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Album: Gen 4 This is a particularly divisive generation, for a lot of reasons. It signaled a major aesthetic shift for the Pokemon design teams. If you look at a lot of the Pokemon that came before Generation 4, you tended to see very natural, simple designs. Everything from here on out with Pokemon would become a lot busier and more visually complex.

Turtwig: 10 I have a soft spot for Turtwig because whenever I take the personality quiz at the start of a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game, I usually get Turtwig. I wasn’t super crazy about the starters this generation (it’s one of my least favorites in that regard) I was always team Turtwig. I don’t like how it lacks the ability to hide in its shell though, I know it learns “Withdraw” but it seems like a really iconic part of turtle-dom that they left out.

Grotle: 7 Of the “generic middle starter line” Pokemon, I’d say that Grotle is one of the more solid ones. It’s not just a bigger version of Turtwig with some extra, tacky shit glued on. This looks like it could actually be its own Pokemon. Also a weirdly specific piece of its lore is that it has a special connection to fresh water and can locate secret springs, which is kind of interesting in a weird sort of way even if it’s totally irrelevant. Feels kinda like a [denjuu](http://wiki.telefang.net/Denjuu) to me, don’t ask why.

Torterra: 10 An interesting take on the “island turtle” concept, I wonder if it took any inspiration from [Wayne Barlowe’s grovebacks](https://waynebarlowe.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/groveback.jpg), though I’m probably reading into it a little too much.

Chimchar: 6 When I was a kid I vehemently disliked the Chimchar line, because monkeys and fire are two of my least favorite things. However now that I’m looking back as an adult I’m a lot kinder towards them. It’s gotta be tough to be these guys, the Turtwig and Piplup lines are such fan favorites and these guys are just kind of… there. The fandom and Game Freak just seem kind of indifferent towards them. They aren’t the best, but also they aren’t the worst. Peak mediocrity. The flaming tail gimmick was originated by Charmander, Blaziken was already a fire/fighting type, and then once Tepig shows up these guys start to look even more embarrassing. Also, remember when this was accidentally literally the only fire type line in Sinnoh in Diamond/Pearl? Oops.

Monferno: 1 It’s true that the middle Pokemon in an evolutionary line is usually weird and underdeveloped, but there’s just no excuse for this level of unprofessionalism. Monferno barely exists, and moreover it is ugly. The blue face doesn’t even make sense aesthetically with the rest of the line or just the basic color palate. Even the name is lazy. I would go so far as to say this is the worst of any starter?

Infernape: 4 Mm, I understand the Journey to the West Monkey King reference this Pokemon is making, but it feels kind of wasted on a generic fire/fighting starter. The second worst fully evolved fire starter after Typhlosion. The name is pretty bad too. However, as it stands it’s a decent Pokemon and a definite improvement over Monferno, so, props for that I guess.

Piplup: 8 I’m bitter because I ordered a beanie of Piplup from a shifty Chinese website as a gift for a friend and it never came. Still, I always liked Piplup aesthetically but I’m bugged by its personality. Smug pridefulness is incredibly off-putting to me. Dapper little bird though.

Prinplup: 5 So they just shoved two extra “n’s” into Pipulu’s name, split it’s face in half, and called it a new Pokemon? Werk I guess.

Empoleon: 7.5 Empoleon is a badass BUT it makes no sense. Why is it a steel type? I think it’s because of the crown, which is hinted at throughout the rest of the evolutionary line, but nowhere in any of its pre-evolutions is it hinted at that it’s going to be steel type other than Prinplup randomly learning Metal Claw. I used the hell out of this thing as a kid but it’s still a bit confused conceptually. Still, many of the fully evolved starter Pokemon get outshined by their prior-evolutions and so I’m glad that Empoleon managed to eke out its own niche.

Starly: 7 A very nicely designed bird, probably my favorite of the early game bird Pokemon aesthetically. I hate its evolutions though.

Staravia: 4 http://rarecandytreatment.smackjeeves.com/comics/954210/intimidating-facts/

Staraptor: 6 Not my favorite bird type, but I wish him luck in avenging the death of his ninja clan.

Bidoof: 10 I never understood the meme that these things were stupid and useless because like… look at it, it’s adorable? It’s just a pleasant little log of a Pokemon. The ability “Simple” was originally exclusive to this line (and still is if we discount hidden abilities) so I think that the designers knew what they were doing when they turned out this one.

Bibarel: 9 Loses a bit of the charm that Bidoof has but ultimately I think it’s a worthy evolution.  It was smart to throw the line another typing just to give it some more variety beyond being the generic early game rodent, even if there are a bunch more useful water types that could be used over it. and its status as an HM user is unparalleled.

