Little things you like about Pokémon

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

So talking about Geeta in Indigo Disk:

Geeta Upgraded Team

Me talking

I like how it feels much more like a real Champion team in many ways.

She has a pseudo-legendary in Dragapult, even if that overlaps with Leon, and she incidentally has a starter in Chesnaught, who is a strong Pokemon but also underrated imo, but also has a nice strategy with Leech Seed, Spiky Shield, and Bulk Up+Drain Punch to play the slow and bulky game with an actual strategy behind it.

But I also like how she switched Glimmora to the front and has Kingambit as her true ace. While gameplay wise Kingambit being her ace is the best move because her Kingambit has Supreme Overlord as its ability, saving it for last so that it gets the maximum Supreme Overlord boost to add that much more oomph to its attacks, having Supreme Overlord Kingambit as her true "ace" is also great because frankly, from a flavor standpoint, Kingambit was always the most suitable "ace" for Geeta.

Kingambit is statistically strong and a three stage mon, but its lore behind itself and its ability also suits Geeta the best. "Supreme Overlord" ties into Kingambit's lore in that in-universe, Kingambit is the supreme overlord of an entire army of Bisharp and Pawniard, all of who are completely subservient to a single Kingambit's command. Geeta's whole schtick is that she is the "supreme commander" of the Paldea League, as she is the chairwoman and in the Paldea's League business like structure, she is at the absolute top of the hierarchy having strongarmed all of the Gym Leaders and Elite Four into her service, and they all follow her rules obediently. She is noted to reign supreme among Paldea's Champions as the most powerful and skilled Trainer of them all, adding to her power and influence, to the point where she is referred to as "La Primera", being the number one Trainer in the region.

Also nice that she uses Tera in a creative way this time, using it defensively in addition to offensively, covering Kingambit's severe Fighting weakness and turning it into a resistance before firing a Tera Blast that would murder Fighting-types. The average player is gonna be in for a shock here when they are treated to this.

But yeah, Kingambit being her true ace is great, and I always thought it was the best suited "ace" for Geeta given her character, it almost feels like it was designed with her in mind and to see that it's really her actual strongest Pokemon is nice.

---

Also disclaimer the following is about Nemona's League Club Teams:

Nemona's Ultimate Teams

But in the above, well,

Cool stuff

Nemona uses an old gen starter, and depending on your choice she can use one of Decidueye, Infernape, or Greninja.

This is pretty cool because aside from the fact that they're similar in style of design, when you look at Nemona's character, she's the most blatantly Ash Ketchum-esque character the games have had so far. They definitely knew what they were doing in what choices they gave to her as her old gen starter, since Greninja and Infernape are two of Ash's most iconic Pokemon, and Decidueye is also iconic, even though Ash's Rowlet never evolved, but it still fits the throughline and really reinforces how Ash-like Nemona is, by having her use some of his most iconic Pokemon.

Just some cool bits from the new half of the DLC.

 

[pika pal]

So talking about Geeta in Indigo Disk:

Geeta Upgraded Team

View attachment 581675

Me talking

I like how it feels much more like a real Champion team in many ways.

She has a pseudo-legendary in Dragapult, even if that overlaps with Leon, and she incidentally has a starter in Chesnaught, who is a strong Pokemon but also underrated imo, but also has a nice strategy with Leech Seed, Spiky Shield, and Bulk Up+Drain Punch to play the slow and bulky game with an actual strategy behind it.

But I also like how she switched Glimmora to the front and has Kingambit as her true ace. While gameplay wise Kingambit being her ace is the best move because her Kingambit has Supreme Overlord as its ability, saving it for last so that it gets the maximum Supreme Overlord boost to add that much more oomph to its attacks, having Supreme Overlord Kingambit as her true "ace" is also great because frankly, from a flavor standpoint, Kingambit was always the most suitable "ace" for Geeta.

