Your controversial opinions

[Puddle]

I just hope they do something special with the 1000th Pokemon. Make it a cool Mythical Pokemon or something. It would be so anticlimatic if #1000 ended up being, I don't know, the evolution of Gen 10's regional rodent.

Game Freak hasn't actually ended a generation on a "neat" National Dex number since Johto, though, so #1000 could well end up being something completely random from the middle of a generation.

I actually wish that they'd continued introducing exactly 100 Pokemon in each generation, so that the last Pokemon in the Dex would always have a number ending in 51. So Deoxys would have been #351, and Arceus #451, etc. Now and again they could have had a bigger generation of exactly 150 Pokemon - so, for example, Genesect could have been #601.

Or perhaps better still, they could have scrapped the idea of the secret +1 Mythical Pokemon, and ended each generation with a 50 or 00 instead. The +1 thing became a bit redundant once they started introducing multiple Mythicals per generation - which might actually be why the numbering "pattern" was dropped altogether in Gen 3 onwards.

 

[prog rocker]

Really? That many?

I think there are more, but a good chunk are palette swaps, and unlike Pokémon, these do count as different species.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I still stand by my claim, by the way. Lysandre is one of the best.

And I agree. The concept behind his team is actually pretty understandable. I think it's just that he's so obviously evil from the start that made him less appealing to people.

 

[Emmy]

Really? That many?

Digimon doesn't neatly stick to unveiling new 'mons in a Gen format like Pokémon.

Imagine if virtually every new Pokémon game (including spin-offs), the animes, the TCG and the mangas all periodically added a bunch more Pokémon to the list. That's basically how despite being created later, Digimon overtook Pokémon in the number of 'mons.

But not all Digimon are created equal. For example, the latest TCG Booster Pack revealed it would be including "ModokiBetamon", a Digimon that hasn't been seen in 14 years. This sorta thing is why Dexit never bothered me as I am totally used to 'mon series having a limited pool of their creations - Pokémon being the exception (until now) rather than the rule.

 

[Puddle]

If Digimon counts palette swaps as separate species, then there probably aren't that many more Digimon than there are Pokemon. There's well over a thousand Pokemon, if you count alternate forms.

In fact, if you counted all the shiny forms as well, there's over two thousand Pokemon! If Agumon and BlackAgumon count as two separate Digimon, perhaps it's only a fair contest if Pikachu and shiny Pikachu are counted separately too.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Digimon doesn't neatly stick to unveiling new 'mons in a Gen format like Pokémon.

Imagine if virtually every new Pokémon game (including spin-offs), the animes, the TCG and the mangas all periodically added a bunch more Pokémon to the list. That's basically how despite being created later, Digimon overtook Pokémon in the number of 'mons.

But not all Digimon are created equal. For example, the latest TCG Booster Pack revealed it would be including "ModokiBetamon", a Digimon that hasn't been seen in 14 years. This sorta thing is why Dexit never bothered me as I am totally used to 'mon series having a limited pool of their creations - Pokémon being the exception (until now) rather than the rule.

I agree with you. Digimon and Monster Rancher have been shuffling the cast of Mons around for quite some time and no one's really made a big deal of it. While certain "staples" have remained, like the core 6 in Monster Rancher (Mocchi, Tiger, Hare, Suezo, Golem, and Pixie, with a few exceptions like MR1 and Advance), for the most part each game has different breeds that keep things fresh. That's why Dexit didn't bother me, either, as other Mon series have been doing the same thing for a while now. And it allowed certain, more obscure Mons, like, say, Unfezant, that would normally be swept under the rug in favor of others to be given a chance to shine. So, shuffling the cast of creatures around isn't new at this point, as Digimon and Monster Rancher have been doing it for years, so it was a matter of time before Pokemon would eventually follow suit.

 

[Emmy]

If Digimon counts palette swaps as separate species, then there probably aren't that many more Digimon than there are Pokemon. There's well over a thousand Pokemon, if you count alternate forms.

