and gains its Fire-type and immediately learns Flame Charge, which helps it with its horrible speed. Another low level (lvl 34) evolution means that you have a Coalossal right before Alistar/Bea.

And that's where the good news ends folks. Coalossal has mediocre offensive stats and crippling Speed (-20 base speed from Carkol!). Even worse, it's movepool is horrendous with its best level-up Fire moves being either Heat Crash or Burn Up and Rock Blast remaining as its best Rock move. Any coverage moves that are not STAB will also have to be taught using TMs/TRs since Coalossal doesn't get any non-STAB outside Tackle and Rapid Spin. Unless you get lucky with a high level raid of a Fire pokemon (which again, are uncommon in Galar) at some point during playthrough, you probably won't be able to get Fire Blast/Heat Wave/Flamethrower till mid-to-late game. Even then, by the end game, if you haven't replaced it with a Chandelure or Arcanine, it's still going to struggle with OHKO to 2HKO anything that isn't 2x weak to its moves. More often than not, I found its only positive role late game to be either a tank to attacks (especially Max Moves) while I healed my other mons and crippled my opponent with Rocks/Burns/Spikes or a bulky attrition sweeper to a team that is really weak to its STAB.

There's also the fact that you think it's going to be like Golem or Gigalith in terms of stat distribution but it turns out to be a wall.

And a wall with a poor typing and no recovery, no less.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Even worse, it's movepool is horrendous with its best level-up Fire moves being either Heat Crash or Burn Up and Rock Blast remaining as its best Rock move.

Is... Heat Crash not good? I mean I guess it's ineffective against Dynamaxed targets, but those aren't super common, and Coalossal is pretty damn heavy. And it has a few decent TM options that don't require getting lucky from raids. Dig and Bulldoze are options for Ground coverage, and Bulldoze, Rock Tomb, and Will-O-Wisp are support options.

Sure, there are better Fire types (Arcanine was used in early speedrun routes, and Ninetales is recommended for beginners) but Coalossal doesn't look like it would be that bad.

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

Saw some hot takes. Not sure if I should comment on them.

As for my own nominations...

GSC Cyndaquil.

It just doesn't get fire moves. You get Ember early on and then you'll have to wait until lv. 31. For Flame Wheel. Unless you drop a ridiculous amount of cash for Fire Blast, which let's be honest, ain't good for in-game because lol 5pp. Coverage is wack until you get Typhlosion to punch things too.

Plat Roserade.

It's fast, it's strong, it comes fairly early as a Budew and immediately sweeps Roark... And then you realize you're using a Grass/Poison-type that will take forever to evolve and that just doesn't get to hit things. Grass/Poison is abysmal offensively.

HGSS Togepi.

It comes with Extrasensory, which is just amazing with all those Poison-types flying around and actually gives a real damage option for the Togetic phase. So when does it get the Shiny Stone to evolve into Togekiss and destroy things?
National Park after Rock Climb? Pass.

USUM Wingull.

Drizzle Pelipper just looks like a great mon. Until you realize that first you need to make Wingull evolve. And that thing is a drone made of wet paper. Then Pelipper itself ain't that good and you can't just "lol Scald" because it doesn't show up earlier in USUM. It's also surprisingly frail.

USUM Zorua.

Pretty much dropped it instantly. It's just too frail and doesn't deal enough damage to justify it early on. Very hard to actually train it.

XY Croagunk might show up on the list later on. Still playing through it but Grant's Amaura just one-shotting it with Take Down is kind of a red flag, even if it's a Lonely nature one.

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

An earlier post reminded me that, while it gets better later on, early-game Scorbunny is surprisingly bad.

So when does it get the Shiny Stone to evolve into Togekiss and destroy things?
National Park after Rock Climb?

Pokeathlon Dome after National Dex. Still bad though.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

USUM Wingull.

Drizzle Pelipper just looks like a great mon. Until you realize that first you need to make Wingull evolve. And that thing is a drone made of wet paper. Then Pelipper itself ain't that good and you can't just "lol Scald" because it doesn't show up earlier in USUM. It's also surprisingly frail.

USUM Zorua.

Pretty much dropped it instantly. It's just too frail and doesn't deal enough damage to justify it early on. Very hard to actually train it.

XY Croagunk might show up on the list later on. Still playing through it but Grant's Amaura just one-shotting it with Take Down is kind of a red flag, even if it's a Lonely nature one.

I am surprised you found Wingull disappointing. As for myself, I found it pretty great. Wingull got Water Pulse very fast and it was able to beat Gumshoos, Hala, and Araquanid before evolving. Sure, it doesn't get Scald, but Water Pulse still hit like a truck for long enough till I got Scald TM anyways. Boosted Hydro Pumps and perfect-accuracy Hurricane were also things that made Pelipper incredibly good in my run. Again, this was just how I experienced it. If anything, Wingull exceeded my expectations.

