Alolan_Apples
“Assorted” Collector
Don’t be too surprised to see more Pokémon related blog entries and Mario related blog entries. This may be an Animal Crossing forum, but I have been more into Pokémon and Mario than I have for Animal Crossing.
Inspired by a thread I made three years ago, I decided to rank entire generations based on overall recognition of each Pokémon species. Some Pokémon species like Qwilfish, Maractus, and Comfey are so unrecognized that not everyone acknowledges their existence. Others like Charizard, Lucario, and Greninja are so easily recognized that you don’t need much experience over Pokémon to know these. Usually, the greater known Pokémon are starters, Pikachu family Pokémon (especially Pikachu), Eevolutions (especially Eevee), box cover legendary Pokémon, and the older legendary and mythical Pokémon (like the legendary birds, Mew, and Celebi). Other legendary Pokémon, other mythical Pokémon, pseudo-legendary Pokémon, common rodents (like Rattata), common birds (like Pidgey), and fossil Pokémon are also recognized better than the rest, no matter how recent the Pokémon are introduced.
Now I’m going over the standings of how recognized a generation of Pokémon are. This is based on my personal opinion rather than an objective viewpoint on the overall recognition. Let’s begin:
Inspired by a thread I made three years ago, I decided to rank entire generations based on overall recognition of each Pokémon species. Some Pokémon species like Qwilfish, Maractus, and Comfey are so unrecognized that not everyone acknowledges their existence. Others like Charizard, Lucario, and Greninja are so easily recognized that you don’t need much experience over Pokémon to know these. Usually, the greater known Pokémon are starters, Pikachu family Pokémon (especially Pikachu), Eevolutions (especially Eevee), box cover legendary Pokémon, and the older legendary and mythical Pokémon (like the legendary birds, Mew, and Celebi). Other legendary Pokémon, other mythical Pokémon, pseudo-legendary Pokémon, common rodents (like Rattata), common birds (like Pidgey), and fossil Pokémon are also recognized better than the rest, no matter how recent the Pokémon are introduced.
Now I’m going over the standings of how recognized a generation of Pokémon are. This is based on my personal opinion rather than an objective viewpoint on the overall recognition. Let’s begin:
- #1 - Kanto: Since this is the generation that started it all, and since they keep popping up in almost every game, the 1st generation is the most well-known generation of Pokémon. Usually, when we see a first gen Pokémon in a group of Pokémon where not every species is from the same generation, we can easily tell which Pokémon we know well. However, just because they are the most well-known generation doesn’t mean every species is well-known. While Pikachu and the starter Pokémon are so easy to recognize that people with no experience with Pokémon know who they are, some like Doduo, Tangela, the Hitmons, and Dewgong are not as well known as the others. In fact, even some Pokémon from newer generations like Eelektross and Aegislash are more well-known than these species. But we can’t forget them because they are from the first generation. Having cross evolutions in Johto and Sinnoh, Mega Pokémon in Kalos and Hoenn (remake only), and regional variants in Alola, there’s no way this generation can be forgotten. Even the Pokémon that have yet to get more forms like Lapras and Farfetch’d couldn’t be forgotten. And let’s not forget that they were in the spotlight more because of Pokémon Go and the remakes.
- #2 - Sinnoh: Despite having no new games set in Sinnoh in over 10 years, the 4th generation in my opinion is the second most well-known generation. The high amount of legendary and mythical Pokémon, the cross evolutions, and fan favorites like Garchomp and Lucario make this generation more recognized than others. It has its share of forgotten mons, but when compared to the other generations, this generation is more recognized than the others. And one more thing. Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum is the best selling Pokémon games since the jump to the Gameboy Advance.
- #3 - Alola: Even when the 7th generation won’t be the most recent generation anymore after Pokémon Sword and Shield come out, it will still be one of the most well known generations. The main reason why is because they did a lot of things differently. Along with legendary and mythical Pokémon, they introduced a new category of special Pokémon called Ultra Beasts. In addition, there were a lot of Ghost Pokémon, Bug Pokémon have greatly improved after being a joke type for 20 years, there was a legendary Pokémon that does evolve, and they introduced new species in the generation in two different games. Pokémon has changed a lot since the first generation. Back then, there were even separate species of Pokémon based on gender (aka Nidoran). Now we have Pokémon species that have multiple forms they can change into (such as Oricorio). I get that it’s not a popular generation, but it is famous because it shows how much Pokémon changed from their roots.
- #4 - Hoenn: Back when the 3rd generation species were introduced, Pokémon was starting to get so big that some of the Pokémon species became less known. Because it wasn’t as popular at the time, the species introduced are quite forgettable, but since it was the longest running generation and since it got a remake within the last five years, I felt that the species of this generation are recognized more clearly. There are still some species that aren’t as recognized, but most of them (including Beautifly and Dustox) are better known.
- #5 - Unova: Since it’s the largest generation while it’s not as old, Pokémon of this generation are like the most forgotten Pokémon out there. There are so many species that it’s hard to recognize them all. This wasn’t the case with the first generation for being the first generation, but it was the case with this generation. It does have a few unforgettable Pokémon (like the Pokémon with no weaknesses, the Pokémon that feeds on souls to stay alive, and the Pokémon that’s literally based after ice cream), but if it’s not in the spotlight, it’s not as recognized.
- #6 - Johto: Just like Disney’s packaged films and the pre-Shrek Dreamworks films, the 2nd generation of Pokémon suffer being among the most forgotten for being an older generation, but not the first. While some of the most famous Pokémon come from the 2nd generation, most Pokémon in this generation are poorly recognized compared to the rest of the Pokémon generations. This is especially true when you consider that all the Pokémon games that took place in the Johto region also had the Kanto region and all first gen Pokémon. Several Pokémon of this generation are so unrecognized that people question their existence. Even the starters, the common bird, and the common rodent are quite forgettable when you compare them to the others of their kind. The generation alone does get some thumbs up due to being the most revolutionary generation, but the species are totally unrecognizable.
- #7 - Kalos: Because it’s the smallest Pokémon generation and because Pokémon X & Y didn’t get a third game (like the first four generations) or a sequel (like Black & White and Sun & Moon), the 6th generation is the most forgettable or least recognized generation in my opinion. The designs are forgettable, most of the features in Pokémon X & Y are stale, and the 6th generation Pokémon only count a small portion of the Pokédex at the time. The only redeeming qualities is that it introduced a new type, and it had a few weird attributes (common rodent Pokémon becomes a Ground Pokémon, common bird Pokémon becomes a fire Pokémon, and one of the Flying Pokémon has Flying as its primary type).