While I don't disagree, considering many "Sub-Species" of Digimon as they are called almost always have different Types, Habitats, Attacks and their own Evolution lines (i.e SnowAgumon becoming Frigimon instead of Greymon) means I would compare them more to the recent Regional Forms of Pokémon as of laterather than mere "palette swaps".

 

[Puddle]

While I don't disagree, considering many "Sub-Species" of Digimon as they are called almost always have different Types, Habitats, Attacks and their own Evolution lines (i.e SnowAgumon becoming Frigimon instead of Greymon) means I would compare them more to the recent Regional Forms of Pokémon as of laterather than mere "palette swaps".

Ah, you could be right! I haven't been following Digimon that closely in recent years - all my knowledge comes from what I saw of the first three anime seasons. Design-wise, a lot of the sub-species (that's a cool name for them!) resemble shiny Pokemon, because only the colours are different. But I hadn't taken into account that they might have their own unique lore and attributes. I suppose you could say that they're somewhere in between shinies and regional forms (but are perhaps more akin to regional forms, lore-wise).

Come to think of it, some of the regional forms, like Galarian Slowpoke, aren't much more than palette swaps either.

 

[Enzo]

I don't like regional forms I'd rather have just more pokemon and if a Pokemon's type and movepoll is different and it can't switch between the forms its forms are effectively different pokemon anyway. Also I don't think they actually make that much sense lorewise. Why would Zigzagoon in Kalos be closer to Hoenn Zigzagoon than Galarian Zigzagoon? Why wouldn't Medicham from the tropical Hoenn have to adapt to Snowpoint City's surroundings?

And that's sorta of the thing about regional forms. At least imo, they waited a bit too long to introduce them. I can see the Pokémon not changing too much from say, the first 4 regions since they were all based off the same place, in this case Japan, and the regions were all somewhat close to one another. I mean, Kanto and Johto share an natural mountain division. But from Unova and beyond?

Like, the whole idea about Unova was about how different the region and all the Pokémon that live there are specifically because of how far away Unova is from the others, at least back in the day, 4 other regions that existed. If anything, Unova should've been the very first region where regional forms were introduced.

I mean, let's take a random mon here in consideration: Clefairy and it's line. Are you honestly telling me that there's not a singular difference between Kantonian Clefairy and Unovan Clefairy? Even tho they are the same species, they are god knows how distant from one another. And it doesn't seems to be the case of an newly introduced species being put in the wild where it didn't existed in the first place by humans or anything.

If anything, they should've introduced these forms in the 5th generation. There's not really an excuse here.

 

[Esserise]

And I agree. The concept behind his team is actually pretty understandable. I think it's just that he's so obviously evil from the start that made him less appealing to people.

And that's something I can understand as a series-wide critique of how villains are presented, but I don't get why Lysandre bears the brunt of that complaint. Never in the history of ever has Pokémon managed to truly subvert our expectations when it comes to revealing the villain of a story. The first time we meet Cyrus, he's muttering ominously about how the universe should have been. Ghetsis's design screams "I've got ulterior motives." From the moment that Colress was shown, people noticed he was wearing Team Plasma's colors. As soon as we got our first look at the Aether Foundation, there were a lot of people saying, "Oh, I bet they're the real villains, and Team Skull is a fake-out of some kind." And Pokémon hadn't even done that sort of bait-and-switch before! But it made sense because Team Skull seemed so cartoonish and low-rent, while the Aether Foundation had a sinister corporate vibe that clashed their supposedly noble mandate. Ditto for Rose and Oleana when they were revealed.

MFW there's 1409 Digimon...

Honestly I would have guessed even more.

 

[EmpoleonProd]

Oh I got one that a lot of people are gonna hate me for.

The Let’s Go games are by far the best rendition of the Kanto games and it’s honestly not even close. Not just graphically is it superior, which isn’t a fair comparison by itself since console limitations prevented a game from looking like Let’s Go 20 years ago, but the region itself was done much better. Character customization, as limited as it is, was really nice, the wild Pokémon selection is by far the best Kanto has ever seen bar none. Overworld encounters that also render shinies is elite. The partner aspect with the starter and being able to customize them is amazing. Being able to Surf on Lapras or Gyarados, fly on Charizard, Dragonite, and Aerodactyl as well as ride on Pokémon like Arcanine and Rhyhorn, effectively replacing several of the HMs and the bike is God tier.

