What was the "breakout Pokemon" of each generation?

I think it's worth noting that in the Pokemon of the Year 2020 poll Dragapult got #11 overall, just shy of the top 10, which feels absurdly impressive for what was then a Pokemon that was pretty much brand new. If there's any breakout Galarbro, it's that.

Also WOW my Sirfetch'd post aged like milk. This mon's esteem among the fanbase tanked so hard relative to its initial momentum it's unreal. I think it's safe to say that being revealed to not be an actual Farfetch'd evo was a reputational landmine the knight bird never recovered from
 
Dragapult's definitely seen a nice consistent rise over its time. Good design, great cocnept, good in battle (i think both competitively and in VGC), consistent showing in the TCG, etc. It's really hard to go wrong with the guy.

Cramorant also kind of stands out a smidge to me, maybe more on the "jokey" side of things but I feel its had consistent blips. It was like one of the first pokemon in Unite, that's not nothing. & one of the central figures of Lost Box in the TCG probably helps.
 
For non-starter , non-legendary Pokemon:

1. :gengar: Gengar

Was at an amusement park earlier today and I saw this guy's plushie right next to most of the other commonly giga-iconic Pokemon like Charizard, Pikachu, Squirtle, and Snorlax. This is particularly notable to me since I feel Gengar didn't really get special attention in generation 1 compared to the other Pokemon I listed.

Honorable mention goes to Snorlax, but I feel its always been a special Pokemon with its encounter method.

2. :Azumarill: Azumarill

Generation 2 is really hard to find a "breakout star from". I feel Azumarill is one of the Pokemon with the longest standing impact from generation 2 even though its difficult to obtain in the game itself. A good case could be made for ampharos since its a 3 stage line from the beginning, as well as a few other generally beloved gen 2 Pokemon like Scizor and Heracross, which I feel still have staying power to this day.

3. :Gardevoir: Gardevoir

Yeah Gardevoir is the pretty obvious standout gem here. 3 Stage line that availible relatively early and has garnered a massive fanbase over time. Seeing its merchandise constantly sold out on pokemon.com and its appearance in secondary media sort of solidifies this.

4. :Lucario: Lucario

Kinda cheating since Lucario was hyped up to the moon when gen 4 was releasing, with a smash appearance to boot. Its popularity has taken a big hit over time however, imo anyways. Nonetheless, we still see it get a lot of special attention in later titles.

5. :Chandelure: Chandelure

Despite its basic premise, Chandelure is an extremely popular Pokemon, getting a lot of appearances in side-games like Unite and Pokken, while also being quite memorable due to its great design and personality.

6. :Aegislash: Aegislash

Another cracked 3 staged line you get early in the game. Very popular Pokemon for many of the same reasons as Chandelure.

7. :Mimikyu: Mimikyu

Extremely popular Pokemon due to its tragic backstory while also being part of the 20 anniversary celebration in some capacity.

8. :Dragapult: Dragapult

This Pokemon isn't really memorable to use in game, but has had many appearances in side games like Unite.

9. :Tinkaton: Tinkaton

This Pokemon has an incredibly popular fandom since generation 9's launch due to its unique relationship with Corviknight and has only grown in popularity, being one of the first Pokemon to be featured in Pokemon mastered prominently. Tinkaton also has a notable role as an NPC in Pokemon unite.

Main thing you'll notice is that Ghost and Fairy types are generally the standouts every gen lol.
 
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Alright, let’s try this again. My first time posting I misunderstood what this thread was asking about. I think I get what’s going on here now, though. Let’s not waste any time, because I have a lot of Pokémon to get through.

