#031 - Nidoqueen

NIDOQUEEN

IN SHOW

Nidoqueen actually first appeared in the movie, and not the show, but it did hold some big roles in the show itself. One of the gym leaders in the Orange Islands owned a Nidoqueen, and even Gary owned one though no one knows where he got it from. Nidoqueen is usually the pokemon that is seen to be owned by ‘the girlfriend’, as was demonstrated at least once in the show as well.

WHY YOU WANT A NIDOQUEEN

Nidoqueen was the first pokemon ever to have its type combination, poison and ground, and this gave it some pretty unique strengths and weaknesses. It was absolutely untouchable by electric attacks, which means if you got a moon stone and decided to evolve it before you reached Lt. Surge, you were golden because you could cancel out most of his attacks. And Moon Stones were pretty easy to come by, being found in at least 4 different locations so you could at least evolve it relatively painlessly. It could learn Surf and Strength making it pretty useful in the HM department too. And the picture? It looked GOOD. Everyone has a favourite pokedex picture but this is by far the best one so far. It looked exactly like the Nidoqueen in the show, down to every last detail.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A NIDOQUEEN

You need to hold off on levelling it. If you want an effective Nidoqueen you have to milk Nidorina for every last move it can learn because otherwise your Nidoqueen will cap out at level 23 by learning body slam. A strong move, yes, but pokemon should learn moves steadily as they level. There’s no fun in levelling the pokemon for stat boosts only, when other pokemon are learning much stronger moves that take advantage of those stats much better than the moves a pokemon will learn at 23 ever could.

IN SUMMARY

Nidoqueen has way more good points than bad points; interesting type combination, easy availability for levelling, a good amount of HM’s, a healthy amount of cameos on the show, and an amazing pokedex picture. But its move set is lacking so much that it ruins the entire pokemon. Now, I know, you can teach it tons of TM’s to make it a wonderful addition to any team, but I don’t review based on that. I review based on a pokemon’s natural ability to be as good as it can be, and it is up to the trainer to take it from there. Any pokemon can be spruced up with moves but those can only take them so far. This is why I haven’t mentioned TM’s up until this point, but with Nidoqueen it needs to be addressed. TM’s are useful for trainers, they give a pokemon a lot of tactical boost and make them strong in situations where they might have been weak. But that is a human choice, not a choice that is naturally programmed into the pokemon’s move sets and I will not review pokemon by them. So Nidoqueen, you’re great if a trainer wants to give you TM’s, and you had so much potential that I wanted to give you a gold star. But sadly, it couldn’t be done.

#030 - Nidorina

NIDORINA

IN SHOW

Nidorina almost never appear in the show, though one did appear when a female Nidoran evolved after kissing a male Nidoran. Other than that there has been no real example of any Nidorina in the pokemon world.

WHY YOU WANT A NIDORINA

If you catch a Nidorina in pokemon Yellow and don’t simply evolve a Nidoran♀ you can actually get a whole extra move out of it, that move being the very useful double kick, which many may think is pretty weak, but was actually one of the first fighting moves to be learned naturally in the game, and so this move can be pretty useful. Nidorina also learns double kick in pokemon red and blue but it’s at a much later level. Nidorina’s picture is actually one of the rare instances where the pokemon red and blue pokedex entry could actually be considered superior to the yellow one.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A NIDORINA

Yes, the pokedex picture in red and blue are superior to the one in yellow, but both of the pictures suck. Nidorina didn’t have that much screen time, but we at least knew it was supposed to be a poisonous rabbit, not some type of pig. Who thought it was a good idea to give Nidorina a pig nose? Also, other than double kick the move set is pretty much identical to that of Nidoran♀.

IN SUMMARY

Now, though Nidoran was a good ends to the means pokemon, Nidorina took whatever Nidoran had built on and...sat on it. It wasn’t an improvement, and it was really not very much of a progression. It was only given the one fighting move, which it would only ever get if you waited until level 50 to allow it to evolve, and by then many other pokemon were getting much better moves. And what was with the pig nose? Who thought bunny and drew pig nose? I’m sure they had actual art for what the pokemon were supposed to look like at that point, at least for the television series, so couldn’t the sprite artists have taken a look? I don’t really mind the awful pictures at this generation because the medium was so limited as long as it at least looks like they were trying, but when you add a pig nose to a pokemon who clearly doesn’t have one...But Nidorina is a pretty solid middle pokemon, as long as you didn’t keep it for too long.

#029 - Nidoran♀

NIDORAN♀

IN SHOW

Nidoran♀is another one of those pokemon in a long line of pokemon that are there as background characters, though they are often seen to be owned by younger children. There was one main Nidoran♀ though, one who was involved in romance with another Nidoran♂. When their trainers found this out the plot essentially began to copy that of the Romeo and Juliet. The two pokemon were constantly trying to find one another, but their families had forbidden them from ever seeing their one true love. At the end, the two pokemon kiss and Nidoran♀ evolves into Nidorina. It’s cute and romantic, and it’s what we expected from the only two pokemon with actual genders.

