Underwhelming Single-Staged Pokémon

[Codraroll]

Oh, here's a fun one:

Chimecho. Notable for being possibly the least notable Pokémon in Gen III. No trainers used it in Ruby and Sapphire, and if not for the fact that James prominently used it in the Anime, few people would even notice its existence. It's found only on the summit of Mt. Pyre, where it is stupidly rare in a patch of grass that otherwise appears to only contain the same two Pokémon as the rest of the mountain.

But assuming you look it up, hunt it down, and catch it, then what? Congratulations, you've caught one of the least useful Psychic types in the game. You're going to have to rely on Confusion for offense from the relevant attacking stat until level 46, unless you want to take your chances with Hidden Power or spend the Shock Wave TM (those are your only two options for Special attacking moves unless you breed Dream Eater onto it).

Stat-wise Chimecho faces some competition from Grumpig, which has slightly lower SpA, Defense and Attack (5 less in each of those stats, to be precise), but vastly higher stats everywhere else. Xatu is also available by the time you get to Chimecho, and it has 10 lower SpD but otherwise matches or outmatches every one of Chimecho's stats. This is also one of those games where Kadabra appears with its "Select Psybeam to win the battle" stats, even without being fully evolved. Claydol is also another Psychic attacker with more bulk, more speed, and a better moveset, or there's Medicham if you want something that's only nominally Psychic but overall a better Pokémon. Granted, Chimecho is technically available before Medicham and Claydol, by a few levels, and it's better than Meditite and Baltoy, but it's generally not a worthwhile upgrade. It doesn't offer any amazing utility in the upcoming few fights before Baltoy and Meditite evolve. And anyway ... Kadabra.

So Chimecho represents a significant investment in time of trying to find it (if you know about it at all), doesn't offer a comparable advantage in battle over more easily available alternatives, and doesn't really offer any other advantages either. Naturally, it needed an evolutionary relative. Game Freak appeared to realize this too, so when Gen IV rolled around ...

... well, damn.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

So Chimecho represents a significant investment in time of trying to find it (if you know about it at all), doesn't offer a comparable advantage in battle over more easily available alternatives, and doesn't really offer any other advantages either. Naturally, it needed an evolutionary relative. Game Freak appeared to realize this too, so when Gen IV rolled around ...

I still stand in my opinion on how Chingling itself wasn't an inherently bad addition but Chimecho absolutely needed an evolution to go along with it.

Chingling does help in that it allows the line itself to be available earlier than it would be otherwise, as Chimecho is inherently too strong to be an early game encounter but far too weak to perform well late in the game. Chingling bridges the former gap by allowing Chimecho to be caught early in some form and raised from there. But that doesn't save Chimecho from being too weak to do well in the late game so an evo absolutely would be necessary.

After all, Roselia was in a similar position stat wise despite being available earlier in its debut. But getting Budew allowed it to become a feasible early game encounter in Sinnoh while an evo in Roserade helped it become a bona fide good Pokémon in battle. The mon became infinitely better by having a full three stage line.

(Incidentally, I am of the impression that Chimecho was initially designed for Contests considering how many Pokémon were designed around them at the time considering they were one of Hoenn's big features)

 

[R_N]

I have heard the "contest!" theory before, with various Pokemon and I'm just gonna say probably not. There's little "hook" to them to make the connection, except for Milotic whose entire evolution method is based around contests and also happens to be Actually Good regardless.
& also not helped that anyone can perform in Contests and perform just as well if not better.




At least with Chimecho they seemed to have a defined role: support. Wish, Heal Bell, Yawn's not a bad cross section of moves to just get by level up. Can even get Hypnosis by breeding.
I mean it's not great that because its got meidocre defensive stats even for its generation, but it was at least an actual role that they wanted it to fulfill.

 

[Samtendo09]

I have heard the "contest!" theory before, with various Pokemon and I'm just gonna say probably not. There's little "hook" to them to make the connection, except for Milotic whose entire evolution method is based around contests and also happens to be Actually Good regardless.
& also not helped that anyone can perform in Contests and perform just as well if not better.