The game has virtually no casual downsides. The only downsides are the awkward candy system, no abilities and EVs. But guess what? In a regular play through those variables barely matter anyways and the complaints were just meta tryhards nitpicking or people finding something to complain about. I’m a competitive battler myself but not every game needs to come down to me calculating IVs and EVs and making sure I have the right natures and egg moves. In a regular playthrough for 99% of people, these factors will go unaccounted for regardless of the game. If I ever want to replay Kanto I’ll play Let’s Go and it’s honestly not even close. Gens 1-3 have aged somewhat poorly anyways. If I were to introduce my girlfriend or another friend to Pokémon, I’d put them on Let’s Go. I’ll let them experience the original story but with a fresh coat of paint, and that coat of paint is a damn good one.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Oh I got one that a lot of people are gonna hate me for.

The Let’s Go games are by far the best rendition of the Kanto games and it’s honestly not even close. Not just graphically is it superior, which isn’t a fair comparison by itself since console limitations prevented a game from looking like Let’s Go 20 years ago, but the region itself was done much better. Character customization, as limited as it is, was really nice, the wild Pokémon selection is by far the best Kanto has ever seen bar none. Overworld encounters that also render shinies is elite. The partner aspect with the starter and being able to customize them is amazing. Being able to Surf on Lapras or Gyarados, fly on Charizard, Dragonite, and Aerodactyl as well as ride on Pokémon like Arcanine and Rhyhorn, effectively replacing several of the HMs and the bike is God tier.

The game has virtually no casual downsides. The only downsides are the awkward candy system, no abilities and EVs. But guess what? In a regular play through those variables barely matter anyways and the complaints were just meta tryhards nitpicking or people finding something to complain about. I’m a competitive battler myself but not every game needs to come down to me calculating IVs and EVs and making sure I have the right natures and egg moves. In a regular playthrough for 99% of people, these factors will go unaccounted for regardless of the game. If I ever want to replay Kanto I’ll play Let’s Go and it’s honestly not even close. Gens 1-3 have aged somewhat poorly anyways. If I were to introduce my girlfriend or another friend to Pokémon, I’d put them on Let’s Go. I’ll let them experience the original story but with a fresh coat of paint, and that coat of paint is a damn good one.

Oh, you're not alone with this opinion. Another thing I think the Let's Go games improved upon was the fact that while FireRed and LeafGreen were faithful remakes to the point of making hardly any changes in dialogue or NPC teams, it wasn't necessarily a good thing, since a lot of Kanto teams were not exactly well designed in Generation I. Meanwhile, Let's Go changed up the NPC teams to make them more imaginative. Even Grunts now use Pokémon they didn't use before, like the Gastly line. And we mustn't forget the new dialogue, cutscenes, and even outright characters the games add to the table, some of the most notable examples including Green and Archer.

So overall, yeah. While FireRed and LeafGreen will always hold a special place in my heart for the latter being the first Pokémon game I ever played, I can't deny that the Let's Go games offer a superior depiction of Kanto.

 

[Puddle]

I still stand by my claim, by the way. Lysandre is one of the best.

I think Lysandre is a good villain. The only problem I have with him is that his motives are so similar to Cyrus', but that's not really Lysandre's fault. The plot of X and Y might feel a bit like a rehash of Diamond and Pearl, but it's still a good plot in its own right, if a little underdeveloped. I appreciated the darker, more mature tone.

The Let’s Go games are by far the best rendition of the Kanto games and it’s honestly not even close.

I agree 100%! RBY and FRLG have always felt like a bit of a slog to me, and as a child I never completed them. Let's Go was my first completely positive experience playing through Kanto (not including Johto's postgame, which I always enjoyed).

Let's Go is one of the most polished main series games to date. I can tell that a lot of love and dedication went into it.