WHY YOU WANT A NIDORAN

Nidoran♀ evolved at a pretty steady rate and when it did evolve it evolved into some pretty powerful pokemon. There wasn’t a lot of problem catching it pretty early on, so it was good pokemon to have to balance out your team if you wanted the poison attacks without the bug type weighing you down, and you just weren’t that into Ekans.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A NIDORAN

Nidoran♀ only ever learned the most basic poison type attack before it evolved. The picture in the pokedex was definitely Nidoran♀ like, but it wasn’t the Nidoran♀ in the show at all. This was a pity because Nidoran♀ actually had a pretty simple design, and I at least thought that the people in charge of the pictures couldn’t have screwed that up. Of course, as usual, they totally let me down, and I think just dropped the ball in general.

IN SUMMARY

Nidoran♀ is definitely an ends to a means, but it can stand up on its own two feet. Sure, it’s only really shown as the pokemon that young children have, but if I were a kid and had a Nidoran♀ I’d be really happy. Because by the time I could be an actual trainer I’d probably have already evolved my little Nidoran♀ into one of the pokemon in its bad ass evolutionary line and could actually kick some serious butt out of the starting gate. Yes, it only learns the most basic poison type move, but it doesn’t have the TIME to learn anything else because it evolves so quickly. This is actually a pokemon that only exists to evolve that was done right. It’s not a drawn out evolution where they pretend the pokemon is meant to be its own creature, but because it’s not Nidoran♀ actually does become its own creature. Maybe this was totally coincidental, but it’s the best coincidence to ever happen to what has become one of the staples of pokemon.

#028 - Sandslash

SANDSLASH

IN SHOW
Sandslash was another background pokemon, one that was often seen in the background while the heroes were walking by to show the peaceful pokemon world, or one show as an opponent’s pokemon or in a flash of a pokemon battle. The most memorable Sandslash, for me anyways, was the Sandslash that was stuck in an Onix. Somehow the poor animal had gotten lodged in their causing pain for everyone involved and a truly terrifying Onix.

WHY YOU WANT A SANDSLASH

Sandslash was definitely a step up from Sandshrew, at least in the looks department. It was much more intimidating in its picture and you could actually see how your cute little Sandshrew could actually become your tough and scary Sandslash. The pokedex picture was actually pretty good, it definitely looked like a Sandslash, though Yellow’s picture was much better.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A SANDSLASH

Sandslash has an identical move set to Sandshrew, other than the strange fact that Sandslash can apparently learn Sand Attack twice, and Sandshrew actually learns the same moves faster than Sandslash! Sandshrew can even learn the exact same HM’s as Sandslash so Sandslash doesn’t even have that going for him. The poor thing.

IN SUMMARY

Sandslash literally only exists for the stat bonuses. You could actually simply keep your cute and cuddly little Sandshrew forever and never even attempt to evolve it if you don’t care about stats, or are planning on boosting them with different items, because Sandslash would bring nothing else to the table but better stats and a new hair cut. It’s true that Sandlash didn’t ever really make an impression on us in the show, but we at least assumed he would be better in some way then his pre-evolution. We were horribly, horribly wrong.

#027 - Sandshrew

SANDSHREW

IN SHOW

I remember seeing Sandshrew a lot in the show, but not as a main character. Sandshrew was always one of those pokemon that you would see living life in a pokemon utopia while the main characters were walking by a field, or in clips of battle in a league competition. This always surprised me because Sandshrew was so cute and could have been a pretty good mascot for the series. Maybe not the main mascot, but Brock definitely could have branched out and caught one as it would have been much closer to Rock than his later pokemon would be.

WHY YOU WANT A SANDSHREW

Sandshrew actually has a pretty good pokedex picture, as far as they go. You can clearly identify what pokemon is popping up in front of you, and it’s cute, which is what we had come to expect for the Sandshrew we had seen on the show. It may not have been the most imaginative of the pokedex pictures but it did actually show the pokemon in a reliable way which is more than we had come to expect. He even has some pretty good moves that he’ll learn before evolving, and he continues the good move set even if you choose not to evolve him.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A SANDSHREW

Sandshrew doesn’t learn any Ground type moves. He’s the first Ground type pokemon in the pokedex and he doesn’t know a single move! Yes, all of his moves fit him and work well together, but when you add pokemon to your party a lot of people tend to do it because they need the type to defeat a trainer or gym leader, and when the first, and most likely to be found, Ground type doesn’t actually have any Ground type moves, that can cause serious problems. Also, it learns a poison attack and I don’t understand how it can do that but not learn any from its only elemental type.

IN SUMMARY

Sandshrew was a cute pokemon that got a lot of air time, even if it was in the background, and a lot of people remember it very clearly because it was in so many background shots. Its constant appearances are probably because it was so animal like and very believable. Even with effective attacks it lost its appeal because it didn’t actually have any moves of its type and that can cause problems when you’re building a team around different types and how they work well together. Having a Sandshrew is essentially the same thing as having a normal pokemon but with different weaknesses and it’s not really worth the slot on that basis alone.