Kricketot: 9 As a kid I always thought that Kricketot was adorable and really wished that it was more useful. Here’s a fun fact: this has literally the lowest base stats of all bug Pokemon. Any of them. Even Caterpie has exactly one more point than it. But he way it looks like a bundled up maestro is so charming! For all that it looks like a human it also feels like one of the more unashamedly “bug” bug types they’ve made, something about the proportions and the antenna and the face make it feel somehow more organic than a lot of other bug types. Also I love this color scheme.

Kricketune: 10 I’m a very musical person and I’ve always liked the more musically inclined Pokemon, and I think Kricketune was a fantastic idea. I love this weird little bug man, who’s based off of an actual insect called the violin beetle. Completely useless, clearly one of those bug types Game Freak threw in to pad out the Pokedex and so they could give something to low level bug catcher trainers, but I’d always stubbornly insist on using one when I played Diamond.

Shinx: 6 It’s cute I guess.

Luxio: 6 It looks like puberty.

Luxray: 7 Has X-Ray vision, which is odd.

Budew: 6 On the whole I think Budew and Roserade both do Roselia dirty, neither do it justice aesthetically, though Budew is at least cute in its own right.

Roserade: 4 I was pretty indifferent towards Roselia but Roserade made me appreciate it more. I think they were going for a sort of “Tuxedo Mask” thing here and I think they missed the mark a bit. Or a lot. I dunno. The white stuff on its head and the weird looking eyes are one thing, but the biggest design crime here is that they gave it fidget spinners for hands.

Cranidos: 8 Generation four was the second generation to have fossil Pokemon based off of actual dinosaurs (barring Aerodactyl all of them before this had been like, sea creatures) and while I didn’t really like Cranidos as a kid, for some reason I’m really feeling it as an adult? I think I like the combination of the blue skull with the grey color palate and the way that this guy just looks kinda scrappy.

Rampardos: 2 Ugh. They gave Cranidos a bowl cut and scoliosis. Such a weirdly squat, awkward design. They had it breathe fire in the anime though, that was dope.

Shieldon: 7 I always thought that Shieldon was cute. All of the fossil Pokemon are revived from fossils that you find during the game, and a fun piece of the lore of this one is that only the super durable faces are found fossilized, in perfect condition. They’re just that solid.

Bastiodon: 9 First off, one of the best names for a Pokemon ever. Second off I like how its face looks like a castle wall.

Burmy: 10 Burmy became one of my favorite Pokemon during generation four and it’s remained that way ever since. I’ve always liked bug types and Burmy is just the cream of the crop for me. It’s adorable. Look at it, it’s this little bug thing in a sleeping bag of garbage! They show its body in the anime and I kinda wish there was a “bare” Burmy that had no covering, because I think that could be an interesting mechanic. But Burmy just has such a fun concept with such fun execution, it really allows you to personalize your Pokemon in a way that few other Pokemon do.

Wormadam: 10 Each of the three different forms of Wormadam has its own benefits and drawbacks, making it an incredibly versatile pick for your team because you can just evolve Burmy to fill whichever niche your team required. I usually went for the Trash Wormadam, which was a little overpowered compared to the others because it only had one weakness to fire. Also, bless Game Freak and their need to give psychic powers to every insect even if it doesn’t make sense.

Mothim: 7 This is kind of a generic moth Pokemon, but it’s got a really solid design so I’ll give it a pass. It’s just not as interesting as its female counterpart, generation four was big on gender differences for some reason. I just wish that they had given it some kind of gimmick to make it as appealing of a choice as Wormadam, I don’t think I’ve ever used one in game and there’s no compelling reason to other than liking it. It does raise an interesting point about the Pokemon universe though, because both it and Wormadam have psychic powers. A weird number of moth/butterfly type Pokemon have random psychic powers that don’t seem to relate to them thematically. Buterfree, Venomoth, Masquerain, Beautifly, Dustox… why are flies in this universe so inherently psycic?

Combee: 9 A honeycomb shaped bee is such a fun idea, but it’s always kind of weirded me out that this thing has three faces. Each of them has a specific part of the body (one antennae and one wing) so what’s their relationship to each other? Are they born together? Are they independent? Or perhaps they’re… a hive mind. I wish that there was some way for the male Combee to be useful, but then I guess that’s the point.