 

[EmpoleonProd]

It’s nice to see some love for the Let’s Go games. I don’t understand the hate for them, they are probably about as good as Kanto remakes can get. I get some people didn’t like the Go catching mechanics and I think in a hypothetical Let’s Go Johto release they could make this toggleable. Sadly I think the Let’s Go series won’t receive any sort of sequel, in favor of outsourced remakes like BDSP and hopefully the Legends game as their own series.

 

[Enzo]

It’s nice to see some love for the Let’s Go games. I don’t understand the hate for them, they are probably about as good as Kanto remakes can get. I get some people didn’t like the Go catching mechanics and I think in a hypothetical Let’s Go Johto release they could make this toggleable. Sadly I think the Let’s Go series won’t receive any sort of sequel, in favor of outsourced remakes like BDSP and hopefully the Legends game as their own series.

I mean, besides the fact that some of the mechanics weren't really that well liked, primarily the capture method and removal of held items and abilities, at least imo, the big problem is because, well, it's more Kanto content again, u know? Besides, it was the first Switch game, and people weren't that impressed, specially since they were waiting for the mainline gen 8 game, which would be revealed some time after as the SWSH we know, and not yet another Kanto related thing.

Yeah, I agree with you, the games are not bad or anything. I think it was just more about a lot of people being sick of Kanto tbh.

 

[EmpoleonProd]

I mean, besides the fact that some of the mechanics weren't really that well liked, primarily the capture method and removal of held items and abilities, at least imo, the big problem is because, well, it's more Kanto content again, u know? Besides, it was the first Switch game, and people weren't that impressed, specially since they were waiting for the mainline gen 8 game, which would be revealed some time after as the SWSH we know, and not yet another Kanto related thing.

Yeah, I agree with you, the games are not bad or anything. I think it was just more about a lot of people being sick of Kanto tbh.

This is completely personal opinion, what’s fact is we hadn’t had a main series game take place in Kanto since 2004, it was clearly the next region in line for remakes, it was very predictable. Whether you hate Kanto just for the sake of hating Kanto or not, you cannot deny that if every other region deserves a remake every decade or so, then so to does Kanto, that’s just common sense. So I don’t get where the whole “more Kanto” argument comes from.

 

[Puddle]

It’s nice to see some love for the Let’s Go games. I don’t understand the hate for them, they are probably about as good as Kanto remakes can get. I get some people didn’t like the Go catching mechanics and I think in a hypothetical Let’s Go Johto release they could make this toggleable. Sadly I think the Let’s Go series won’t receive any sort of sequel, in favor of outsourced remakes like BDSP and hopefully the Legends game as their own series.

I actually prefer the GO catching mechanics to the traditional ones, honestly. In most games, I only catch my favourite species of Pokemon, unless I'm aiming to complete a Pokedex. But in Let's Go I catch loads of Pokemon (and send the ones I don't need to Professor Oak) because the new method is so fun and addictive.

 

[Poke Dragon]

So I don’t get where the whole “more Kanto” argument comes from.

It came from the fact that the other Gen 7 games had an absurd amount of Kanto references, Alolan forms were only given to Kanto Pokemon, and the fact that the majority of Alola's Pokedex itself was dominated by Kanto Pokemon. So yes, the argument that there was too much Kanto is completely valid.

 

[Daren]

It came from the fact that the other Gen 7 games had an absurd amount of Kanto references, Alolan forms were only given to Kanto Pokemon, and the fact that the majority of Alola's Pokedex itself was dominated by Kanto Pokemon. So yes, the argument that there was too much Kanto is completely valid.

Gen 6 was also a Kanto love fest. The Kanto starters get Megas instead of the Kalos ones, for instance.

 

[Enzo]

Besides, it was yet another Kanto remake. Yeah, I get it. The last one was in 2004 for the DS, so it did made sense that they would want to translate the game to an all new audience and a new, way more powerful console 14 years later. But as others said, it just was even more Kanto. And tbh, a lot of people were waiting for Sinnoh remakes instead of the beaten to death Kanto region.