Pokémon Has your favourite Pokémon changed over time?

[Chris]

Here's a fun one! I had this conversation with someone IRL earlier but they aren't a Pokémon fan, although familiar with the franchise through playing Gen 3 themselves / watching me play more recent games. They pointed out that they've noticed a recent shift in my preference from Jolteon to Bulbasaur and of course that opened up a can of worms.

I've been a fan of Pokémon since it first came to NA/EU. Early on my favourites were Pikachu, then Jigglypuff, then Poliwhirl, finally settling on Eevee. It alternated quite fast due to my initial exposure being through the anime. After Eevee my second favourite was a tie between Articuno and Lapras. Ice types and ice type move users (especially Ice Beam) were my favourite. Eevee was my #1 favourite from 1999 all the way through to approx 2010. Then it shared the spotlight with Glaceon.

When Sun and Moon came out in 2016, my favourite became Mimikyu. I even have a tattoo of him on my calf!

Sometime around 2020/2021 my favourite became Jolteon. I can't explain the logic behind it. I just suddenly adored them. Maybe a sudden love of the colour yellow in the later 2010s played a role in this shift.

More recently, my favourite has become Bulbasaur! And it is strange, because I've never even had a preference of the three Kanto starters until now. I might be 25yrs late but I've finally made my choice!!

I still adore all the Pokémon I've mentioned. Just favourites shift over time.

Has your favourite Pokémon changed over time? And if so how so?

 

[Midoriya]

No, it hasn't. It has always been Lucario.

 

[Croconaw]

It’s always been Croconaw. Shocker.

 

[Dim]

Mine was always Zoroark but I think I've grown to like Zorua more. Either way, the evolution line itself has always been my favorite. The hisuian forms are definitely really cool but I still like the originals better.

 

[Suguri]

It has changed for me. Most of my favorites tend to come and go naturally. My memory's hazy on what exact Pokémon I enjoyed, so this is all I can recall at the moment. I think I remember when I first got into the games that Squirtle was my favorite mainly because it evolves into Blastoise, whose design I thought was pretty cool. Then it shifted to Pikachu because it's the most popular Pokémon. I remember trying to battle with Pikachu and unfortunately it was too weak for me to keep on my team for any longer, so that's why Pikachu's not my favorite anymore.

At some point Popplio and Mimikyu became my favorite Pokémon before I grew fond of Scorbunny. I eventually switched over to Quaxly when the ninth generation was announced and after the release of the ScarVio DLC, I settled on my current favorite, Ogerpon. I have a feeling it's gonna stay that way for years to come since it's a Pokémon I sympathize with the most.

 

[~Kilza~]

It really hasn't for the most part! My favorite Pokmon for the longest time was my first ever starter, Mudkip, and there really hasn't been a Pokemon that's made me change my mind outright about that. That said, I managed to become a huge fan of Archen when I played through Black and Black 2, so they're kinda both tied for my favorite Pokemon these days, lol.

 

[LambdaDelta]

personally, I have far too many I love to pick an absolute favorite

so the only "change" has been the amount increasing as new ones get added with the various new game(s) releases and such

 

[Dunquixote]

If talking about favorites and not just one favorite, it has expanded quite a bit. Otherwise, I think it has a little. I think I started off liking Pikachu the most but my favorite became Mew I think early on. I think a lot of times though I’m not sure since there are so many I like that I’d consider a favorite. A more recent favorite is munchlax. I never paid attention to it before but after I found this one artist on twitter who draws a lot of Munchlax fan art, I’ve grown to really like Munchlax too . As I played through the games and the more I played Pokemon, the more I grew fond of other Pokemon. Like Quagsire (and Wooper) and Bellbroom (and shroomish). I liked them initially for their types and using them to battle. But eventually I grew to appreciate and love their designs too.

 

[Halloqueen]

I'm not 100% sure whether I had a definitive favorite way back in Generation 1, but if I did, I'd say Machamp might've been it. Mortal Kombat was one of the first games I got into when I was a kid, so obviously I drew the comparison to Goro and the other Shokan of that series; muscly, four-armed, wearing undies and a belt (Machamp's being a championship belt, Goro's being a yin-yang symbol) and so I remember that I thought Machamp was neat. That said, I never really traded until Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2 let you put your cartridges into a slot that connected to the back of the N64 controllers and trade via the Stadium games. As such, I was usually stuck with Machoke, Graveler, Haunter and Kadabra instead of their fully evolved forms back then; no hate though, it made me appreciate them more, and honestly to this day I still prefer Haunter over Gengar. Other possible candidates for favorite back then would likely be Exeggutor, Haunter, Hitmonlee, Primeape, or Poliwrath.