At least with Chimecho they seemed to have a defined role: support. Wish, Heal Bell, Yawn's not a bad cross section of moves to just get by level up. Can even get Hypnosis by breeding.
I mean it's not great that because its got meidocre defensive stats even for its generation, but it was at least an actual role that they wanted it to fulfill.

There’s also something about Doubles for the paired single-staged Pokémon in Generation 3 (not counting Zangoose + Seviper as they are rivals, not friends), in that their stats are either too low or doesn’t cover each others well. This does not help at all that they shares the same type weaknesses yet have no coverage to get around those, besides Illumise’s Electric moves that runs of a still mediocre 75 base Special Attack.

An exception is Solrock and Lunatone, as they shares the same weaknesses and are capable to cover each others’ own weaknesses through coverage like Solrock’s Solar Beam vs Water and Flare Blitz vs Grass. The pre-split for physical and special categories in Gen 3 hurted them a lot though, as Solrock’s Fire coverage runs on it’s lower Special Attack for Flamethrower and Solar Beam, while Lunatone uses Shadow Ball on it’s much lower Attack. The category split in Gen 4, alongside Moonblast for Lunatone, helped them a bit to be a bit more usable and able to cover each others a bit hetter.

 

[TMan87]

I can't believe I rambled for so long on Stonjourner and forgot to mention its Ability.

Power Spot is useless for a game geared towards Singles. To add insult to injury, you get it after Raihan, the second Doubles Gym in the entire series, ie the one place where it could have some use, especially since Raihan specializes in Sand.

 

[StarFalcon555]

To this very day I am still pissed that Komala didn't get an evolution. I mean LOOK at it. There was so much potential for a fierce badass drop bear evolution or a calmer dream shaman evolution. But nope, it's a single stager. And to add salt to the wound, its ability is super interesting and could have given it a niche in competitive. But nope- in competitive, it's just a poor man's Snorlax with Rapid Spin. By far one of the most disappointing Pokemon out there for me.



Cryogonal doesn't make me irrationally angry like Komala does, but it does make me scratch my head. This thing is just the standard defensive pure Ice-type that GF insists on putting in every region. But for some reason, GF also decided to make this thing one of the rarest Pokemon in all of Unova. In BW1, it's only available in one location- Twist Mountain- and for a majority of the time its encounter rate is only 1%. In winter the encounter rate does increase, but only to a still pathetic 5%. In BW2 the encounter rate gets a bit better, at 15% in the winter and 5% in all other seasons... but in this game, Twist Mountain is a postgame location, and you still can't find Cryogonal anywhere else. The rarity extends to the other generations in which its available in the wild- in XY it's only found in Frost Cavern with a 4% encounter rate, and while it's finally available in more than one location in SWSH, all of those locations are within the Crown Tundra, which is essentially a honorary postgame itself.

And like I said before, it isn't even that good. Its Special Defense is amazing and its Speed and Special Attack are good, but that means nothing when you have only 30 Defense (50 from Gen VII onwards). It gets some cool moves like Rapid Spin, Acid Armor, and Recover, but nothing to hit Steel types, so it ends up being trash. And yet this is what GF chose to make one of the rarest mons in the entire game.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Cryogonal doesn't make me irrationally angry like Komala does, but it does make me scratch my head. This thing is just the standard defensive pure Ice-type that GF insists on putting in every region. But for some reason, GF also decided to make this thing one of the rarest Pokemon in all of Unova. In BW1, it's only available in one location- Twist Mountain- and for a majority of the time its encounter rate is only 1%. In winter the encounter rate does increase, but only to a still pathetic 5%. In BW2 the encounter rate gets a bit better, at 15% in the winter and 5% in all other seasons... but in this game, Twist Mountain is a postgame location, and you still can't find Cryogonal anywhere else. The rarity extends to the other generations in which its available in the wild- in XY it's only found in Frost Cavern with a 4% encounter rate, and while it's finally available in more than one location in SWSH, all of those locations are within the Crown Tundra, which is essentially a honorary postgame itself.