Vespiquen: 10 Badass insect queen. Bug type is the best type and I think that Vespiquen is one of the coolest ones they’ve made. Turning a regal queen’s dress into a paper wasps’s nest swarming with honeycomb shaped bees who form into a living hive… I think that there was a lot more they could have done with this concept, but at the same time the end result was so good anyways I have no right to complain. I like how it learns “Power Gem,” an otherwise rock type move. She just has a magical crystal in her crown that’s not really mentioned at any point in any piece of lore, but it’s there.

Pachirisu: 4 [Even after doing this](https://kotaku.com/nobody-expected-this-pokemon-to-win-the-championship-la-1623126290) you’ll still always be just a Pikachu knockoff.

Buizel: 8 It’s a lifeguard weasel. Hm. There’s nothing technically wrong with Buizel, I think it has a great design and fills a cool niche in the Pokemon ecosystem, but something about it has always seemed off to me. It’s just kind of… there, it feels disconnected from the rest of the Pokemon in the game somehow, not sure why I feel that way because it matches up to the design principles of the generation quite nicely but there you go.

Floatzel: 8 A decent evolution for Buizel but I have to wonder how it swims with that giant floaty around its neck.

Cherubi: 10 I frigging love Cherubi, this thing is so cute. It eats its own second head to survive, I’m unclear if this is supposed to be a reference to twins eating each other in the womb or not but either way I’m here for it.

Cherrim: 10 This thing is so cute and the blooming cherry blossom gimmick was something that I delighted over as a child. It always thrilled me when I was able to make my Cherrim transform, which is a great trait to have. Unfortunately, Flower Gift is also something of a curse as it makes Cherrim a tragically one-dimensional Pokemon. It is entirely defined by the gimmick, which is a cool gimmick, but ultimately a useless one. All that the transformation does is boost its attack and special defense, and attack is its lowest stat anyways. Plus it only learns one STAB move that can even take advantage of a boosted attack, so ultimately it’s not a great place to be in. It’s not especially relevant in any way, later generations have basically abandoned the line. It’s been available in the wild in a grand total of… 2 locations since its debut generation. Yeah.

Shellos: 10 Generation four was really big on creating different versions of the same Pokemon, more bang for the buck I guess, and the Shellos line was the epitome of that. The two different forms are found on different sides of Mount Cornet and supposedly this is due to divergent evolution, but I wish they elaborated on that a bit. Why was it advantageous for one line to evolve to be pink and one to be blue? It’s never explained. It’s even mentioned a couple of times that researchers were trying to find other types of Shellos and experimenting with raising them in different environments to see if different types develop, something that future generations have failed to expound upon. We find members of this line on entirely different continents and they look exactly the same. Boo.

Gastrodon: 9 I don’t like how they lose most of the distinctions between the lines once they evolve, the pink and blue Shellos are very distinct from each other but the differences between the Gastrodons are minor, which seems like a step back to me.

Ambipom: 7.5 See, there are a lot mixed feelings about how the fourth generation was heavily padded out with evolutions of Pokemon from prior generations, and I might as well talk about it here because I think that Ambipom itself is a good mix of the pros and the cons of the idea. For the pros, it gives relevancy to older Pokemon who have been overlooked by the power creep. Aipom is an adorable Pokemon that adds a lot of flavor to the Pokemon world, but the problem is it was super weak and likely never used. With a stat-boosted evolution, it’s a lot easier to justify its existence and it serves a purpose in the game, not just the lore. However as a con, the actual design of it is a mixed bag. It loses basically all of the charm that Aipom had and is kind of unsatisfying as an actual evolution. They could have put a bit more effort into this thing. Whose decision was it to give it a bowl cut? Why are the tips of its fingers red? I actually do quite like Ambipom but the point still stands that it’s not as good of a design as Aipom, something of a running theme with these evolutions.

Drifloon: 10 Balloons really don’t get explored enough in a fantasy/sci-fi concept, so I’m glad that Pokemon was able to stick one in in such a fun way. Tries to drag children to the underworld, but kids love that stuff anyways so I forgive it. I appreciate the little puff of clouds that looks like whipped cream on its head.

Drifblim: 9 Personally I’ve always thought that Drifblim was a lot less charming than Drifloon, but maybe that’s just me. It’s bigger and bulkier, which doesn’t necessarily translate as well for a balloon. I understand the need for the tentacles from a design standpoint (without them it’s basically just a balloon) but they just don’t look right to me for some reason.

Buneary: 7 This thing is really cute and its evolution into its more sexualized form is a metaphor for how the beauty industry is targeting and sexualizing pre-teen girls.

Lopunny: 2 I don’t like how… sexualized, this is. Why was the Playboy Bunny a basis for a Pokemon. The Mega sucks.

