Research When were the various Pokémon types in their prime?

[bdt2002]

(Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I could give this thread a picture due to file size issues.)

I have a question for you guys. I want you to think really hard about this one. Is it just me, or has the Ghost-Type gotten a lot more relevant lately? Whether it be competitively speaking or in-game, the most spooky type of all seems to be at the highest point it's ever been in terms of representation and viability alike. For the sake of OI's much more casual user-base, the type itself has recently shown itself to be an excellent contender in playthroughs of the past three generations, and that trend doesn't show any signs of slowing down, at least not yet.

This unusual trend's got me thinking about Pokémon and move typings as an umbrella topic for the first time since the Fairy-Type was announced all the way back in 2013. (Geez, that was nine years ago!?) If the Ghost-Type is in its prime right now, I started wondering "when were the other types?" This franchise has been around for 26 years now with a current total of 18 different types. Over those 26 years, we've seen a massive variety of new Pokémon, new moves, new balance changes, and several other factors.

Basically what I want to do with this new thread is try and encourage discussion about those various signs across the franchise that might say "Hey, this type might be worth looking at right now." Using the modern Ghost-Type as an example, we've seen several species of the type increase in viability for one reason or another on various mediums, thanks to contributing factors like the Steel resistance being removed and the controversial removal of Pursuit, a move commonly seen in multiplayer battles in older games. After a lack of a Ghost-Type specialist in the Kalos games, a series first, we've seen open representation of the type in Alola, Galar, and Hisui. I would like to mention that for what it's worth, "the Ghost-Type representation in Hisui" (for the player who don't want spoilers) is the last type to be "represented" in the entire game, an honor previously only seen with Champion battles in regions like Hoenn or Unova.

Patterns like this are nothing new over the course of the franchise's lifespan. By now I'm sure we're all aware of how the original Kanto games treated Psychic-Types like the greatest thing since sliced bread, or how the Hoenn games have enough water-related stuff in them to make even the Pacific Ocean jealous. I've been curious to see what other fans like myself are able to come up with when we look into the past. I believe that covers everything, so without further ado, happy posting, and I'll see you guys soon. Take care!

 

[Ironmage]

I occasionally think of the other side: what types are most associated with a given generation. Here's my list for that:

Gen 1: Psychic and Poison
Psychic has the obvious competitive bent, but I associate Poison with gen 1 as a result of so many mons from the early days being poison-typed, with several still being at the upper end of performance as the type goes. Heck, pokedex number 001 is part Poison, as is the only ghost-type at the moment.
Gen 2: Normal and Flying
Not the most exciting picks, but Johto is well-known for hiding its more exotic options. Flying does at least hit Gligar, Skarmory, and the two box legends.
Gen 3: Water and Steel
RIP team Magma. Alongside a Steel-type champion and pseudo-legendary, gen 3 also manages to be more associated with one of the gen 2 steel types than gen 2 itself.
Gen 4: Ground and Ice
Ice is fitting given the region is snowier than usual. Both of the relevant types got weather setters this gen in regular mons, and ground also has the pseudo-legend this time around.
Gen 5: Ghost and Dragon
Fire and Electric were both close. Gen 5 did a lot with pulling previously exotic types into the main mon pool, even if it did produce some balance issues on Dragon's end
Gen 6: Fighting and Dark
It wants to push Fairy, but falls flat since nearly every fairy type at this point is very mechanically similar so they all blur together. Instead, the champion's mega loses out to the villain's, while Hawlucha is one of the stronger and more memorable regular mons and there's an entire section showing off lucario for some reason.
Gen 7: Fairy and Grass
To its credit, gen 7 fixed the previous mistake with the Fairy type by introducing newcomers that were not focused on SpA and SpD. Less to its credit, I primarily remember Alola as pushing NatureTM too heavily. At least Kartana and Dhelmise buck that trend despite being grass-type.
Gen 8: No Data
I only own BDSP, and haven't played it yet.

I find it interesting that types introduced in a generation have not been the main ones I associate with said generation, with two of them appearing in the generation immediately after.