And like I said before, it isn't even that good. Its Special Defense is amazing and its Speed and Special Attack are good, but that means nothing when you have only 30 Defense (50 from Gen VII onwards). It gets some cool moves like Rapid Spin, Acid Armor, and Recover, but nothing to hit Steel types, so it ends up being trash. And yet this is what GF chose to make one of the rarest mons in the entire game.

I think Cryogonal actually succeeds as a single stage Pokemon in BW1 outside of the obscene rarity. In-game in BW1 the one location it's available in is around mid-late game but as Celever said in an earlier post, the single-stage Pokemon exist mainly as a pre-promote alternative that's strong for the point of the game you get them compared to other alternatives but not as strong as the things you will encounter late game. From an in-game standpoint it's basically this, and if you use it it's a "pre-promote" in that it's an immediately stronger alternative to the Vanillite line who is its most direct analogy in Gen 5. Whereas Vanillite is available earlier but evolves pretty late, and by the time you can get Cryogonal it still won't be at its full potential as either the weak Vanillite or at most, Vanillish who is still fairly weak as a middle stage mon, and it doesn't become Vanilluxe until Level 47, which is the end of the game. So while Vanilluxe is clearly stronger than Cryogonal in the long run, Cryogonal is more immediately usable off the bat as a decently strong Ice-type who is also fast and can serve well against Brycen due to Flash Cannon, some of the upcoming route Trainers and Team Plasma, and especially against the final Dragon gym where even though it falls to their physical hits if they connect, Cryogonal is fast and strong enough to quickly make work of the Dragons with Ice Beam, and is fast enough to outspeed Drayden or Iris's Haxorus and go for the kill. It also has some pretty decent E4 matchups against Shauntal's Golurk, Grimsley's Krookodile, and Caitlin's Sigilyph and later on I pulled off the feat of single handedly winning against Ghetsis's Hydreigon by setting up Light Screen then going for the 2HKO with Ice Beam.

Cryogonal in general has very good utility options at its disposal in-game with both Light Screen and Reflect, and even Haze or Mist if you so wish.

Sure, Vanilluxe will be the stronger option throughout the late game and then the post-game, but Cryogonal effectively succeeds as a pre-promote Ice-type that has its uses and is reasonably good in-game albeit a bit risky. Even so while it's a bit weak later on it's competent enough to continue being a good ally if you want to keep using it, although of course its poor physical Defense makes it a risk to use. The rarity is the biggest issue when it comes to using it (I got lucky the first time I used Cryo lmao) but if you do have the fortune of finding on in BW1, it's not a bad teammate to have for the remaining portion of the game. It's not great competitively, of course (It was really good in Gen 5 RU though), but in-game in BW1 it successfully pulls off its use as a pre-promote option for an Ice-type very well, even though it's obnoxiously rare.

Of course this falls apart in BW2 where it's post-game, I am not sure about XY but I imagine it's okay there in-game, and it's a shame SwSh also makes it post-game unless you go there beforehand and get it in a Max Raid during the story playthrough (in which you can feasibly have it mid-game if you're lucky). That being said, it did have the fun gimmick of being needed to unlock one of the Regi puzzles, and since I love Cryogonal and caught one first thing when I went there it was an amazing feeling of discovery to unlock the Regice chamber by figuring out I needed to walk with a Cryogonal then interact with the door. That was really cool imo.

I'm probably a bit biased but I think despite Cryogonal being really easy to overlook because it's single stage and rare, it's pretty effective in its intended role in its debut game from an in-game POV.

 

[MrHands]

its ability is super interesting and could have given it a niche in competitive.

Banded Sleep Talk + Last Resort. Instant 130 BP (edit: 140! Thank you Samtendo09) STAB move with Sleep Talk's PP. Also immune to status.

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 252 HP / 248+ Def Hippowdon: 222-262 (52.8 - 62.3%)

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 457-538 (65 - 76.5%)

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Celesteela: 168-198 (42.2 - 49.7%)

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Gliscor: 285-336 (80.9 - 95.4%)

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 164-193 (50.7 - 59.7%)

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 184-217 (60.5 - 71.3%)

Blunder did a video on it. Surprisingly decent all things considered.

