What makes a Pokémon fun to use in-game?

Codraroll

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So, you've started your Pokémon adventure. Or you're about to start one, that doesn't matter. You set out from the first town, and at some point you inevitably meet a myriad of different wild Pokémon. At some point, you're likely to want to catch a few of them, to use as your trusty companions when travelling the region.

But have you ever thought about why you catch the Pokémon you do? Or rather, why you stick with them? Whether we make an informed choice or play the game "blindly", we end up forming some sort of opinion on most of the available Pokémon as the game progresses. Some Pokémon we skip entirely, not wasting a single Poké Ball on them unless for dex completion. Some we try out, then drop after a few levels. Some we keep as HM slaves, and some we sort of tolerate, we keep them until something better turns up.

And then there are those we're willing to search for. The ones we simply can't pass on without. Those that make us think "I want to use that one!", and which don't disappoint. Those we plan to catch, long before we even buy the game. Or those you catch because "eh, why not?" and it ends up as your Most Valuable Pokémon from then on until the credits roll. Simply put, some Pokémon are just more fun to use than others.

But why is that so? What makes a Pokémon so special for you that you feel that you "have" to use it if you encounter it in-game? Likewise, what makes you turn down a Pokémon?


When I asked myself that question, the first thing that dropped into my head was "It has to be good, duh!". But then I remembered that I never use cover legendaries in-game. They're godly good from the moment you get them, and will plow through anything you put them up against, but they're still boring as heck. I catch them, box them, and maybe I train them at some point post-game.
Conversely, though, I've had lots of fun using Pokémon such as Golduck or Venomoth in the past. They're not exactly powerhouses, but they do the jobs I give them, and well enough that I ended up not replacing them.

I've come to conclude that power is not all. I think I have found a more comprehensive answer, but first, I want to hear what you think. Yes, you. What makes a Pokémon an in-game favourite for you?
 
Well, that's a very good question. I personally choose my pokemon by how they are designed, myself. I think about their stats and types, too. But, if you are going to play through a game with a pokemon, it should be one you like.
 
The only Pokemon I ever really search for are Volcarona and Ralts. I choose them because I love their flavor, I know exactly what they do, and they do so much work.

Outside of this, Pokemon with interesting and varied movepools are a big plus for me. I like having Pokemon like Slowbro that can learn a variety of moves. When I see a bunch of "ABLE" when I browse through TM's, it feels like I can tailor the Pokemon to how I want to play.

In rare occasions, I go out and seek Pokemon I would otherwise gloss over, like Klinklang and Victreebel.
 
It really varies for me. Often, if I don't have a plan, I just catch something that I think will be fun to use. In my playthrough of Alpha Sapphire, I randomly encountered a Makuhita. I figured what the hell, caught it and named it Majin Buu. I don't know why, it just tickled my fancy. Then I discovered it had Fake Out, so I gave it a Silk Scarf, added Rock Tomb and (eventually) Knock Off for coverage, and it proceeded to be one of my top MVPs of all time.
I've had rejects as well, such as Joltik (was replaced with a Zebstrika).
It comes down to personal experience, cool/cute design, or competitive knowledge. And if I don't think it is working, I take it out. One thing, I prefer to have some power and a nice movepool (like I said, my Hariyama had Vital Spirit, Knock Off, Rock Tomb, and Fake Out through most of the playthrough and it proved to be a powerhous) and it being easy to train (for example, not using trade based evos in Ruby and LeafGreen since I can't trade with each other). Okay, that and Dedenne. I just really wanted to use one and it proved to be a decent Pokémon, even if I had to use Play Rough.
 
Pokemon are liked and chosen by me if they impressed me after I used them and are memorable.
Storytime:
For example, recently I played AlphaSapphire and catched a small "ugly" nincada...it got "bug bite" as a starting move, and I was disappointed by it stats...
but I thought "why not using something bad for once?" and I trained it alot, used PokemonAmie, spend a lot of time with it. And it worked its way through the gyms with small strategy uses. This was enough to make me regret evolving it to Ninjask, as even though I used it until the Elite 4, I wasn't satisfied.

I remember a similar story to a Granbull in SoulSilver named Killer, and a starter Lickytung in Gen 1 which I traded via Pokemon Stadium

So...the bold part basically sums it up: I catch something, use it and if its memorable I like it.
 
