Pokemon that disappointed you in-game despite looking good initially?

[Plague von Karma]

Speaking of awful fire types in-game, let's talk about Magmar in Blue.
That's it. Honestly there is nothing about Magmar worth using for. I used it simply because it was cool as a rival to Charizard in the anime.
It comes like with three moves: Ember, Confuse Ray and Leer.
You grind it up to lv43 to teach it Fire Punch... thinking about it, doesn't Vulpix learn Flamethrower at lv35 and can evolve immediately with Fire Stone in the same game?
You see, Magmar is the Fire Type that can learn the TM Psychic. So you can get rid of mean Poison Type Elite 4 member...
Fire types are just awful in Gen 1. They can be useful to get rid of bugs early on and stupid weeds, but post game you are fighting seels, dragons and giant rocks. Fire Types struggle against those or are mediocer at best.
At least Gen 2 gave him Thunderpunch and you can get him early on.

I guess that's something anyone who has 2 Gameboys can try. Teach Magmar ThunderPunch and trade it back to Pokemon Blue. Tell me how good it performs against the Elite 4.

Mmm, not wholly sure if I'm sold on this. Maybe it's because I'm of the thought that the thread is for shittalking unusable Pokemon, but in my experience, Magmar has been at least decent.

The thing with Magmar is it actually comes at one of the better times in terms of Fire-types. Coming on Cinnabar Island right before you get TM Fire Blast is great, as you don't need to actually grind for Fire Punch. Vulpix is actual suffering to use up until L35 as by that point you're starting to fight Pokemon that are far more powerful than it; this is a big drawback to stone evolutions not named Exeggcute in my in-game experience. Part of what makes Psychic handy on Magmar is that the Special drop usually lets you smack something with Fire Blast right after, while also being a Fire-type not stonewalled by the Rock-types of Victory Road or the ones that weird Hiker uses in the second Elite Four room. This is another thing Ninetales has issues with overall; you'll usually end up a few levels behind because there just isn't much opportunity to use it late-game. It should also be noted that Magmar isn't terrible against Lorelei at all, though it can't pull off a sweep because of Slowbro (unless it spams Withdraw!!!).

It's still not great solely on the basis of coming late, but the assessment just seems a little unfair.

 

[MellowBusiness]

Mmm, not wholly sure if I'm sold on this. Maybe it's because I'm of the thought that the thread is for shittalking unusable Pokemon, but in my experience, Magmar has been at least decent.

The thing with Magmar is it actually comes at one of the better times in terms of Fire-types. Coming on Cinnabar Island right before you get TM Fire Blast is great, as you don't need to actually grind for Fire Punch. Vulpix is actual suffering to use up until L35 as by that point you're starting to fight Pokemon that are far more powerful than it; this is a big drawback to stone evolutions not named Exeggcute in my in-game experience. Part of what makes Psychic handy on Magmar is that the Special drop usually lets you smack something with Fire Blast right after, while also being a Fire-type not stonewalled by the Rock-types of Victory Road or the ones that weird Hiker uses in the second Elite Four room. This is another thing Ninetales has issues with overall; you'll usually end up a few levels behind because there just isn't much opportunity to use it late-game. It should also be noted that Magmar isn't terrible against Lorelei at all, though it can't pull off a sweep because of Slowbro (unless it spams Withdraw!!!).

It's still not great solely on the basis of coming late, but the assessment just seems a little unfair.

Despite me playing these games for nearly all my life and the day they came out, I've never used a Magmar in any playthrough. I think I've at one point used every Pokemon within GSC/HGSS (excluding National Dex Pokemon) except for Magmar.

Now let me talk about another Pokemon that I don't believe has been mentioned, and this one's a legendary.

The Latis in ORAS.

Now, the Lati's are very well known in competitive. Banned from Gen 3. (Mostly) banned from Gen 4. Dominant forces in both Gen 5 & 6. And even though they've been finally susceptible to (nerfs and) power creep, they're still perfectly viable in OU.
So, you would think this would translate to a simple ingame playthrough, right? In most cases, yes, because they're still legendaries and have a great stat distribution, but it seems like the Lati's have missed the memo of buffed level up movepools that most of the Pokemon in ORAS received.