Edit: Blunder Komala #2

 

[Samtendo09]

Banded Sleep Talk + Last Resort. Instant 130 BP STAB move with Sleep Talk's PP. Also immune to status.

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 252 HP / 248+ Def Hippowdon: 222-262 (52.8 - 62.3%)

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 457-538 (65 - 76.5%)

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Celesteela: 168-198 (42.2 - 49.7%)

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Gliscor: 285-336 (80.9 - 95.4%)

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 164-193 (50.7 - 59.7%)

252+ Atk Choice Band Komala Last Resort vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 184-217 (60.5 - 71.3%)

Blunder did a video on it. Surprisingly decent all things considered.

Edit: Blunder Komala #2

Correction: 140 BP for Last Resort (it was 130 back in Gen 4 though).

Definitely an overlooked sleepy Koala Pokémon, and Comatose is already a pretty strong Ability too.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Castform absolutely failed in every conceivable way. While some may argue that it succeeded in showcasing weather, I strongly and vehemently disagree. This Pokemon is downright unfinished.

So the elephant in the room is that it doesn't even work for all weathers: you don't get a sand form. The rationale behind this, I'm assuming, is that sandstorms aren't really something you forecast or whatever, but I say to you "bollocks"! I'd argue that representing sandstorm would have let people play around with Castform more, considering there's a whole ass desert you can visit for fossils and the like. In fact, part of the beauty of Hoenn is that weather conditions are shown off in the overworld, like the rainy routes. Sandstorm is a weather condition, Weather Ball affects it, it has a move that triggers it that Castform even learns...what gives? Hell, it has 70 across the board in stats, let it use that physical type in ADV, y'know? With how sandstorm is among the most buffed weathers since release, it feels like Castform has been left in the dust and it failed to be adapted to that. I swear to god they just ran out of dev time to finish this Pokemon.

My next issue comes partially from my understanding of how Pokemon forms are programmed. Pokemon forms can be given unique statlines thanks to their own entries. This came into force properly in DPP if I recall correctly, which I think was the best opportunity to buff Castform; hell, they even buffed sand there. While it couldn't quite work in ADV, why, in god's name, does Castform not make use of this quirk in DPP? The same goes for Cherrim, both of these Pokemon should have absolutely made use of this mechanic. Think of it as some proto-Mega Evolution concept. Castform is balanced around being good in weather and sucking without it, and the game has the nerve to not give it at least a new statline? How about a big boost in Speed and SpA, making it some Specs Weather Ball bot? After all, what it benefits from the most are weather-buffed attacks like Thunder, Hurricane, Solar Beam, etc. All you have to do to buff this useless thing is change a few numbers, save, and boom, it's fixed.

This Pokemon is so close to being bearable that I can almost TASTE it, I tell you. I don't understand why it's been treated this way. It is literally unfinished.

 

[Sonikku A]

Shame this means 0 coverage. Ghost types will eat it
Now how powerful would this be with Facade?

Castform absolutely failed in every conceivable way. While some may argue that it succeeded in showcasing weather, I strongly and vehemently disagree. This Pokemon is downright unfinished.

So the elephant in the room is that it doesn't even work for all weathers: you don't get a sand form. The rationale behind this, I'm assuming, is that sandstorms aren't really something you forecast or whatever, but I say to you "bollocks"! I'd argue that representing sandstorm would have let people play around with Castform more, considering there's a whole ass desert you can visit for fossils and the like. In fact, part of the beauty of Hoenn is that weather conditions are shown off in the overworld, like the rainy routes. Sandstorm is a weather condition, Weather Ball affects it, it has a move that triggers it that Castform even learns...what gives? Hell, it has 70 across the board in stats, let it use that physical type in ADV, y'know? With how sandstorm is among the most buffed weathers since release, it feels like Castform has been left in the dust and it failed to be adapted to that. I swear to god they just ran out of dev time to finish this Pokemon.

