My Quick Thoughts for Each Pokémon

[SlowAriados]

Rattata-

Rattata is the first early route "rodent" Pokémon of the series. In the wild, it's commonly seen in numerous routes of Kanto and Johto. Like Pidgey, Rattata plays the role of being common and not very valuable. Purple is an interesting color choice for an early rodent/rat Pokémon, usually the early rodents are more natural colors like brown. Surprisingly, the Rattata line can learn some interesting, special TM moves such as Ice Beam, Bubblebeam, Thunderbolt, and Thunder! (I'm not sure I can buy Rattata summoning Thunder haha). Many Normal type Pokémon can learn TM moves of a wide variety of types, but early route rodents like Rattata are somewhat limited in this regard. They can learn some special TM moves, but not as much as other Normal types. Rattata can learn some Electric, Ice, and Water TMs for example. But it cannot learn Fire, Psychic, or Grass TMs like many other Normal type Pokémon can. Despite being weak, Rattata is pretty infamous for being able to defeat a level 100 Arceus using the "FEAR" strategy.

 

[SlowAriados]

Raticate-

Raticate has okay stats and is good for the early portion of the games. But you're not really intended to keep using it later as better options emerge. It has good speed and decent attack, but its other stats aren't the best. The shift from Rattata's purple to Raticate's more natural brown is quite the radical color change. I wonder why they made Rattata have such a unique color then have it lose it for a more earthly one. I think maybe Rattata should've been a more earthly color too, so the evolution would be a bit smoother without a massive color change. The Raticate line has had two signature moves (Hyper Fang & Super Fang) surprisingly, despite just being the "early route rodent." Not even just one signature move, but it got TWO! And these moves are actually pretty good. Most other early game rodents don't have signature moves. I guess the developers felt that Rattata and Raticate needed more specialized moves relating to their large teeth.

Nickname Ideas: Emile, Overbite

 

[SlowAriados]

Spearow-

I like that Gen 1 had an alternative bird option to Pidgey: Spearow. I prefer the Spearow line over the Pidgey line. Spearow is actually a little stronger than Pidgey. It has a slightly higher Base Stat Total, and its Attack & Speed are quite a bit higher than Pidgey's. It has a little less bulk than Pidgey though. The Spearow line seems more aggressive than the Pidgey line. The two bird lines have different styles of Flying attacks. The Spearow line's level up Flying moves are more focused on using beaks, while the Pidgey line is more focused on using wings/wind to attack. Spearow's stats and moveset represent its more aggressive nature. Spearow is also another Normal/Flying type bird. This cements the trend of making average birds Normal/Flying type rather than just pure Flying type. I wonder what the Pokémon series would be like if all of these birds were pure Flying or Bird type instead?

 

[SlowAriados]

Fearow-

I prefer Fearow over Pidgeot (except when Pidgeot can Mega Evolve). Fearow hits harder than Pidgeot, and it is faster too in the earlier games. Pidgeot got a Speed buff in later games, making it slightly faster than Fearow in base stats. Fearow has quite a bit less bulk than Pidgeot does though. Fearow is set up a bit more like a glass canon, while Pidgeot's stats are more balanced. But Pidgeot is the better option in games that have its Mega form. Pidgeot has a higher base stat total than Fearow, but I prefer the higher Attack of Fearow. I also like that you get Fearow much sooner than Pidgeot. Spearow evolves into Fearow at just level 20, while Pidgeotto evolves into Pidgeot at level 36. Fearow has a more aggressive moveset and nature than Pidgeot. It usually uses its beak to attack rather than its wings.