:dp/staraptor: :bw/krookodile:

These Pokémon became popular largely for the same reasons as each other from Gen 4 and Gen 5 respectively. Staraptor’s in-game popularity remains unprecedented and arguably rivaled by very few Pokémon across the core series. This thing was destined to be a fan favorite ever since the move Close Combat was designed and added to its movepool. I don’t think I need to explain why Staraptor is so popular, but I feel like Krookodile’s popularity coming from many of the same ideas as Staraptor’s is actually pretty fascinating. Krookodile’s role as the closest thing the Unova games, especially the first games, has to Sinnoh’s Staraptor seems to suggest that even amongst newer, more casual players during the DS era, there was a lot of appeal for Pokémon that fit the bill of “cool yet still reliable” within Diamond & Pearl and Black & White’s lists of limited options. Not only are they both some of the most reliable Pokémon of their respective typings, even sharing Intimidate as an Ability, but each of theirs’ design philosophies lend themselves to a Pokémon newer players may be interesting in trying out to explore the fundamentals of a Pokémon game, too.

:rs/manectric:

People often cite the starter Pokémon and Gardevoir as Hoenn’s breakout Pokémon, but I think Manectric deserves to be in this conversation too. Hoenn is one of the best. arguably maybe even the best region to be an Electric-Type in already, and the design philosophy behind a quintessential quadruped Electric-Type had already been explored twice before with Jolteon and Raikou. Manectric’s visual design alongside some assistance from its surprisingly colorful movepool lends itself well to a Pokémon both newer and more experienced players can appreciate.

:sm/popplio:

in a generation that saw Rowlet and Incineroar shoved down the public’s throats, Popplio’s appeal as a natural complement to the other Alola starters stands out to me. I remember when Gen 7 was first introduced, several people actively hated this Pokémon, but I feel like the dynamic of this relationship has flipped completely in more recent times. The whole evolution family’s status in both casual and competitive play compared to the others, in tandem with evolutions that don’t miss the point of the original Pokémon, lends itself well to a Pokémon whose appeal has probably surpassed Litten’s at this point and rivaled an unevolved Rowlet’s depending on who you ask.
 
I definitely wouldn't call Manectric a breakout of Gen 3. It's not even that great at its job in its debut game, its design is fine but never really grabbed people, Wattson doesnt even use it in RS. I wouldn't call it unpopular but it wishes it was in the hallway leading to this conversation.
 
Tinkaton's an easy candidate for Gen 9 but I'll also note Ceruledge. It got its own reveal pre-launch alongside Armarouge but has clearly become TPC and the peoples' favorite. Ceruledge released in Unite several months before Armarouge, is prominently featured in Horizons as the ace of a major character, and got a cool animated trailer for the TCG. Both armor mons are pretty prominent in marketing but people have clearly identified the blue flaming edgy blade warrior as an icon of the new generation.
 
It’s extremely boring, but in reality I think Miraidon is just the correct answer for the Gen 9 breakout star.

And it sounds dumb because it’s the box legendary, but compare Miraidon to prior box legendaries. The popularity of Miraidon out-paces just about every prior box legendary in terms of popularity, certainly immediate popularity. The plushies of it sell out immediately and weird Miraidon bikes are being invented lol.

I feel like the concept of this thread is kind of “despite the legendaries” but I don’t know how much sense that makes in practice. Mewtwo is very popular, and Celebi reasonably so (not on a box but has a movie), but after that I don’t think legendaries or mythicals have claimed the crown until now. It’s frankly noteworthy that Miraidon has the popularity that it has, and that was a part of Violet’s storytelling where you were supposed to grow an attachment to the box legendary, whereas previously it’s just been a late game free win card. Miraidon’s popularity is legendary Pokémon design being done correctly, and it’s fine as a fanbase to reward that.

I actually prefer Koraidon significantly and it was the main reason I bought Scarlet instead of Violet. But sales and engagement around the mons tell a different story, Miraidon has been in Unite for ages by now and Koraidon isn’t there. Miraidon is absolutely the Gen 9 icon, in a way that prior legendaries simply aren’t. Luxray is more iconic to Sinnoh than Dialga or Palkia, y’know?
 
Celever said:
It’s extremely boring, but in reality I think Miraidon is just the correct answer for the Gen 9 breakout star.