Mismagius: 7.5 I like Mismagius’s design, but I have major issues with it conceptually. Misdreavus is meant to be a banshee, and so by tacking on this witchy evolution to it we lose out on the opportunity for something more interesting. Mismagius is a cool Pokemon though, and I really do like witches, so points for that.

Honchkrow: 7.5 I like Honchkrow as a design but it’s a bit confused conceptually. Murkrow is clearly meant to evoke a witch, and Honchkrow kind of evokes a wizard [(or a “Witch of the Waste” style witch)](http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/File:424248_3164633998754_1352491418_3259108_263889306_n.jpg) but at the end of the day, its primary motif is that of a mob boss, which squanders the promise of its pre-evolution. I like witches and wish we’d gotten a full on witch themed bird.

Glameow: 5 Just kind of there for me, it’s a cat Pokemon and it does that well. I like the spring shaped tail.

Purugly: 9 See, Purugly does something that I wish more Pokemon would do and it gets uglier as it evolves, intentionally. Glameow is all about glamor and all that, and so you’d expect some kind of pretty, streamlined evolution, but instead we end up with this squat, husky kitty. It’s a great bait and switch, and it allows for a representation of a diversity of cats. Not all cats are sleek predators, many of the cats you see will be just fat, surly little bastards lying on the couch, but we love them anyway. I also love that despite not being “pretty” anymore, Purugly is more confident than ever. Body positivity! Purely is all about that bass.

Chingling: 6 Chimeco was always one of those Pokemon that was just kind of there, and Chingling is almost worse. Usually I appreciate when they give an evolution or a pre-evolution to a Pokemon that previously just kind of existed, but I don’t think Chimeco needed one because it was already filling a very clearly defined niche, which was that of a support healer Pokemon. Chingling expounds on the bell theme but misses the underlying gameplay element that Chimeco was looking to contribute, and thus is a failure in that regard. It’s cute though.

Stunky: 6 I appreciate that Stunky’s face looks like a butt, but ultimately its design isn’t super creative. It just looks like a skunk.

Skuntank: 10 It’s a fire breathing skunk with a mohawk. Brought punk back from the dead.

Bronzor: 6 Baltoy 2: The Remix

Bronzong: 6 Claydoll 2: Electric Bugaloo

Bonsly: 8 It’s cute and I like that they gave the fake tree Pokemon a fake sapling Pokemon. One of the better designed babies, I’ve always liked those “leaf” balls that Sudowoodo has.

Mime Jr.: 6.5 Hmmm… I really like this one, it’s super cute but like… unnecessary. Mr. Mime didn’t really need a pre-evolution and giving a clown themed pre-evolution to a mime Pokemon doesn’t quite make sense.

Happiny: 10 So unnecessary, yet, so right. So cute. Obsessed. Loved this thing as a kid. I used one but wouldn’t evolve it. Must be protected at. all. costs. Queen of holding a rock because it wants to be a mommy. I adore pink and the feminine.

Chatot: 10 This one has always been one of my favorite Pokemon because I’m a very musical person, but I think what really gets me is Chatot’s quirky design. The music note shaped head, the bright color palate, that funny ruffle on its neck, it’s just fun to look at. Chatter was also a super fun move, and, fun fact is the only move that can’t be copied with Sketch. An icon in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon.

Spiritomb: 10 This thing was such a pain to acquire in generation four, the method was so obscure and difficult that the guide book that I had for the games had a whole page dedicated to it, and if I recall correctly they’ve shut down Wi-Fi support for the Nintendo DS platform so I don’t even know if you can do it anymore. Regardless, Spiritomb always had one of the coolest and darkest lores out of any Pokemon, which was all well and good, but then they throw it into a mysteriously abandoned underwater facility in Omega Ruby/Ultra Sapphire and it becomes just a little bit cooler.

Gible: 5 “Land Shark” is always a fun concept but I’m not sure that Gible does it right. It’s got a fun take on the fin-head thing and it’s adorably squatty juvenile body has some appeal, but something about it is missing for me. Like, objectively it is a land shark but nothing about it other than its aesthetics seem to take it in that route.

Gabite: 5 It’s just the middle stage Pokemon but it seems like this one actually gets featured quite a lot? These pseudo-legendary Dragon middle phases are interesting to me because some Pokemon like Dragonair and Gabite are these badass nascent dragons, but then you have Pokemon like Shelgon and Larvitar who are just kind of balls of flesh.

Garchomp: 7 Admittedly this guy is a badass. In its debut generation, it was ranked competitively in the Uber tier, the only non-legendary Pokemon there at the time besides Wobufett. However I don’t think it satisfies the land shark niche it’s supposed to fill and they literally just introduced a much better Ground/Dragon Pokemon last generation.

