The Favorite Pokémon.

I was on a Pokémon kick lately, so I figured I'd make a page talking about some of my favorite 'mons. I know people on Neocities like to channel the old Web 1.0 and make "shrines" of things they like, so I guess this is one of those. I think. I dunno. Anyways...

Fearow

Oh Fearow. Oh poor, poor Fearow.
Ever since the first games, Fearow has been known as "that other early-game bird". Always living in the shadow of its much more iconic cousin, Pidgeot. However, Fearow I think is the better Pokémon. It's both faster and hits harder than Pidgeot, along with a slightly better movepool (mostly just Drill Peck).

However, there is another...
Fearow's arch-nemesis is NOT Pidgeot. That would be Dodrio.

Dodrio is just a better Fearow. Almost the same stats, except Dodrio has higher attack. And it learns both Drill Peck AND Body Slam. Dodrio is the superior Flying type, despite not even having wings.

I still like Fearow though. They're the underdog. Not as popular as Pidgeot, and outclassed by Dodrio. I remember my Fearow getting the killing blow on Lance's Dragonite back in HeartGold, and I've loved it ever since.

Heracross

When Pokémon first started, the Bug type was a complete joke. All the Bugs were weak, and the best Bug-type move was the pitiful Twineedle. But then came Heracross, along with his signature move, Megahorn. From then on, the Bug type... was still kinda crappy but not as bad as it was.
Regardless, Bug type is probably my overall favorite type (next to Normal), and I have mostly Heracross to thank for that.

So. Heracross. The fighting bug with high attack power. Give it Close Combat and Megahorn and anything Dark or Psychic will turn to dust. Or at least that's what it feels like. Don't put Heracross against any Flying types though or else they'll turn to dust instead. Freakin' birds.
I always try to get Heracross on my team if it's easy enough to do so. I just love steamrolling everything with a cool-looking beetle.

Also, in Gen 6, Heracross got a Mega Evolution that gave it the second highest Attack stat of all time!? Oh hell yeah. Latent power lies behind that innocent little face.

Phanpy & Donphan

When I was really young, and only experienced Pokémon through the anime, these two were my absolute favorite. Reason being? My favorite animal is the elephant. That's it.
I've never been able to decide which one I liked better. Phanpy is adorable, but Donphan is cooler, and actually usuable (and it looks like a tire).
Admittedly, while a long time favorite, I've never actually used one on an in-game team. Of the games I've played, the only one I think I could get Phanpy/Donphan normally in is in HeartGold, but that's not until near the end of the game.

Not much much else to say here. I just like elephants, and thus, Phanpy and Donphan.

Sigilyph

The only Generation 5 Pokémon on this list, and it's probably the weirdest one.
So you may be thinking, "what the hell am I looking at? What is thing even supposed to be? A pinata?" Well, considering that it's meant to be based off "The Hummingbird" Nazca lines in Peru, I guess... it's a... uh... hummingbird?

Odd inspiration inside, I actually like Sigilyph's design. It reminds me of another Pokémon, Unown, whose whole thing is about being "otherworldly" and "mysterious". Sigilyph achieves this, but also one-ups Unown in the "actually-usuable-in-game" category. Sigilyph is a pretty solid special attacker, with good moves to support it. Psychic, Air Slash, Ice Beam and then Fly to get around.

Weird design. Good Psychic type, good Flying type. Sigilyph. Not sure what else to say, so I'll end this part with the same name I gave my first Sigilyph: "IDK".

This brings us to my two favorite Pokémon of all time. Starting with...

Shedinja

The true One-Hit Wonder. The spooky cicada shell that shrugs off Hyper Beams and Draco Meteors, but falls to Peck. That is the essence of Shedinja, the funniest Pokémon ever conceived.
Shedinja's whole deal is that it only ever has 1 HP, meaning that it dies if it gets hit by anything. To counteract this, it is the exclusive user of one of the most powerful passive abilities ever: Wonder Guard. Wonder Guard means that it will only take direct damage from moves that it is naturally weak to, and moves that it is neutral to or resist, instead become complete immunities.

This leads to funny scenarios in the games. NPCs will switch out a lot more often when faced with Shedinja, as they're just trying to find a move that can touch it. The best moment has to be in Emerald, at the eight Gym against Juan. Despite being a late-game boss, Juan's Pokémon have no moves that can hit Shedinja directly. The only thing he can do is through using his Luvdisc's Sweet Kiss to confuse Shedinja and have it damage itself. Problem with this is that 1) Luvdisc is one of the most pathetic Pokémon ever created and can be dealt with with no problems, and 2) Luvdisc is the first Pokémon Juan will use, so once it's out of the picture, Shedinja can do triple Swords Dance + Fury Cutter to absolutely steamroll the rest of Juan's team.


Only downside to Shedinja that it still takes damage from indirect stuff, like poison or hazards. And it's other stats are pretty underwhelming too. But still, Shedinja's awesome. Without question, my favorite, next to...

Jigglypuff

Most of my adoration for Jigglypuff doesn't come from the Pokémon games, but instead from the Super Smash Bros series, where it is a veteran fighter that has appeared in every game.
I play Jigglypuff regularly in every Smash game, even in Brawl and 4 where it's one of the worst fighters. I especially like Melee because Puff is REALLY good in that one. I just like its aerial playstyle and that it has my favorite special move in all of Smash: the powerful Rest. It also has this wide-eyed, blank stare in the early Smash games which make it look like it has an IQ of 4.



As for the actual Pokémon games, Jigglypuff being not only an unevolved form, but an unevolved form of a fairly weak early-game Pokémon, makes it kind of hard to use. I've only used Jigglypuff once in a playthrough of a quality-of-life ROMhack of FireRed called FireRed Plus. The makers of this hack must've been Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff fans too, as they buffed some of their stats and overhauled their movesets. Being able to use a Jigglypuff that knew Slack Off made that ROMhack a freakin' blast.
I need to try using it on a game where it has the Normal/Fairy typing, I'm sure that helps it out.

So yeah, I really like the balloon cat thing. Also there's this.

Honorable Mentions

Other Pokémon that tickle my fancy, but don't particularly have a lot to say on them.

Closing

And that wraps it up. I might update this article if I find any new loves in the future.

Admittedly, the "Pokémon kick" I mentioned at the beginning was a few months ago at the time of writing this. It's calmed down since then, but I already had little amusing graphics made for this page, so I figured I'd finish it.

Hope you enjoyed reading! Next month, expect another article for Clark-Gibson's 3rd Anniversary. See ya!

(All sprites are from Pokémon Black/White, rips taken from The Spriters Resource.)

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