Board 8 > Best Pokemon Generation by Type, Day 13: NORMAL

(+) Yeah! (+)

I think I forgot Wyrdeer for Gen VIII.

Inviso posted...

I think I forgot Wyrdeer for Gen VIII.

Oh no, I didn't. I just forgot that I typed it in.

Gen VII doesn't even have that one Pokemon I can point to and say "This is awesome." At best, you get Bewear because Fighting-types are great, but Bewear is like Crabominable in that it's one of the only Fighting type combos I'm not big on. There's not a whole lot here to enjoy.

Gen V is a no. Sawsbuck is the only Pokemon here I really like, and the Cinccino line and Braviary are the only others that are okay.

Gen IV features a top twelve Pokemon (Lopunny) and a bottom two Pokemon (Regigigas), but outside of those two, it's largely mediocre to okay, with exceptions for Staraptor and Porygon-Z.

Gen IX has a handful of good stuff, but just a LOT of filler, and the Smoliv line SUCKS at this typing.

Gen III frontloads its quality so hard: the Zigzagoon line and Swellow line, and Zangoose is the only REALLY top tier Normal-type besides them.

Gen II doesn't get the job done. Igglybuff is bad, Aipom is lame, I don't get for the original Girafarig/Dunsparce, Porygon2 is my least favorite of its line, and Stantler is extremely forgettable. The Noctowl line, the Ursaring line, Smeargle, Miltank and Blissey salvage it a bit.

Gen VIII is surprisingly good when I look at it overall, but as cute as they are, Skwovet/Greedent/Wooloo/Dubwool just feel like they offer nothing NEW after eight generations, and Indeedee sucks. Everything else is from Arceus, or repurposing one of Gen III's main triumphs.

Gen I is great across the board, but I've been voting Gen I a lot, and despite loving Jigglypuff, Meowth/Persian, Tauros, Ditto, Eevee, Snorlax and liking the Pidgeot line, Farfetch'd, the Dodrio line, Kangaskhan and Porygon...I'm hoping one of the other generations gives me more reason to vote for them. Also, not the biggest fan of Wigglytuff.

Gen VI might be getting an unfair boost, but I don't care. Three great megas (including one that makes Kangaskhan AWESOME), and three new type combos that all are pretty solid in their own rights. Mega Audino is the only real flop here to me.

Woof normal types. Voted gen IX because I like everything there except shroodle and squawkabilly, whereas every other gen has significantly more things that give me hives

Gen VIII has the highest highs imo

Pretty close between gens 1-4 for me. On the other hand 6, 7, and 8 have barely anything that I even vaguely enjoy.

I'm gonna be totally honest, when I judge the line-up of Normal types, I ignore most Normal/Flying types. I really feel like those are kind of their own thing and, with very few exceptions, should be judged as pure Flying types.

Underleveled posted...

I'm gonna be totally honest, when I judge the line-up of Normal types, I ignore most Normal/Flying types. I really feel like those are kind of their own thing and, with very few exceptions, should be judged as pure Flying types.

Totally fair.

Went gen 6. The one where I finally dont shun megas, since MegaKanga basically defined the meta for a while, and it made the other three viable (Audino more so in the TCG, but details.)

Additionally, my SwSh team has Helioptile as a bit of a sleeper hit. I dont know how I relied on it so much, but I did - plus it's going on Team Lizard if I can ever assemble a six Poke team.

Meanwhile I will ACTIVELY shun genwun in this case for a bunch of normal fliers, and bad Pokes that almost all had to eventually be tweaked with alternate forms and later gen evolutions to make them usable. And then you have Chansey, original sinner for the fat pink whore, while still doing a stall job way too well with Eviolite. Ugh. Eevee and Ditto are the only good ones of the bunch, and I say this as a Persian-enjoyer.

Beyond that, every gen i absolutely loathe something in it to bring it down for being a gimmick or a "you're starting out here have this and dump it immediately when you can catch more than 3 unique mons" Poke (the early route rodents, generally, except Zigzagoon who is friendship-shaped, and Bidoof, who is HM-shaped.)

I chose Gen 1, but Gen 3 was close. Having gimmicky stuff like Castform and Kecleon that doesn't rely heavily on its Normal typing, and mons like Azurill and Swablu that lose Normal once they evolve was my tiebreaker.

Also, Arceus isn't listed for Gen IV.

GavsEvans123 posted...

I chose Gen 1, but Gen 3 was close. Having gimmicky stuff like Castform and Kecleon that doesn't rely heavily on its Normal typing, and mons like Azurill and Swablu that lose Normal once they evolve was my tiebreaker.

