You know, I think we’ve made a connection over the past few months. It’s almost as if it’s… Psychic. With the month of love well underway it’s time I made use of our connection to relay to you my top 5 favourite Psychic type Pokémon… Generations 1-7, but you already knew that. 🙂
Gasp, shock, horror. Yes, you didn’t misread that, I have a fondness for the Unown. Based entirely on their role in Pokémon The Movie 3: Spell of the Unown. Their powers are so surprisingly powerful and it was nice to have a lesser well received Pokémon take the spotlight in one of the films. Their intricacy and untapped potential strength should be a real worry for people living in the Pokémon world with them and they have such a mysterious aura to them as they’re never fully explained. Though, I cannot deny their sheer uselessness in the games, which is why I feel no shame in putting them at number 5.
We travel to my journey through Kalos for this entry. Having alluded be in the Unova region when I caught a Solosis in Reflection Cave I decided to give it a try. No regrets. As she grew and eventually evolved to Reuniclus my love for this thing only grew along with her. She was a powerful member of the team and saw me through many battles, but I don’t have any specific memories of using her in particular other than a vague recognition of her wiping the floor with Malva of the Elite Four. Hence only being able to achieve #4 on this list.
Everyone back in the day was using Alakazam in Red & Blue but I never had anyone to trade with so I had to seek alternate Pokémon to use. Hypno was my Pokémon of choice and it has served me well on many teams over various generations. It has a creepy design and an even creepier lore – what’s not to like about this thing? It’s morbidly fascinating and pretty strong to boot. It probably doesn’t hold up against an Alakazam but as an only child growing up in the 90s with no access to a link cable it was the best thing I could have hoped for and it returned to help me just as well as I recall in the virtual console release of Pokémon Yellow. Recommend.
In the build up to Gen IV all I wanted for a Meowstic on my team on Pokémon Y. I preferred the female design so I went for that one over the male and it proved to be a great addition to my team. She was 1/6 of a very important team for me as I felt her team was one of the strongest I’d ever used and they all worked in sync with one another. Chesnaught, Diggersby, Lapras, Talonflame, Tyrantrum & Meowstic… Good times. Also, expect all of these to be in one list or another at some point in these countdowns.
Now onto my most recent team in Pokémon Chronology. Pokémon Moon presented me with the option of trying a Pokémon I’d passed by for nearly two decades – Staryu. I decided to give it a try, curiosity for the starfish winning out and it very suddenly became the best member of the team. It was a force to be reckoned with and it never even fainted at any point in the game. MVP of the Alola region. Easily. Try it. I can’t wait to use it again in a later generation because I love this thing.
I bet there was at least one surprise in this type, am I right? I didn’t expect Unown to appear here either but when I really had to put some thought into who would be in my top 5 they just kept appearing, dancing around my head and singing their names in unison. It was… Interesting to say the least. But another type is done and onward to March we look. Tune in then to find out my thought on my top 5 Flying Type Pokémon.
Happy New Year to all! What? I’m a week late? Oh… Well… I have no excuse. ANYWAY! It’s January and the holidays are over. Everything is back to Normal again and with a new month it’s time I take a look at a new type. With that in mind, shall we take a look at my top 5 Normal type Pokémon (From Gens 1-7)?
You know those Pokémon you always wanted but could never have? That was Porygon in Red/Blue/Yellow for me. I was terrible at the slots game and so I never had the patience to grind up to achieving enough coins to acquire a Porygon. I suppose that’s why I’m not a fan of Dratini’s evolutionary line. Anyway, time went on and eventually I got my hands on Pokémon Platinum and my passport to a Porygon became easy. I quickly set to work evolving it to Porygon2 and then on to Porygon-Z and it was simply divine. For the longest time I never thought I’d get a chance to use Porygon, but then it made up for those years lost out and then some. I still remember how achieved I felt when I finally got a Porygon-Z and I remember using it vividly whilst ignoring the planes in the sky above during the 2009 Sunderland Air Show.