Kingambit is statistically strong and a three stage mon, but its lore behind itself and its ability also suits Geeta the best. "Supreme Overlord" ties into Kingambit's lore in that in-universe, Kingambit is the supreme overlord of an entire army of Bisharp and Pawniard, all of who are completely subservient to a single Kingambit's command. Geeta's whole schtick is that she is the "supreme commander" of the Paldea League, as she is the chairwoman and in the Paldea's League business like structure, she is at the absolute top of the hierarchy having strongarmed all of the Gym Leaders and Elite Four into her service, and they all follow her rules obediently. She is noted to reign supreme among Paldea's Champions as the most powerful and skilled Trainer of them all, adding to her power and influence, to the point where she is referred to as "La Primera", being the number one Trainer in the region.

Also nice that she uses Tera in a creative way this time, using it defensively in addition to offensively, covering Kingambit's severe Fighting weakness and turning it into a resistance before firing a Tera Blast that would murder Fighting-types. The average player is gonna be in for a shock here when they are treated to this.

But yeah, Kingambit being her true ace is great, and I always thought it was the best suited "ace" for Geeta given her character, it almost feels like it was designed with her in mind and to see that it's really her actual strongest Pokemon is nice.

Just some cool bits from the new half of the DLC.

Another thing I like about the Geeta team (unsure if it was intentional in this case)

Hide

Kingambit is noted in its Violet Dex entry to not really be good at complex strategy, just having the brute strength to overpower its opponents. Besides a joke about how this fits Geeta's less-well-piloted Story team, I think this trait also feels applicable to her the way you mention her role as "La Primera" coming up. Geeta in story is the Chairwoman for the League and the strongest member of it, but from the way a lot of the Gym Leaders regard her, she kind of overworks them or otherwise isn't someone they have a very high opinion of as a boss. I always got the sense that Geeta was a strong and maybe even well-intentioned head, but she is either terrible at reading her subordinates or simply doesn't care much about their concerns vs running the League as she thinks it needs to be. I've said this as far back as the original game so I feel a bit vindicated by the shift around.

I also choose to retroactively believe this means for all her talk, Geeta WAS pulling punches during the League Battle since from a Champion perspective it's more akin to an exam/certification than a title defense as was the case with every previous League. The rematch as a Coach is off-the-book and explicitly about already-Champion level trainers trying to better themselves, so no reason to pace or gauge herself in this scenario.

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

What I like? In SV, you have a fix dans stone Not Too far away From a lvl28 firlia. This is the best improvement imo. having To Go To victory road with a kirlia was a shame In ORAS when 95%of ppl would just drop it earlier for a latwin. Then in swsh, While it got ways easier, you first had To find the kirlia, with ralts being rare and weather-dependent before league If you didn't have dlc, and weather dependent but Not quite rare in SWSH DLC1. For real, a guaranteed dawn stone near a guaranteed kirlia with normal gender odds was the best thing gamefreak could do in SV. oh Wait nO the best thing they Did in SV was giving gallade sacred sword and sharpness. Really the best move, gamefreak, thanks

 

[Esserise]

I really love the atmosphere and biodiversity of the Savanna biome. It’s such a unique sort of environment that the games have never really captured before — I suppose it’s kind of what the original Safari Zone was going for, but the Kanto games’ limited mode of expression can only do so much. But here, in The Indigo Disk, the feeling of walking through an open, dry grassland full of lizards, giraffes, zebras, birds of prey, dung beetles, ostriches, rhinos, lions, cattle, crocodiles, antlions, and more generates such an awesome experience. The terrain feels so organic and lived-in by the various wildlife. It’s easily my favorite of the four Terarium zones.

Carbink being one of the transfer only Pokemon during the pre-DLC days. We thought it was only included because Diancie was also brought back. But in reality, it was in Paldea the whole time - just located in the Area 0 underdepths.

As someone who pays a lot of attention to Dex entries and such, as soon as I saw Carbink down there, I remembered its Pokédex entry which says it has slept underground for hundreds of millions of years. That little detail created a nice atmospheric element for me because it instantly made the underdepths feel like an ancient, nearly-untouched place.

(Since you mention it though, I think a Diancie encounter down there would have been really cool. Surely some of those Carbink have undergone the rare mutation at some point. Maybe would be best kept as a postgame thing so as not to distract from Terapagos, but still.)

 

[pika pal]

As someone who pays a lot of attention to Dex entries and such, as soon as I saw Carbink down there, I remembered its Pokédex entry which says it has slept underground for hundreds of millions of years. That little detail created a nice atmospheric element for me because it instantly made the underdepths feel like an ancient, nearly-untouched place.

