What was the "breakout Pokemon" of each generation?

[QuentinQuonce]

I think it’s a tough question. There are mons GameFreak clearly tried to market, mons that I found through osmosis before I played the games, mons that stuck out to me when I played, mons I’ve seen my peer group and students talk about it, so on and so forth.

Maybe as a consequence of Pokemon Go, but over the years, I’ve heard constant mention of Rayquaza. Perfect IV Rayquaza, Shiny Rayquaza. A lot of memes about that intervention between Kyogre and Groudon. Out of all legendaries, it and Ho-Oh stand above the others, and the latter only bc of that scene in the first anime episode.

Rayquaza is very consciously gatekept in Pokemon Go and this has definitely artificially increased its rarity. One would expect it to come alongside Kyogre and Groudon but it generally doesn't - Groudon and Kyogre have been available on two occasions this year, whereas the last two occasions Rayquaza was available were 2023 and 2021 (edit: my bad, forgot there was a single day of availability for it this year - albeit in time-limited extremely difficult Elite Raids which could only be done in person, which basically supports my point about it being artificially rare). It hasn't even been one of Giovanni's shadow Pokemon yet.

So this has created a sense of excitement and scarcity around it that not many other species enjoy. Looking at Bulbapedia's availability list for legendaries in Go very nearly every available species has been in raids this year (the Johto trio and Mewtwo via shadow raids, which for some reason aren't counted on that list) - the only ones which haven't are the Swords of Justice, Deoxys, Hoopa, and Armoured Mewtwo.

But overall, I never got the impression Rayquaza was vastly more popular than Groudon or Kyogre - it's always seemed like a relatively even split to me. Rayquaza occasionally nudges ahead depending on the poll you're looking at, but Kyogre was definitely more popular at various points.

I’ll also say, Gastly/Haunter were in part shown off with the Silph Co lens, they weren’t some regular route pokemon.

I feel like Gardevoir is in some weird zone where people clearly like the design and know it, but it’s such a target for jokes about it being sexualized that it’s hard to treat it “seriously” like other popular pokemon. Vaporeon suffers from this too to a lesser extent.

I can honestly say that only terminally online people think of Vaporeon as sexualised, I have only ever seen that sort of content coming from really obscure corners of the fandom. Like even just scrolling down Google images there's only one picture of a humanoid Vaporeon from someone's deviantart and it comes off less as "sexy Vaporeon" than just... generic anime human Vaporeon, which I've seen done for dozens of species.

Gardevoir sure, to a degree, but even then most people's default reaction isn't that. The only Pokemon I've ever seen "casual" fans react that way to is Lopunny.

 

[Worldie]

^

Oh you sweet innocentchilds have no idea of the atrocities that go around the internet if you think Vaporeon is the most sexualized pokemon.
No, it's just the one people meme about cause of that one copypasta you see every now and then.

 

[Basedwell]

Rayquaza is very consciously gatekept in Pokemon Go and this has definitely artificially increased its rarity. One would expect it to come alongside Kyogre and Groudon but it generally doesn't - Groudon and Kyogre have been available on two occasions this year, whereas the last two occasions Rayquaza was available were 2023 and 2021. It hasn't even been one of Giovanni's shadow Pokemon yet.

So this has created a sense of excitement and scarcity around it that not many other species enjoy. Looking at Bulbapedia's availability list for legendaries in Go very nearly every available species has been in raids this year (the Johto trio and Mewtwo via shadow raids, which for some reason aren't counted on that list) - the only ones which haven't are the Swords of Justice, Deoxys, Hoopa, and Armoured Mewtwo.

But overall, I never got the impression Rayquaza was vastly more popular than Groudon or Kyogre - it's always seemed like a relatively even split to me. Rayquaza occasionally nudges ahead depending on the poll you're looking at, but Kyogre was definitely more popular at various points.

That’s interesting!! I downloaded Pokemon Go but haven’t been able to get into it yet. It may be a mobile app thing, I was getting into TCG until I had to register all my cards online, then I got confused :P

If you play the games, it makes sense that Kyogre and Groudon would be more popular. They’re in the first version, and set weather. You’re also forced to catch one.

I can honestly say that only terminally online people think of Vaporeon as sexualised, I have only ever seen that sort of content coming from really obscure corners of the fandom. Like even just scrolling down Google images there's only one picture of a humanoid Vaporeon from someone's deviantart and it comes off less as "sexy Vaporeon" than just... generic anime human Vaporeon, which I've seen done for dozens of species.

Gardevoir sure, to a degree, but even then most people's default reaction isn't that. The only Pokemon I've ever seen "casual" fans react that way to is Lopunny.

Lol!! This is probably a result of the majority of my interactions with Pokemon fans being related to the Smogon and r/pokemon communities which will be very aware of the jokes.

