Two years on from their release, The Pokemon Company has released some fun stats about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and their most popular ‘mons, and two of them don’t seem to have changed at all in the last 18 years.
Open world RPGs Scarlet and Violet were unique games, as players were given more freedom than ever to explore the Paldea region in any order they wanted, so it was easier to build your perfect team right away. With over 100 totally new Pokemon added to the mix, you might expect most teams to be made up of the Paldean newbies, but according to these stats, lots of people were falling back on old favorites.
Let’s take ourselves back to the 2006/2007 Diamond and Pearl era. A simpler time for Pokemon, with 493 critters to catch, Wi-Fi battles and trading introduced, and the best part of all, the Poffin-making mini game (I jest, but it was very fun). A new generation meant lots of new Pokemon, but I’m confident that most teams from this era looked about the same. Take your starter Pokemon, a Luxray, Staraptor, Lucario, Garchomp, and maybe the mascot Legendary for good measure, and you’ve crafted yourself a fine party. I’d be amazed if any Sinnoh fans have ever made their way through the region without using at least a few of those at least once.
Now though, rounding up “some of the Pokemon most commonly added to a team,” The Pokemon Company reveals that alongside the second and third stages of Paldea’s Fire and Grass-type starter evolutionary lines, a lot of people still have soft spots for Lucario and Garchomp. Look, they’re cool, they’re strong, have fantastic moves and typings, but you’d have thought we might have moved on by now, 18 years later.
Then again, the same could be said about Gyarados, who’s also made the list. Not only has this big ol’ fella been around since the first generation, but it’s also been available in every single mainline game from then on, although admittedly not until the postgame in Black, White and their sequels. That’s over 28 years of opportunities to use one. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess.
Of course, the main thing about any Pokemon team should be using your favorites, so it’s no crime to fall back on the old reliable ones. And to be honest, as someone who’ll never accept that any region has ever bested Sinnoh, I can wholeheartedly respect it.
Be sure to check out our ranking of the best Pokemon games, or find even more to play in our roundup of games like Pokemon.