(Since you mention it though, I think a Diancie encounter down there would have been really cool. Surely some of those Carbink have undergone the rare mutation at some point. Maybe would be best kept as a postgame thing so as not to distract from Terapagos, but still.)

Diancie could have been an option for "De-mythical-cation" along the lines of Meloetta having an appearance in the Terarium, whether some trigger on your part or just being another treat from Snacksworth alongside all the other returning Legendaries (perhaps he mentions Carbink being really drawn to it but not a Diancie encounter to maintain the secret area for the Underdepths proper)?

"Pokemon fan not spot patterns" Challenge moment, but I notice that they've been making at least one Mythical "normally" available each Gen in sequence:

• Mew was in My Pokemon Ranch and later a Save Bonus for BDSP alongside Jirachi
• Celebi was made a regularly-doable event in the Crystal VC release (compared to RBY not having a Mew equivalent)
• Deoxys got added to the Delta Episode in ORAS
• LA made all of the Sinnoh Mythicals available in game (2 from Save Data but Arceus and Manaphy are regular additions)
• Keldeo is in the Crown Tundra
• Meloetta in the Indigo Disk DLC
• The Pokemon Home Melmetal and QR Code Magearna also bear mention, albeit still requiring some external resource even without a time gate.

The Gen 6 Mythicals would probably be next up unless they want to round out the Unova ones with Genesect, and given Carbink keeps recurring, Diancie is probably a good candidate between fitting their habitats and being the "Mew" type they marketed the most with things like a Mega Evolution.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Diancie could have been an option for "De-mythical-cation" along the lines of Meloetta having an appearance in the Terarium, whether some trigger on your part or just being another treat from Snacksworth alongside all the other returning Legendaries (perhaps he mentions Carbink being really drawn to it but not a Diancie encounter to maintain the secret area for the Underdepths proper)?

"Pokemon fan not spot patterns" Challenge moment, but I notice that they've been making at least one Mythical "normally" available each Gen in sequence:

• Mew was in My Pokemon Ranch and later a Save Bonus for BDSP alongside Jirachi
• Celebi was made a regularly-doable event in the Crystal VC release (compared to RBY not having a Mew equivalent)
• Deoxys got added to the Delta Episode in ORAS
• LA made all of the Sinnoh Mythicals available in game (2 from Save Data but Arceus and Manaphy are regular additions)
• Keldeo is in the Crown Tundra
• Meloetta in the Indigo Disk DLC
• The Pokemon Home Melmetal and QR Code Magearna also bear mention, albeit still requiring some external resource even without a time gate.

The Gen 6 Mythicals would probably be next up unless they want to round out the Unova ones with Genesect, and given Carbink keeps recurring, Diancie is probably a good candidate between fitting their habitats and being the "Mew" type they marketed the most with things like a Mega Evolution.

We can probably expect the de-mythicalising trend to continue but there's not really a pattern for which ones. If we get a new Unova game/sequel/remake in the near future you'd expect one of Unova's remaining mythicals to get the same treatment but seeing as they've already done Keldeo and Meloetta they might just throw in another region's mythical instead, with some random NPC in Castelia City giving you a Hoopa or a Zeraora apropos of nothing.

Considering VC Crystal is now no longer available it'd be nice if they could make Celebi available again. I think the moment for a Let's Go Johto game has probably passed but you never know...

 

[RocketSurgery]

https://x.com/SoulSurVGC/status/1738225333919486030?s=20

the japanese players have created a silly rock paper scissor game using Hitmonchan with mach punch, focus punch and upper hand. (upper>mach>focus>upper)

This is such a cute idea for a side tournament at VGC events, I love that some players realized these moves have a classic rock paper scissors loop.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

<3

 

[Yung Dramps]

Jun Senuoe's disappointing work on Sonic Superstars has filled me with a new level of gratitude for how Go Ichinose has yet to lose his touch even after how long he's been at it. It takes a very special level of talent to create Giratina's theme, one of the best battle themes in the series, and then do a better version of it 15 years later

 

[Samtendo09]

and do I even want to know what Volbeat & Illumise "Fluid" is?