My next issue comes partially from my understanding of how Pokemon forms are programmed. Pokemon forms can be given unique statlines thanks to their own entries. This came into force properly in DPP if I recall correctly, which I think was the best opportunity to buff Castform; hell, they even buffed sand there. While it couldn't quite work in ADV, why, in god's name, does Castform not make use of this quirk in DPP? The same goes for Cherrim, both of these Pokemon should have absolutely made use of this mechanic. Think of it as some proto-Mega Evolution concept. Castform is balanced around being good in weather and sucking without it, and the game has the nerve to not give it at least a new statline? How about a big boost in Speed and SpA, making it some Specs Weather Ball bot? After all, what it benefits from the most are weather-buffed attacks like Thunder, Hurricane, Solar Beam, etc. All you have to do to buff this useless thing is change a few numbers, save, and boom, it's fixed.

This Pokemon is so close to being bearable that I can almost TASTE it, I tell you. I don't understand why it's been treated this way. It is literally unfinished.

Also even though it's a water molecule for shape, many found base form to look like boobs


Speak of the devil

Plague you dirty dog...

 

[MrHands]

Castform absolutely failed in every conceivable way. While some may argue that it succeeded in showcasing weather, I strongly and vehemently disagree. This Pokemon is downright unfinished.

So the elephant in the room is that it doesn't even work for all weathers: you don't get a sand form. The rationale behind this, I'm assuming, is that sandstorms aren't really something you forecast or whatever, but I say to you "bollocks"! I'd argue that representing sandstorm would have let people play around with Castform more, considering there's a whole ass desert you can visit for fossils and the like. In fact, part of the beauty of Hoenn is that weather conditions are shown off in the overworld, like the rainy routes. Sandstorm is a weather condition, Weather Ball affects it, it has a move that triggers it that Castform even learns...what gives? Hell, it has 70 across the board in stats, let it use that physical type in ADV, y'know? With how sandstorm is among the most buffed weathers since release, it feels like Castform has been left in the dust and it failed to be adapted to that. I swear to god they just ran out of dev time to finish this Pokemon.

My next issue comes partially from my understanding of how Pokemon forms are programmed. Pokemon forms can be given unique statlines thanks to their own entries. This came into force properly in DPP if I recall correctly, which I think was the best opportunity to buff Castform; hell, they even buffed sand there. While it couldn't quite work in ADV, why, in god's name, does Castform not make use of this quirk in DPP? The same goes for Cherrim, both of these Pokemon should have absolutely made use of this mechanic. Think of it as some proto-Mega Evolution concept. Castform is balanced around being good in weather and sucking without it, and the game has the nerve to not give it at least a new statline? How about a big boost in Speed and SpA, making it some Specs Weather Ball bot? After all, what it benefits from the most are weather-buffed attacks like Thunder, Hurricane, Solar Beam, etc. All you have to do to buff this useless thing is change a few numbers, save, and boom, it's fixed.

This Pokemon is so close to being bearable that I can almost TASTE it, I tell you. I don't understand why it's been treated this way. It is literally unfinished.

The worst part is even if you give it an evolution... what do you do? +25 in every stat literally makes it a worse Silvally, a Pokemon almost universally untiered... except that has a movepool, better signature move, and more reliable type changing ability. Perhaps with some ridiculous Mega form with the Beedrill treatment +60 sp attack / -30 attack / lol +70 speed might make it reasonable... ish.

Perhaps if Forecast was buffed to change into Chlorophyll / Sand Rush etc in the appropriate weather on top of changing its type AND it gets an evolution with a high BST it might see some vague usage somewhere.

I miss Megas...

 

[Hugin]

I like Castform

's design. I like form-changing mechanics, sue me. But actual usability, no, it's just bad. Straight-70 doesn't work even with a broken gimmick, and Castform's gimmick is underpowered. Thing is, anything you do with it to make it good on a rain or sun team fundamentally doesn't exploit it's gimmick. Sure, you can turn it into a Simisear/Simipour by giving it a stat boost, or even into a Lumineon/Charmeleon by buffing the ability, but you're basically just making another generic weather sweeper at best. Really what it should be is a weather counter, something that can be put on a team to handle whatever weather shows up, letting the rest of your team handle the rest. It has the coverage for it, but not the stats*, and it's ability would need to be fundamentally reworked into something I'm not qualified to figure out**. But I definitely think the fix should be something to make it good in any weather, rather than something where it's put on a team to exploit a specific weather.