The only Pokemon I've considered searching for was Platinum Gible, because it can only be caught in one tiny location that's easy to miss(sure, you could get Gabite in Victory Road, but that's no fun x.x). Platinum Gible was hard to train at first because its STABs were lacking and it was frailer than I thought it would be. But it was totally worth it because after ~30 levels I had the most badass shark-dragon thing in the world. That's possibly the only time I've planned to use something in advance, and to use it for aesthetic reasons as opposed to battling power (although it was quite powerful once it evolved) I do get paired versions of games based on version- exclusive mons, but I barely use any of said mons anyways (Starmie was the deciding factor in me getting X, but I never got one until my fourth playthrough anyways)

The rest of my Pokemon are basically an amalgamation of whatever I can find on early routes, plus some late-game powerful Pokemon that I want to use (In X, I dropped my Goodra, which had originated as a Goomy, in favor of a swooping encounter Hydreigon that I could not pass up)

EDIT: in-game gifts also make it on to my teams unless they're really late or evolve late like the egg Larvesta in BW
 
I think design obviously plays a huge factor in whether or not we initially like a Pokemon, it's the first thing we see, after all. When I was playing Black, I came across a Sigilyph at the Desert Ruins and my jaw dropped in awe. I was totally in love with how it looked, and I knew I wanted it on a team. Of course, I couldn't catch it immediately because it wouldn't stay in its Pokeball, and then it would Whirlwind me away, but I kept hunting until I found one that conceded to join my team and I named him Gabriel.

After that, I was pretty impressed by my Gabriel's progress. He had an awesome ability in Magic Guard and though he didn't have a lot of great major match-ups, whenever I could send him out, I was always happy with what he could do.

In X, it was a bit different with Roderick the Froakie. I chose him because I wanted to choose Charmander when I got to Lumiose, so I couldn't use Fennekin, my initial Gen 6 starter choice, and I just always find Grass-types kind of unnecessary to in-game teams, so I left out Chespin. I didn't really like Froakie because his design was just weird to me. Those huge, bulging eyes and that dead stare really put me off :(

Apart from Grant and Team Magma, Roderick wasn't really having a lot of great match-ups either, but I began to warm up to him when he evolved into Frogadier. Frogadier is a really cute Pokemon and his smile was just charming to me. I played with him a lot in Pokemon Amie, and of course, Greninja is famous for how deceptively strong and fast he is. By the end of the game, Greninja was one of my favourite members of my team (hard to choose from my X team though, it had Charizard, Lucario, and Sigilyph in it too, all classic favourites), I now have about half a dozen shiny Froakies with my OT and ID, and I even have a Froakie keychain on my bag.

Still, I don't know how some Pokemon can impress me less than others. I initially tried Helioptile as my Electric-type on X, and while he is definitely more impressive than Dedenne, I must have picked one up with bad IVs or an unfortunate nature, because he was not pulling his weight on my team. I had caught a Dedenne earlier, just to see what kind of Pokemon it was, and I decided to switch out Helioptile for Dedenne. I was really happy with that decision: Dedenne was cuter and had a cooler type combination than Helioptile. I never even noticed his abysmal movepool, he always did work for my team, and I was completely enamoured by the idea of a tiny, tiny little mouse Pokemon I could just put in my breast pocket for company.

In conclusion, I'd say that what makes a Pokemon fun to use, at least for me, are a combination of:
  • Design: Everyone has different designs that appeal to them though, and that's where the fun really is.
  • Prowess in the game: Obviously you're not going to use something that faints every other battle, but tied to that is ...
  • Just luck: You might get a really good Pokemon, but an unfortunate mix of bad IVs, nature, or match up might make it seem worse than a Pokemon that is really normally not half as good (see my experience with Dedenne and Heliolisk).
  • Story line: I didn't mention this in detail, but Korrina's Lucario became one of my favourite team members, and it's how I fell in love with Lucario in the first place. Just a really amazing Pokemon being 'attracted' to you and wanting to join your team is so ... appealing! And I think a background like that can also make a Pokemon fun to use.
That's definitely how it's been for me, anyway. smh Codraroll always bringing out the long-poster in me.
 
While I agree with rufus' argument that design is a key factor in what makes us choose to capture/use a pokemon, I'd also like to add that real world experiences and interests influence our decisions.

As a young boy playing diamond, I had been obsessed with two things: aquatic animals, and vivid colors. Making a decision for a starter, though I had no previous knowledge, was therefore much more easier to me. I felt like I could relate to and appreciate the little penguin that reminded me of actual penguins than one based off a turtle or monkey.

Another big example of this obsession for water-associated animals was Finneon. I had a fish with me at the time that I considered to be my best friend, and developed a close bond to something no greater than a 3 inch freshwater creature. Seeing a Finneon reminded me of my real-life companion, and drove me to catch one and level it up all the way to 40 - holding an Everstone so it could stay in its familiar appearance!

