This week, we will do a short article. It’s about type population. Some types have a lot of members, but some don’t have too many. If you are ready, let’s move on.
In every Generation, various Pokémon of different types are introduced. Some types get many new introductions, while others have a dearth of them. There are certain types that are expected to have several introductions, such as Water. Others aren’t expected to have many, with Ice as an example.
Because of this, there is sort of a hierarchy in the population, something like the food chain where the plants are the most abundant while the carnivores are the least abundant. Types associated with nature are more inclined to be abundant, compared to those which aren’t.
An example of abundance is Water, which is a very abundant substance that supports all life, so there are a lot of them. Grass is another because there is a huge biodiversity with plants that even includes the fungi. Less abundant ones include Dragon, a typically rare creature, and Ice, a substance that isn’t found naturally in most parts of the world.
The abundance could even be a result of having several inspirations behind the type. There are several Grass-types because there are a lot of plants to take inspiration. Likewise, Water-types are abundant because of the amount of animals that can adapt to the waters.
That is not to say that other types couldn’t have their share of abundance since they have their share of inspirations to base from. It could be that the other types are easier to base on compared to the more special types such as Ghost, Fairy and Dragon.
In fact, there are times when the number of introductions for a certain type might even be out of the mould, such as the number of Fighting-types introduced in Generation 5. Usually, Fighting-types are a rarity, but in Generation 5, there are over ten of them at once, including the legendaries.
When looking at a type’s population, it is also important to consider what kind of region is involved. Sinnoh, a cold region, have very few Fire-types introduced. The only one that was truly native to Sinnoh was Heatran, since Chimchar is a starter while Magmortar is an evolution to an old Pokémon.
A type’s population isn’t necessarily restricted to the new Pokémon, because a regional’s PokéDex could be an indicator as to what environment the region is. Hoenn’s tropical setting has a lot of Water- and Grass-types, old and new. Sinnoh, again, is similar because very few are Fire-types, especially in Diamond and Pearl.
There are several factors that determine the type population, but the most important thing that determines it is the type of region, since that is how the new Pokémon are decided. This is especially true from Hoenn onwards. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it.
Thanks for reading.