*every mon I've listed so far has better stats than Castform where it counts, and when you look at the mons you'll see how sad that is.
**Disable Swift Swim et al for everything on the field? Immunity to water in rain/fire in sun/ice in hail? Something that doesn't make it broken in weather, just a good way of stopping the broken stuff.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Plague you dirty dog...

Haha, I wrote this around the same time as it came out. I didn't watch it until like midnight I think?

--

So I've talked about these in another thread but I have zero qualms about shittalking the same mon multiple times and like to complain about badly designed non-evolvers.


For an "intractable" Pokemon Kecleon is some shit. I vaguely get the idea: a bulky Pokemon that changes type when hit makes sense. But in its inception it didn't even get Recover and the design's basis is criminally flawed. Kecleon's stats just don't work. Giant SpD, tiny HP, mediocre Defense, just passable Attack...it's all over the place and feels like something out of GSC.

I get that chameleons are slow, but this doesn't translate well when making a Pokemon. By doing this, you can't exactly play proactively. Kecleon has to not only take multiple hits switching in, but also predict to get a drop of STAB. This is really, really bad, and makes Colour Change a nigh-inarguable weakness. If Kecleon was faster, it would mean you're not having to predict really hard going on the offensive, and the opponent may even be giving you a tool for every hit sustained. Hell, I think this would be really fun to use.

To make Colour Change work, you have to essentially inflate every stat. You could maybe dump an attacking stat, but that's also quite iffy in the context of an ADV Pokemon, as back then you could make it a type of the wrong category and it's fucked. Every stat - especially Speed - has to be high to use it well, and that's ignoring movepool requirements.

For the botched resurrection Kecleon is, I think it's been treated very kindly by Game Freak. It's got Recover, Trick Room, Protean, priority, all sorts. Very, very few Pokemon get Recover after they've been introduced. But with those incredibly flawed stats, Kecleon can't really do much. I think despite everything it's just an Assault Vest user these days? Man.

 

[King Feraligatr]

Haha, I wrote this around the same time as it came out. I didn't watch it until like midnight I think?

--

So I've talked about these in another thread but I have zero qualms about shittalking the same mon multiple times and like to complain about badly designed non-evolvers.


For an "intractable" Pokemon Kecleon is some shit. I vaguely get the idea: a bulky Pokemon that changes type when hit makes sense. But in its inception it didn't even get Recover and the design's basis is criminally flawed. Kecleon's stats just don't work. Giant SpD, tiny HP, mediocre Defense, just passable Attack...it's all over the place and feels like something out of GSC.

I get that chameleons are slow, but this doesn't translate well when making a Pokemon. By doing this, you can't exactly play proactively. Kecleon has to not only take multiple hits switching in, but also predict to get a drop of STAB. This is really, really bad, and makes Colour Change a nigh-inarguable weakness. If Kecleon was faster, it would mean you're not having to predict really hard going on the offensive, and the opponent may even be giving you a tool for every hit sustained. Hell, I think this would be really fun to use.

To make Colour Change work, you have to essentially inflate every stat. You could maybe dump an attacking stat, but that's also quite iffy in the context of an ADV Pokemon, as back then you could make it a type of the wrong category and it's fucked. Every stat - especially Speed - has to be high to use it well, and that's ignoring movepool requirements.

For the botched resurrection Kecleon is, I think it's been treated very kindly by Game Freak. It's got Recover, Trick Room, Protean, priority, all sorts. Very, very few Pokemon get Recover after they've been introduced. But with those incredibly flawed stats, Kecleon can't really do much. I think despite everything it's just an Assault Vest user these days? Man.

And yet PMD Kecleon... shudders

 

[Codraroll]

Also even though it's a water molecule for shape, many found base form to look like boobs

Honestly, that's the charitable interpretation.

 

[Chadlad50]

Haha, I wrote this around the same time as it came out. I didn't watch it until like midnight I think?

--

So I've talked about these in another thread but I have zero qualms about shittalking the same mon multiple times and like to complain about badly designed non-evolvers.