Its colors also attracted my attention, as did another pokemon, Shinx. This falls back on the idea of design - it was and still is a major component to me favoring a pokemon over another. Masquerain, for example, might be a merely decent pokemon at best, but I enjoy using it greatly non-competitively for its sprite/model.
 
For me, I think it comes down to 2 factors in-game: power and design.

Power: the poke must be strong enough to destroy most stuff easily even with totally messed up IV/EVs.
Design: the poke should not be too ugly/visually unappealing for me. This can override the "power" factor, which is why I don't use stuff like Goodra line at all (just cos I dislike the design). :p

With those 2 in mind, I somehow find my in-game team always end up being starter + a whole lot of OU/Uber pokes (no legendaries cos don't wanna mess up EVs) + potentially 1-2 HM buddies.
 
In the title, you specified the word 'fun', so such categories as 'power', 'reliability', 'efficiency' don't quite work out. A Pokemon fulfilling these attributes would be 'effective' but would it necessarily be fun to use? Only if the player's definition of having fun is destroying everything on his/her way.

So usually it's some unpredictability or underdog effectiveness that makes a Pokemon fun for me. The former could be Cinccino with Technician in Pokemon Black/White for instance. You have three moves that could proc anywhere from 2 up to 5 hits, and using them throughout the game is fun because you can't predict how much damage exactly the target mon will take. The latter would be somebody like Ledian in GSC. Its dual screens can support an inefficient team and it has elemental punches for effective damage against certain 4x weak mons. Ledian comes close enough to being frustrating in its usage however, and it's probably more annoying than fun.

Some moves are naturally fun to use. One is Nature Power, which is basically more than half a dozen different moves depending on the terrain of the current area you're in. It's equally fun in the ADV games as it is in the recentest generation (where it has a way better representation as a TM).
 
For me, it comes down to the ease of obtaining it and the ways to evolve it. If it is something like, say, RBY Tauros or Chansey, then it is obviously frustrating to use. Pokemon that needs to evolve at very high levels (think Dragonite, Volcarona, Hydreigon) are also out of my book since I like my team fully evolved before the Elite Four. Stone and Trade Evolutions are also a "no" for me because I have something against this method of evolving Pokemon.

Oh, I forgot to mention another thing that makes a Pokemon fun to use: The ability to not be horrible in battles. While I do not expect every Pokemon I pick up to be blowing away enemies left and right, it should at least be able to win some matches by itself and not be as horrible as BW Purrloin or GSC Ledyba.
 

Codraroll

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For me, after some thinking, I've come to a sort of conclusion: The four Ps.

First, foremost, and most boring, the Pokémon should have at least a minimum of power. As in, not struggle to 4HKO stuff even with supereffective attacks. Happiny are not hard to come across in games, D/P and BW2 even straight up gives you an Egg for it, but while Chansey and Blissey can happily sponge attacks all day, I don't want to spend seven turns defeating every Pokémon I encounter because of those pitiful offenses. Likewise, I don't like to use Flygon that much, not because Flygon is poor (on the contrary, it's awesome), but because Trapinch and Vibrava are so pitifully weak and you're stuck with them for so long. And don't even get me started with Wobbuffet. I used one in my first Crystal playthrough, because it looked so funny in the Anime. I still have nightmares.

Also, the Pokémon needs to have some potential for it to be awesome. This is why I tend to ditch the early-game bugs: Early evolution might give them power early on, but once they reach level 20 they have sort of done their job, and by 30 they are turning downright boring. Once you've got that Butterfree or Beautifly at level 10, they have reached their final evolution stage and won't become any more powerful for the rest of the game. They're decently powerful compared to the first-stage evolutions the rest of your team will consist of at that time, but they can't grow any further, and they'll rapidly be outclassed by second-stage or third-stage evolutions that will fill your party later. It doesn't help either that they don't learn any more exciting moves past level 25 or so, unless you're willing to drag them on to level 45 or 50. But at that point you're grinding to achieve a level of power that other Pokémon have from the moment of capture.

Contrast, say, the Starter Pokémon in ORAS. They're good when you first get them, and they get better as your adventure goes on. In the humble beginning, you fight using the first stage of the evolution chain, which eventually evolves into a more powerful second stage around the first or second Gym. You trek along with your improved companion for a while, and just as its power level starts to wane, it evolves again, presenting you with a new stage of power. And even after that, you've still got its Mega Evolution.