Munchlax: 8 Of the baby Pokemon introduced this generation Munchlax became the most iconic, mostly because Snorlax is already a franchise mainstay but also because it’s got a really nice design and a lot of personality. It’s strikingly at odds with its evolved form, but with enough in common that it makes sense. I also appreciate how in its debut games you could only catch it as a very rare chance encounter from Honey trees. I caught one while doing a Nuzlocke once, and then it blew itself up with Metronome. Sigh.

Riolu: 5 Tyrogue was cuter.

Lucario: 6 http://www.bogleech.com/pokemon/p447riolu.html

Hippopotas: 10 Their head looks like a little hat! Bonus points for having gender differences that aren’t just shrinking part of the body on the females.

Hippowdon: 10 Hippopotamuses are terrifying and Hoppowdon is terrifying. Like Snover/Absnowman I really wanted to use this guy but never could due to Sand Stream being too disruptive, but at least it gives them a niche in competitive play. On the whole I think the idea of a hippopotamus that lives in the sand instead of the water is a really neat concept, and one that I’m surprised I haven’t seen anywhere else? Sure land sharks, screw giant worms, *this* is something that would be terrifying.
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Skorupi: 7 This one was one of my favorites when the games first came out but as time has gone on I struggle to remember why. It’s just a weirdly lumpy, kind of awkward looking purple scorpion. Not that this is a bad thing to be, but eh.

Drapion: 8 Drapion is badass and I specifically remember that the Pokedex said it could shred a car with its bare claws, which is… interesting I guess. I was always bugged by the lack of a stinger on this thing because that’s the most iconic feature of a scorpion, but giving it an additional claw on its tail was at least an interesting choice. It subverts our expectation of poison types, we naturally expect this thing to be some kind of attrition killer that uses venom and sneak attacks to take down its prey, but nah, this guy just pulls up to the curb and rips your head off with its bare hands. How metal. Doesn’t need to be a dark type though.

Croagunk: 8 Remember in the anime how Brock had one and it would jab him whenever he started perving on a girl? Ally.

Toxicroak: 10 Greninja was debuted in generation six as a ninja frog, and I was confused a bit because we already had one of those. Granted too many ninja frogs isn’t a problem, but it seemed odd to me that they’d repeat a concept that they nailed so hard on the first try. The paralyzing venom of a poison dart frog seems like a natural fit for the ninja aesthetic, and I think that Toxicroak has just such a fantastic design. Take a second to really look at the thing, I think it could have gone without the spike out of the head but it just has such a flow and cohesion to it every other anthropomorphic animal Pokemon Game Freak has churned out should be jealous.

Carnivine: 9 I was obsessed with Carnivine as a kid because I had a phase where I was really into carnivorous plants, but I’ve never actually used one in the game. They just don’t align with my play style type wise. As a Pokemon I think that Carnivine is really cool looking, but I’m a bit iffy as to why exactly it can float. It’s a cool visual but one that doesn’t make any sense, and I think it might have been cooler if it slithered around on its weird vine-like tails.

Finneon: 7 I actually have a huge soft-spot for the Finneon/Lumineon line, I really like them, but I can’t justify giving them higher than a seven. The generic Goldeen stand-in of the generation, it could easily be removed from the series without really losing anything.

Lumineon: 7 One thing that I really appreciate is when Game Freak gives Pokemon abilities unrelated to their typing because they’re thematic. Lumineon is a “butterfly fish,” so although it’s a pure water type it learns a lot of bug type moves. Ultimately this is a very underwhelming gimmick that hasn’t really translated into any form of relevance for these poor fish, but it’s a nice bit of flavor that I think really adds a bit of texture to the Pokemon universe.

Mantyke: 3.5 I’m usually kinder to these baby Pokemon, but Mantyke strikes me as especially unnecessary. It’s trying way too hard to be cute, to the point where the face on its front and back are both kind of unsettling, and its body is squat and awkward. Like, is it supposed to be a smaller, thicker manta ray? What’s up with that? The whole “only evolves when a Remoraid is in the party” gimmick is interesting but ultimately this is a resounding “eh.”

Snover: 9 I like Snover and I always wanted to use one on my teams but Snow Warning is just such a disruptive ability I can’t justify it.

Abomasnow: 10 I love that the Pokemon version of the yeti is a giant Christmas tree. As one of those kids who went through a huge cryptozoology phase I always appreciate Pokemon based off of cryptid/UFO lore and we were long overdue for this one. Now we just need a Bigfoot themed Alolan form.