It starts with decent STAB options such as Dragonbreath and Luster Purge/Mist Ball, but around that point, your starters and other Pokemon will have good STAB options as well as good coverage too and you're stuck with those two options as STAB until much later. The Lati's signature psychic moves have low PP and aren't very strong. Dragon moves aren't also hitting that many Pokemon super effectively either, even though only two types are either immune or resist it. At that point, your only good coverage move (and for a long time) is Surf, but you're also coming upon that part of the game in ORAS where Water coverage/STAB starts losing its effectiveness. The Latis don't gain their strong STAB (Psychic/Dragon Pulse) until way late in the game.

A lot of their level up movepool consists of gimmicky utility moves or moves that can be substituted for items. The comparison to XY Lucario is also apparent because Mega Lucario is ludicrously strong and starts off in a much better state as it has better STAB to use and more useful utility moves too. (It's used for XY speedruns after all while the Latis aren't). They become great late game when they finally have access to moves they were sorely missing out on in the mid game portion, but at that point you'll most likely have access to the Primals, whose immediate power is clearly evident and overwhelming.

You won't ever truly struggle using them in ORAS , as the games are still ridiculously easy, but they definitely are very underwhelming, especially as legendaries AND as legendaries with mega evolutions.

 

[Aduro]

I tried Natu in a mono flying run of HGSS. I thought it would be decent, not great. Synchronise can be quite good in-game, and I figured it would at least hit rock types hard.
It turned out to be completely useless. Its movepool is terrible it learns miracle eye at lvl 14 and psychic at lvl 47. 59 if you evolve it. Without learning psybeam or confusion. Its only special flying move is air cutter. It learns so many useless in-game moves like teleport, miracle eye, lucky chant, and me first. But no decent stab moves.

Its stats are terrible until it evolved at lvl 25, and not great afterwards. Natu might have good sp.a for early game, but it has no moves that take advantage of it. Not to mention being weak to pursuit is a pretty big issue in Gen IV.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Magcargo is also a Pokemon I find really cool design-wise: it's a magma snail! According to the ever-accurate Pokedex, inside that shell sleeps the power to decimate all life. However, the stats say quite the contrary: it can't even end the life of a baby Pokemon in my personal opinion. No HP to make use of its decent defenses, mediocre offensive stats and no speed to speak of. Not to mention it has more common weaknesses than I have allergies, which is a feat in and of itself. Hell, it didn't even get Solar Beam, a move commonplace among Fire-types, until what, Gen 4 I think? I think it should have been the one to get Drought instead of Torkoal if only to make it less awful. Besides, that would make Water less of a devastating weakness!

So I'm playing through Pokemon Gold, which I stream off hardware in my personal server roughly daily right now. I think at the time of writing that post last year I was playing Colosseum? I was quite naive to think it was worthy of any respect. Magcargo in Gen 2 is, in a word, tragic. It exists and now it's everyone's problem.

Despite the Burned Tower, Mt. Mortar, or hell, even Dark Cave existing, Slugma has the nerve to be a 5% encounter around the Kanto Cycling Road, an area next to a river. In Crystal, the developers had to gall to even make it a Day-only encounter, thus making it even more scarce with a lack of any real evidence it exists. So like a lot of the actually good Johto Pokemon, you have to clear the game just to have a taste of what is literally hot garbage. I am shocked, appalled, and outraged!

Why the Cycling Road and the areas around it? I scream, for I do not know. Again, it's literally next to a river, and Slugma is a lava slug radiating thousands of degrees of pure violence. If you touch it, you're being put in a newspaper the next day. However, it also writes itself an obituary because it hardens if it's too cold. So why is it near rivers? Do the Ponyta act as its life support? Why are they there too? It's not a volcano, it's a road over a river for cyclists that probably bump into these fiery demons and get taken off the next census. Why? Why is it like this? Are the Kantonian people ok?

