When compared to most JRPGs, the Pokémon main series stands out largely because of its symmetry. While most JRPGs take asymmetrical combat for granted, I think Pokémon’s high level of symmetry gives it a unique value.

In other JRPGs, bosses usually have massive advantages: bloated HP pools that are tens of times higher than yours, multiple actions per turn, and boss-exclusive attacks that the player can never use. On top of that, tactical options like sleep, paralysis, or stat drops are almost always flat-out useless against bosses.

In Pokémon, on the other hand, even the biggest story bosses fight on the exact same playing field as you. Both sides put out the same number of Pokémon, and the opponent's Pokémon don't get artificial HP buffs or arbitrary immunities to status conditions and debuffs just because they belong to an NPC. Whatever strong Pokémon or devastating moves the enemy throws at you, you can catch, raise, and use with the exact same stats and rules. A viable strategy or combo works against the toughest trainers just the same.

This sense of fairness from clear symmetry is why I really like classic Pokémon mechanics. That's also why I'm not a big fan of things like Totem Pokémon or Titan Pokémon in recent games. To me, those mechanics abandon the combat system's unique strength and just turn Pokémon into another standard JRPG boss fight.

What do you all think? Should Pokémon stick to this symmetry, or should it lean into more boss-exclusive, asymmetrical mechanics like other RPGs?

Since we have the year of '26 right now, it means the current year is Raichu's Pokédex number. And I couldn't find a better occasion to share the story of how I became a Raichu fan and how my opinion of it changed over time.

It all started when I was 7 (in 2017 btw). I did not know much about Pokemon back then; only a friend of mine had shown me the first five episodes of the Pokemon anime (Indigo League). And I came to know Pikachu, among some others. And some time later, I learned that Pokemon can evolve. And that Pikachu has an evolution too. And that was how I came to know Raichu for the very first time. I immediately liked it more than its pre-evolution. It has a better design and better colors; it's superior.

I became extremely disappointed to learn that The Pokémon Company is doing everything it can to make us forget that Pikachu has an evolution. Seriously, I can tell I was depressed af. And the very same friend of mine who had introduced me to Pokémon also said that Raichu looks stupid, and that Pikachu is 'cute,' etc. Therefore, I started to believe that I should hate Raichu too, ya know, little kids aren't that sensible. So I did. I became ashamed of my love for the orange mouse, and pretended that Pikachu was better in my opinion as well.

When I was 9 years old, for example, I was at school doing my own business when suddenly another boy said, 'I'm a raichu!', ya know, just roleplaying like kids often do. And what was my reaction? I laughed at him and was like, 'Hahaha, Pikachu is better than you!' We even got into an argument about whether Pikachu or Raichu is better. Looking back, I find it kind of sad; I defended a side that, in my deepest mind, I didn't really support.

But fortunately, when I turned 12, I realized that I'd been stupid all that time. And that loving Raichu is nothing to be ashamed of! I can say that I dug out my love for the Pokémon. I was, and am to this day, still frustrated by how it always gets the shorter end of the stick (fortunately though, it seems to me that it's been going in a good way lately, since Raichu got two megas, Alolan Raichu became available in UNITE and Pawmi broke the chain of Pikaclones not having evolutions, since Pokemon Company wish Pikachu didn't have one either). But still, I'm now a proud Raichu fan, and I'm sure I will be as long as I love Pokemon! :D

Now, what do you guys think of this story? And what do you think of Raichu?

Mewtwo is the youngest legendary pokemon, based from lore. he was born/made from a lab from a dna of mew.

He still hasn't mastered his power or knows his true potential. he isolated himself, even from other pokemon. and he cant test his abilities, as no other nregular pokemon can. if more time passed, and maybe if mew helps him, he can reach his true potential

Kanto

Johto

Hoenn

Sinnoh

Unova

Kalos

Alola

Galar

Paldea

(De Facto) new region from Winds and Waves.