When Generation 2 came around, I think my favorite back then probably had to be Feraligatr since I kind of focused on it more than the rest of the team. I also loved Entei though because of the third movie.

I dropped the series after Crystal, so I didn't experience the Hoenn games until years later. This was due to peer pressure and being that age where you think you're too old to enjoy kid stuff.

The sabbatical continued through the Sinnoh games. I did eventually experience these games, but not for a while.

I got back into the series with HeartGold and SoulSilver; one of my friends was playing it, I became intrigued since Crystal was my last game at that point and these remakes struck my nostalgia and piqued my interest. I'm pretty sure that I was just on board in general and liked all of them so I don't think I had a favorite at this point. I did catch my first non-Lake of Rage Gyarados shiny, a shiny Gligar, and busted my butt through the Johto Battle Frontier to earn enough Battle Points for a Razor Fang to evolve it into Gliscor. Said Gliscor ignited a love for shiny hunting that has persisted to this day, so it was probably my favorite at this point. Either that, Ho-Oh (who I had come to appreciate since I'd since discovered that birds are my favorite types of animals and Ho-Oh has a beautiful design), or Mew.

When I headed into Generation 5 with Black and White, I'd say my favorite for a while was Serperior. Around this time, though, I explored more of the Pokédex that I had missed during the Hoenn-Sinnoh break and found out about Cacnea and Cacturne. Up to this point Cacnea was the closest thing we had to a jack-o'-lantern Pokémon, especially since its shiny was orange, so it became a really clearly defined favorite. I also thought Escavalier was really cool since I like knight aesthetics and it became a favorite too.

In Generation 6, the sky parted and down from the Game Freak heavens descended Pumpkaboo and Gourgeist. They, and to a lesser extent Malamar, joined Cacnea/Cacturne as favorites.

Generation 7, the sky parted again and down from the Game Freak heavens flew down the precious borb Rowlet, which is my favorite starter. I also REALLY loved Palossand, who joined the ranks alongside Cacnea/Cacturne and Pumpkaboo/Gourgeist. Then Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon also added Blacephalon, who doesn't reach that tippy-top echelon but is really close, still a Top 10.

Generation 8, still going strong with the Cacnea/Cacturne, Pumpkaboo/Gourgeist, Escavalier and Palossand. Another new favorite emerged in Sirfetch'd.

Generation 9, Scovillain and Wo-Chien, and later Dipplin and Hydrapple are my favorites of the generation but I'm not sure how they rank yet.

As you'll notice, my favorites started solidifying, with favorites having more "sticking power", starting in Generation 5.

As things stand now, I still love Cacnea/Cacturne and Pumpkaboo/Gourgeist aesthetically, but they each having some glaring issues; Cacturne has great attacking stats but is slow and has paper-thin defenses and no survivability, while Gourgeist has a really narrow set of what it can do in its defensive role and I hate that Game Freak won't just give it Shadow Claw as a physical Ghost move. Escavalier, Palossand and Sirfetch'd are more my thing these days. I'd say Palossand is probably my favorite, but it's really close between it and Escavalier.

 

[Snek]

Yes, it has.

Gen 1: In Yellow it was Seadra, followed by Gengar and Articuno.
Gen 2: Seadra fell off when Kingdra came but Gengar overtook the top spot.
Gen 3: Kyogre beat Gengar and took number one. As a fan of rain I used Kyogre a lot.
Gen 4: Still Kyogre. Not much of a fan to be honest of the gen 4 designs. Good games, just some designs not the best
Gen 5: Still Kyogre. Bisharp was my favourite Unova mon for a long time
Gen 6: Rain was nerfed and Aegislash stole the top spot easily
Gen 7-9: Still Aegislash. There are some new ones that I like but not enough to top Aegis

 

[-Raven-]

It was Kabutops when I was a kid, then Arcanine as a teen, and now it’s Corviknight because Corviknight didn’t exist when I was a teen.

I don’t even know where I would place Arcanine now and Kabutops is cool but far from being a favorite these days. Probably still have Arcanine in my top 5-10 but yeah dawg

 

[calias]

Not really. I’ve loved Gengar since Gen 1 and it stays winning.