I will say, on the FB pages that pop on my feed (the algorithm has realized I like chess and Pokemon), which I assumed were more for normal people, one of the default contents I see is making jokes about Gardevoir and Vaporeon. When I saw my Pokemon loving friend who’s as autistic as myself, we spent hours talking over each other on all the knowledge and tidbits we knew, and we only brought up Lopunny in the context of laughing at her sister for liking it.

Maybe it’s all an insecurity about how I want to be perceived.

FB also has some weird content where it will present a choice between two Pokemon where one is the red pill and one is the blue pill. Likely AI pulling from comparison posts that got traction but it’s so weird. I’ll post one if I can figure out how to post pics on here.

 

[ant4456]

Rayquaza is very consciously gatekept in Pokemon Go and this has definitely artificially increased its rarity. One would expect it to come alongside Kyogre and Groudon but it generally doesn't - Groudon and Kyogre have been available on two occasions this year, whereas the last two occasions Rayquaza was available were 2023 and 2021. It hasn't even been one of Giovanni's shadow Pokemon yet.

So this has created a sense of excitement and scarcity around it that not many other species enjoy. Looking at Bulbapedia's availability list for legendaries in Go very nearly every available species has been in raids this year (the Johto trio and Mewtwo via shadow raids, which for some reason aren't counted on that list) - the only ones which haven't are the Swords of Justice, Deoxys, Hoopa, and Armoured Mewtwo.

But overall, I never got the impression Rayquaza was vastly more popular than Groudon or Kyogre - it's always seemed like a relatively even split to me. Rayquaza occasionally nudges ahead depending on the poll you're looking at, but Kyogre was definitely more popular at various points.



I can honestly say that only terminally online people think of Vaporeon as sexualised, I have only ever seen that sort of content coming from really obscure corners of the fandom. Like even just scrolling down Google images there's only one picture of a humanoid Vaporeon from someone's deviantart and it comes off less as "sexy Vaporeon" than just... generic anime human Vaporeon, which I've seen done for dozens of species.

Gardevoir sure, to a degree, but even then most people's default reaction isn't that. The only Pokemon I've ever seen "casual" fans react that way to is Lopunny.

Going off of Metrics which will not be named the #1 is Lucario by an entire 1/3rd extra, #2 is Gardevoir, and then Lopunny isn't even close to #3 it's Umbreon

Which makes sense since Eeveelutions were popular with furries way before the Vaporeon meme, and have been for decades. You can go back and find Eeveelution-centric fanfic from like 2008. Really, the biggest metric is simple: How easy is it to make an OC out of this thing and is it appealing design wise for that? That's why Lucario is #1 and Eeveelutions combined are #1 by a landslide.

Lucario will probably always be #1 and it will probably never be close.

Now to not talk about this, I agree that Rayquaza has some sort of false rarity but I do think it's fair to bring up as unique popular among the three.Hell, I'm not in a spot to check rn (mobile version of the site is ass) but I think Rayquaza hit the top 25 for the 2020 Pokemon fan favorites list.

 

[pika pal]

I think there's a chicken-or-egg aspect to Rayquaza's popularity and scarcity in Go that goes back to ORAS.

Rayquaza was always a fairly Popular Pokemon, whether among the Legendaries or other specifics like Version Mascots. When ORAS came out it was no surprise Rayquaza would get some acknowledgement between its role in the Trio and its individual popularity without the Emerald plotline to work with. Kyogre and Groudon got their Primal forms as "not Megas" to keep up with the massive Titans that Legendaries were becoming (thematically as much as mechanically) and that they were arguably the progenitors of such an image for (Lugia and Ho-oh are mystical but still more restrained than "shape the land and planet itself").

So Rayquaza has to get an update to make sure it can still compete with the two Pokemon it keeps in line, which on what is already one of the strongest offensive Mons in the franchise up to that point, obviously results in something Giga strong (like Mega Ray would be pretty formidable even without cheating in a free item slot). Now memetically becoming the Ubers' Uber gives Rayquaza another accolade alongside its existing ones for cool design and story role, as even causal audiences online will know Mega Rayquaza as the Pokemon that got banned from the Ban list, on top of a solid VGC-Restricted performance on the officially marketed side too.

Fast forward either 2 or 9 years to Go's debut and Mega Rayquaza's debut in it, respectively. Just so happens that the way Mega Rayquaza's built ALSO makes it extremely busted in Go's battle system (like "Solo the Big Bad 5* raids if Flying Weak" level busted), which is basically a golden goose for Niantic in terms of content: It's powerful enough and popular enough that featuring it WILL generate engagement; that same power also means it's entirely reasonable for them to not make Mega Ray available often (without it being a power-wise unexciting appearance like the frequent Kanto nostalgia); and to top it off, they can bottleneck Mega Rayquaza a second way thanks to limited access to Dragon Ascent (the powerful move) via Meteorites (which have an easy lore explanation for the role).