Gen V was an interesting one, wasn’t it? For the first time since Gen I you could only use the regional Pokémon through the main story of the game. I knew this going in to my copy of Pokémon Black and there were only two things I really wanted on my team – A Galvantula, Lilligant, and a Minccino. Blame my desire for a Minccino entirely on how irresistibly cute it is. It was probably one of the weaker members of my team but I didn’t care, it was cute and I liked it, which is all you really need in a Pokémon game – to like the ones you’re using. When the time came I decided to evolve it, though I find Cinccino less cute, because of the evident difficulty spike in the latter half of the game and because the poor thing was starting to faint in every battle. Still, it’s one of the cuter designs, I think.
Remember back in the late 1990s when this thing was an utter monster in the anime? It still is, in the game. When I finish a main series Pokémon game I tend to create a new team for the post-game quests. In my Pokémon Y game, this post-game team consisted of Roserade, Gardevoir, Huntail, Noivern, Rotom and Tauros. A badass team and each of them were excellent in their own right. I have great memories of conquering the Battle Laison with this team and I owe a lot of those victories to the sheer bull-like strength of Tauros.
For the longest time Furret was my favourite Pokémon, bar none. It was cute and because I never really had much of a chance to play a Gen II game it was somewhat of an enigma. When the time came for Pokémon Platinum to be played I set out to put a Furret on my main team for the game and, admittedly, it was rather weak, but it made for an excellent meat shield. Why number 2 on this list? Nostalgia, probably, and lingering loyalty to the younger me who would be disappointed that Furret isn’t #1 on this list. I recall designing a version of Furret for each of the then 17 types, the Pre-Alola Alolan forms of Furret, so to speak. What can I say? It’s still really cute though, isn’t it?
Like Furret before it, Aipom is now probably my favourite Pokémon. It’s cheeky, charismatic and has a very clever and unique design. I often see posts on social media asking if you could have just one Pokémon be real I see people commenting Charizard or Mewtwo or other more popular Pokémon that’d probably kill us all or be incredibly hard to control and I just simply type in the word “Aipom”.
Thing is though, I never used to like Aipom. I had a real problem with monkey-like things because in every Calendar the month of June was always represented by a monkey, and I was born in the Year of the Monkey so they always seemed to be following me everywhere and I grew to resent the idea of monkeys for that reason. That was a long time ago though and I recall enjoying seeing the Aipom in Pokémon The Movie 3: Spell of the Unown interect with the other Pokémon and trainers. From that point on my liking for Aipom slowly grew without me even knowing.
When Gen IV came along I tried it and evolved it into an Ambipom. My love for it slumped a bit after that. It took until 2017 with the release of Gold & Silver on the virtual console to make me want to give it a chance again, from its own time before it was burdened with a very underwhelming evolution. It’s the main player in my Silver team now and I love it. It’s so over levelled because I never use anything else. Aipom and I have had a rocky start but now we’re best friends and I only wish Ambipom didn’t exist to weigh down this amazingly simple yet greatly enjoyable little primate.
So Normal type is done. Wonder what will come next. Who knows? Well, I know but you can’t read my mind, can you? 😉 Anyway, what do you think of my list? Were there any surprises in there? Do you share any of them with me? I’d love to hear your thoughts. But until next time I bid you all a good day!
Hello and welcome to 2018! Hope you had a fun week doing whatever it is you’ve been doing but it’s back to the usual routine now, I suppose. Don’t be sad, it’ll be Christmas again in 356 days.
2017 was an interesting year for film, so I was wondering, if I could sum up my thoughts on each film I’d seen in the cinema that year, it might do for a blog entry, don’t you think?
I’ll go in chronological order of when I saw them and I may as well date it too, ey? So, let’s get started!