Now, did they fix this in HeartGold? Well, sort of. You can get Pokemon Eggs from Primo in HeartGold which contain either Mareep, Wooper, or Slugma in Violet City. The problem? They're basically cheat codes, based on your Trainer ID, game, and language. You still have to hatch them too. So, effectively, they're impossible to get without the assistance of a website. Did they change anything else? No. They did not. You still have to go to the Cycling Road to find it, also known as going through the fire and flames, apparently.

Now, naturally, any GSCer must be experiencing severe Magcargo deprivation at this point. I mean, it's one of the rarest and most obscure Pokemon in the games. Surely everyone must be clamouring for a taste of that fiery goodness. Well, as any ADV player knows, Game Freak delivered. It's available in every single ADV game - even Colo and GoD - in some form, and is normally super common in each main series location. It's to the point I've seen some people even think it's a Hoenn Pokemon. Since it started being able to KO itself with Self-Destruct - which is beneficial, because you're no longer using Magcargo - I agree that it became a Pokemon there.

In acts of desperation, Magcargo has since received Recover, Stealth Rock, Explosion, Will-O-Wisp, Lava Plume, and even a SpA buff, yet it has some of the worst of everything in the series: terrible typing, depressing stats...geez. And it still somehow demands you go out of your way to get it.

 

[R_N]

Slugma's probably on Cycling Road as a joke, incidentally.

Don't think it's a coincidence that the slug is on the one place in the game where you're forced down, on a bike, to simulate biking down a steep hill.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Why the Cycling Road and the areas around it? I scream, for I do not know. Again, it's literally next to a river, and Slugma is a lava slug radiating thousands of degrees of pure violence. If you touch it, you're being put in a newspaper the next day. However, it also writes itself an obituary because it hardens if it's too cold. So why is it near rivers? Do the Ponyta act as its life support? Why are they there too? It's not a volcano, it's a road over a river for cyclists that probably bump into these fiery demons and get taken off the next census. Why? Why is it like this? Are the Kantonian people ok?

New theory: Slugma isn't a lava snail but rather a pile of discarded cigarette embers & tobacco spit. Kanto has a serious smoker problem around that area, bike riders are always complaining about it.

 

[Sonikku A]

Slugma was petted too much between Gen 2 and 4 as well...

Seriously, what happened?

 

[Pikachu315111]

Slugma was petted too much between Gen 2 and 4 as well...
View attachment 377668
Seriously, what happened?

Not sure what you mean.

Anyway, Sugimori changed his art style after Gen II from I think water colors to digital coloring. Gen III art was a bit of a transition change as he got used to the new coloring style, but by Gen IV he got comfortable in the new style. When they did the remakes for Gen I and II he redrew all the Pokemon so they would match the digital coloring style which had none of the white splotches and more filled in (preferring to use lighter shades of the color if that particular part of the body and light shining on it). This is why ORAS did receive a similar "entire dex redraw" because those Pokemon were already in the digital coloring style, BUT the human characters stilled looked different from his humans from Gen IV onwards which could be why they got redesigns. It makes me curious that, since the Gen IV human characters match the current human character style, if that's one reason why GF decided to skip out giving them redesigns (I'm beginning to suspect a lot of things they're doing for BDSP is an experiment in budgeting and they're seeing how little they can change with adding some little new things here and there to make a DP experience).

 

[Sonikku A]

Not sure what you mean.

Anyway, Sugimori changed his art style after Gen II from I think water colors to digital coloring. Gen III art was a bit of a transition change as he got used to the new coloring style, but by Gen IV he got comfortable in the new style. When they did the remakes for Gen I and II he redrew all the Pokemon so they would match the digital coloring style which had none of the white splotches and more filled in (preferring to use lighter shades of the color if that particular part of the body and light shining on it). This is why ORAS did receive a similar "entire dex redraw" because those Pokemon were already in the digital coloring style, BUT the human characters stilled looked different from his humans from Gen IV onwards which could be why they got redesigns. It makes me curious that, since the Gen IV human characters match the current human character style, if that's one reason why GF decided to skip out giving them redesigns (I'm beginning to suspect a lot of things they're doing for BDSP is an experiment in budgeting and they're seeing how little they can change with adding some little new things here and there to make a DP experience).