Their Fluid is actually either illuminating fluids, or some sort of toxic blood, as real life fireflies’ blood-like fluid are dangerous and poisonous to consume, hence why they do not have much predators except certain birds, spiders and frogs.

The two don’t learn Toxic because, logically, they’ll end up putting their lives in a death warrant.

 

[Buzzer_Error]

Perhaps it's just the fact that it creates a throughline between two otherwise very different games, but I really enjoy how

is by all appearances a direct descendant of

(and you just know Lacey would appreciate the cuteness of a Goomy)

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Regigigas, the Pokemon whose power is cut by it being way too tired to function right now because it just woke up, could not learn Rest for the longest time.

It wishes it could go back to sleep but it can't.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Regigigas, the Pokemon whose power is cut by it being way too tired to function right now because it just woke up, could not learn Rest for the longest time.

It wishes it could go back to sleep but it can't.

Similarly, Durant, the hardworking ant Pokemon, has Truant as a hidden ability.

Durant just dreams of being able to take a day off.

 

[Coronis]

Similarly, Durant, the hardworking ant Pokemon, has Truant as a hidden ability.

Durant just dreams of being able to take a day off.

Or it is really just a Tru Ant.




Must be getting old - too many dad jokes lately.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Must be getting old - too many dad jokes lately.

There needs to be a facepalm reaction on here... (with what Pokemon, though? Psyduck? Lucario? Scrafty?)

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

There needs to be a facepalm reaction on here... (with what Pokemon, though? Psyduck? Lucario? Scrafty?)

Use mr mime

 

[Jungle cruiser]

Similarly, Durant, the hardworking ant Pokemon, has Truant as a hidden ability.

Durant just dreams of being able to take a day off.

I had always thought it was a reference to ant drones (the males basically, all the other ones are females). They mostly serve to reproduce with the queens and nothing else rly, so I assumed they'd be portrayed as "lazy" and thus get truant.

Ofc, durant can get it as both females and males so it might not be that, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[Esserise]

I always liked the almost certainly unintended galaxy brain interpretation of “Durant’s Pokédex entries mention how different Durant play different roles in driving away Heatmor from the nest, so some Durant probably have Truant so that they can swap it onto invading Heatmor via Entrainment”

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

I know we all make fun of trade evolutions nowadays, but recently playing through Gen 1+2 again I looked at the original four trade evolutions, Alakazam, Machamp, Golem, and Gengar. The cool thing is that when you look at all four of them together, they all parallel and contrast each other in different ways from each other to a point where it feels like each one is the other's counterpart in a different, but equal way.

and

- Brain vs Brawn dynamic, both single typed with Psychic and Fighting being counterparts
- Ties into their lore with Alakazam being hyper intelligent and Machamp having superb muscles
- One is fast, specially oriented, and frail, while the other is slow, physically oriented, and bulky
- 3:1 gender ratio

and

- Min-maxed stats in opposite manners. Alakazam has low HP, Attack, and Defense and higher Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed, while Golem is the opposite with high HP, Attack, and Defense and low Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed.
- Both got a +10 stat boost in Gen 6, with Alakazam gaining +10 Special Defense and Golem gaining +10 Attack.

and

- Both are fast, frail, and specially oriented with specially oriented types.
- In Gen 1, they have the same stat progression of +15 to every stat each time they evolve.
- Both got a Mega Evolution in X and Y

and

- Both are slow, bulky, and physically oriented with physically oriented types
- Machamp gains two arms upon evolving from Machoke, while Golem loses two upon evolving from Graveler
- They both got a Gen 5 expy in Conkeldurr and Gigalith respectively

and

- They're less minmaxed but have a one-sided offensive profile and relatively even defenses on both sides, with relatively opposite statlines
- Machamp is a Fighting-type while Gengar is a Ghost-type, one based on power, the other on trickery and deceit
- Both got Gigantamax forms in Sword and Shield and are the aces of version exclusive counterpart Gym Leaders Bea and Allister

and

- Both are dual-typed, Golem being Rock/Ground and Gengar being Ghost/Poison
- Share the same evolution level at Level 25, and then again by trade
- In Gen 1 they had the same highest two values in two different stats at 100/80 as Geodude and Gastly, 115/95 as Graveler and Haunter, and 130/110 as Golem and Gengar, with Golem in Attack and Defense and Gengar in Special and Speed
- In contrast to Machamp and Alakazam being humanoid, these two are less so but have the same progression being just a head as Geodude and Gastly, then gaining limbs as Graveler and Haunter, then becoming a spherical armed and legged monster as Golem and Gengar.