A Monster Calls – 7th January
A deep exploration of a young boy’s mind in turmoil. It was interesting to see the way the story panned out over the duration of the film and the acting from every one involved was simply top notch. Even if it did lose itself a bit in its own narrative toward the end
Rating then: 9/10
Rating now: 8/10
The Lego Batman Movie – 18th February
Fun, Lego action with everyone’s favourite overrated mental patient, Batman. A good story in its own right, as its own thing and still gets quite a few laughs out of me but I feel the very climax of the film was a bit of a let down. Hold hands to stop Gotham tearing in half? Really? It’s fine, it’s fine! It’s a kid’s film after all and there is a level of suspension of disbelief to take into consideration.
Rating then: 10/10
Rating now: 8/10
Logan – 2nd March
Hugh Jackman’s swansong (Maybe) Wolverine escapade. A dark, gritty and realistic portrayal of the final days of the mutants. Logan is one of those films that people will be talking about for a long time – and it earned that recognition. Some say it’s bad, some say it’s a masterpiece. I’m in the middle. It’s a really well made film, but it was too drastic a change from the X-Men franchise. Personal opinion, don’t torture me. Seeing the Charles Xavier in the silo having gone mad at the start hurt my childhood though.
Rating then: 9/10
Rating now: 7/10
The Great Wall – 7th March
One of those whitewashed films that was doomed to fail. It was alright I guess. Nothing to write home about, but fun enough to watch if you just want to switch off for a couple of hours and watch some urban historic fantasy.
Rating then: 6/10
Rating now: 6/10
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 – 29th April
The Guardians of the Galaxy return in my most anticipated sequel of the year, and proved to be ever so slightly disappointing. It was great and I loved it, but the first one is still my preferred venture. I think splitting the team up for so long is to blame for my preference of the first, but I enjoyed the two intertwining stories told throughout and Ego is by far easily one of the best villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. Can’t wait for Infinity War though.
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: 8/10
Wonder Woman – 11th June
With the advent of the Justice League monstricity, Wonder Woman stands as a beaming light of what a DC film could be. By no means the best film of the year but definitely earned a spot in the top 5 of a lot of fans’ lists. The trench scene alone perfectly captures Wonder Woman and showed an audience how little modern superhero films focus on actually actively going out of the way to save people.
Rating then: 9/10
Rating now: 8/10
Spider-Man: Homecoming – 8th July & 11th July
Saw this film twice, actually. Easily the nest of the three MCU films to be released in 2017 as it once again focused on the littler stories. No world-ending disaster plot or subjugation for all mankind. First time I went to see it the cinema ticket cut of “Spi” and “Home” so on the ticket it looked like I was going to see Der-Man Coming. It has been referred to by that name ever since.
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: 8/10
Kingsman: The Golden Circle – 23rd September
Elton John. Enough said. What a great adventure from start to finish. It was funny, sad and engaging all at the same time. Though the start was a little too trigger happy with established characters in order to shoehorn in the American version. Elton John though.
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: Not out on DVD yet so would be unfair to judge *Sad face*
Thor: Ragnarok – 28th October
The weakest of the three MCU films this year, for me. It was great fun and I enjoyed every minute of it… But as a trilogy the tone and pacing of this one doesn’t match Thor or Thor: The Dark World in any way whatsoever. I get it was trying to be its own thing but at the expense of everything to happen prior to Ragnarok?
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: *Patiently awaits DVD release whilst listening to Led Zeppelin*
Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You – 6th November
Pure untainted nostalgia and a treat for the soul. After 14 years of not being in the cinema Ash & Pikachu exploded back onto the silver screen in marvellous fashion. I already did a review of this film which I’ll attempt to link in here but yeah, I really loved this one.
Rating then: 7/10
Rating now: I keep checking Amazon every week for a DVD release date but it never has one. This makes me sad.
Justice League – 19th November
From sheer nostalgic beauty to tainted nostalgic dread. This is another film I reviewed at the time of release but I will never stop hating this filth. As a film, it was stupid, as a comic book story, it was badly done, as a superhero film it was insulting and there are no redeeming qualities in this thing whatsoever. Avoid at all costs. Linking the review in if possible here.