In short, I like the Pokémon to have another power level to look forward to, be that by evolution, Mega Evolution or just some high-power moves it'll eventually learn. That being said, the regional bugs are remarkably fun to use until level 20 or so. Early-game is where they really shine, and where I have no qualms using them. It's just that I have to ditch them somewhere around the third Gym.

Then there's the contrived one: pool of moves. By that I mean "diversity", but that doesn't begin with a P. I'd like to have more than just Take Down to rely on to deal damage, for instance (here's looking at you, non-event Beldum). Others such as Tynamo, Unown or Wobbuffet are also notorious for having only one available playstyle to them, which makes for a remarkably un-fun experience. Contrast, say, Honedge, Lucario or Sandile, which can learn a myriad of different moves through level-up and TM, and they keep getting new and stronger moves as the game unfolds. Likewise, endless fun (and frustration, often quite literally) can be had with any Pokémon knowing Metronome. With that move in its arsenal, it doesn't trouble me at all that Togepi learns pretty much no other moves.

Last, but certainly not least: progress. This is the reason why trading over the first stage of a pseudo-legendary and use from the start is a terribly boring idea. Yes, it'll be very fun to use eventually, around level 50 or so, but that means you're stuck with the exceptionally mediocre first- and middle stages until the Elite Four or so. It's a cavalcade of poor stats compared to its level, a shallow movepool (at least until you get the right TMs, which are usually late- or even postgame), and late evolution. Have fun using Larvitar until the level your starter reaches its final stage, and Pupitar even longer than that. Some Pokémon are simply a continuous snoozefest to use, you have to struggle through your entire adventure babying an extremely poor Pokémon just to be able to use its awesome final stage at the very, very end. I'd rather use something I can have fun with all the way, and trade off that little extra power at the end. Again, try trading your starter for a level 5 Tynamo at the start of your game, and see how much fun you'll have. Yes, Eelektross might be better than the final evolution of your starter, but... well, look up Tynamo on Bulbapedia and see how much fun you can look forward to.


Design and such is of secondary importance. If the Pokémon is useful, funny or otherwise decent, it will grow on me. I think. Haven't tried out Barbaracle yet, and I don't want to either. At some point, I guess ugliness really does take precedence and trump out potential fun.
 

Litra

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When I play, variety and potential tend to top my list because I treat the ingame teambuilding process as if I was painting. For example, I will mention Chimchar from Platinum since every set I played was different and exploited every possible trick. I used physical, mixed, and special sets. Early game taunt meant I could get an Abra if I wanted. There also was a time where I used one for support too but it didn't do too well. In the end, I could have a lot of fun with a mon I usually dislike. Using moves in unorthodox ways also gets me to use a mon. Ex: I once grinded a Magikarp in Eterna by switching it with a Geodude when the opposing wilds weren't Budew or Gastly and self destructed so my fish got all exp and Chelia was there to let me grind my weaklings.

Power is also a nice factor, but my preference is a mix of "weak but skilled" and/or "let's see what odd uses I can get out of this mon" is my preference of fun in in-game plays (discounting battle areas like Frontier).
 
I use Pokemon I like for in-game purposes, especially useful ones. For example, in Platinum, I always chose Chimchar as my starter because of the line's design and overall usefulness. When I play next, I'm going to run a physical set.
 

Reisen

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I'm also looking for the design and the power but i can make some exceptions.

For example in the 3rd gen when i met mawile for the first time i known i had to catch him and take him in my team even if it was a really weak pokemon.
It was hard sometimes, against the team magma but i couldn't think to play the adventure without him :p
 

DHR-107

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I was talking to Codraroll a fair bit about this on IRC the other day. As I probably have more experience than anyone else here in just replaying the game over and over again and using a huge variety of teams (of which I have details of 90+% of them), I feel like I have a relatively unique insight into this question proposed in the OP.

I plan out the vast majority of my play throughs now. I like playing with things I have never played with before in combinations I've never used before. However, there are *some* pokemon which I look at and go "I would not mind using him again", or the reverse "dear god this was a mistake".

Torterra is something I will always use if it comes to it. It matches up with CRoll's "Four Ps" almost perfectly. I think another one that needs a little discussion is possibly "Presence". Now I guess this sort of mixes up Power and Pool Of Moves, but I think its worth noting separately. It's something you know you can rely on to get you out of a jam, or if you make a mistake in a close match. It's always there and you are always going to consider using it against a multitude of foes. The only problem (if you can call it that) with Torterra is the ridiculous amount of moves you want it to learn via level up. Earthquake, Leech Seed, Razor Leaf, Crunch, Curse... And then TM moves on top.

