Research A Look at a Survey of the Most/Least Used Pokemon for in-game playthroughs historically

[QuentinQuonce]

Pretty surprised not to see Smeargle make any of the least-used lists for Johto, Kalos, or Alola (though it does come very close for all three).

Even despite it's lacklustre stats, Smeargle in GSC/HGSS requires going far out of your way to one very small patch of grass where it's a 10% spawn (and Crystal further restricts it by making it time-dependent) while Kalos has so many Pokemon available it's quite plausible that you'll already have a full team of 6 by the time you come to the area it's in (and it's not a particularly common spawn there, either). Alola makes it available quite early on, but again it's only restricted to one area and it's not an especially common spawn there either.

All this aside, if you're a new player or just plain inexperienced it's very easy to mess up raising one. The first Smeargle I ever caught became useless when I Sketched Belly Drum off a Poliwag in Ecruteak City, so I boxed it forever. Unless you get a powerful move with a lot of utility (unlikely in the early-game) it requires a lot of babying to raise. I guess I'm just surprised to see things like Fearow or Venomoth - which can at least pull their weight to a degree - finish behind Smeargle.

 

[Worldie]

Pretty surprised not to see Smeargle make any of the least-used lists for Johto, Kalos, or Alola (though it does come very close for all three).

Even despite it's lacklustre stats, Smeargle in GSC/HGSS requires going far out of your way to one very small patch of grass where it's a 10% spawn (and Crystal further restricts it by making it time-dependent) while Kalos has so many Pokemon available it's quite plausible that you'll already have a full team of 6 by the time you come to the area it's in (and it's not a particularly common spawn there, either). Alola makes it available quite early on, but again it's only restricted to one area and it's not an especially common spawn there either.

All this aside, if you're a new player or just plain inexperienced it's very easy to mess up raising one. The first Smeargle I ever caught became useless when I Sketched Belly Drum off a Poliwag in Ecruteak City, so I boxed it forever. Unless you get a powerful move with a lot of utility (unlikely in the early-game) it requires a lot of babying to raise. I guess I'm just surprised to see things like Fearow or Venomoth - which can at least pull their weight to a degree - finish behind Smeargle.

Well if you use my point of view from previous post...

In a vacuum, with no knowledge of the game mechanics at all, a dog with a paintbrush who can copy any opponent move definitely looks more intriguing to play and mess with than... a generic bird and giant moth.

 

[Coronis]

It's interesting that there's no Galar Pokémon in the least used lists you got.

For me at least, on my first playthrough of each game I like to use Pokemon new to that generation. (except Silver but I didn’t own a Kanto game prior to that)

 

[Siggu]

For me at least, on my first playthrough of each game I like to use Pokemon new to that generation. (except Silver but I didn’t own a Kanto game prior to that)

So do I. It seems this approach is more popular than I thought.

 

[Worldie]

So do I. It seems this approach is more popular than I thought.

It's very popular on people who played multiple previous entries.
And it does make sense honestly, because there's a decent enough chance you already used or at least seen the pokes you had interest in before, and are mostly curious about what the *new* pokemon do.

 

[Coronis]

It's very popular on people who played multiple previous entries.
And it does make sense honestly, because there's a decent enough chance you already used or at least seen the pokes you had interest in before, and are mostly curious about what the *new* pokemon do.

Mhmm, thats why I like to remain as spoiler free as possible beyond initial trailers, so I can enjoy that first playthrough with all the new experiences as much as possible.

 

[Bakugames]

Galar trailers also revealed very little (not even starter evolutions! Which I have mixed feelings about), so people were more likely to stick around with early game galar mons to see what they turned into

 

[WinterArcanine]

I wonder if there's any surveys like this for USUM or SV?

If there's not, unfortunately I don't think I'd be able to do something like this and get enough responses, or I'd consider doing it myself. But it'd be interesting to see surveys for them as they're the only two mainline games (besides legends, but idk if most people even used a regular team for that game) to not have a survey on this thread.

 

[bdt2002]

I wonder if there's any surveys like this for USUM or SV?

If there's not, unfortunately I don't think I'd be able to do something like this and get enough responses, or I'd consider doing it myself. But it'd be interesting to see surveys for them as they're the only two mainline games (besides legends, but idk if most people even used a regular team for that game) to not have a survey on this thread.

I would imagine something like this exists for the Alola games (separate lists for each iteration) but not for Galar and Paldea. The thing about these regions is that not only are there a lot of Pokémon to poll, but the ability to do things as you please in the Wild Area and in Paldea’s entirety (level scaling not withstanding) add in so many variables of uncertainty. Which Paldea storyline is being studied? How much time is spent in which parts of the Wild Area? Things like that.

For Alola, on the other hand, I happen to know there’s a lot of Pokémon that were deemed popular especially by the time the Ultra games came out. Provided this is just based off of what I’ve seen from the community, Hawlucha and Zoroark were used on several teams, the latter likely rising in usage to its ability to cheese Ultra Necrozma.

 

[WinterArcanine]

I would imagine something like this exists for the Alola games (separate lists for each iteration) but not for Galar and Paldea. The thing about these regions is that not only are there a lot of Pokémon to poll, but the ability to do things as you please in the Wild Area and in Paldea’s entirety (level scaling not withstanding) add in so many variables of uncertainty. Which Paldea storyline is being studied? How much time is spent in which parts of the Wild Area? Things like that.

For Alola, on the other hand, I happen to know there’s a lot of Pokémon that were deemed popular especially by the time the Ultra games came out. Provided this is just based off of what I’ve seen from the community, Hawlucha and Zoroark were used on several teams, the latter likely rising in usage to its ability to cheese Ultra Necrozma.

Well, in the thread itself, there's one for galar but not one for usum

 

[bdt2002]

Well, in the thread itself, there's one for galar but not one for usum

Really? I was expecting the opposite to be true. Might have to take a look at the Galar list, then. Aside from the early-game monster that is Hone Claws Power Trip Rookidee, I’m not sure what else could have placed highly.