Rating then: 2/10
Rating now: Negative 2/10. Not wasting any more time or money on it.
The Disaster Artist – 9th December
Oh hi Mark. An interesting look into the filming process of one of cinemas greatest duds – The Room. It was light and entertaining, silly and serious, and had the ever loveable Tommy Wiseau in the end credits. It makes me so happy, and I love Lisa so much.
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: It’s bullshit, I don’t have it yet. It’s bullshit. It is not! Oh hi Mark.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – 9th December
So what happens if you put Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan and Kevin Hart in a game of Jumanji? A lot of controversy and needless hate. I liked this film. It wasn’t perfect but give me it over a lot of other films *Cough*JusticeLeague*Cough* any day. While not every joke hit the mark it got a few laughs out of myself and the people I was seeing it with (One a die-hard cynic of the thing) and all in all it was a bit of harmless fun.
Rating then: 7/10
Rating now: You know the drill by this point.
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi – 16th December
Following on from the Force Awakens a lot was expected to be revealed in this installment of the Star Wars saga. In the end not a lot was actually revealed and the film suffered from existing in the Star Wars universe. Had it been its own one-off film, yeah, it could have worked, but as Episode VIII of a 9-part saga… It left a lot to be desired. It wasn’t all bad though. Mark Hamill gave the performance of his career and it was interesting to see Rey & Kylo Ren’s relationship grow throughout the film.
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: Blu-Ray. Surprise! Nah, I’ll be getting the DVD… Whenever that comes out.
Caught up in the now. It’s interesting looking back at the films you saw over the space of a year. Almost all of them [NOT YOU JUSTICE LEAGUE] were good and I don’t regret seeing any of them. Barring the black sheep of the universe. There were of course some films I had wanted to see but never had the opportunity for one reason or another – Murder on the Orient Express, Blade Runner 2049, It, War for the Planet of the Apes etc but nothing to be done about that now.
As for 2018 there are a few films I’m looking forward to seeing. Avengers: Infinity War, The Incredibles 2, Black Panther to name a few but others I’m slightly dubious about… Looking at you Solo: A Star Wars Story. I suppose there’s one way to find out though, ey?
Thank you for following my posts in 2017, next year will continue on as usual, posting on Wednesdays with reviews, look-backs, top 10s or whatever takes my fancy during the week. Should probably get around to finishing my reviews of the David Tennant Doctor Who Big Finish audio stories though.
Hoping you had a Qwark-tastic new year and are settling into the first year with an 8 in it since 2008.
Image from here: https://www.gamnesia.com/exclusives/the-top-10-ice-type-pokemon
It’s December again, snow is falling down, Christmas trees are going up and retail workers are gearing up for another bout of absolute Hell. #PrayForRetailWorkers
So, now that the ghostly going ons are over and the dark nights have arrived it’s time we take some inspiration from the snow and cover my top 5 Ice type Pokémon. Gripping stuff, I know. So, shall we get started?
Everyone hates Vanilluxe. That’s pretty much universally accepted, so trust me to break the mould. I’ve always had a soft spot for Pokémon with bad reputations so when I had the chance to use this Pokémon in a recent replay of Pokémon White Version last year prior to the release of Sun & Moon. Vanilluxe was a pretty powerful member of the team and when it came to the Elite 4 really brought it’s A-game. I understand that people dislike it because it’s an ice cream with eyes but… So what? Voltorb is a PokéBall with eyes, but that’s a discussion for another day, perhaps. In the end, Vanilluxe, very good, give it a try, don’t judge a book by its cover.
