#034 - Nidoking

NIDOKING

IN SHOW

Not only did Gary own a Nidoqueen, he also owned a Nidoking which he used to face one of the most terrifying gym leaders of all time, Giovanni. He lost, but it left an impression on us. Nidoking is only to be used for the most badass of occasions. Nidoking has been shown to be the choice among Ash’s rivals as well, Paul also owning one, which must mean that Nidoking can also only be owned by the toughest guys that are intent on beating the best and showing that they’re better than the pathetic guy with a Pikachu who things always seem to work out for.

WHY YOU WANT A NIDOKING

Nidoking is the exact same type combination as Nidoqueen, also making it immune to electricity and a popular choice among potential Lt. Surge combatants. It was as easy to evolve as Nidoqueen as well, with a Moon Stone not being hard to come by. If you were a male, Nidoking was the pick of the pokemon you wanted to evolve the moment you left Mt. Moon, and who could blame you? The picture was even better than Nidoqueen’s! It was intimidating as hell and looked just like the pokemon.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A NIDOKING

The same reason as Nidoqueen; the move set caps out at level 23, so once again you want to milk your Nidorino for as many moves as it can give you because you won’t get them from Nidoking. Who wants a pokemon to cap out at level 23, especially with a move like thrash? You get confused if it completes fully, and you could have to work through that for the rest of the battle. Yes, it’s a strong move but it can also be detrimental to your health.

IN SUMMARY

Nidoking was a tough as nails pokemon and it was owned by tough as nails trainers. Everyone wanted to be tough, to kick butt and take names in the pokemon world, and everyone wanted Nidoking. But his move set sucked. I’m learning quite quickly that this seems to be a habit among pokemon who use evolutionary stones because it’s supposed to take time to evolve them so that the pokemon that comes before it has time to learn a lot of useful moves so the final form doesn’t really need to. But you get a Moon Stone in Mt. Moon, and you can have a Nidorino before you even enter the location, so of course you’re going to use it immediately when you’re a kid and of course you’re going to be disappointed when your pokemon never learns anything ever again. So Nidoking in show, amazing, Nidoking in game, everything except move set also amazing.