Nickname Ideas: Ho-Oh

 

[SlowAriados]

Ekans-

DID YOU KNOW THAT EKANS IS SNAKE SPELLED BACKWARDS???
Oh right, everyone knows that already... When I was a kid, everyone at my elementary school thought that was the coolest thing ever. Everyone would randomly mention that Ekans is snake spelled backwards. This is an interesting way to create Pokémon names, so maybe they should try doing this more often. It's not real obvious that Ekans is snake spelled backwards at first, and Ekans does sound like an actual name for a creature. Ekans's design is simple. It's basically a cartoon, purple rattlesnake. I like its unique purple color, you don't see too many purple snakes. Its color clearly represents its Poison typing. The Ekans line actually had a signature move in Gen 1, Glare. Since there weren't any other snakes at the time, Glare was Ekans and Arbok's signature move. The move gives them a way to paralyze opponents without electricity. When more snakes and reptiles were added to the series, some of them gained the move too.

Nickname Ideas: Rattles

 

[SlowAriados]

Arbok-

ARBOK = COBRA
Well, not quite. Obviously, Arbok is Cobra spelled backwards, but they changed the C to a K. "Arboc" wouldn't have looked right I guess, the name Arbok looks better. Design-wise, Arbok's design is a bit more complex than Ekans's. It is a cartoon, purple cobra. But it has an interesting face-like pattern on its chest. There are actually a couple of different versions of this pattern across different games and media. There was a bit of an inconsistentcy here. That's interesting, does this mean that there are different variations or forms of Arbok? Maybe there are different variants in different regions? That's an interesting idea anyway. Its pattern has been standardized around Gen 4 and seems to have been consistent since.

It's interesting that a rattlesnake evolves into a different kind of snake, a cobra. I guess that's an upgrade. I think Arbok is pretty cool and menacing. But in the first six generations, I don't think that exactly showed in its stats. During those generations, its Base Stat Total was 438. That seems kind of low for such an intimidating cobra. Its Attack Stat was 85, I would say that's decent. I feel like a big cobra should have higher Attack than that. But at least it was buffed in Gen 7, so now the Attack is 95. I think that's more fitting, I would say 95 Attack is good. So its Base Stat Total got bumped up to 448, which is more fitting. Its other stats aren't the best. Its Speed is surprisingly, decently high at 80, faster than you think a snake would be. Its Special Defense is decent too. Its other stats are okay. This tells me that Arbok was intended to be used more for the early portion of the game originally, as it has somewhat lower stats. Ekans is caught earlier in the game, and it is listed earlier in the Kanto Pokédex. But at least it got a buff in later Gens.

Nickname Ideas: Viper

 

[SlowAriados]

Pikachu-

Pikachu is the mascot of the Pokémon series. It is also the most popular and well-known Pokémon. Pikachu is one of the most recognizable icons in pop culture as well. It has quite a few different forms due to its popularity. It's interesting that Pikachu is another yellow icon. There are quite a few yellow iconic characters like SpongeBob, Minions, and the Simpsons. There's something about yellow characters that people like it seems. I'm not sure why exactly, I'm sure there are theories about it. Maybe part of it is yellow being a bright color that grabs your attention?

I can totally understand why Pikachu is so popular. It has a very appealing and sleak design. It is simple, but effective. The design finds the right balance between being cute and cool. The anime seems to have played a huge role in forming Pikachu as a mascot, as Ash got Pikachu as a starter. Pokémon Yellow and the Pikachu merchandise probably helped too.

Pikachu is the most popular and recognizable Pokémon of all time, but how strong is Pikachu in the games? It's interesting to look at its stats. Pikachu not being the final form in its evolution line means that it's actually pretty weak in game. Well it is without any help from items. Pikachu has a high Speed stat of 90, which is very high for a pre-evolution Pokémon. 90 Speed would be pretty good for a final stage Pokémon.

It has an Attack stat of 55 and Special Attack of 50, which isn't too bad for a pre-evolution. But comparing it to final stage evolution Pokémon, these attacking stats aren't very good. Pikachu isn't a final stage Pokémon though, but the comparison does come to mind sometimes due to Pikachu's popularity. It's interesting that Pikachu's physical Attack is slightly higher than its Special Attack. You would think that its Special Attack would be higher than its physical Attack because its so well known for using Electric moves like Thunderbolt. In my opinion, I think its Special Attack should be higher than its Physical Attack.