I’ll be the first to admit that Cloyster suffers from poor design choice in regards to references to a woman’s anatomy, but that doesn’t make it any less effective. Cloyster is a Pokémon I’ve not had very much experience with but the experience I do have with it is very good. We all have that go-to Pokémon we have on our party who helps train lower levelled Pokémon to a higher level and Cloyster has been that Pokémon for me for a long time and it’s well overdue a proper place on a story-mode team. Maybe in Ultra Moon… It hits hard, it hits pretty fast and it beats you down and beats you down, just like ya boy – Guzma.
We’re heading back to the days of Alpha Sapphire now for this entry. Remember the event Glalie players in the UK received in the demo for Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire? Do you recall how that Glalie came with its own Mega Stone? Yeah, that Glalie. This may be cheating a bit but that Glalie was a beast. It didn’t just beat its opponents, it grounded them into chunks of meat – then preserved the meat with its ice-cold body temperature to feed to smaller, less tanky Glalie. Hoenn in Alpha Sapphire shook in fear at my Mega Glalie and Kyogre didn’t know what hit it when it encountered Freeze-Dry for the first time. Don’t need anything else, Glalie destroyed the Hoenn region, mic drop, bye.
For a long time I debated between Alolan Ninetales and Alolan Sandslash for this spot on my list but in the end I went with the fire fox turned ice fairy – Ninetales. Majestic and powerful, Alolan Ninetales is a sight to behold, both physically and in battle. Blazing her way through my run through of Pokémon Moon Ninetales was one of the most utilized members of my party. She well and truly earned her place on the team and then some more. At times I had to force myself not to use her just so that the other members of the party had a chance to catch up with her level-wise. Choice Scarf Moonblast, Ninetales destroyed all life in the Alola Region, even beating a Salazzle in one hit at one point. Now that’s impressive.
Come on, you knew this was coming. What’s not to love about Lapras? Everyone knows this peaceful dinosaur and love it for how unfathomably pleasant it is. I, like many others, have very fond and nostalgic memories of Ash’s Lapras in the Orange Islands arc of the Pokémon anime back in the day and I’ve used it on numerous teams over the years. The Lapras that springs to mind when I think of them in game is the Lapras I acquired on Route 12 of the Kalos region on my first play of Pokémon Y.
At that point I’d never used a Lapras properly before and I was eager to give it a try as I didn’t have a water type at that point and Lapras was the perfect fit for the team I had. It proved time and time again to be a very valuable ally in the battle against Team Flare and it was a phenomenal battler. With the addition of Pokémon Amie to Gen VI, I grew to love Lapras for more than just my nostalgia of it and it played a big part in creating my love for the Pokémon Amie/Refresh features in every game since.
My biggest memory of that Lapras, though, was during the Elite 4. I was battling the Champion, Diantha, and the battle had whittled down to a 1v1 between her Mega Gardevoir and my Lapras. I had no revives left and I needed to end the battle ASAP, so in a gamble I used Perish Song. It worked. I won the Kalos League through a loophole in the game’s code using my Lapras’ Perish Song, and it was brilliant. Lapras, everyone loves it, everyone who says they don’t are lying.
And there’s my list. They’re all good Pokémon in there, a few surprised too, I bet. Do you agree with my choices? If not, who are your top 5? Feel free to let me know in a civilised manner. I suppose I should give a special shoutout to Alolan Sandslash, considering it was in the running of this list for a long time until Alolan Ninetales showed up and took its place. So here’s to you, you odd-looking steely ice igloo, you.
Image found here: https://aminoapps.com/page/pokemon/6823794/top-10-dark-type-pokemon
So it’s November, the nights are getting darker faster and there’s a distinct chill in the air. We’re rapidly approaching the holidays and it’s time for another Top 5 of my favourite Pokémon from a particular type. This month we’ll be covering Dark type, to coincide with the darker nights. Symmetry.
Like Ghost, Dark is a type I’ve never really put a lot of effort into using properly. Though the ones I have used have usually left me with a good impression of the type, so with that said, let’s dive right in.