However, I am gonna agree with you on Zorua, that thing is overblown in terms of how good it is. There's nothing special to it beyond being a gimmick for Ultra Necrozma. I believe B2W2 Zorua is also overrated a bit in viability, but I used Zorua in a run way a while ago, so I cannot say this with 100% confidence, as I do not remember everything.

FRLGRSE Rhyhorn

Gonna agree on this one as well, for FRLG, at least. Rhyhorn isn't really as good as anime and competitive scene imply (though, as a Rock / Ground, it's better than Onix and Graveler with no trade). I have used it and it only had handful of matchups where it was actually good. It's hard to ignore the terrible period as Rhyhorn too).

One mon I remembered that really disappointed me was HGSS Farfetch'd. I was thinking that Return + SD would be a very sick combo... until I saw how it was too slow and too frail to really do this (it has Agility but still, taking 2 turns to prepare for a sweep with such bulk...). Basically, because it wasn't very fast, it got outsped and, because it was frail, got 2HKOed constantly so I was unable to perform the sweeps I was expecting from it. Pretty much the definition of "disappointing despite potential".

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

I am surprised you found Wingull disappointing. As for myself, I found it pretty great. Wingull got Water Pulse very fast and it was able to beat Gumshoos, Hala, and Araquanid before evolving. Sure, it doesn't get Scald, but Water Pulse still hit like a truck for long enough till I got Scald TM anyways. Boosted Hydro Pumps and perfect-accuracy Hurricane were also things that made Pelipper incredibly good in my run. Again, this was just how I experienced it. If anything, Wingull exceeded my expectations.

Wingull was just too frail and the good moves like Hurricane came too late for me. It's been a while, but I remember it struggling to tank Hala's moves.

Lucario is just the same lesson most people learned in Sinnoh with Budew and Buneary: early friendship evolutions suck.

I dunno, I'm playing XY rn and Riolu evolved at Lv. 19. No grinding happiness or anything, just under normal play conditions. Having a day-only evolution is a bit annoying since I mostly play at night though.

Getting a Lucario that early just snaps the game in half. You probably won't get one in time for Roxie, but getting one before Burgh isn't that farfetched, and Lucario is just really good. Even its lackluster defenses are somewhat patched up by that Steel-type.

Mareep in GSC is a definite example. Slow and surprisingly weak, and its movepool is just dire in those games. When Rock Smash is a good option for your Ampharos, you know you're in trouble.

You get Electric moves, which are just great in-game, and eventually Fire Punch to not get straight up walled by Grass-types. Natural Thunder Wave helps against tougher matchups and catching mons. Light Screen comes before the E4 too if you're really torn with the 4th move and it helps against the likes of Lance. Maybe even Clair depending on your run.

And that's without counting stuff like Rain Dance + Thunder. The Elemental Punches are really all it needs. It is slow though, but again, natural Thunder Wave.

Gible in Platinum begs to differ; that thing is a beast that only gets stronger as the game goes on.

Oh yeah, Plat Gible is just amazing. It says a lot about Plat's Gym Leaders that you can get an early EQ + Dragon Rage Gible and the gym right after it will stomp you if you try to use it there.

Plat Fantina is one of the best battles in the series.

 

[SwampySwampert]

SM Crabrawler is cute and has a pretty good moveset, decent Attack and Speed for a pre-evolved Pokemon, and a unique method to find one.

Then you realize how late it evolves and how slow Crabominable is.

 

[greentyphlosion]

You get Electric moves, which are just great in-game, and eventually Fire Punch to not get straight up walled by Grass-types. Natural Thunder Wave helps against tougher matchups and catching mons. Light Screen comes before the E4 too if you're really torn with the 4th move and it helps against the likes of Lance. Maybe even Clair depending on your run.

And that's without counting stuff like Rain Dance + Thunder. The Elemental Punches are really all it needs. It is slow though, but again, natural Thunder Wave.

Still a nope. Mareep struggles against most of the Gym Leaders and only does passably with the Elite 4.

Falkner - its best matchup, but it's all downhill from here

Bugsy - not bad, though Scyther can be somewhat challenging if you aren't evolved

Whitney - Flaaffy sucks against Miltank, even with Thunder

Morty - mediocre matchup, best you can really do is paralyse his Gengar for someone else to KO but Flaaffy is too weak to sweep here

Chuck - struggles to KO Poliwrath without Thunder and gets destroyed by both Surf and Dynamicpunch, even if it's evolved by this point

Jasmine - not a great matchup unless you have Fire Punch, in which case it's fairly even

Pryce - can deal with Seel and Dewgong, but not Piloswine

Clair - you'll have a job on your hands. Kingdra will annihilate Ampharos with Hyper Beam and the three Dragonair will probably beat it too.

Will - actually quite good, especially if you have Fire Punch

Koga - same

Bruno - Ampharos' weak defence makes this challenging

Karen - does alright against Murkrow and Vileplume (with Fire Punch) the others not so much

Lance - mixed bag. 3 good matchups, 3 bad ones

It's a decent Pokemon, but a pretty mediocre choice for GSC specifically.