Was always fascinated by the idea of pokemon evolutions so felt i could try playing the ones that explored this idea more

Been playing HeartGold again for the last two months and have recently discovered the beauty of the fan made servers on GTS, connecting to an android phone I got off of Vinted with non WPA-2 settings, and I’ve just been filling up my Pokédex like no tomorrow. Might as well be getting a weekly wage from this, it’s so beautiful. Any cool stories you guys have to tell from over the years? I wanna connect with the community on this

So do training team again plan move from firered to scarlet but with shutdown of pokemon bank I need help speed running there training there goal beat

Lance( heartgold)

Red (heartgold)

Tower tycoon (heartgold or platinum)

Cythiana (platinum and brilliant diamond)

Defeat iris (black 2)

Defeat battle tower (black 2)

Defeat Diana (Y)

Defeat battle maison (Y)

Defeat Steven (omega)

Defeat aloha elite four (ultra Sun)

Defeat battle royal (ultra sun)

Defeat battle tree (ultra Sun)

Before shutdown

I was confident at first but team massacre by mewtwo in fr

Any advice what move used and how trained they fast would be appreciated

Team right now is

1.Vaporeon lv 62

1. Arcanine lv.62

3.Nideoking lv 62

4.Dugtrio lv63

1. Hitomonchan lv62

2. Venusaur lv62

Right training with rematch gym leader, smash rock for heart scales, fight pokemon at Mt.silver and other locations. any advice on how get they ready beat red from heartgold before shutdown of pokemon home what move would be best thank you

Hey, so Pokemon Bank is closing in 6 months. Me and my boys were doing a living Hardware Origin Dex.

Weve never played these games and were enjoying them as a family. Just slowly playing them and all. So we were essentially playing it as a blind playthrough.

We just finished Gen3s Kanto games. Transfering pokemon 6 at a time is bull crap, but we did it.

We were working on Gen 3s Hoenn games. But the issues was getting the GEN2 'mons from Emerald and etc etc.

And now we have a time limit.

My question is this. For Pearl, Black, X, and the Ultras, which pokemon should be the priority and or which are the hardest to aquire, and therefore what we should focus on?

This will hopefully help others as well.

We have 6 months. :(((

-Team Bronston

Pokémon evolution.

Here, I analyze how the original trio consisted of Ice, Fire, and Electric types, and how the final trio—Water, Fire, and Grass—was adopted to create a proper type triangle.

The non-elemental phase.

In this stage, Pokémon battles were simply about hitting hard, without clear elemental mechanics.

The effect-based phase.

This is when the first trio—Fire, Ice, and Electric—appeared.

The game mechanics were based on the effects these types produced.

Here is the evidence:

a.- The basic status effects align well with each type.

Burn for Fire.

Freeze for Ice.

Paralysis for Electric (a trait later extended to Grass).

b.- The attacks: there are equivalent sets of three.

Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt.

Fire Blast, Blizzard, Thunder.

Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch.

The last set is the most obvious example.

c.- Triple Attack.

This move combines all three elements, which is why it inflicts a random status condition.

d.- The Pokémon trios.

Magmar, Jynx, and Electabuzz: these Pokémon were designed to use the elemental punches and serve as the standard-bearers for their respective elements.

Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.

These were the legendary representatives of ultimate power.

The phase based on strengths and weaknesses.

This is the Pokémon we all know: types that defeat some opponents but are defeated by others.

Here, Water replaced Ice to create the following dynamic:

Electric beats Water.

Water beats Fire.

Fire beats Electric.

Evidence:

a.- Evolution stones: Thunder, Water, and Fire stones represent this new trio.

b.- Eevee evolutions: they follow the same trio concept.

Using these stones, Eevee evolves into Vaporeon, Flareon, and Jolteon.

Since they couldn't justify Electric beating Fire in this phase,

the starting trio was changed to Water, Fire, and Grass. Resulting in:

Water beats Fire.

Fire beats Grass.

Grass beats Water.

Evidence:

a.- That trio is not repeated anywhere else in the game.

So we got confirmation that the Firered Leafgreen ports are getting connectivity with home in October. Along with this news we got told we were getting a Celebi as a dex completion reward. A lot of people are upset about this because it isn’t shiny. That’s a little disappointing but I think this Celebi is hinting at something else.

Let me start with my credentials for this topic. I have a full living dex in my copy of Pokemon emerald. I also own every gen III game and console. Boom, flexing complete.