Pikachu's HP is very low at 35, so it won't be able to take many hits at all. Pikachu's Special Defense is currently at 50, which isn't too bad for a pre-evolution Pokémon. Its Special Defense was originally 40, but it was slightly buffed up to 50 in Gen 6. Its physical Defense is low at 40, and it was originally 30 before being buffed. It's interesting they gave Pikachu very slight defense buffs in Gen 6 due to its popular status. Pikachu's Base Stat Total is 320 (was 300 before Gen 6). This is very low, but it's fitting for a first stage Pokémon. Pikachu was originally designed as a first stage Pokémon before Gen 2.

Pikachu became so popular, they gave its very own item (the Light Ball) in Gen 2 to give it a stat boost. In Gens 2 and 3, the Light Ball doubles Pikachu's Special Attack (from 50 to 100). In the following Generations, the item also doubles its Attack (from 55 to 110). This is a huge boost to Pikachu's stats! The Light Ball makes its attacking stats great, even higher than Raichu's offenses! Raichu still has higher defenses and HP though. The Light Ball gives it the kind of strength that Ash's Pikachu shows in the anime! This also basically raises its Base Stat Total from 320 to 425. A BST of 425 is much more fitting for a middle stage evolution Pokémon, which Pikachu became in Gen 2 as it gained a pre-evolution (Pichu). The Light Ball turns Pikachu into a glass canon.

I find it fascinating that Pikachu was completely unavailable in the Gen 5 Pokémon games without migrating or outside sources. Pikachu is available in all of the other generations in some way. I think the developers wanted Gen 5 to be different, like with how Black and White only had Unova Pokémon available to use until you beat the game. Intentionally cutting the series mascot out of the Gen 5 games really does make a statement.

Nickname Ideas: Sparky

 

[SlowAriados]

I ended up writing an essay on Pikachu haha!

 

[SlowAriados]

Raichu-

The Pikachu line is in an interesting situation. The final evolution stage Raichu gets overshadowed by the middle stage Pikachu. Usually the final evolution stage overshadows the middle stage. But this makes sense as Pikachu is literally the most popular Pokémon of all time. I wonder if even Pichu overshadows Raichu. People think Pichu is cute at least, and Pichu made it in Smash Bros while Raichu didn't. That gets me thinking, maybe they should try making Raichu an echo fighter or something. It would be somewhat easy as it could be a clone fighter of Pikachu, like Pichu is. It wouldn't take as much work in terms of programming. At least Raichu does get some love with its Alolan and Mega forms.

I like Pikachu better than Raichu, but I still like Raichu and think it's cool. I think its design is pretty cool too. It feels like a natural progression of Pikachu. Its design is more complex than Pikachu, as it has more features and things going on. Its tail is now longer and looks like a wire, its tail gets a yellow lightning bolt, it gets ears that sort of look like lightning bolts, its cheek pouches become yellow, and it has more markings on its fur.

It also changes color from yellow to orange. I find this change interesting as orange isn't usually associated with electricity like yellow is. I think it still works though because orange is an adjacent color to yellow at least. I wonder if keeping Raichu yellow would make the evolution line smoother. But at least it has this color change for the final stage. This line doesn't have the middle stage randomly change color, then go back to the color of the first stage like some evolution lines do. I'm not a big fan of evolution lines doing that. I like Raichu's design progression, but a lot of people prefer the simplicity of Pikachu. It also loses the popular yellow color that a lot of pop culture icons have.

Raichu is definitely much more powerful than Pikachu, as it should be. It has high Speed, but surprisingly only slightly faster than Pikachu (just 10-20 points higher in its base Speed stat, depending on the Generation). It has high Special Attack and surprisingly high physical Attack. Its Special Defense is decent, and its HP and Defense are okay.