And it sounds dumb because it’s the box legendary, but compare Miraidon to prior box legendaries. The popularity of Miraidon out-paces just about every prior box legendary in terms of popularity, certainly immediate popularity. The plushies of it sell out immediately and weird Miraidon bikes are being invented lol.

I feel like the concept of this thread is kind of “despite the legendaries” but I don’t know how much sense that makes in practice. Mewtwo is very popular, and Celebi reasonably so (not on a box but has a movie), but after that I don’t think legendaries or mythicals have claimed the crown until now. It’s frankly noteworthy that Miraidon has the popularity that it has, and that was a part of Violet’s storytelling where you were supposed to grow an attachment to the box legendary, whereas previously it’s just been a late game free win card. Miraidon’s popularity is legendary Pokémon design being done correctly, and it’s fine as a fanbase to reward that.

I actually prefer Koraidon significantly and it was the main reason I bought Scarlet instead of Violet. But sales and engagement around the mons tell a different story, Miraidon has been in Unite for ages by now and Koraidon isn’t there. Miraidon is absolutely the Gen 9 icon, in a way that prior legendaries simply aren’t. Luxray is more iconic to Sinnoh than Dialga or Palkia, y’know?
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Oh, I don't know that it's "despite the legendaries".

It's just that, for the most part, legendaries are the Pokemon Nintendo/Game Freak try their hardest to promote so it's kind of a gimme. They're designed to be marketable, iconic, easy concepts to grasp and to have mass appeal (this obviously also goes for starters). With ordinary species they can get away with being a bit more niche - not everyone is going to like Ponyta or Teddiursa or Clamperl or Croagunk, but the game's not "about" those Pokemon and people aren't going to not buy the game just because they don't like them*. In recent gens the legendaries and/or the starters are usually the first Pokemon revealed so they're the ones people have the most exposure to - what are the Pokemon I associate with Gen 8 the most? Well, the starter trio and the mascots.

This doesn't necessarily preclude minor legendaries like Raikou or Regirock from becoming fandom favourites but being the "breakout" Pokemon inherently excludes legendaries because they're coming in with an advantage (the nepo babies of Pokemon, if you will). Whereas - Lucario aside - most non-legendary and non-starter species are not given a popularity push ahead of time and they become the breakout because the fandom overwhelmingly likes them.


*unless, of course, the Pokemon in question are version-exclusives - I myself am the type of player who often would choose one title for its exclusive Pokemon, not just the mascot
 
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greentyphlosion said:
In Gen IV, Lucario was set up to be a star; right from the moment it headlined a movie, everyone wanted one. It's an objectively cool Pokemon, being based on a jackal and having a fantastic typing as well as great stats and a good moveset. It's been a justifiably popular Pokemon for ages, to the point where you can catch Riolu early on in B2W2 and XY simply gives you one for free early on in the game.

Nintendo seems to have been going for a similar thing with Zoroark in Gen V, but I'm not sure it quite worked. While Zorua and Zoroark were hyped up and promoted to be mysterious and interesting (indeed, they were event-exclusive for most of Gen V) the impression I got was that they weren't nearly as popular as Lucario was. A somewhat dull typing and a slightly gimmicky ability didn't much help either. I personally quite like both Zorua and Zoroark, but I feel like Nintendo were trying to recapture the star power Lucario had and didn't manage it.

If we look back, Gardevoir seems to be the equivalent to this in Gen III. It's a powerful and highly popular Pokemon that's often used by bosses in various games, and has had several boons given to it (a Mega Evolution, a revised typing, a branched evolution). If Gen III had a star Pokemon, I think Gardevoir was it.

So do you think each generation had a similar Pokemon? Some gens seem to have done better in this regard than others - various Pokemon come to mind as cool designs I suspect Nintendo might have hoped would become fan favourites, but I'm not sure all of them did. Part of me wonders if that was why Ash-Greninja was created - Gen VI in particular didn't seem to have an example akin to what I've mentioned.