Weavile: 9 Sneasle was always a little bit too cool for its own good, and so I was glad that it got an evolution. I want to call Weavile lazy because it basically just tacks a headdress onto Sneasle, but it honestly looks pretty good so I’ll give it a pass. Remember the Lucario movie where there was that secret agent girl who had the two Weavile and she released them from her Pokeball as she was being eaten by the giant white blood cell blob and was crying as she said goodbye to them? That fucked me up.

Magnezone: 7 There’s a weird sense of logic to Magnezone. Magneton was just three Magnemites mashed together, which is a weirdly pragmatic evolution, so it makes sense in a weird sort of way they optimize themselves further by mashing themselves together. But however nice the design is I think it really loses the charm of its prior evolutions.

Lickilicky: 6 I like Lickilicky as a design and I love that it’s giving Lickitung more relevancy, because Lickitung was always one of my under appreciated favorites from generation one… but ultimately this is a step down. Lickitung looks cooler and more organic, causing it to clash with Lickilicky. Generation one and generation four aesthetics don’t mesh well, they’re too at odds with each other in terms of design principles.

Rhyperior: 6 This guy shoots boulders out of its arms with just the power of how shredded its muscles are, which is badass, but also like the aesthetics of this guy are sooooo different than its predecessors. Rhydon was literally the first Pokemon ever made and they screwed it up. It doesn’t share their color scheme or their iconic drill horn.

Tangrowth: 9 It feels like a bit of a copout to give Tangrowth arms because so much of the charm of Tangela was based in it just being this walking ball of noodles but at the end of the day I feel like Tangrowth is possibly the best evolution that the fourth generation added.

Electivire: 8 I think where Electivire fails for me is its face, if you look at Elekid and Electabuzz they have the cartoony eyes characteristic of the first two generations as well as this sort of “punk” aesthetic going on, so Electivire’s red eyes and industrially cropped face stand out in comparison. But I like to think that they were going for some sort of narrative where Elekid and Electabuzz are young hooligans and Electivire is them all grown up with a stable job in the civil engineering industry. On the whole I think it’s one of the more successful evolutions that generation four added.

Magmortar: 6 The fireball cannon on this guy is cool but also kind of random. Generation four added a lot of junk on top of Pokemon and which worked out in this one’s favor I guess.

Togekiss: 3 Personally I am of the opinion that Togekiss is a bad Pokemon. Its design is really awkward. It’s just a stub of a body with no delineation between the wings, and it’s far too cartoony to fit into the world of Pokemon. Plus it loses the egg gimmick, which was like, the whole point of Togepi.

Yanmega: 8.5 Badass. A giant, prehistoric dragonfly is already a nice idea, and they gave it an awesome design to match. However, my issue is mostly that Yanma doesn’t seem like quite the right pre-evolution for it. [Dragonflies have a predatory aquatic nymph stage](http://lifeinfreshwater.net/dragonfly-nymphs-odonata-anisoptera/) that would have made an awesome Pokemon, so evolving the badass dragonfly from just a smaller dragonfly feels like a loss.

Leafeon: 6 Leafeon feels like it needs more leaves but on the whole I think it’s a nice design. HOWEVER why not just make it evolve with the Leaf Stone? And why not just make Espeon evolve with the Sun Stone and Umbreon with the Moon Stone? I get that it causes a slight plot hole but this in particular highlights the absurdity of some of the ways that generation four tied its new Pokemon to the existing Pokemon. In order to rationalize them not being available in earlier generations them not being available in previous generations. So we ended up with a bunch of useless items and trade evolutions and move specific evolutions, and location specific evolutions are the absolute sillies idea. Magnezone and Probopass are at least rationalized by their relationship to magnetic fields but like… the Moss Stone is a cop out and we all know it.

Glaceon: 4 This feels like a really Ice type Eevee. The idea behind Eevee was that it could adapt to different environments and mutate in response to them and so if it was doing so for an icy environment it should have evolved to be furrier. Look at animals that live in icy environments, they’re generally white and insulated against the cold. Just making Espeon blue doesn’t hold up.

Gliscor: 8.5 Gligar was another interesting Pokemon lost to the sands of time (a scorpion bat makes a weird amount of sense) and I think that Gliscor came out really cool. Usually I’d complain about the aesthetic differences between Gligar and Gliscor (the vastly different faces and color palates) but I think they work here. Gliscor is commonly characterized in the anime as this lovable try hard so I like how hard this thing is trying to look cool and imposing. It’s also got some cartoonishly vampire coding, and as someone very fond of Halloween aesthetics that speaks to me.