 

[khlaylav]

I'm the Bug type stan but Gen 5 was a true renaissance for the type. A legendary for the first time. Interesting new combos like Bug/Fire and Bug/Electric. Moves like U-Turn, X-Scissor and Bug Buzz used to their full potential. It made the type respectable for the first time in a long time, and I loved it.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Grass in Gen III. Hear me out on this one.

In Gens I and II, Grass-types were in general passive, slow bulky Pokemon, the likes of Venusaur, Vileplume, and Meganium. Sure there were a couple of really heavy hitters like Victreebel and Exeggutor, but they were the exception not the rule, and Exeggutor owed a lot of its prowess to its secondary Psychic-type and its ability to use Explosion.

It took until Gen III to give us some fast and offensively threatening Grass-types - Sceptile, Shiftry, Breloom, Ludicolo - and give a second wind to some of the older hands. The introduction of abilities really helped a lot of these Pokemon, as did the introduction of several moves like Aromatherapy and Ingrain which helped to beef them up defensively but also make them harder to predict and counter. Not just that, but the abundance of Water, Rock, and Ground Pokemon in Gen III made Grass a legitimately good offensive option. Grass has always been a solid type, and remained very strong in Gen IV. But I would argue that Gen III was where it was at its overall best.

What else? Well, Dragon and Fighting undeniably had their heyday in Gen V. Game Freak admitted this one but we didn't need them to tell us. So many powerful Dragons that only got more powerful with each new game in the series. It's quite something when very nearly every fully-evolved Dragon type (Druddigon and Altaria being the only real exceptions) is a legitimate threat capable of laying waste to whole teams under the right conditions. There's no arguing that Dragons ruled, both in-game and in the metagame.

Meanwhile Fighting was on the ascendant as well (ironically since it was largely a poor type in Gen I and arguably still in Gen II and III). The overall frailty of Dark-types and the easily-exploitable weakness of many Steels made Fighting Pokemon extremely overwhelming, and many of them were able to muscle past their nominal Psychic and Flying counters with all the powerful Rock, Electric, Ice, and Dark moves they could learn. And we got Fighting-type legendaries for the first time! If you wanted a powerful Fighting-type on your team, you had ample choice - Lucario, Machamp, Conkeldurr, Heracross, Mienshao, Infernape, Blaziken, Gallade, Scrafty, the Swords of Justice - and that's just the top-tier mons, with the lower tiers full of capable Pokemon like Hitmontop, Sawk, Throh, Toxicroak, and Emboar too.

Makes one wonder how Kommo-o would have fared if it had debuted in this generation...

I'm the Bug type stan but Gen 5 was a true renaissance for the type. A legendary for the first time. Interesting new combos like Bug/Fire and Bug/Electric. Moves like U-Turn, X-Scissor and Bug Buzz used to their full potential. It made the type respectable for the first time in a long time, and I loved it.

I'd argue that it's actually Gen IV where Bug started to come into its own. That's the generation that introduced so many of the mainstay Bug moves like Bug Buzz, X-Scissor, and U-Turn, which beefed up old favourites like Heracross and Scizor and made Bug coverage a lot more viable on other Pokemon than it ever used to be.

Where Gen IV falls down is that it doesn't actually introduce that many great new Bug types. Yanmega and Vespiquen are the only real standouts from the shallow pool of Gen IV Bug-types, and both of those are pretty solidly UU. Bug had a really good showcase in Gen V, but Gen IV laid a lot of that groundwork.

 

[bdt2002]

Hey there, everyone. I haven't visited this thread (or most others, for unrelated reasons) for quite some time, but one thing I can say I did during my absence was think long and hard about this for every single type. I'd love to provide explanations at another time, but for now I'm thinking we should just speed-round this list. I've listed all 18 types here, and which generations I think the types were best in. I've got two lists, one for species relevance and one for gameplay relevance.

