i have been playing a crapload of pokemon lately. pearl, leaf green, emerald, ruby, gold, my pokemon ranch, trozei…seems like anything with pokemon involved makes me want to spend hours playing videogames.
however, in playing these games, you realise which pokemon suck, and which don’t.
metapod is the pokemon equivalent to a bicycle seat. bidoof has no type advantages, other than being immune to ghost. sentret is the exact same pokemon as bidoof, zigzagoon, and rattata. and most of the pokemon really are filler pokemon that won’t be in your party against the elite four. normal types? no. bug types? doubt it. pre-evolutions? probably not. spoink? has anyone ever taken a spoink to the elite four? is there even a point to magikarp? you can argue gyrados all you want, but if you use your water pokemon as an hm slave the way i know you use your geodude, gyrados won’t even be able to learn any of the dragon moves you want to keep it around for, and getting rid of those hm moves is a pain in the ass.
catching them all is one thing, but using any other than the five (maybe six, depending on your appreciation for your HM slave) that you choose to be in your party, is another story entirely.
i’m currently using a nidorina named wendy in my leaf green game. i’ve found, though, that her shear uselessness has made her a pretty useful pokemon. double kick? good against normal types. poison sting? poison is useful in tough battles and catching. cut? always a useful hm. and her poison barb means that when a pokemon uses a physical attack on her, like tackle or quick attack, they end up getting poisoned. the absolute crappiness of nidorina makes it a pretty interesting party member.
i tend to keep a grass starter, an electric, a fire, a water, and a flying type in my party. an onyx usually serves as a pretty wonderful hm-carrier, as it can learn rock smash, rock climb, strength, and a lot of other useful moves. a psychic type can be a real advantage, and sometimes it’s good to train up a pokemon just to defeat a specific gym, like needing that fighting type for the normal gym, or a psychic type for a fighting gym. train up more than just your six favorites.
and give them names. it’s not necessary, but nothing in pokemon is freaking necessary. for fuck’s sake, you’re practically having dog fights every three minutes—at least give the dogs a name and a warm ultraball to sleep in.