Also, Arceus isn't listed for Gen IV.

D'oh. I've gotten so used to not including Arceus that the one time it SHOULD be there, I forgot.

VIII wins off the back of the cross-gen evos, Dubwool, and the H-Zorua line.

V is second for Minccino and Lillipup lines, plus Sawsbuck.

Most Normals aren't great.

Afternoon bump. Every generation has a vote at least!

Another bump for the evening.

Ew. Every gen has a bunch of garbage. But I think that Gen 5 has the largest amount of good normal types:

• Lillipup line is solid and was one of Ruby's star Pokemon in Nuzlocke Comics Season 3.
• Cinccino is really really cute.
• Deerling and Sawsbuck is great.
• Afrobull
• Braviary the American Pokemon

9. Gen VII - Toucannon deserves so much better, but everything else is so bad.

8. Gen VIII - Yikes. The H-Zorua line, Obstagoon, and Ursaluna save this from being an absolute disaster, but it's never good when your only good Pokemon are evos or variants of existing Pokemon.

7. Gen VI - Mega Pidgeot and Pyroar are great and Heliolisk is okay, but Diggersby is terrible and everything else I could live without.

6. Gen IV - This is a tricky one to rank. There's some great stuff like Bidoof, Porygon Z, and Munchlax, and then there are abominations like Lickilicky, Purugly, and Ampibom. A very up and down generation.

5. Gen IX - Other than the Grafaiai line, everything is at least solid. Nothing really stands out as amazing, but my favorite is probably Cyclizar.

4. Gen I - As usual Gen 1 is pretty safe, which leads to a lot of good, but very little great or terrible. Snorlax and Ditto are the stars here.

3. Gen III - Swellow is one of the best early birds, Skitty is adorable, and Zangoose is such an edgelord and I love it. Castform and Kecleon are interesting concepts, at least. Zigazagoon is pretty great, but I don't care much for Linoone.

2. Gen V - I like Male Unfezant, Cinccino, and Braviary a lot, and Bouffalant, and Sawsbuck are pretty good too. The rest are only okay though, and having a Mythical docks it some points.

1. Gen II - Furret and Teddiursa are top tier friends

Little bit longer bump.

Went with Gen III for Zangoose and Vigoroth mostly. Also not a lot of horrible mons IMHO.

Round will be ongoing for a bit. Have to go into the office today.

Bump

Still not home.

late but gen uhhhhhh

4 sure

since unlike the poll i'm going to also include the ex-normal types too so the gen 4 list also includes togekiss i think that's barely enough to push it over the edge here

Gen IV (Staraptor Line, Bibarel Line, Ambipom, Lopunny Line, Purugly Line, Happiny, Chatot, Munchlax, Lickilicky, Togekiss, Porygon-Z, Regigigas)
Starly cutest bird. Staravia dumb but Staraptor peak. Bidoof is iconic, and while Bibarel is sadly less of that, I don't consider it a bad evo by any means. Ambipom... is good. Buneary cute, we won't talk about Lopunny (okay I will actually say one thing regarding it though. If they were off changing the likes of Granbull to fairy type, I'm really surprised they never did likewise for it). Glameow is a good mon that is just very unfortunate to get the evo it has. At least it was fitting for a galactic ace's main. Happiny not the best gen 4 baby mon, but still cute. Chatot is the one gimmick mon where I wish GF had bothered updating its gimmick past its debut gen. Munchlax fun, a great addition. Lickylicky... Is still not good but at least has a more mascot-like design than Lickitung. Togekiss is great, Porygon-Z is great and yeah I'll even dare to say it, Regigigas is great too. Which is of course why I feel like it barely clinches this in my book

Gen V (Watchog Line, Stoutland Line, Unfezant Line, Audino, Cinccino Line, Sawsbuck Line, Bouffalant, Braviary Line, Meloetta)
Watchog line mid in gameplay, subpar in concept. Stoutland line decent in concept but still nothing remarkable. Pidove line was doing fine until its evos just had to happen and throw it firmly in the position of a D-tier bird line design. Audino line is... Kind of too impactful a gimmick again, in that it kind of just had too great an impact on the game. Cinccino is great and Sawsbuck too honestly. Bouffalant is... Well, I mean for what is obviously designed explicitly as Tauros's cooler american cousin, it's just a shame that the stat redistribution made it worse. I appreciate that they made it in the way they did, like I'm glad they didn't just do a copout and swap its attack for its speed or something, but I just wish it had been good this way. Braviary is fine but I don't care much for it, and Meloetta (both forms) is great.