When I said "petted too much", I don't mean the medium for art
I mean how his head is legit stretched weird post HGSS
And even starting Emerald the Hoenn starters were subtley changed for proportions, and even more for ORAS
But regardless, I mean how stretched back post Gen 4 Slugma looks

 

[Pikachu315111]

When I said "petted too much", I don't mean the medium for art
I mean how his head is legit stretched weird post HGSS
And even starting Emerald the Hoenn starters were subtley changed for proportions, and even more for ORAS
But regardless, I mean how stretched back post Gen 4 Slugma looks

Ah. Well, we did have that one PokeToon where the little girl visiting her grandparents was excited to see Slugma (and wanted to pet the lava slug that was 10k Celsius; luckily Slugma was smarter). So I guess there are people who want to pet one.

Being serious, could maybe be the angle? GS art is looking pretty much straight on while HGSS is more from the side. Also maybe Sugimori was trying to make it "cuter" by making its face more like an animal's than just a balloon head?

 

[mertyville]

I traded a clone of my shiny Oddish I catched in Emerald into the recently bought Ruby game. I heard that Oddish in Sun equals fun time. Not to mention, I never used Bellossom in a playthrough and you get a free Sun Stone on the way.
Let me tell you, this was anything but fun time. It always died. One of the mistakes I did is just trading over that 28 level Pokemon without giving it some good moves, not that those moves would help much anyways because low base power.
But viability aside, this may be because of my hardware, but you can't see the shininess if you don't look close at it. Here on your PC or Smart Devices, no problem. When I caught that Oddish, I was confused if it was even shiny to begin with and evolving it to anything didn't really change much.
Aside from that, I forgot it was even part of my team most the time. When freaking Aipon feels more useful (traded from Colosseum fresh lv43), then you know you bad.

 

[Bug Maniac Aydon]

I know it's designed to kind of be a beginning Pokemon, but Beedrill in Red.

I've used Beedrill in a couple red runs. What normally goes down is that it's kind of shitty until around Misty or Surge. Twineedle kicks ass. Bug is a really nice type for how many Drowzee, Oddish, Nidoran and whatnot you fight. It beats Misty, Erika, Koga....

And then immediately becomes worthless.

It's worthless for the remaining gyms (killed by Kadabra right out the gate so it's not useful against Sabrina) and has to rely on its setup moves. Now, it does get Agility, Swords Dance, Double Team, and these are amazing moves. But anything at this point is either faster than Beedrill or has an attacking move. It's probably a high level, too! What are ya gonna do, replace it? Well, I guess there is a Wild Safari Zone right outside the last Gym it's any good in, but what do I know.

On the other hand, try Raticate. Nice speed, nice attack, a usable level up moveset. The whole package. Honestly, I get angry when this thing is put on "Worst Team" Videos. I think I heard this is up there as one of the best RBY speedrun mons (with Clefable, the Nido couple, and Blastoise, and I think I heard Dugtrio is used sometimes? Not sure).

Also, i've never used one, but I really wanna use a Watchog. Hypnosis and Super Fang before evolving? Sign me up! Probably another trap though, similar stats to Beedrill probably isn't a good sign. Still, Super Fang means it should always have some offensive validity, right?

 

[Bug Maniac Aydon]

View attachment 366180
The place that lives and breathes HMs so hard that GameFreak realized "We fucked up" and made HMs more bearable in HGSS and put them on the way side in the next generations. Bibarel learns Cut, Surf, Waterfall, Strength, Rock Smash, and Rock Climb but not Fly and Defog which brings us to 6 out of the 8 HMs. Lumineon pales in comparison with, as you may have noticed, only Surf, Waterfall and Defog.
Even then, you get Bidoof since the very start of your journey just in the tall grass near Twinleaf Town waiting for you and it evolves at level 15 with pretty decent stats for the early game and it learns Rollout (Lv. 13, even as a Bidoof), Headbutt (Lv. 18) and Hyper Fang (Lv. 23) through level up.

I think it's worth keeping in mind that Simple is a pretty beast ability. I remember using one in XY. Evolves early, gets Curse, though I distinctly remember using Swords Dance and apparently it doesn't get that in XY? I don't know. But still.