For an "intractable" Pokemon Kecleon is some shit. I vaguely get the idea: a bulky Pokemon that changes type when hit makes sense. But in its inception it didn't even get Recover and the design's basis is criminally flawed. Kecleon's stats just don't work. Giant SpD, tiny HP, mediocre Defense, just passable Attack...it's all over the place and feels like something out of GSC.

I get that chameleons are slow, but this doesn't translate well when making a Pokemon. By doing this, you can't exactly play proactively. Kecleon has to not only take multiple hits switching in, but also predict to get a drop of STAB. This is really, really bad, and makes Colour Change a nigh-inarguable weakness. If Kecleon was faster, it would mean you're not having to predict really hard going on the offensive, and the opponent may even be giving you a tool for every hit sustained. Hell, I think this would be really fun to use.

To make Colour Change work, you have to essentially inflate every stat. You could maybe dump an attacking stat, but that's also quite iffy in the context of an ADV Pokemon, as back then you could make it a type of the wrong category and it's fucked. Every stat - especially Speed - has to be high to use it well, and that's ignoring movepool requirements.

For the botched resurrection Kecleon is, I think it's been treated very kindly by Game Freak. It's got Recover, Trick Room, Protean, priority, all sorts. Very, very few Pokemon get Recover after they've been introduced. But with those incredibly flawed stats, Kecleon can't really do much. I think despite everything it's just an Assault Vest user these days? Man.

I have never understood Kecleon's weird ass stat spread. When I look at it I don't think "yeah, slow and specially defensive!"

It's like an Alola Pokemon a few generations before Alola happened

 

[Samtendo09]

Speaking of Alola Pokémon, here’s another one that got a sore spot among the single-staged one introduced in Generation 7.


Turtonator being slow makes sense for it, particularly with its signature move, Shell Trap, involving a trap that requires getting hit by a physical move to activate. There’s several problems with it, however.

• Poor design, trying too hard to have the exotic feels that several Alola Pokémon have.
• Situational ability in Shell Armor. Helpful to block critical hits, but that’s it. It’s version counterpart, Drampa, have three Abilities, with Sap Sipper situational for it unless you hates Spore, and Berserk or Cloud Nine coming in handy.
• Only found in one place in Generation 7, being Blush Mountain, at a 10% encounter rate, and is exclusive in Sun + Ultra Sun. The bigger problem, however, is direct competition with Torkoal, who:
  • Have similar bulk and is slightly slower.
  • Have slightly weaker Special Attack but compensates with one of its Ability being Drought, very helpful to boost Fire STAB and utilize Solar Beam for coverage vs Ground, Rock and Water.
  • Not only available in both versions, but also have same 10% encounter rate as Turtonator in Sun and Ultra Sun, and a 20% encounter rate in Moon and Ultra Moon.
  • Like Turtonator, it can learn Shell Smash. Torkoal have worse Speed and learns it later than Turtonator does, but again, Drought. The only thing Turtonator going for it is Dragon-type STAB.
• Shell Trap, despite 150 BP, is a mediocre to bad move as it only activates if the opponent uses a physical move. This means it become useless against a wall or a special-oriented opponent.

So, not only Turtonator is poorly designed and a wasted opportunity, but it also happened to be potentially overshadowed by another Fire-type single-staged Pokémon who happens to be capable of automatically summoning Sun on switch-in as of Generation 7.

In a generation where many single-staged Pokémon do have something going for it, Turtonator, alongside Bruxish mentioned earlier, definitely feels like bad apples among the good ones in the same basket.

 

[Chadlad50]

I love Turtonator but he does feel like a big missed opportunity

Also Sap Sipper is actually a great ability for Drampa. Being able to switch in on a grass move and get a free special attack boost is nice (I'm pretty sure that's what it does anyway) and generally more useful than the other two

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Also Sap Sipper is actually a great ability for Drampa. Being able to switch in on a grass move and get a free special attack boost is nice (I'm pretty sure that's what it does anyway) and generally more useful than the other two

Sap Sipper actually boosts physical Attack, so Drampa doesn't benefit in that regard.