Raichu is actually the first stone evolution in the Pokédex. I find it interesting that Pikachu evolves into Raichu using a Thunderstone. It's almost like the developers intentionally chose to make this line a stone evolution one due to Pikachu's (possibly planned) mascot status. This gives players much more of an explicit choice of whether or not to evolve the very popular Pikachu. If Pikachu evolved just by level up, I bet a lot of players wouldn't care to stop the evolution and would just let it happen. Or some players maybe wouldn't know how to stop Pokémon from evolving. Evolving by level up is more passive, while a stone evolution is a much more explicit choice. This encourages players to not evolve Pikachu.

Nickname Ideas: Raikou

 

[SlowAriados]

Sandshrew-

Sandshrew is the first representation of the Ground type. Its design is a bit basic, but that doesn't mean it's bad. I like the simplicity, as it is a pre-evolution. I like how its scales look form a brick-like pattern. I actually think Sandshrew is kinda cute, and I don't think that many Pokémon are "cute." Its kind of interesting that Sandshrew can learn Poison Sting by levelup, I guess it has some poisoning abilities. But it doesn't learn enough Poison moves to be Poison type. It also learns Poison Jab by TM. Sandshrew's Defense is actually pretty high for a pre-evolution at 85. 85 Base Defense would be decent for a final evolution. Its Attack stat of 75 is also pretty high for a first stage. Its other stats are low as you would expect for a first stage Pokémon. Its Special Attack is extremely low at 20, but it's not like Sandshrew would be using many Special moves anyway.

 

[SlowAriados]

Sandslash-

Sandslash is a physically bulky, physically strong hedgehog. It has high Attack, higher Defense, and alright HP. But it has okay Speed, and bad Special Attack & Special Defense. Though Sandslash won't usually be using Special moves anyway. Oddly in earlier generations, it learned little to no Ground type moves by level up. It mainly learned Normal type attacking moves by level up like Slash (go figure). A lot of Pokémon in earlier generations relied more on TM's for getting good moves with Same Type Attack Bonus. It's interesting that Sandslash learns a couple of Poison moves, so this means its quils may be slightly poisonous. I like Sandslash's design and I think it looks pretty cool & intimidating. I like how it grew many quils and sharper claws once it evolved. You get Sandslash pretty early too, as Sandshrew evolves into Sandslash at level 22.

Nickname Ideas: Slasher

 

[SlowAriados]

Nidoran ♀ (Female) & Nidoran ♂ (Male)-

While Nidoran Female and Nidoran Male are considered different species in the games and not gendered variations, I feel like I should group them together for this blog entry. I feel like I have to mostly talk about both of them at the same time since they're so closely related. This will also make it easier to compare them both. I wouldn't have much to say about each individually.

The Nidoran family was ahead of its time in a few ways. Both Nidorans were the first Pokémon to display gender in game. This was before gender became a mechanic in Gen 2. Not only that, but the Nidoran family was also the first to have gender differences in a way. This was before gender differences were introduced in Gen 4! Nidoran Male and Nidoran Female are considered different species in game, but essentially they are gender differences of the same Pokémon. In a way, the Nidoran family was the first to have gender based evolutions as well, which weren't introduced until Gen 4. If you see both Nidorans as the same species, it either evolves into Nidorina if it's female, or into Nidorino if it's male.

I find the colors that both Nidorans have interesting. Nidoran Female is Blue, while Nidoran Male is Purple. This is interesting because Blue is typically more associated with the Male gender while Purple would be more associated with the Female gender. I like that the developers did something a little different and didn't just make the Male blue colored and the Female pink. And the colors are reversed for their shiny forms! Shiny Nidoran Male is Blue and Shiny Nidoran Female is Purple. Their Shiny forms have the more stereotypical colors. Both Nidoran forms have some other differences in their designs too. The Male form has a sharper horn and more spikes on it to convey its more aggressive, masculine nature. The Female form has a bit more of a "softer" appearance and has whiskers.

Both Nidroans' stats are low as expected. Nidoran Female's stats focus slightly more on HP and Defense, while Nidoran Male's stats focus a bit more on Attack and Speed. Nidoran Female's Base Stat Total is slightly higher than Nidoran Male's (275 vs 273). I wonder why the developers made Nidoran Female have slightly higher stats?