Which Pokemon do you think were their generation's "breakout" fan favourite, and why?
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Ash-Greninja was created to give Ash a Pokemon comparable in power to Mega Evolution. Since the anime, at the time, didn't allow Ash to own previous generation Pokemon (unless they had cross-generation evolutions: see Gilgar), and none of the Gen 6 Mons possessed Mega Evolution, the show needed a way for Ash to stand even with the amount of weapons being thrown around.
 
PokemonCrusader said:
Ash-Greninja was created to give Ash a Pokemon comparable in power to Mega Evolution. Since the anime, at the time, didn't allow Ash to own previous generation Pokemon (unless they had cross-generation evolutions: see Gilgar), and none of the Gen 6 Mons possessed Mega Evolution, the show needed a way for Ash to stand even with the amount of weapons being thrown around.
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Which is dumb reasoning(on the Anime's part, not yours, to be clear). Give him an old mon with a mega(Mawile or Banette spring to mind) and treat it like you would a cross-gen evo mon. Ash picks it up early on, it starts getting outclassed, he manages to mega-evolve it and it becomes a beast for late-season fights.
 
Using Greninja makes more sense than a random pick up as a "this Pokemon is going to be the centerpiece of every major fight moving forward". It's his first catch in the region, it's the starter so it's going to see a lot of usage regardless and just marketing wise they probably like bouncing off a gen 6 mon rather than something that's going to spend 80% of its screen time in a regular form.

Otherwise I imagine they'd just have given him Lucario like you get in the games then instead of in Journeys (where they cared considerably less about tying itself to the current generation and also were splitting between 3 different gimmicks) or bring in Charizard again.
 
R_N said:
Otherwise I imagine they'd just have given him Lucario like you get in the games then instead of in Journeys (where they cared considerably less about tying itself to the current generation and also were splitting between 3 different gimmicks) or bring in Charizard again.
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I'm still slightly surprised that that wasn't what they did in XYZ when his Charizard had been brought back in BW - it would have made for a much more hype ChariXard v ChariYard showdown than whatever the fuck Trevor was.
 
girazard said:
I'm still slightly surprised that that wasn't what they did in XYZ when his Charizard had been brought back in BW - it would have made for a much more hype ChariXard v ChariYard showdown than whatever the fuck Trevor was.
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This so much. I know we joke a lot (rightfully) about the love Charizard gets, but it's so weird to me they went trough the weird mental gymnastics of everything revolving Ash-Greninja instead of having a Charizard duel. I guess it was more unique? But in retrospect it seems like they overcomplicated things for no reason.

Journeys also made the odd decision to not have a Mega vs Gigantamax battle to show the later's superiority and instead just had Leon's Charizard being ridiculously strong. Then again most of the Masters 8 was a complete mess even as someone who didn't watch most of Journeys, and that seemed like *the* one tournament to have returning team members, even if three Charizards would have probably been too much even for them.
 
DrrT said:
This so much. I know we joke a lot (rightfully) about the love Charizard gets, but it's so weird to me they went trough the weird mental gymnastics of everything revolving Ash-Greninja instead of having a Charizard duel. I guess it was more unique? But in retrospect it seems like they overcomplicated things for no reason.

Journeys also made the odd decision to not have a Mega vs Gigantamax battle to show the later's superiority and instead just had Leon's Charizard being ridiculously strong. Then again most of the Masters 8 was a complete mess even as someone who didn't watch most of Journeys, and that seemed like *the* one tournament to have returning team members, even if three Charizards would have probably been too much even for them.
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iirc the stated reason was they wanted to emphasize the bond between Greninja & Ash for the last leg of the journey, but didn't want to just keep it a Greninja the entire time. So they discussed with GameFreak about if it could have a super form, Ash-Greninja happened.

Again I think it makes sense? They wanted to emphasize the importance of that relationship, with the first Pokemon Ash caught in that region, it keeps the focus on a Gen 6 Pokemon, I dunno it all seems fine? (& personally I think Greninja vs Charizard's a more interesting battle than Charizard vs Charizard anyway)

I don't think there's an interview talking about Zygarde but it wouldn't shock me if it had similar amount of talk behind the scenes. 10% Zygarde & Squishy, at least. The XY anime really decided to do a lot of original things, in retrospect.
 