Every now and then a friend and I challenge one another to complete the story of a main series Pokémon game using a starter one chooses for the other. In my run through of Pokémon Moon earlier this year the challenge was brought forth again. I gave him a newly hatched Hoppip and in return he gave me a freshly hatched Houndour as I’d never used one before.
The little Houndour quickly became a staple of the team and was helpful through a lot of the game. I recall it evolving into Houndoom mere moments before going on to challenge Mallow’s Grass type Trial and you can probably guess how well that turned out.
It was because of Houndoom’s effectiveness I decided to dump every Pokémon on the team at that point (Bar Houndoom) into the Box and strive to use Pokémon from every generation available that I’d never used before and it proved to be an amazingly diverse team that could take on any challenge with relative ease (and some of those Pokémon will be in future lists). My only gripe with Houndoom by the end of it was that it became rather outshined by the other members of the party in later game.
So despite never using its Mega Evolution, which I’m told is rather lack-luster, Houndoom really earned its 5th spot on my Top 5 Favourite Dark Type Pokémon (As of Gen VII)
A lot of people hated Alolan Persian when it was announced and personally I wasn’t really too fussed over it either way. Since I knew the poor feline would never be used by the majority of the fandom when I came across an Alolan Meowth at the start of my play of Pokémon Sun I decided “Why not?”
So Alolan Meowth became a pretty prominent member of my team and was there from beginning to end. Though not the most frequently useful member of the party Alolan Meowth gained the most powerful thing a Pokémon could have – sentimental attachment. Then, when it evolved into Alolan Persian at level 12 I was confused so looked it up and learned it evolved through happiness. That was it, it was there to stay for the rest of the game.
Alolan Persian had the role in my team of being my first choice to pummel the opponent with hard-hitting moves like Power Gem & stalling moves like Fake Out with a Rockium-Z thrown into the mix for when it was better to be rid of something quickly and efficiently.
Though not the strongest Pokémon, it was an appreciated addition to the team and deserves its spot in this top 5.
I know, I’m surprised too. Remember that Poochyena you catch at the start of Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire that knows the elemental “Fang” move? Yeah, that one. In my play of Omega Ruby I decided to try out this shaggy-looking pooch and made it a permanent addition to my team pretty quickly.
She could take pretty much any hit and shake it off before delivering a hard-hitting Fire Fang/Crunch. Surprisingly, the move Sand Attack made it into the moveset up to and throughout the Elite 4 as I found it to be a really helpful move to have in Omega Ruby in particular.
I have good memories of Mightyena travelling through Hoenn with me as the first Pokémon I caught in the game, facing off in as many battles as it did and winning every time with it’s sneaky tactics and its enjoyable interactions on Pokémon Amie and I was really surprised at just how much of a best friend this dog proved to be.
In my younger years I played Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow religiously, then when Gold/Silver came out I could never got a version of the game so my love of the franchise kind of died off when the hype calmed down in the early 2000s.
Though it didn’t last for long, as only four years later I was looking through a bookshelf in Waterstones and saw a Pokémon book showing off all the new “Generation III” Pokémon and on the cover was this devious looking little mite with gem-eyes and a wicked smirk.
It was love at first sight and I knew then and there I wanted to get back into the series and use this thing. I was 12 at the time so I convinced my mother to get me a Gameboy Advance with Pokémon Sapphire to boot. I was thrilled when I got to Dewford Island and caught my first Sableye and made sure I used it whenever possible. For a long time it was my favourite Pokémon in general and it never let me down.
Sableye will always have a special place in my heart for being one of the few things that managed to rekindle my adoration of the franchise and every time I see one in the game I think back to the little Sableye that could residing peacefully in Pokémon Sun at the time of this writing.
Sableye was great, but Krookodile was an utter beast. When Black/White came out I passed Sandile off as I already had teams planned for each of those games but when I got my hands on a copy of Black 2 I shrugged in a non-committed way and decided to give it a try. Did not regret.