Gen VI (M-Pidgeot, M-Kangaskhan, M-Lopunny, M-Audino, Diggersby Line, Fletchling, Pyroar Line, Furfrou, Heliolisk Line)
Mega time. Pidgeot was an odd choice of birds to give a mega to in ORAS but eh. Goes hard but sadly just not hard enough. Smash really did just put Mega Kangaskhan the best "You may feel underwhelmed the first time you see the Parent Pokmon Mega Evolve. "What, the kid just jumped out of the pouch? Is that it?"". At least its ability is super unique, otherwise it feels like they were rather short on ideas for it. Mega Lopunny is a mon that is frankly just scary to think of as being worse than so many of the mons this generation, as it had one of the better glowups in stat distribution of any mega pokemon. It doesn't help that its ability (at the time anyway) was absolutely nothing to write home about. Lastly Mega Audino is that one mega that makes me wonder in retrospect if people actually liked the original. I figured GF shoving it in everyone's faces so aggressively made it hard for many to. Not a diggersby line fan. Fletchling was cute and it's a shame it had to go Big Mad after this. Pyroar line sure does exist. Furfrou as the gen's main gimmick mon was always underwhelming to me. And Helioptile was a good mon with a good design and it's a shame they blew a bit of the goodwill of that design with Heliolisk. Overall, a pretty weak generation for the token mega gen and all...

Gen VII (A-Raticate Line, Toucannon Line, Gumshoos Line, Bewear Line, Oranguru, Silvally Line, Komala, Drampa)
Alolan rats were a mistake. Pikipek is yet another good starting bird that becomes unlikeable by the end. Gumshoos line is kind of just another Watchog sadly, even if I think it's characterised a liiittle better here. Ursaring line was done a bit of a disservice by getting bewear line as its counterpart this gen imo (and I hope it doesn't also get an evo so we can continue to pretend it never was one). Oranguru... exists. Rare take but I kind of prefer Passimian and wish it had been in Moon. Type Null and Silvally are honestly even worse a concept than the gen 8 fossils even if i do think it's nice that Arceus is relevant in regions other than Sinnoh. Komala is way too strong for what it is and yes I will consider this a point against it, and Drampa is a good, fun, reasonable mon.

Gen VIII (H-Zorua, H-Zoroark, Greedent Line, Dubwool Line, Obstagoon Line, Indeedee, Wyrdeer, Ursaluna)
Obstagoon on its own is a fine pokemon, but to do that to Linoone of all mons still fills me with irrational hatred so already this gen is cursed to exist at the bottom to me. Throw in Greedent too and there's just no recovery. Dubwool is middle of the road, Indeedee does indeed exist. Wyrdeer is hardly even an improvement over Stantler (i do appreciate that they leaned in on its odd vague connection to Girafarig and made it a fully mixed attacker now but it says a lot that farigiraf was a regular in competitive a year ago whereas this has never been seen in play outside of legends arceus (obviously the timing of it being transferrable did it absolutely no favours but even then). Really just exists pretty much solely for its role as a good ride pokemon that already allows you to sequence break hard.

Gen IX (Ursaluna-B, Oinkologne Line, Maushold Line, Arboliva Line, Squawkabilly, Grafaiai Line, Cyclizar, Farigiraf, Dudunsparce, Terapagos)
Is it fine yet to say that people getting hyped over a pokemon over an unintentional meme name is lame. It's just not a good mon. Maushold line is certainly unique. Smoliv the real good meme name mon and precious, and while I don't think its adorable base form's expressiveness was really worth losing by its final form, I do think that the line is just solid all around. Very teamworthy mon in my eyes especially if you don't have sprigatito. Squawkabilly is a mon that feels like they were trying to make halfway between Oricorio and Chatot way before release and then promptly forgot about for the full duration of development. To its credit it somehow does have better stats than Chatot (lol) but I mean... Nobody is ever using this thing. Grafaiai is... okay to put it generously (i mean it's just a bastardised take on both aipom and smeargle of course i don't care for it) but man Shroodle might actually be one of the worst pokemon designs ever lol. Why does it exist??? Don't like the ride legendaries so of course i also just don't like cyclizar at all, farigiraf is both a welcome addition and a terrible mistake, dudunsparce i've already covered as being a tsuchinoko retake that forgot it was meant to be one and only remembered to still be boring lol, and terapagos... is a bit unfair to count. I like it though!