DrrT said:
Journeys also made the odd decision to not have a Mega vs Gigantamax battle to show the later's superiority and instead just had Leon's Charizard being ridiculously strong. Then again most of the Masters 8 was a complete mess even as someone who didn't watch most of Journeys, and that seemed like *the* one tournament to have returning team members, even if three Charizards would have probably been too much even for them.
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You're right, 3 Charizards would've been excessive. Thankfully patriots were in control at OLM and we got 3 Dragonites instead
 
Magcargo said:
Another cracked 3 staged line you get early in the game. Very popular Pokemon for many of the same reasons as Chandelure.
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If it's not Greninja it's 100000% Sylveon.

1726878009688.png


It's the 6th most popular Pokemon as of 2020's official results.

Speaking of, if you're going off of pure popularity, Umbreon is Johto every single time. The next most voted Gen 2 Pokemon is Tyranitar which is 6 spots below.

Axiemeister said:
followed by mimikyu.
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If you're going for Pokemon that are like, not things that were pushed much, I'm not sure why Mimikyu is here. Mimikyu is 100% a Pokemon they intended from day one to be a massive hit, and it succeeded. It got a Z Move, it's a totem, it became one of the staple Pokemon of the anime. It captured the feeling in the air at a time when Ash and Pikachu were getting stale, and ironically I think Mimikyu's existence helped make Pikachu more popular itself.

I've noticed far less Pikachu hate from after Mimikyu came out.

Celever said:
It’s extremely boring, but in reality I think Miraidon is just the correct answer for the Gen 9 breakout star.
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I'm pretty sure Gen 9 is either a Paradox form or Tinkaton. I don't think Miraidon is very popular with the fans, and beyond the fans? It's one of those Pokemon that get people to say "that's a Pokemon?"

I mean... It literally looks a. Yeah.

I have Opinions on this topic (primarily I've noticed a divide in how the West and JP view mons - in general we tend to de-emphasize cute Pokemon, while mons the West shit on like Dedenne had a lot of popularity in JP; not that dedenne deserves a spot here, but it's something I notice in general) but that's all I have to say rn
 
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ant4456 said:
Do you mean to reply this to me to correct me because I said "if it's not Greninja"
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I did mean to reply this to you, but I did partially misread you because of your lead in + overlooking the "if" on the second line. Basically I read it like this:
ant4456 said:
I don't think Gen 6 is Greninja. I think it's Sylveon.

it's not Greninja it's 100000% Sylveon.


It's the 6th most popular Pokemon as of 2020's official results.
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I then spent an embarassing number of minutes trying to find the stupid poll because I couldn't remeber it was called "Pokemon of the Year" and bulbapedia's search wasnt helping before remember i could just search "2020 google poll". A real comedy of errors
 
R_N said:
I did mean to reply this to you, but I did partially misread you because of your lead in + overlooking the "if" on the second line. Basically I read it like this:
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Oh

Well I meant that bc the thing I was replying to was Aegislash

Edit: The first line isn't actually meant to be in it, I was going to reply to other stuff in the thread (and that was there). I failed to delete that line

It's 100% Greninja it's the #1 poll I know lol, I've known this for a long time
 
If you actually wanted my off the cut rankings it'd be something like

Gen 1: Charizard (Pikachu intended)
Gen 2: Umbreon (Pichu / Baby Pokemon intended)
Gen 3: Blaziken (Treecko line intended)
Gen 4: Lucario (Lucario intended)
Gen 5: Chandelure (Zoroark intended)
Gen 6: Greninja (Sylveon intended) [Greninja's popularity was more off the cuff outside of Smash Bros, where I don't think we'll ever get an Eeveelution bc quadrupeds are just really hard for designing one. Ivysaur is already kinda awkward. Sylveon was teased heavily and got an animated short before release] R_N (this is what I was tryna say in a reply to someone else)
Gen 7: Mimikyu (Mimikyu intended)
Gen 8: Dragapult *or* Corviknight (I think Toxtricity is less popular nowadays and I feel like Corv is being positioned more for longterm success) (Cinderace intended)
Gen 9: Tinkaton (Meowscarada intended)
 