Both Nidorans have some interesting quirks with breeding. If Nidoran Male or Nidoran Female breed (whether with each other or other Pokémon), either a Male or Female can hatch out of the egg (in Gen 2 and onward). And Nidoran Male can breed with Ditto, and either Nidoran Male or Female will hatch (in Gen 5 and onward). I never knew this until recently! I always thought they had to breed with each other for this to happen. It's odd that while both Nidorans are considered different species in game, either one can hatch out of an egg. I imagine it might take multiple attempts to get the egg moves you want. Oddly, Nidoran Female is the only one in its evolutionary line that can breed at all, as Nidorina and Nidoqueen are completely unable to breed. Nidoran Male, Nidorino, and Nidoking are all capable of breeding though.

It's interesting that the developers were so forward thinking with both forms of Nidoran. Many of Nidoran Male and Female's qualities resemble ideas and mechanics introduced later in the series. It's cool that the developers had these ideas all the way back at the start of the series in Gen 1! Maybe the Nidorans inspired the mechanics of other Pokémon eventually having genders and other Pokémon having gender differences in their forms.

 

[SlowAriados]

Nidorina & Nidorino-

I am grouping both Nidorina and Nidorino into one blog entry too. They are considered separate species in the games and they even have different names. But I feel like they're still pretty closely related. This will also make it easier to compare both of them. Plus I feel like I wouldn't have much at all to say about Nidorina and Nidorino individually.

Now that these Pokémon have evolved, their gendered traits can be more emphasized now. Nidorino can emphasize its masculinity through its increased spikes on its back, lengthened horn, and more aggressive demeanor & facial expression. Nidorina looks more feminine than its prevolution. Its softer, feminine eyes contribute a lot. It also has less spikes than Nidorino. It's kind of impressive they achieve this gender dimorphism despite having non-stereotypical colors. Their shiny forms once again basically swap colors with each others' normal forms.

One thing I don't like about Nidorina's design is that it loses the horn on its head that Nidoran Female had, but then Nidoqueen gets the horn back. I never noticed that until writing this. It doesn't make much sense to me. Did they forget to put a horn on Nidorina? But the lack of a horn does help Nidorina look more feminine. In my opinion, maybe they shouldn't have given Nidoran Female a horn either. I do like how even though both Pokémon are sort of like gendered variants, they are allowed to have different names representing their gender.

Nidorina and Nidorino's breeding properties are pretty interesting to look at. Nidorino is fully capable of breeding as you would expect. Like Nidoran Male, if Nidorino breeds with Ditto, either Nidoran Female or Male can hatch out of the egg (in Gen 5 and onward). But If Nidorino breeds with Ditto in previous generations, only Nidoran Male will hatch. Obviously if Nidorino breeds with other Pokémon, what hatches will depend on the species of its partner.

Although Nidorino can breed, Nidorina is completely incapable of breeding for some reason! It's in the "Undiscovered" egg group. It's an oddity for sure that Nidorina can't breed while it's prevolution Nidoran Female can. I heard this has to do with a coding difficulty but I don't know for sure. It's definitely strange that Nidorina cannot breed with its counterpart Nidorino though.

Nidorino and Nidorina's stats are pretty average and balanced, as expected for middle stage Pokémon. At least they have the same Base Stat Total this time, unlike with both Nidorans. Nidorina's two highest stats are HP and Defense, while Nidorino's are Attack and Speed. This represents Nidorina's somewhat more reserved nature and Nidorino's more aggressive nature. Nidorino and Nidorina are both middle of the road stat wise, emphasize their gender traits more heavily, and they also have some interesting oddities in terms of breeding.

 

[SlowAriados]

Nidoqueen & Nidoking-

[TBA]

 

[SlowAriados]

I'm going to skip around a bit and leave some Pokémon entries as "TBA" temporarily. I'm not really in the mood to write another long "Nido" entry right now