Top 10 – Favourite Pokémon

Detective Pikachu hits cinemas this weekend, and in honour of this I’m doing something a little different today. I don’t cover a huge amount of gaming topics on Shuggie Says, but if there’s one thing I love more than movies, it’s Pokémon. Whittling the list down to just 10 was hard enough, but actually ranking them is going to be nearly impossible, and I shall probably change my mind right after publishing this. I’d love to hear about your favourite Pokemon, memories of Pokémon, and thoughts on the Pokémon movies in the comments below.

10) Floatzel – Floatzel makes this list for one very important reason. It was the first ever shiny that I ever found in a Pokémon game (I don’t count the Red Gyarados in Gold and Silver/HGSS). Finding that first shiny, without any shiny hunting methods is always a special moment, the odds are 1 in 8192. So shiny Floatzel, like the one in this picture, will always hold a special place in my heart.

9) Munchlax – If I were to describe myself as a Pokémon, I think that it would be Munchlax. The pre-evolution of Snorlax, added in the 4th Generation games (Diamond and Pearl), he doesn’t have the constantly sleeping quality of Snorlax, but is still a big fan of eating, something that I feel describes me far better than Snorlax. Aside from that Munchlax is incredibly cute, and was a fun character in the anime.

8) Mudkip – Until recently Quilava and Torracat were fairly close for my favourite of any of the starter Pokémon or their evolutions, and I’m not quite sure why it happened or when, but suddenly I found myself loving Mudkip, pretty much wholy because it is based on an axolotl, and they are adorable. I’m really not a fan of its evolution Marshtomp, and am indifferent to Swampert, so it isn’t my favourite evolutionary line, but Mudkip himself is one of my favourites.

7) Sigilyph – Probably the newest addition amongst my favourite Pokémon. I used Sigilyph in a playthrough of one of the games not too long ago, and whilst it isn’t the most powerful or flexible Pokémon in the world to play with, its bizarre Egyptian hieroglyph inspired design grew on me a lot, and it has slowly creeped its way into my head as one of the coolest Pokémon designs around.

6) Hoopa Confined – Of all the legendary and mythical Pokémon Hoopa is one of the few that I’ve never obtained in game. However when I watched the 18th Pokémon movie, Hoopa and the Clash of Ages, I fell in love with the smaller, more adorable version of the Pokémon. There is also an unbound version of Hoopa, but it just doesn’t compare in my eyes, the confined Hoopa is easily my favourite legendary/mythical.

5) Aipom – Another Pokémon that never truly capture my attention until I saw it appear in the anime when Ash caught one at the end of the Battle Frontier saga, right before heading to Sinnoh. Aipom is in my eyes the cutest little first evolution Pokémon out there, so it makes me I’m incredibly happy that we appear to be getting quite a bit of Aipom in Detective Pikachu. I think he has such a cool and unique design, and I just think he’s adorable.

4) Noivern – Now we’re into the big boys. The four Pokémon that I really have a hard time splitting apart, and at four we’re going with Noivern. It’s a bat dragon that operates with sound, and has an awesome design. I really liked it when I first saw it in X and Y but it once again wasn’t until I got to see one in the anime that I really came to love it. And as a competitive Pokémon Noivern is very fast and hits hards, exactly my type of battler.

3) Alolan Ninetales – The original Ninetales design never really did anything for me. But the colour change to the light blue palette as well as the ice and fairy typing made Alolan Ninetales my favourite of all the Alola variations (although the Alolan Raichu is adorable as well). And ‘Alolatales’ has a lot of use in some competitive battling as a weather and screens setter, all in all a great mom.

2) Sylveon – I think the introduction of fairy typing into Generation 6’s X and Y was a great move, and it has quickly become one of my favourite typings, so it really shouldn’t be any surprise that the fairy eeveelution is my favourite, ahead of the many fan favourites from Gens 1 and 2. I beautiful design, complete with an awesomely coloured shiny, and some genuine power behind it, Sylveon is an all round great Pokémon.

1) Gliscor – And we come at last to my number 1 Pokémon, for now. Gliscor is one of the Generation 4 Pokémon that was an evolution of a Pokémon from a previous Generation, in this case Gen 2’s Gligar. Gliscor is awesome. It has one of the coolest Pokémon designs ever, something that was highlighted even more to me in the anime, as often seems to be the case with many of my favourites. Gliscor is also an awesome competitive Mon, sure it isn’t top tier, but it’s pretty great.