Even so, it's still a great ability regardless because the Grass immunity alone is highly useful. Being able to switch into Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Spore, Giga Drain, Leech Seed Leaf Storm, etc. for completely free is highly useful when Grass is both a common offensive type in lower tiers and has tons of use with status moves. It's why Goodra runs it too even though it primarily runs special sets. Azumarill runs it on occasion too on defensive sets despite not benefitting from it due to losing Huge Power with Perish Song+Whirlpool to KO Ferrothorn.

 

[StarFalcon555]

Being able to switch in on a grass move and get a free special attack boost is nice (I'm pretty sure that's what it does anyway) and generally more useful than the other two

Sap Sipper boosts physical Attack, not Special Attack. Seeing as how Drampa only has 60 base Attack, that's not really the best for it.

Just so this isn't a one-liner, let me talk about another Pokemon... or rather, a Pokemon and its regional variant:



Ah, Stunfisk. By far one of the ugliest Pokemon that GameFreak has ever had the audacity to churn out. Its facial expression and cry are very reminiscent of the one kid in preschool that shit their pants constantly and would wait proudly for the teacher to discover their "oopsie". Well, design is subjective, maybe it's secretly a beast in-game!

...is what I would say if it wasn't available just before the seventh gym in BW1 and postgame exclusive in BW2. And even if its availability wasn't so bad, why would you want to use this thing when there are so many better Ground and Electric types available in Unova? The Sandile, Tympole, Blitzle, and Joltik lines are much better than Stunfisk and are available much earlier. For a while, Stunfisk seemed doomed to be just another example of Gen 5's so-called "poor designs".

But then along can Generation 8, which not only gave regional variants to old Pokemon, but it gave new evolutions to some of those regional variants as well! And would you look at that- Stunfisk got a regional variant! I can't wait to see what cool new evolution they gave to Galarian Stunfisk! If the regional variants of Linoone, Farfetch'd, and Corsola could get evolutions, surely Stunfisk is guaranteed to get one as we-

...What do you mean, Galarian Stunfisk is still a single stager?

Well, at least it has a cool new ability that causes it to change its type in Terrains! Maybe that means it has new forms, similar to Castf-

...It doesn't have new forms? Bummer.

Hey, new tutor moves just got added in the DLC, and one of these moves works perfectly with Galarian Stunfisk's new ability! And since regular Stunfisk is a special attacker, Galarian Stunfisk should be able to utilize Terrain Pulse perfe-

...They changed its stats so that it's now a physical attacker?

bangs head on wall

At least in the lower tiers, both forms of Stunfisk aren't half-bad- they actually make decent Stealth Rock setters thanks to their good defensive typings. And Galarian Stunfisk is actually a solid design- I dig the bear trap aspect. But man, did Game Freak screw the pooch when it came to this thing, especially its Galarian form.

 

[R_N]

I used stunfisk in BW2 thanks to the dreamworld and it was realy fun to use, it's a shame it comes so late. Same with Druddigon, for that matter (gym 7 in BW1, Victory Road in BW2, used in my playthrough with Dreamworld). They're both perfectly solid, reliable Pokemon, honestly, they just need to be made available around mid game instead of constantly languishing in late or post game

(Which to its credit, Stunfisk-G accomplishes, but still)

 

[Chadlad50]

Gamefreak definitely gave U-Stunfisk Limber as a troll

they aren't that dumb...right? They couldn't possibly give the Ground/Electric type an ability that prevents it from being paralyzed as anything besides a funny joke?

Stunfisk's whole existence is bizarre

 

[Samtendo09]

Gamefreak definitely gave U-Stunfisk Limber as a troll

they aren't that dumb...right? They couldn't possibly give the Ground/Electric type an ability that prevents it from being paralyzed as anything besides a funny joke?

Stunfisk's whole existence is bizarre

Paralysis does affect Electric-type Pokémon before Generation 6, so Limber still does something back in Generation 5.

Still, this is an aspect that aged really poorly considering Game Freak didn’t replaced Limber by another Ability for Stunfisk.

 

[TerrickTerran]

This is the company that gave Rotom-Spin Levitate and Delibird's Hidden Ability the same as one of its regular abilities.