Mamoswine: 6 There’s a disconnect for me between Mamoswine and Piloswine. Objectively it makes sense, after all they’re both wooly mammoths, but their designs are just too different. I think I mostly just don’t like that you can see Mamoswine’s eyes, especially since it has that incongruous blue stripe around the eyes. The solid ice tusks are a cool idea.

Porygon-Z: 10 I think Porygon Z is supposed to resemble an animation error, and I wish they played that up a bit more in its in-game appearances. This was one of the most whimsical concepts of the generation, a Porygon that’s been corrupted by bugged third party software meant to let it operate in “alien dimensions.” Probably the only Pokemon that I will accept as having a reason to have a trade evolution.

Gallade: 0 Outright sexist. Tamora Pierce wrote *The Song Of The Lioness* quartet like thirty years ago, women can be knights.

Probopass: 11 Probopass is one of my favorite Pokemon. It gave relevance to Nosepass, a super underrated generation three Pokemon that had a great concept without stats to match. I think it’s one of the best evolutions that they’ve ever done. It expounds on the themes and strengths of the Nosepass perfectly. Nosepass was loosely based on an Easter Island statue, which Probopass elevates by incorporating further elements from the statues, [as actual Moai Statues did have super funny hats and weird faces.](http://www.thehiddenrecords.com/images/Ahu-moai-tahai.jpg) Nosepass was a compass Pokemon that learned electric type moves, so Probopass bumps up the magnetism ties by adding a dash of [Wooly Willy.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooly_Willy) And like its magnetic predecessors the Magnemite line, it increases its power by sticking additional smaller forms of itself to it. It’s easy to miss but there’s an additional fourth face on its back, giving it a face pointing in each of the four directions. It’s this perfect translation of real life influences blended together seamlessly into the Pokemon world, with a dash of camp. Plus in game it’s super useful, I like tanky Pokemon.

Dusknoir: 7.5 I like Dusknoir, I guess. It ditches the interesting “lantern” motif of its predecessors but “radio to the spirit world” is a cool gimmick too I guess. A weird, useless piece of trivia about this guy is that he’s over four times the weight of his pre-evolution.

Froslass: 6.5 Mm, solid idea for a Yuki-Onna Pokemon to have a hollow ice kimono ghost thing, but they just kind of tacked it on to Snorunt for seemingly no reason. Great design though.

Rotom: 10 One of the coolest Pokemon and concepts… ever? The idea of a ghost manifesting itself through technology is already a lot of fun, but with the color scheme (great use of complimentary colors) and the distinctive face it allows for a lot of fun alternate forms that are still instantly recognizable. When I was a kid I was obsessed with the idea of what would happen if a Porygon and a Rotom got together and I’m still waiting for it. Low-key looks like a butt plug but you know what? That just means Game Freak is an ally.

Uxie: 8 I’ve always liked Uxie the best of the lake trio, its power of causing amnesia seemed to make the most sense out of all the abilities of the three. Basically just one of three Mew knockoffs but with the exaggerated cranial design I think it’s the coolest looking of the three.

Mesprit: 6 The least interesting of the lake trio, but I like pink.

Azelf: 7 Mm, a monster in the competitive scene and a badass in the mystery dungeon games but ultimately just a Mew knockoff.

Dialga: 9 I kind of owe this guy a debt because when Diamond came out I got this really cool plushie of him that was super high quality and he just kinda sat on my shelf for years but he was a very important part of the imaginary nightlife of my childhood bedroom so I owe him for that. As a Pokemon I think that Dialga is really cool looking. It feels legendary and imposing, it’s not surprising that Dialga was picked as the main antagonist of one of the mystery dungeon games. It’s got killer stats and a great typing, I used the hell out of it back in the day.

Palkia: 3 It really bugged me in the Darkrai movie there’s a scene where Dialga and Palkia are fighting, and Dialga blocks a shot from Palkia with its diamond and so Palkia blocks a shot from Dialga with one of its pearls and the pearl breaks and I’m just like… girl what did you think would happen? You tried to block a laser with a pearl, of course it was gonna break. Anyways, Palkia is Water/Dragon which I guess is because its theme item is a pearl, but it’s not integrated into its design whatsoever, which seems like a waste. The overall design is just weird, it doesn’t feel as interesting or cohesive as Dialga. It just doesn’t flow well, which is ironic, because he was supposed to be all about the flow of space.

Heatran: 3 Literally just exists to fuck up the competitive metagame, I don’t know if Game Freak knows why they put it in and I bet that they regret it.

