Anyone who knows me knows that Pokémon is one of my favorite Nintendo franchise made. I've been a fan of it since Day 1 when the anime came over and Red and Blue were all the rage. It's been a very long time since the Franchise has started out. We have had 4 Generations of Pokémon for each handheld system, having about 493 new monsters into the mix, and now with Black and White, we're looking at 649 of the little guys. With that I plan to look back at some of my favorite monsters from each Generation, leading up to Black and White release. That's right, ranging from Kanto to Johto to Hoenn to Sinnoh to Unova, I'll be listing my favorites of each type. How will I be handling this, well it will vary based on both design and battle prowess.
Let's start off with Generation 1. Keep in mind, that the Steel and Dark types weren't made official yet. I could give either Magnemite or Magneton the spot, but I'm going with Generation I setting with this list, so just expect the original 15 types, then when I get into Johto and beyond, all types will be covered.
Normal- Snorlax- As a kid, I always liked that big sleepy bear that would block my path. He was pretty strong for a Normal type, and could take a hit or two before going down. Sure he had low speed, but I didn't care due to how much payback that thing can deliver. As for it's design, it was pretty neat. It somewhat reminded me of Totoro.
Fighting- Hitmonchan- A fighting type with boxing gloves? That was pretty unique, considering that most of the Fighting types in were based on various forms of fighters, the Machop line reminded me of Pro-Wrestler, Hitmonlee was like more kicking related, and Hitmonchan is a boxer. I've always had a liking for Boxing, and Hitmonchan kind of had this charm in it that made me pick it above the rest.
Flying- Farfetch'd- Yes he is ultimately Pokémon's joke character. A joke I saw on Smogon sums his situation up right. Scroll down to the Opinions part of the page. It has the lowest base stats in the game for a Pokémon that doesn't evolve, can only be obtained in a trade in which you give up the potential to have an even better flying type, but man I just like ducks, especially one that holds an onion leek as a weapon. He reminds me of a samurai in a way. Because of that onion leek, and his semi samurai looks, he had a cool design that I put above the bird I use the most in Kanto, which is Fearow.
Poison- Arbok- It's a snake, and they're awesome. Well OK, I think the anime might be helping there since Arbok was Jessie's main mon, and Jessie was one of my favorite member on the team. I kind of like that mark on it's belly, and it's pretty cool how they do differ subtly from region to region. If you look really close enough, you'll notice that. My only complaint about it is, that I kind of wished that they kept the marking if they were from a different game. I mean, even though you couldn't see it from the back, I thought it would be pretty cool to see someone have an Arbok from the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh regions.
Ground- Nidoking- I was going to put down Nidoking as my favorite Poison type, but when I realized that back then the only Poison move it knew that could do damage was Poison Sting, and Toxic, and that other ground types weren't my cup of tea. But anyway, Nidoking is a pretty good mixed attacker, both back in the day, and now. Considering it's base Special Attack is only 7 points lower than attack, I don't feel like that giving it a special attack is a waste for a move.
Rock- Golem- For some reason, I don't remember a single trainer in the game that used Golem. Which is a shame, since Golem was pretty decent for the most part. While Rock types did kind of suck back in Generation I, with most of them having double weaknesses, like Onix, Kabuto, Omastar, etc. I thought that Golem was pretty decent, especially since I was able to use him after trading to my brother's Red version, then back to my Blue.
Bug- Scyther- Back then, Bug type was sort of like a joke. They really weren't that strong, didn't have that many powerful moves, which was kind of a shame, considering they were the only thing that were super effective against Psychic types. I am convinced that if Bugs weren't gimped in this gen, the likes of Scyther and Pinsir probably would have had a strong Bug Type move on them, and they would have been on teams to counter the likes of Alakazam, Mewtwo, Hypno, and most likely OHKO them. As for Scyther, I kind of like his design, I like the blades he has
Ghost- Gengar- Yeah, Generation only had 3 Ghost Types, all of which came from the same evolution family. But Gengar reigns supreme within his line with his neat shadow design, and being a pretty good special attacker with a nice speed stat as well. He's pretty much one of my favorites to use on my battling teams due to his hit hard and fast approach.
Fire: Arcanine- The noble beast of Arcanine was one of my favorites back in the day. As far as capture fire types goes, he was the best. With boasting high attack strength, decent speed, he was a pretty decent mix attacker. It also helps that he's pretty strong for a monster that only evolves once. His noble and regal appearance also set him apart from the likes of Nintales, Charizard, Magmar, Moltres
Water: Poliwrath- While Poliwhirl is a favorite of Satoshi Tajiri, I myself was a fan of it's evolution. It might be because it also contains one of my favorite types, Fighting. But Poliwrath weird Frog design puts it above the rest of the water types for me.
Grass: Bulbasaur- it's the nostalgia in me when I pick Bulbasaur, but really looking back, there really weren't that many Grass types that I liked in this Generation. I guess it also helps that Bulbasaur was the first Pokémon I ever picked in a Pokémon game and that he help me beat the Elite Four.
Electric- Jolteon- Jolteon takes the cake as my favorite. He is one of the fastest creatures alive, has impressive Special stat. the only downside for it was it's limited movepool back in Gen I, and lack of good special attacks, but it was one of the few monsters that was able to go toe to toe with Lance's Aerodactyl.
Psychic- Mr. Mime: Ah yes, the game breakers of Generation I. If you had a Psychic type on your team, mostly the likes of Alakazam, Hypno, Starmie, Exeggutor, and if you had early access to it, Mewtwo, you can pretty much breeze through the game. Though looking back, Mr. Mime was one of the fragile Psychics. Though, thanks to it looking like a mime/clown, it became my favorite.
Ice- Lapras- This generation only had 5 of them, and most of them were dual types. But Lapras sort of stands out for me in a way. I always kind of liked this Loch Ness inspiried monster, and I thought it was perfect for traveling with. Also, there is something calming about Lapras design that I find relief in.
Dragon: Dragonite- Well like Ghost types, Generation I only had 3 Dragon types, all of which belonged in the same family. With this Dragonite was the first among the Psuedo-Legendary, which are fully evolved Pokémon with base stats totaling 600. While it's sprite was pretty derpy, and I'm still trying to figure out how Dragonair got wings, and turned a different color. I mean what the hell is this, and how did this become this? It's pretty much the only Dragon in the game, and I liked it for what it was worth.