At the other end of the spectrum (and one of the few Pokemon I have "given up" on) is Farfetch'd. This was during Soul Silver. I thought why not? It's one of the last things I have never trained that learns Fly so I slapped it onto the team. It was awful. I had a feeling it might get away with consistent criticals from Stick + high Crit moves, but it just doesn't. I managed to get to Lugia, and then gave up entirely on it and replaced it with the legendary Bird. It's movepool is good, but it lacks power and has no presence in your team what so ever.

I almost ended up dropping Dunsparce through BW2 as well (Where Azumarill was MVP), but he managed to hold on till the end of the game. Sunflora out performed Dunsparce pretty handily, which is what surprised me the most.

In my opinion, a pokemon is fun for a nice variety of reasons. I enjoyed using Butterfree to the end game, but did feel it was starting to not hold its own in the higher levels, which is perfectly understandable. Other pokemon have sort of hit the middle of the road with "funness" and some have only really worked due to the team they were on. I have done a full on Sandstorm team and a Sun team (Drought Ninetales is not good or fun). I kinda want to try out a rain team and hail team at some point too.

I have created a sort of "worst team" from my research... Luvdisc/Delcatty/Delibird/Wobbuffet/Unown/Ledian (With other shout outs to Smeargle, Pachirisu, Tynamo, Purrloin and Illumise). None of the listed Pokemon have any power, have awful move pools or have evolution methods which are totally ridiculous (I am looking at you Tynamo).
 

shaian

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Personally I always just use 1 or 2 pokemon through my story play-through, mostly because in the show that's always how the champions or elite trainers sorta ran the show. Been doing this since RBY back when my favourite character was Lance and he always just used Dragonite, so in the games I just got a Dratini if it was available, as well as a Pidgeot. I used the same combination in GSC, though in Crystal I switched out Pidgeot for an Espeon. In ADV I always just used a combination of Gardevoir and a Flygon because those are my 2 favourite Hoenn mons, or Manectric and Shiftry because Brendon used that combination in the opening of Destiny Deoxys and it looked cool. In DPP I just used Garchomp and Espeon by the e4 because I saw Cynthia had them, and since Gible could be caught early I just ran with it. BW I just used Whimsicott and Archeops because most of the Unova mons seemed boring to me, and Whimsicott is cute. In my most recent play-throughs, I just solo'd with Gardevoir in XY and in ORAS I just used a Salamence that I IV bred and transferred.
 
For me, it can depend on looks as much as the move pool. Though even that might not be enough, since I didn't use Tyranitar until Gen 5, and haven't even raised a Remoraid yet, but I'd like to when I find the time.

And then there was Krookodile and Scolipede, and so I knew I had to catch Sandile and Venipede respectively. Gen 5 was probably the first time that I actually planned out what Pokémon I'd catch.

When I used Sableye in AS, sure I had to both breed for Prankster, and then breed for a -SpA + Something Defensive nature for the competition, but they both proved to be steadfast companions, no matter what the situation. Physical attackers hate Sableye.

I can also find new favorites as well, whether by finding Pokémon that I found hard to play against, and thus found they could make powerful allies, such as Belly Drum Azumarill, who I probably wouldn't've used if one hadn't handed by ass to me, after all, I thought, what type of loving master would have their Pokémon use a move that caused them harm?
Turns out you sometimes need a little pain for victory.

Then there are Pokémon that I've used pretty successfully when using them for the first time. Ferrothorn falls perfectly into this category. There is very little a better feeling than switching into a physical attacker, and proceeding to set up with Leech Seed. Either the opponent stays in, and gets drained dry, or switches, and the incoming Pokémon is Seeded, or forced to double switch, giving me a little breathing room to figure out my next move.
 
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Split evolution family Pokemon are favorites of mine. A few examples are Vileplume/Bellossom, Poliwrath/Politoed, Gardevoir/Gallade, and Glalie/Froslass.

You can imagine how happy I was when the ORAS megas were first announced~
 
I love Pokémon that I've seen grow from weak youngsters to powerful, reliable team members. On an AS Wonder Trade run, I got a level 1 Lillipup who didn't perform early. Let's say I was never a huge fan of the Lillipu line. I liked their design and unique abilities, but I never saw a reason to use them. However, by late-game, even if Stoutland didn't hit the hardest and wasn't the bulkiest, I knew he would always be at my side to rely on. He just always performs. I fell in love <3
 

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