 

[Chadlad50]

I think it's worth keeping in mind that Simple is a pretty beast ability. I remember using one in XY. Evolves early, gets Curse, though I distinctly remember using Swords Dance and apparently it doesn't get that in XY? I don't know. But still.

Bibarel got Swords Dance in Gen 7, so maybe you got it mixed up? I mean they are both 3DS games

Unless you never used Bibarel in SM/USUM in which case I have no idea

 

[Bug Maniac Aydon]

Bibarel got Swords Dance in Gen 7, so maybe you got it mixed up? I mean they are both 3DS games

Unless you never used Bibarel in SM/USUM in which case I have no idea

I've never owned USUM

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

I know it's designed to kind of be a beginning Pokemon, but Beedrill in Red.

I've used Beedrill in a couple red runs. What normally goes down is that it's kind of shitty until around Misty or Surge. Twineedle kicks ass. Bug is a really nice type for how many Drowzee, Oddish, Nidoran and whatnot you fight. It beats Misty, Erika, Koga....

And then immediately becomes worthless.

It's worthless for the remaining gyms (killed by Kadabra right out the gate so it's not useful against Sabrina) and has to rely on its setup moves. Now, it does get Agility, Swords Dance, Double Team, and these are amazing moves. But anything at this point is either faster than Beedrill or has an attacking move. It's probably a high level, too! What are ya gonna do, replace it? Well, I guess there is a Wild Safari Zone right outside the last Gym it's any good in, but what do I know.

I know this is a bit of a counterintuitive argument, but if Beedrill kicks ass for entire mid game up to Koga, but falls off afterwards, then it has done its job as an early game crutch. Beedrill is not meant to be a Pokemon you keep with you to the end of the game: it's an early promote who evolves early and becomes strong early on, but loses its luster later on as it doesn't keep up with the power level late game and at the same time, your available options increase, encouraging you to replace it with a better Pokemon who shows up later on. The early Bugs, including Beedrill's counterpart Butterfree, are designed as a crutch of sorts in that they serve you well early on, but are meant to eventually be replaced as the power level of the game rises and your available options increase. They want you to experiment with the mid and late game mons, and as such, your earliest catches shouldn't be viable enough to serve your needs for the whole game: inevitably, they will fall off or become outclassed and this encourages you to replace them with a mon who becomes available later. This means you have to perform a cost-benefit analysis when using early game Bugs or similar early crutches: because while they may be strong for the early-mid game, they don't keep up and they are also taking EXP away from your other mons, so you have to use them wisely. It's also meant for more casual players to realize that that Butterfree or Beedrill they're using isn't putting in enough work anymore, which may incentivize them to use a mon who can only be found in the later portions of the game.

Also, i've never used one, but I really wanna use a Watchog. Hypnosis and Super Fang before evolving? Sign me up! Probably another trap though, similar stats to Beedrill probably isn't a good sign. Still, Super Fang means it should always have some offensive validity, right?

As much as I despise Watchog as a Pokemon, when I used it once it's actually a usable early game crutch in BW1. It evolves early and gets Retaliate/Return as good STAB and an early Crunch for coverage, which can make it a very dependable ally early on. It can either be a good attacker with Work Up, and it has coverage with Low Kick via relearner, or as you said, it has some support with Hypnosis and Super Fang which can also be useful. It can survive for a surprisingly long time, as it can hold its own all the way up to Brycen: after that it doesn't really keep up once you get to the last Gym and Victory Road/the League, but until then it's very much usable and solid and will put in work. Once it does fall off you have access to better mons evolved like Cinccino, Sawsbuck, Bouffalant, and Scrafty who are all better options later on, but Watchog before they reach their potential can be a useful supporter or even setup sweeper that stays useful until it falls off the face of the earth. Do not expect yourself to be bringing it all the way to the finish line, however.