A lot of rambling but I think the fact that all four parallel each other in a way is pretty cool.

 

[pika pal]

Regarding Durant, I've heard talk that Truant is a reference to a behavior/phenomena in which Ants almost always have a few "lazy" workers among their number (in a 20-60-20 ratio for hard-normal-lazy Worker Ants), to the point that even if you make a workforce out of strictly "hard" workers, 20% of them will exhibit "Lazy" behavior in time anyway, implying this is voluntary or purposeful for the Colony function and not individualized behavior.

There are a lot of theories on what purpose the "lazy" ants serve that include: Food Reserves by essentially holding food to share with the other workers (while not working to minimize their own need for it); an Emergency labor force that can function at full capacity in an extenuating circumstance; Guard Ants for predators or competing insects; simple back-up labor in case of scenarios like being snowed in where constant work is required but the hardest workers may die to keep up necessity (such as cleaning and applying anti-bacterial substances to eggs).

In most of the above cases, the Truant Ants are "lazy" as a role until their work is absolutely required for the colony, which explains why Durant has Entrainment: If the Ant Abilities represent the different "roles" of the Workers, Entrainment is a way to communicate a change in role from one to another (i.e. a Swarm/Hustle Durant telling Truants "we need all hands, get into work mode" or vice versa with "we have enough hands, you're on reserve").

Another neat part of this I find is Hustle being the "hard" worker ability, but also one that will likely put the Durant in more danger since it gets stronger but less accurate, akin to exhausting oneself and making mistakes from losing focus in that state or simply because in a battle context they're at risk of being fainted/killed without beating the foe if they miss. This also would mean fewer Hustle Durants left and thus if the Truants have to act, they'll mostly receive Swarm to maintain the ratio and avoid endangering the already weakened/dwindling Workforce (instead working harder only for that weaker state if reflecting Swarm's game mechanic).

This mon actually has a pretty neat amount of theming in its gameplay build which I appreciate a lot more than the Heatmor/Durant duality itself.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Talk of Dragons in the Unpopular Opinions thread made me realize how funny Altaria's Emerald dex entry is in comparison to its Ruby and Sapphire entries.

Ruby:

"Altaria dances and wheels through the sky among billowing, cotton-like clouds. By singing melodies in its crystal-clear voice, this Pokémon makes its listeners experience dreamy wonderment."​

Sapphire:

"Altaria sings in a gorgeous soprano. Its wings are like cotton clouds. This Pokémon catches updrafts with its buoyant wings and soars way up into the wild blue yonder."​

Emerald:

1. It hums in a beautiful soprano voice.
2. It flies among white clouds in the blue sky.
3. It launches intensely hot fireballs from its mouth.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

 

[Omastar68]

I'm sure it's been said, and I'm not sure it's exactly little, but in gen 8 going forward being able to get to boxes(most) anywhere. Having to go to a pc was sorta annoying, not at the time but now it would be.

 

[R_N]

I'm sure it's been said, and I'm not sure it's exactly little, but in gen 8 going forward being able to get to boxes(most) anywhere. Having to go to a pc was sorta annoying, not at the time but now it would be.

It's especially useful for cleaning up the dex or wanting to burn through raids faster (it lets you pick a different guy out of the box, but easier to just plop them in your team at the front if you're going to use them a bunch)



Also, while I did just complain about the selection process in the other thread, I love that multiplayer battles have let you pick the song you want. I don't really do multiplayer at all, but it's still nice to have the option and adds extra variety to youtube matches.

These games have so much battle music, it's nice to have it all available. It's something I'd like to have in a battle facility (if those ever come back)

 

[DrumstickGaming]

I love how uncharacteristically shocked the text boxes are in Pokemon Colosseum when your Pokemon attacks you from Hyper Mode

they are literally shaking and crying rn