List #1: Species Relevance (defined as how much this type received extra spotlight in the form of new Pokémon)

Normal: Gen 1
Fire: Gen 5
Water: Gen 1
Electric: Gen 5
Grass: Gen 5 (seeing a pattern yet?)
Ice: Gen 8
Fighting: Gen 5
Poison: Gen 1
Ground: Gen 1
Flying: Gens 1, 2, and 5
Psychic: Gen 3
Bug: Gen 5
Rock: Gen 3
Ghost: Gen 7
Dragon: Gen 8
Dark: Gen 5
Steel: Gen 7
Fairy: Gen 6

List #2: Gameplay Relevance (defined as when each type was at its most prominent position based on game balance changes)

Normal: Gens 1 and 4+
Fire: Gens 6+
Water: Gens 4+
Electric: Gens 6-7 (Gen 8 nerfed Electric Terrain)
Grass: Gens 6-7 (Gen 8 nerfed Grassy Terrain)
Ice: Gen 1
Fighting: Gens 4-5
Poison: Gens 6+
Ground: Gens 4+
Flying: Gens 1 and 4+
Psychic: Do I even need to explain this one?
Bug: Gens 1, 4, and 5
Rock: Gens 1 and 4+
Ghost: Gens 6+
Dragon: Gens 4-5 (and technically Gen 1 if you wanna get really technical)
Dark: Generations 4, 5, and 7+ (gets the jump over Gen 6 because of the Prankster ability changes)
Steel: Gens 4+
Fairy: Gens 6+ by technicality of having not existed for nearly as long as the rest

For anyone wondering where Gens 2 and 3 are on List #2, I can't consider putting them on here because the Gen 4 physical-special split was functionally a universal buff to every type in the game. I'm also working on a list for new moves, too, so look forward to that :)

 

[Antihaxxer]

Gen2 was kind to Electric type and Normal type (and probably Water). Gen III was the choice Band Generation and the Sub Focus Punch generation. Even some Special Pokemon had Focus Punch ....

 

[Ishiftyounot]

Can't believe I didn't see this thread until now! I can't really speak for whole generations but I can at least discuss particular games and the types I noticed did particularly well there.

Fighting in Gen 8 (Sword/Shield)

Fighting types are incredible in Galar and you would be remiss to not stick one on your team at some point in the game! You have a whole bunch of options early on - Tyrogue, Stufful, Pancham and Machop are all available in the Wild Area from the get-go - whilst Galar-only options in Galarian Farfetch'd, Kubfu and Clobbopus can all be obtained before fighting Nessa. They usually come equipped with reasonable STAB and decent coverage (oftentimes a Dark move and some Normal options for Fairy types which expands with TM/TR usage) and have fairly solid stats or early evolution levels. Major boss battles where they're effective include Nessa's Drednaw, Team Yell, Hop (he runs Dubwool and Snorlax pretty consistently), Marnie, Geordie & Melony, Piers, Raihan's Gigalith + Duraludon, Macro Cosmos, Chairman Rose and Peony - they're not useless in other battles either due to their oftentimes solid coverage options and high Attack stats (I once beat Opal's Alcremie with a Sirfetch'd at similar levels). They're good! I recommend.

Fairy in Gen 7 (S/M/US/UM)

I've never beaten an Alola game before, so I'm not super in-the-know about this game, but I did get to Poni Island in Moon once and I remember Primarina absolutely dominating the game thanks to the Fairy typing. Totem Alolan Raticate, Hala, Nanu, Totem Kommo-o, Ultra Necrozma (to an extent) and just crushing the various Dark, Dragon and Fighting types found populating the region without major hassle. Plus there's loads of good ones available quite early on too - Popplio, Cutiefly, Mime. Jr. and Mawile all on Melemele Island for example! They don't always have the best movesets (the ones mentioned above luckily do) but Steel types tend to be quite rare in these games and Poison types get bopped by Psychic coverage (you get the Psychic TM just before Ula Ula I think?) so no major hassle there. Maybe it's just Primarina that's nutty in those games...

Electric in basically any game ever

I genuinely believe this is the most consistently good typing you can have in a Pokemon game, outside of Water and Flying. Why is that? Because it beats the Water and Flying types! Every Pokemon game always has an absolute ton of both of those types and in one team slot you never have to worry about a Water route or generic rival again. Electric types tend to be fast, have high attacking stats and spam Thunderbolt without major issue, perfect for a speedy clear of a Pokemon game. One weakness to Ground is easy to cover, and they're only resisted by Dragon (only an issue post-XY, since Dragon trainers before then were usually glorified Flying trainers), Grass (which has a bajillion weaknesses, go nuts) and other Electric types (which isn't a super common type in Pokemon realistically plus most Electric types get coverage for themselves). They all seem to get Thunder Wave to help capture Legendaries or other difficult-to-obtain Pokemon too. Plus there's been an Electric type originally from their region available before the second gym since RBY (except in Hoenn) - Pikachu, Mareep, Shinx, Blitzle, Helioptile, Grubbin (evolves into one) and Yamper! I always run one on my team and many have become firm favourites for me.