My runner up has changed though. Butterfree used to be my other fave but Decidueye easily filled that slot. Decidueye is literally a combination of a lot of things I love, so it shot up in my ranking immediately after its reveal

 

[Lancelot]

My favourites were Quilava and Empoleon for a long time but then Chespin and Passimian got released. Then I actually used passimian and it's rubbish and I kinda got over it. Regional forms really made me like Pokemon I never liked before too. I don't really have a favourite anymore just more a dream team with a couple of subs.

I cannot put into words how much I absolutely HATE all the Pokemon from Scarlet and Violet so my whole team were old mons which gave me a big appreciation for Primeape

Some of my favourites now would be Chespin, Golosipod, Empoleon, Alolan Marowak, Annihilape.

I also hated Sawk when it was released but now it's in my top 5

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I used to really, really, really love Vulpix when I was a kid. I still think Vulpix is super cute but.. meh, idk.

I think Alolan Raichu might be my favorite pokémon now!

 

[Corrie]

Nope! It's always been Eevee since I was a kid. I love foxes and Eevee fits the description!

 

[Cress]

Used to be the Azurill-Marill-Azumarill line, but sometime during gen 6 it became Shellos-Gastrodon. I'm not really sure why? I just love the funny slugs!
Oddly enough, with gen 6 being the point where I began shiny hunting a lot, I never grabbed a shiny for the slugs. The colors are barely different, and I like the normal colors just a biiiit more regardless.

 

[Zinnia.]

Yep, it's changed a lot as more cards and Pokedex entries have come and gone.
Gyarados -> Gardevoir -> Salamence -> Whimsicott.

 

[Paperboy012305]

I don’t really have a favorite, because I love all types of Pokemon equally, even the ugly ones. They all have their strengths in their own rights.

 

[Neb]

It’s changed a lot and I’ve gotten many more favorites over the years. My first was Glaceon since my first pack of Pokemon cards had a gorgeous Glaceon card in it. It looked so majestic. I would say it’s my fourth or fifth favorite Pokemon now.

Second was Oshawott. I went with Snivy first since my mom suggested I start with one, but over time it leaned to Oshawott. Around this time I got an Oshawott stuffed animal pillow (remember pillow pets?) and slept with it every night. Then I had an artist that worked at a local bookstore draw a cute doodle of one. I still have it framed somewhere now.

Then it shifted to Victini once it was announced. It was my favorite color, orange, and I thought it was adorable. The fact I couldn’t get one for years since my parents didn’t want me to connect my DS to the internet out of safety concerns made me long for one even more. Once it was finally redistributed in 2016 I made sure to get it. I still like it, but it’s not among my top favorites anymore. I’d say it’s somewhere in the lower half of my top 30.

In late 2016 Pokemon Sun and Moon released and I played it during a dark period of my life. I liked Cosmog from its first announcement since it satisfied my childhood love of space. As I played through the game I enjoyed Nebby’s every appearance and loved seeing it mature into a Lunala. I joined a now deleted Pokemon forum two years later and used a Cosmog as my pfp for the first time. I changed my username everywhere to Neb, short for Nebby, not long after. As I continued making Cosmog my online persona’s identity the Pokemon grew on me over time. I can’t ever imagine changing my username ever again and whenever I meet online friends irl, hearing them call me Neb just feels right.

Around the start of the pandemic an idea popped in my head: what if I got a Cosmog tattoo? I sat on the idea for a few years and it never left the back of my mind. Cut to several months ago I mentioned on a local Discord server I was interested in finding a tattoo artist. One of my online friends from my area told me about her friend from high school who does a lot of Pokemon tattoos. They even did some tattoos for people who worked at the Pokemon Company International and professional TCG Pokemon players. I looked at their art and I liked it right away. The outlines were thick and the colors were bright and vibrant. It was so convenient that someone I knew was in contact heard of an artist in my state that did exactly what I was looking for. A few months later I booked an appointment with them and drove the three hours to see them. They worked on the side of my right arm for 2 and a half hours and it was even better than the reference photo. Healing the tattoo was a pain, but it healed well and I was very happy with it.

Some people in my area are pretty old fashioned and at least once a day I get a judgmental stare for it. Their opinion won’t change mine though. My friends and family love it, just thinking about the tattoo makes me happy, and I’m so glad a character that means so much to me is on my body forever. Cosmog is a core part of my online identity and I don’t think another Pokemon will mean as much to me as it. It’s been my favorite for 8 years after all.