Regigigas: 9 Honestly I have a soft spot for Regigigas. Mythology is a running theme throughout Sinnoh and Regigigas is the only Pokemon that I really feel like has an actual legend attached. In the Pokemon universe it’s unclear whether the story about him towing the continents and crafting the Regis, but it’s a nice bit of flavor text that adds a bit of weight to the previously extraneous Golem trio.

Giratina: 9.5 Arguably the best legendary from this generation, this is the only one that I really feel is worthy of the title and really contributes a satisfying piece of the game. Dialga and Palkia are fine, but a bit of an anti-climax (one of the many issues with Diamond/Pearl) but when Giratina shows up, it’s a party. The Distortion World is one of the coolest and most adventurous locales the game has presented to us in a long time. Since the other two legendaries of the generation control time and space, it’s interesting that the third Pokemon of the trio controls some kind of other dimension. I’m gonna be real though, I’m not clear on the difference between the Original Form and Altered Form.

Cresselia: 7 Cresselia is so pretty, but as a legendary its status is confused. It seems to exist solely as the counterpart of Darkrai, and if Darkrai is the bringer of bad dreams then does that make Cresselia the bringer of good dreams? We only ever see her undoing what Darkrai does, never anything proactive, though it does imply that sleeping with a Lunar wing will give you good dreams. She’s obviously associated with the moon but then is Darkrai… the dark side of the moon? Their lore needed polishing. Lunar Dance is a cool move though and apparently Cresselia is a monster on the competitive scene, so I guess it’s a worthwhile inclusion in the game.

Phione: 5 It’s cuter than Manaphy but in every way, shape, and form, unnecessary. I’m honestly very confused why this thing exists, it’s almost indistinguishable from Manaphy except slightly less useful. The method of acquisition for this thing was so mind-bindingly complex during Gen IV, you had to breed an event exclusive Pokemon that could only be obtained via physically transferring it from a non-main series game, while holding a special incense. I wonder how many people actually had one of these things.

Manaphy: 6.5 The Manaphy movie was one of my favorite Pokemon movies, it was so colorful and vibrant. That being said, this generation suffered from an overdose of Mew successors and Manaphy doesn’t serve a purpose. They really overdosed us with event exclusive Pokemon, and [Manaphy is the most obtuse example of it I can think of.](https://www.wikihow.com/Get-the-Manaphy-Egg-in-Pokémon-Ranger) Heart Swap is a cool idea but doesn’t fit with Manaphy thematically. [The real life “sea angels” they’re based off of are dope though.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeJvOIsSgJk)

Darkrai: 7.5 I’m a bit confused by Darkrai because it’s the good guy in *The Rise Of Darkrai* (which is one of the best Pokemon movies imo) but then in all the games he’s the bad guy, I know there’s always a disconnect between the anime and the game but like, these are polar opposites. Just as a Pokemon he’s pretty cool I guess, he straddles the line between “anthropomorphic” and “Pokemon” very well. [Check out his legs tho](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Darkrai_legs.png)

Shaymin: 9 I’ve always loved Shaymin. It is by far one of the least necessary Pokemon in the game, but it’s adorable. I’m a little tenuous on its status as a legendary, it’s just kind of rare, it could easily have been a regular Pokemon. I guess you could make the rationale that it’s some sort of forest nymph archetype (similar to Manaphy and Phione) but that’s a stretch. The flowery area you find them in kind of fits this theory though. Sky Shaymin is kind of unnecessary, and kind of looks like it would be a douche, but also very ahead of its time considering Mega Evolutions. Also it’s cute.

Arceus: 5 Arceus is supposedly the god of all Pokemon or whatever and it’s… well it’s a letdown. The “theme” of Sinnoh seemed to be religion and mythology, so if they were ever gonna bring this archetype out it would be in Sinnoh but I don’t think they did it very well. We have Pokemon that control time, space, Pokemon that create land and sea, Pokemon with dominion over life and death, so it’s unclear why exactly Arceus is special. [It triggers this amazing special event in Heartgold/Soulsilver where you can go to a special area and create a Palkia/Dialga in a very creepy ritual,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxC1kXm_AVs) featuring real life photos, something not seen in Pokemon before, and this is a really cool piece of lore and demonstration of Arceus’s powers. But then they introduce Ultra Space, implied to be the source of all legendary Pokemon and where you can capture all of them, so being able to churn out legendaries isn’t even special anymore. Judgement is a decent gimmick I guess, but also Arceus can learn any TM so it’s kind of obsolete anyways. Kinda lazy that it looks like a reindeer also.

END