Now Rayquaza is this extremely seldom-seen Power Titan that the fanbase will always say "get it if it comes back, it's amazing!" to socially-market and stoke FOMO for Niantic (not to mention the awe of "oh my god this guy carried us thanks to Mega Rayquaza" as I admittedly did during some Zamazenta raids with low level friends). Since the Mobile game reaches an audience probably MUCH more interested in the collection aspect, catching the rare things when they happen to show themselves is its own appeal.

So Rayquaza's popularity pre-ORAS led to it being made REALLY strong in ORAS, which helped revitalize its popularity, which played into making it a rare-and-powerful Asset in the accessible Pokemon Go, which in turn makes it popular and a rare treasure there that people will talk about. Depending on how you define "breakout," Rayquaza might have just been a popular Pokemon on the expected Legendary level for most of Gen 3-6, but then broke-out proper with the new toys it got on top of old/nostalgic Gen 3 fans mingling with the "new" fans ORAS hooked on it.

 

[Basedwell]

Something else I forgot about: in the early 2010s, the idea of emulation started to become increasingly popular. This predominantly benefitted the GBA games, especially Emerald.

I always say i got into Pokemon in Dec. ‘22 to clarify it was an adult interest, but when I was in ninth grade, I played halfway through Emerald before getting pissed off when I’d forgotten to save and lost most of my progress.

I’d try again occasionally over the years on my phone, but it always took more work than I was willing. When I was 24 I had this crush on a girl who liked Pokemon, and after doing research found out it was a pain to play on iPhone, so I started buying original hardware and got into Pokemon fr.

I was strict about it in class, but I saw my lil 16-18 year old students playing frlg and rse in class. They generally liked Pokemon, but their favorites were the 3DS generations, confirming what everyone always says. I do think that playing the GBA games will influence them.

Also wort noting that since they’re so easy to emulate and mod, a lot of YouTubers play them more frequently

 

[Yung Dramps]

Something else I forgot about: in the early 2010s, the idea of emulation started to become increasingly popular. This predominantly benefitted the GBA games, especially Emerald.

I always say i got into Pokemon in Dec. ‘22 to clarify it was an adult interest, but when I was in ninth grade, I played halfway through Emerald before getting pissed off when I’d forgotten to save and lost most of my progress.

I’d try again occasionally over the years on my phone, but it always took more work than I was willing. When I was 24 I had this crush on a girl who liked Pokemon, and after doing research found out it was a pain to play on iPhone, so I started buying original hardware and got into Pokemon fr.

I was strict about it in class, but I saw my lil 16-18 year old students playing frlg and rse in class. They generally liked Pokemon, but their favorites were the 3DS generations, confirming what everyone always says. I do think that playing the GBA games will influence them.

Also wort noting that since they’re so easy to emulate and mod, a lot of YouTubers play them more frequently

Coupled with the stubborn refusal to officially rerelease the old mainline games I would not be remotely surprised if RSE and FRLG are some of, if not THE most emulated games of all time. If there's something above them it must be, like, the Super Mario Bros. original quadrilogy or Tetris

 

[smokeyinferno]

If there's something above them it must be, like, the Super Mario Bros. original quadrilogy or Tetris

I don't really think either of these are in the running. Tetris has seen plenty of modern iterations & dubiously legal browser game remakes, i.e. emulation is definitely not the most convenient way to play Tetris in present year; as for Mario, Nintendo has been pretty stingy about retro re-releases in the past decade (not that I get the impression the virtual console was ever crazy popular), and platformers don't play nice with mobile phone emulators. SMW does at least have a pretty vibrant ROMhacking scene, but again, clumsy phone emulator controls are a huge problem--and if you look at romhacking.net download stats, Pokemon is the clear frontrunner
I actually think Sonic 1 might be the closest contender for "most emulated game of all time". it's seen a bunch of official re-releases for a bunch of different platforms over the years, including an Android release with >50M downloads (which would seem to eclipse the total download count for every GBA emulator currently listed on the Play Store combined)
ETA: wait, no, the Android port is a full engine remake, disregard. I guess that would make mario the (probably pretty distant) runner-up by default

 

[Basedwell]

Coupled with the stubborn refusal to officially rerelease the old mainline games I would not be remotely surprised if RSE and FRLG are some of, if not THE most emulated games of all time. If there's something above them it must be, like, the Super Mario Bros. original quadrilogy or Tetris

honestly i'm glad they don't. at this point, it would be behind some sort of monthly payment system, and may potentially cause more copyright strikes on current fan-made resources, and may limit the amount of fan-made resources being made when people can play the games more legitimately. Then again, I'm saying that moreso as a music fan, I only know about the whole N64 game thing because I knew someone who had it.