Krookodile is pretty much Unova’s worst nightmare. I dominated every challenge I put Krookodile up against and found myself trying no to use him to make the game a little more of a challenge, However, when I did let Krookodile loose in gym battles/Elite 4 battles I’m pretty sure there were a few fatalities on the opposing side.
Design wise I was never too keen on them, but over time it has grown on me. It’s still not my all time favourite design but it does the job and does it well enough to earn Krookodile the #1 spot on my top 5 Dark types.
As I said at the start, Dark is one of those types I’ve never really looked into very thoroughly and honestly I struggled to think of a couple of these entries. I have nothing particularly against Dark type but I find myself to be more of a offensive battler than a defensive one which is why I’m still surprised to this day I allowed Mightyena to keep Sand Attack through to the end of the game. Dark is such a defensive and tricky type, I suppose I’ve just never really adapted properly on how to use them to their full effect. Maybe in Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon I’ll give another Dark type a try and possibly make this list null and void. Who knows, ey?
Do you agree with any of my choices? Do you disagree? Feel free to tell me in the comments!
A new Top 5 Pokémon of [BLANK] Type will be back next month and since it’s December, it’s going to get a little chilly here. 😉
Hello, everyone, Spectacled Observer here and in this series I intend to share my thoughts on my Top 5 Pokémon of Each Type, Generations 1-7. Since today is Halloween, I thought it’d be a good (and very predictable) idea to list off my Top 5 Favourite Ghost Type Pokémon (So far).
Ghost type is one of those types I’ve had a very limited exposure to over the years as I’ve found I tend to focus on more common types in my various play through of games in the Pokémon series. The only time I tend to have Ghost Pokemon on my team is if I really go out of my way to use them, or decide on the fly to give a new one a shot.
That being said I’ve not had much experience with Ghost types and for this list I really wanted to focus on Ghost types I’d had personal experience with, or had to acknowledge just because of how creative and appealing they are.
So here are my Top 5 Ghost Type Pokémon from Generations 1-7:
Though I didn’t get to use it properly in Pokémon Sun/Moon, I intend on using it in one of the Ultra games.
Dhelmise was one of the few Pokémon I did not know about when I began playing Pokémon Sun so imagine my surprise when I made it to Poni Island, decided to fish on the off chance of finding something interesting and coming face to face with this possessed seaweed encrusted anchor! It’s because of where it is found in the game that I was surprised to find it was actually a Ghost/Grass type, I’d expected another Ghost/Water type like the Frillish line. Guess not.
Its design is pretty interesting, from the anchor attached to the ship steering wheel, to the compass acting as an eye with the seaweed draped all over it, it looks very haunted and mysterious. It’s name is a combination between “Demise” and “Helm” which just adds to the haunted ship aesthetic it has going on. I’m surprised there’s not a lot of lore behind Dhelmise, the PokéDex doesn’t even offer much of an in depth look into its story either.
As soon as Marowak’s Alolan form was revealed last year it automatically had a place in my Pokémon Sun team. There was no doubt about it. I picked up a Cubone at the base of the Wela Volcano and soon after I had my Alolan Marowak and went on to storm the rest of the Alola region with it.
I thoroughly enjoy the fire dancer/voodoo theme it has going for it and the Ghost/Fire typing games sense when you consider Marowak’s history in the Pokémon franchise (ie; Gen 1), and as stated, the fire dancer theme it has going for it.
Alolan Marowak fit really well into my Alolan team and proved to be of vital use in many battles throughout the rest of the story of the game and beyond! A great first impression of Alolan forms to give and easily placed in my top 5 Ghost type Pokémon!
When I picked up Pokémon Moon earlier this year I struggled to find Pokemon I hadn’t used before in some way as I wanted to go through the game with a team of Pokémon I had never used before. When I made it to Akala Island I accidentally got caught in a shaking sand patch and found myself facing a Sandigast. I gave a non-committing shrug and caught it, willing to give it a try. It became a vital part of the team and arguably the most capable!