By the way, since I had the poll open, and I am still thinking about the Manectric mention earlier, the top 30 for Hoenn

  1. Rayquaza
  2. Gardevoir (literally less than 400 vote difference between it & Ray and Gardey)
  3. Flygon
  4. Sceptile
  5. Blaziken
  6. Mudkip
  7. Metagross
  8. Jirachi
  9. Milotic
  10. Absol
  11. Swampert
  12. Salamence
  13. Aron (?)
  14. Aggron
  15. Latias
  16. Altaria
  17. Kyogre
  18. Mawile
  19. Breloom
  20. Torchic
  21. Latios
  22. Groudon
  23. Deoxys
  24. Grovyle
  25. Banette
  26. Treecko
  27. Sableye
  28. Ludicolo
  29. Shedinja
  30. Mightyena
Manectric couldn't even beat Mightyena. Tough luck


It's a shame they don't do these polls more often. I like referencing them, but there's so many factors that go into the voting that I think it'd be interesting to track swings every couple years, especially for the ones that were really close together like Rayquaza, Gardevoir & Gengar all being a couple hundred points off from each other. & if nothing else it'd be interesting to see what they do with Meltan this time because they keep being iffy about it. Maybe we'll see another one for the 30th anniversary?
 
ant4456 said:
If you're going for Pokemon that are like, not things that were pushed much, I'm not sure why Mimikyu is here. Mimikyu is 100% a Pokemon they intended from day one to be a massive hit, and it succeeded. It got a Z Move, it's a totem, it became one of the staple Pokemon of the anime. It captured the feeling in the air at a time when Ash and Pikachu were getting stale, and ironically I think Mimikyu's existence helped make Pikachu more popular itself.

I've noticed far less Pikachu hate from after Mimikyu came out.
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i get this point (though i don't think being a totem means anything more than "they could fit it in a setting more easily than others") and i agree that mimikyu was a very good idea based on the current moment of the franchise, but i do think mimikyu was a case of being more popular than the powers that be expected, just in a higher scale than the examples given in this thread. yes, something like gardevoir is more of a "zero to hero" kind of fan reception, but mimikyu is one of the very few more recent pokémon to (in my perception at least?) make some waves among even regular people who don't play the games at all. i don't think they expected that extent of popularity. it definitely got less push than, say, zoroark, for a lot more result.
 
Axiemeister said:
i get this point (though i don't think being a totem means anything more than "they could fit it in a setting more easily than others") and i agree that mimikyu was a very good idea based on the current moment of the franchise, but i do think mimikyu was a case of being more popular than the powers that be expected, just in a higher scale than the examples given in this thread. yes, something like gardevoir is more of a "zero to hero" kind of fan reception, but mimikyu is one of the very few more recent pokémon to (in my perception at least?) make some waves among even regular people who don't play the games at all. i don't think they expected that extent of popularity. it definitely got less push than, say, zoroark, for a lot more result.
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I don't disagree that Mimikyu is more popular than they probably predicted, good point.

On the topic of popularity of mons as a whole though, while the Pokemon of the Year polls are helpful I forget how they handled Alolans, but I don't see any regional form and I honestly wonder if Alolan Ninetales would be #1 for Alola.

I like to use Pokemon Unite as a pseudo-dictator for how TPC sees a lot of mons, since although they don't always just go 100% with popularity (Especially with new gen mons), I like to see the priority.

1726880295120.png


The launch roster's sole Gen 7 Pokemon was Alolan Ninetales, with Zeraora being added kinda like actual Mythical Pokemon, via an event. Mimikyu did come eventually but I think TPC might respect Ninetales more for sheer popularity

Ninetales itself is already extremely popular but A-Ninetales superboosted it.
 
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