Dragon post-Gen 5 (X/Y/S/M/US/UM/Sw/Sh)

Gen 6 onwards may initially make you think it's a bad time to be a Dragon type - they just gained a new weakness and something immune to them in the form of Fairy types, who then became an extremely common type to encounter in the games since their inclusion. How can Dragon types be in their prime after that? The answer is simple - accessibility. You were not obtaining a Dragon type before the 5th-6th gym in most Pokemon games! I'll even list them below:

• Gen 1 - Dratini could be bought at the Celadon Game Corner (the 4th gym, but good luck affording it then) or the Safari Zone in Fuchsia City (where the 5th gym was, technically accessible before the 3rd gym but that's not the traditional path taken).
• Gen 2 - Horsea evolves into Kingdra, which to get requires 5 gym badges minimum to capture and all 8 badges to get an easily-accessible Dragon Scale (otherwise have fun spamming Thief on Horsea for that 2% chance at getting one). Dratini is obtainable in the Dragon's Den, which requires 8 badges, or again you can buy it in the Game Corner (2 badges required, but again expensive so good luck with that).
• Gen 3 - Swablu was obtainable before the 4th gym, with Trapinch being obtained after this. Technically outliers to my above point, but they don't become Dragon types until after the 5th gym where they evolve. Bagon is only available after 8 badges, and Rayquaza in Emerald was obtainable after 7 badges I think?
• Gen 4 - Gible was either obtainable after 6 badges (D/P) or 2 badges (Platinum). This is an outlier but only in Platinum! I believe you can get Altaria in Platinum too - after the 5th badge.
• Gen 5 - earliest Dragon type you can get is Axew, but you need 6 gym badges I believe to access Mistralton Cave to capture it. Druddigon is found soon after around Dragonspiral Tower, and Deino is a Victory Road only Pokemon. I do not believe BW2 makes Dragon types available earlier on besides Trapinch being obtainable before the 4th gym (but again, not evolving before the 5th gym).

From XY onwards? You could nab at least one Dragon type (oftentimes 2 or 3) before the mid-game!

• Gen 6 - Axew, Bagon and Tyrunt were all available before the 2nd gym
• Gen 7 - Bagon was found before Hala on Melemele Island, with Noibat found after the first trial in USUM
• Gen 8 - the Wild Area make a whole bunch of Dragon types available early on via raids - Axew, Applin, Trapinch and Noibat for sure!

Are they good Pokemon? Not really. Axew, Bagon, Trapinch and Tyrunt are passable but the premise of Dragon types is that they're awful in the beginning and evolve into powerhouses. They rely on their resistances to the starter types (Fire, Water, Grass and I guess Electric) to be stable and hit reasonably hard with good coverage and okay STAB, and then grow into the high BST badasses they often become. So yeah, not exactly in their prime but you can at least have one before the mid-game, which I think is better than whatever the hell the games before Gen 6 were doing!

 

[Scorpio]

List #2: Gameplay Relevance (defined as when each type was at its most prominent position based on game balance changes)
Fire: Gens 6+
Electric: Gens 6-7 (Gen 8 nerfed Electric Terrain)
Grass: Gens 6-7 (Gen 8 nerfed Grassy Terrain)
Poison: Gens 6+
Ghost: Gens 6+

I just wanted to mention all of these because their rise to prominence are all pretty much directly related to the introduction of the Fairy type:

Grass and Electric: They benefit from the decreased prominence of Dragon that Fairy not only hits super-effectively, but is immune to (Terrains didn’t really factor into anything until the Tapus happened)
Fire: Not only do they benefit from Dragon’s decreased prominence as well, but they also resist Fairy.
Ghost: Benefits from the decreased prominence of Dark, which Fairy resists and hits super-effectively.
Poison: Resists Fairy and hits it super-effectively, so it’s no longer deadweight offensively and its existing defensive capabilities get more notice.