 

[Bug Maniac Aydon]

I know this is a bit of a counterintuitive argument, but if Beedrill kicks ass for entire mid game up to Koga, but falls off afterwards, then it has done its job as an early game crutch. Beedrill is not meant to be a Pokemon you keep with you to the end of the game: it's an early promote who evolves early and becomes strong early on, but loses its luster later on as it doesn't keep up with the power level late game and at the same time, your available options increase, encouraging you to replace it with a better Pokemon who shows up later on. The early Bugs, including Beedrill's counterpart Butterfree, are designed as a crutch of sorts in that they serve you well early on, but are meant to eventually be replaced as the power level of the game rises and your available options increase. They want you to experiment with the mid and late game mons, and as such, your earliest catches shouldn't be viable enough to serve your needs for the whole game: inevitably, they will fall off or become outclassed and this encourages you to replace them with a mon who becomes available later. This means you have to perform a cost-benefit analysis when using early game Bugs or similar early crutches: because while they may be strong for the early-mid game, they don't keep up and they are also taking EXP away from your other mons, so you have to use them wisely. It's also meant for more casual players to realize that that Butterfree or Beedrill they're using isn't putting in enough work anymore, which may incentivize them to use a mon who can only be found in the later portions of the game.



As much as I despise Watchog as a Pokemon, when I used it once it's actually a usable early game crutch in BW1. It evolves early and gets Retaliate/Return as good STAB and an early Crunch for coverage, which can make it a very dependable ally early on. It can either be a good attacker with Work Up, and it has coverage with Low Kick via relearner, or as you said, it has some support with Hypnosis and Super Fang which can also be useful. It can survive for a surprisingly long time, as it can hold its own all the way up to Brycen: after that it doesn't really keep up once you get to the last Gym and Victory Road/the League, but until then it's very much usable and solid and will put in work. Once it does fall off you have access to better mons evolved like Cinccino, Sawsbuck, Bouffalant, and Scrafty who are all better options later on, but Watchog before they reach their potential can be a useful supporter or even setup sweeper that stays useful until it falls off the face of the earth. Do not expect yourself to be bringing it all the way to the finish line, however.

I know about the earlygame crutch thing, hehe. Does Butterfree stick around longer in RBY? I don't distinctly remember using one for a long term save. It theoretically is more suited for lategame fights than Beedrill is though (has a type that gives it utility against Giovanni, better offense moves and can afford to use Reflect iirc). I'm the kind of person to keep the first 6 pokemon I use and plan a team in advance, so this bothers me a bit more.

Also good to know Watchog puts in work. I've always like the earlygame rodents. I wish Watchog was faster, 77 speed is really sad. It'd probably be cool if it had similar speed to Raticate, though probably a bit slower would be fine.

 

[DrumstickGaming]

I know about the earlygame crutch thing, hehe. Does Butterfree stick around longer in RBY? I don't distinctly remember using one for a long term save. It theoretically is more suited for lategame fights than Beedrill is though (has a type that gives it utility against Giovanni, better offense moves and can afford to use Reflect iirc). I'm the kind of person to keep the first 6 pokemon I use and plan a team in advance, so this bothers me a bit more.

Also good to know Watchog puts in work. I've always like the earlygame rodents. I wish Watchog was faster, 77 speed is really sad. It'd probably be cool if it had similar speed to Raticate, though probably a bit slower would be fine.

Actually I used Watchog and was surprised by how much it outsped at the Pokemon League. It didn’t immediately die and was still reasonably okay, though NO WAY IN HECK you could call it comparable to Stoutland lol

 

[Bug Maniac Aydon]

Actually I used Watchog and was surprised by how much it outsped at the Pokemon League. It didn’t immediately die and was still reasonably okay, though NO WAY IN HECK you could call it comparable to Stoutland lol

Honestly, the earlygame rodents don't get their credit's worth. I'm honestly surprised you and the other people on the RBY Ingame Tier List didn't rank Raticate higher. It has some great stats and isn't overtly reliant on its HMs. Sceptross probably promotes this opinion more than me.