The little Sandigast had a lot of catching up to do with the rest of the team at that point but it proved to be a pleasure to train and when it evolved into Palossand, it really brought it’s a-game. It conquered every challenge it was put up against, even in the face of type disadvantage and low health and I could always rely on it to get me to the end of a battle.
From a Pokemon I initially had no real interest in, Palossand really proved itself to be a great Pokemon and will forever have my respect and fond memories of it wiping the floor with 3/4 of the Elite 4 single-handedly.
I love the lore of Mimikyu. I’m not Pikachu’s biggest fan, but I know a lot of people claim to be. So for Game Freak to capitalise on that and create a Ghost/Fairy type who is ignored for the most part when all it wants is to be loved and so disguises itself as a Pikachu – that’s really creative!
It’s such a simple design too, Mimikyu’s true form is, at the time of writing this, unknown and it is said that all who look upon said true form will be cursed. It’s a lonely existence to be a Mimikyu so you can see why they would resort to hiding their true selves behind the imagine of something infinitely more popular and beloved.
Though, as much as I love Mimikyu, I have to mention the one Jessie caught in the Sun and Moon anime – that little Mimikyu is a sociopath! I love it! It takes what you expect Mimikyu to act like and completely turns it upside down and turns the cuddly little sock-puppet into a menacing force of nature, especially toward Ash’s Pikachu.
Unfortunately, Mimikyu, much like Dhelmise, is a Pokemon I never got to use to much effect in Pokémon Sun & Moon and because of my plans for my Ultra Sun/Moon team, I’m not sure when I will be able to adopt my own Mimikyu to take with me throughout the lands. Maybe if I get the other Ultra Moon/Sun game at some point it shall find a place on that team but right now, Dhelmise fits the team I have planned just a little better than Mimikyu does.
I’ll put my hands up and freely admit this one – nostalgia plays a part in the placement of Haunter. I deny that I am a “Gen wunner” in any way, but I cannot deny that Generation 1 was the generation I grew up with and therefore will always have a nostalgic influence in my opinions of Pokémon, for better or for worse. I do have other reasons for my love of Haunter though, besides its number in the PokéDex.
Growing up on Red & Blue (Later Yellow, too) I never had access to link cables so I was completely unable to get Gangar so I always had my Haunter on the team and it did so good, I never considered it much of a loss to not have Gengar. I knew I wanted a Haunter when Ash managed to acquire the allegiance of one to take on Sabrina in the anime. I loved how fun-loving it was and it was just the right amount of creepy, too.
Since growing up, I’ve held on to Haunter being the superior design to Gengar, because Haunter fits the basic design of a ghost more closely than its evolution. With the large, white eyes with pinprick pupils, the way its body seems to be melting into sharp points at the bottom with the disembodied, clawed hands it can stretch out and grab you with. Haunter is the Ghost type I associate most with Halloween, and since Halloween is the “Ghost holiday” it is the best fitted to the title of my favourite Ghost type (As of Gen 7).
Give me a disembodied head with clawed hands over Clefairy’s angry shadow any day. 😉
Perhaps you were expecting Gengar to scare Haunter off, or Aegislash to cleave Dhelmise from the 5th slot?
Which are your top 5 Ghost type Pokémon?
I never noticed until I was writing Haunter’s entry that 4/5 of the Pokémon on this list debuted in the 7th generation games Pokémon Sun & Pokémon Moon. So to clarify, as I said before I’ve never really went out of my way to use Ghost types unless I’ve really wanted to… It just so happens I wanted to use Ghost types more in Generation 7, so, what can you do?
I plan on doing a Top 5 [BLANK] Type Pokémon list once a month, so keep checking back for those. Between those lists though I’ll be writing about other things though, so keep your eyes peeled for whenever I post something new! Right now I’m intending to release something new every Tuesday or Wednesday, but we’ll see in time – won’t we?
The Spectacled Observer 