#026 - Raichu

RAICHU

IN SHOW

Though Raichu has been in a lot of episodes of the show, the first and only Raichu to appear was the one owned by Lt. Surge. He was a powerhouse that had been evolved at a young level just so he could be powerful. This Raichu easily defeated Pikachu the first time they faced off, and made Ash question whether or not he should evolve Pikachu to compete. Most other Raichu that have been seen have been background characters either demonstrating the evolutionary power of evolution stones or in background/filler fights. But Lt. Surge’s Raichu is the only one that ever strongly affected the plot, almost making Raichu the pokemon mascot and not Pikachu, and the only one anyone ever remembers.

WHY YOU WANT A RAICHU

Raichu looked cool, though not really intimidating or the powerhouse that we expected. He can learn a variety of TM’s, and even the HM Flash which can be helpful later on in the game as you begin to encounter dark and dangerous caves.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A RAICHU

First of all, Thunderstones are hard to locate, so even having the chance to get a Raichu can be a tedious chore, unless you decided to go through the process of catching one, which doesn’t make much sense when you already have a Pikachu you could evolve. Raichu was supposed to be a tough badass, but he didn’t learn any moves at all. Because of this he suffers from ‘exactly the same but...’, but in this case instead of the move set being only slightly improved on there is actually no change. Because Raichu will not learn any moves. At all.

IN SUMMARY

Raichu seems like a really cool idea, and it might just be because Pikachu is so popular. How many times did we wish as kids that Ash would finally take the plunge and evolve Pikachu, because we had been told that Raichu was stronger and would have a bunch of powerful moves. But the games were a huge disappointment because Raichu didn’t learn ANYTHING. And maybe it was because Thunderstones were so hard to come by that it was supposed to take a long time for you to be able to evolve your Pikachu so there was no real need for Raichu to learn any moves, but if you caught a wild Raichu you would have to rely solely on TMs. And some people would catch a Pikachu and not even look at it until they had a Thunderstone and could get the cool evolution. It’d be a shame for those people because their pokemon would never actually be worthwhile. EVER! When we were young we had no way of knowing whether or not a pokemon would learn moves. There was no book on the subject and no website that would give us a list. So people would evolve a young Pikachu, have a pointless Raichu, or catch a Raichu, and level it hoping that eventually it might learn something. Sadly you would get to level 100 and realize that you had levelled up a useless pokemon, and wasted a slot on your team that could have actually been held by a useful pokemon.

I’m done ranting now.

#025 - Pikachu

PIKACHU

IN SHOW

Now we come to it, the man of the hour, the pokemon that even your grandmother can recognize on sight. Ash’s first pokemon who hated him in the beginning and by the end of the next episode was inseparable from him. Pikachu has been shown to hate being in a pokeball and is constantly on the run from the evil Team Rocket who are trying to enslave the poor guy because of his amazing strength. And it’s true, not all Pikachu are like the Pikachu we’ve come to know and love. Most Pikachu live out in the forest, in groups, finding food and just in general being electric mice. Pikachu has been in every single episode, except for special ones, and every single movie. He’s even been the subject of some of his own shorts. He loves ketchup and beating people, but he’s also very kind and loves to make other people happy.

WHY YOU WANT A PIKACHU

Despite Pikachu being omnipresent in the show’s universe, Pikachu is actually a pretty uncommon pokemon so if you can catch a Pikachu you can show it off to people and be proud. Plus, he comes in handy for the gym battle against Misty when, depending on the pokemon you chose, it can be hard to keep your head above water.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A PIKACHU

Almost everyone goes out of their way to locate and catch a Pikachu so that they can show it off because it is so popular so having a Pikachu won’t lead to any originality points. The only place you can locate a Pikachu is in the Veridian Forest and the next gym is Brock, so you won’t find much use for him in that battle. Pikachu is actually only really useful for the Water gym, as most other gyms are resistant to him or take only normal damage. Also, he looks a little chubby in the picture, and I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s been eating too much ketchup.

IN SUMMARY

Pikachu in the show is one of the main characters, and the only pokemon to never leave Ash for any reason, even if it’s just to be stored with Prof. Oak. He’s cute and cuddly and he’s got a personality that we all love. He’s at the center of almost every single one of Team Rocket’s plots and that’s saying something. Pikachu is the mascot of the entire franchise, and sure that’s mainly because he’s Ash’s pokemon, but still. But the Pikachu in the show is extremely smart, fast, and over powered. He can defeat rock and ground pokemon just because he wants to. When Pikachu defeated Brock by simply powering up his electricity or Rhyhorn by aiming for the horn, people laughed. It was one of the most ludicrous things we’d ever seen, and a clear break of the game rules. But our Pikachu would never be that awesome. Though Pikachu is a pretty nifty pokemon and is one of the most useful for defeating Misty, unless you’re running into a lot of water trainers, Pikachu can be pretty useless in game. So catch Pikachu because he’s hard to catch and it’s nice to say you did it, but don’t stick with him the whole game.