 

[Red Raven]

If there's one pokemon that is a massive disappointment for me it is Luxray



I was a guy who was exposed to pokemon via the anime and the sinnoh arc was the one airing on tv when I was watching it. I did skip a lot but I was able to watch Ash's battle with Volkner and saw how that Luxray was a menace so when I finally played platinum, I got excited about catching a Shinx but using it, it sucks balls. Luxray was the single most worthless pokemon I have ever used. It's slow, has a pathetic stab on its higher attacking stat and if you wanna use a special attacking electric, Luxray's spa stat was equal to Rotom who is like ten times better and is horribly outclassed by Raichu and Jolteon. Even Magnezone is a better pick because of steel typing. Since then, whenever I find something to give advice about gen four games, never ever use Luxray. This pokemon is complete and utter garbage. One would be better off using every other electric type available except for maybe Electivire. I would love to poach every Luxray or its evolution line in existence and sell its parts to the highest bidder

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

If there's one pokemon that is a massive disappointment for me it is Luxray



I was a guy who was exposed to pokemon via the anime and the sinnoh arc was the one airing on tv when I was watching it. I did skip a lot but I was able to watch Ash's battle with Volkner and saw how that Luxray was a menace so when I finally played platinum, I got excited about catching a Shinx but using it, it sucks balls. Luxray was the single most worthless pokemon I have ever used. It's slow, has a pathetic stab on its higher attacking stat and if you wanna use a special attacking electric, Luxray's spa stat was equal to Rotom who is like ten times better and is horribly outclassed by Raichu and Jolteon. Even Magnezone is a better pick because of steel typing. Since then, whenever I find something to give advice about gen four games, never ever use Luxray. This pokemon is complete and utter garbage. One would be better off using every other electric type available except for maybe Electivire. I would love to poach every Luxray or its evolution line in existence and sell its parts to the highest bidder

What lack of STAB does to a mfer.

Shoutout to GSC Quilava.

Mightyena and Luxray are the mons I always use because I like them and not because they're good.

But hey, at least they got Intimidate.

 

[VikavoltIsEpik]

I remember being so excited bc my cousin said he was gonna transfer his from his diamond version to his white version and trade it with me to my black 2 version but it sucked so much. Not only did I have to wait until lvl 46 for it to learn psychic, every time i brought it out I had to cross my fingers that it would ko the opposing pokemon otherwise it would die.
This mon just underwhelmed me. It's just too frail and doesn't have enough special attack to do enough damage. It wad decent early game but it fell off so much late game I had to box it which is a shame because the pokemon is so cute!
This mon early game isn't that good early game due to it's not that great level up moveset. Sure I can get the aerial ace and flame charge tms but they still don't have that much power and I'm stuck with them for a long time. It can get better mid game when evolves into . Sure it gets brave bird and flare blitz before the pokemon league (I was playing usum btw) but it's power is still quite lacking and the recoil is annoying. And swords dance is post game iirc so I couldn't even get the power boost.

I remember using a Vivillon in a pokemon x hc nuzlocke and tbh I thought it was gonna get boxed by gym 2. Yeah uh never judge a book by it's cover this thing was a beast late game with sleep powder compound eyes and quiver dance. Sure it kinda fell of mid game but I was attached to it (try avoiding that in ur nuzlockes lol) so I kept it on the team and it was just kinda there for a bit. Uh then it learnt quiver dance and I'm glad I kept it.

 

[Zowayix]

*Pokes in head* We talking about ways to make Unown better...

Bumping this post from 2020 because it got brought up in the BDSP thread, but I think the TCG did the best job at handling Unown's "crazy mysterious power only when in groups" thing:

A group of Unown on each card, spelling out a specific word, with a universe-breaking game-breaking ability that outright says "You win the game." Two of these cards had to be banned from official formats because people figured out 1-turn combos to pull them off before the opponent ever started their first turn. Can't get much more overpowered than that.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Two of these cards had to be banned from official formats because people figured out 1-turn combos to pull them off before the opponent ever started their first turn.

*Checks their instant win criteria*

DAMAGE: 66+ damage counters (aka 660+ damage) on benched Pokemon.
HAND: 35+ cards in your hand.
MISSING: Opponent has 12+ Supporter cards in the Lost Zone.

... How? Like, maybe I can see doing it with HAND but the only other one you would have control over is DAMAGE and how would you generate that much damage on one tur...

Here be broken combos

Jeez.

 

[DrPumpkinz]