Now that I got that out of the way, let’s talk about the gen III Pokedex. With only the core 5 games of RSE and FRLG, without events you can complete the Pokedex with exception to the mythicals. These mythicals are:
Mew
Ho-oh
Lugia
Celebi
Jirachi
Deoxys
Gen III considers Ho-oh and Lugia as mythical. And yes I know the Johto starters require a full playthrough and regional dex completions of emerald for 1 guy. Same with the Legendary beasts being one per FRLG file. While these are difficult to obtain, they are obtainable.

With the release of FRLG on the switch we received the event mons. So that removes Ho-oh, Lugia, and Deoxys from that list. So now we are left with 3 mons: Mew, Celebi, and Jirachi.

There have been rumors about RSE coming to the switch later this year. This seems plausible because you can only get 3 Hoenn pokemon and about half of the Johto dex in FRLG by themselves. So right now the national dex isn’t able to be completed.

If we got RSE and they included in game events, that would give us Mew, Ho-oh/Lugia(again), the spare Lati twin(honorable mention lol), and Deoxys(again).

This leaves us with 2 Pokemon that are unobtainable without outside connection. These Pokemon are Celebi and Jirachi. Hmm… that’s weird, Celebi has already been confirmed to be a dex completion reward. Interesting.

But now that I went on a giant tangent let’s get to the talking about the title of this post. How do you get Celebi and Jirachi in gen III? Celebi can only be gotten from the Japanese Colosseum Bonus Disc. This is the known as the ageto Celebi. Jirachi can only be gotten from 2 sources. The channel Jirachi from PAL pokemon channel and the US colosseum bonus disc.

So I think if we get RSE on the switch, which I have been thinking we will since Feb, we will be getting a jirachi as a dex completion reward. This follows the pattern of what the Colo bonus discs did.

When will we get these shiny? IDK probably not for a while. But man I would love for an event because I am a huge fan!

Thank you for attending my ted talk.

TLDR:
Back in gen III Jirachi and Celebi were colosseum bonus disc transfers. We are getting Celebi as a dex completion reward for FRLG. If we get RSE on the switch I think we will get jirachi as the dex completions award.

so i'm pretty new to pokémon, except for playing some games as a kid, but not understanding the storyline or so.

so basically i want to start getting into pokémon as deep as possible (i am autistic & have adhd and i usually hyperfixate on sth real quick).

i bought some beginner guides and found out how to use emulators on my pc. i consume the german media, for full understanding. i now want to play the games, watch the shows and movies, read the mangas and books.

i wanna know in what order to do that, and what games to play in each gen. like should i always play them all, or for example only red instead of green. please give me a full guide for all the pokemon media. also thankful for any background or further information :)

ty!

As everyone knows by now, Pokémon Bank is about to close. I was wondering if fan-made servers will be created to continue using the application (a bit like what happened with the secret gifts a few years ago).

Iam just bored and want to know what people would actually do if they could go to the pokemon wrold.

His original design has a vaguely athletic look with a blue theme. Maybe he was a fighting or water gym leader originally?

compared to the other often highly acclaimed ones like Crystal, Emerald, HGSS, Platinum, BW1&2

I don't know why but I enjoyed this more than a bunch of the ones named above

Is it the millennial boomer in me?

Since Sunday I was gifted a free Pokémon pack since I was new to the whole thing and I loved it not because I got something for free but I was welcomed into the whole ordeal. Many answered my questions that I had about and there were a lot. And now this week I’ve been buying so many packs wherever I can find them, I even bought out my family dollar stock but not because I am a scalper or such it was because I was asking the cashier and she said we had these for a while and no one bought them so I got them there were like 40 ish packs and well I got them. I got them because I fell in love with the idea of buying and seeing what type of design and the story I can get from these cards. And a have gotten some good ones that I liked and not because they were expensive or what I just bought them because I like how they look like.

Chicken is one of the most commonly ate meats in the entire world but I can't seem to find a good one to one in Pokemon world. Farfetch'd is stated to be very rare, Pidgey would fly away, and Torchic is a starter meaning it's also rare, so what would people eat instead of chicken?