Now that we have up to 649 Pokémon, and with the upcoming release of X and Y, no doubt over 700, it’s understandable that a lot of Pokémon have been overlooked and largely forgotten over the years. Sure all may have their place in some way or other, there’s no denying that some Pokémon we just care less about. I’d like to take a look at some of the Pokémon that I personally feel have been overlooked, why I think this, and whether I think it’s justified or not. I welcome any comments of disagreements, why you might think a Pokémon hasn’t been overlooked or what you think makes it special, or even suggestions of Pokémon that I haven’t mentioned that you feel are doomed to spend their time in the shadows of other more popular Pokémon.
I feel as though there aren’t a lot of Pokémon like this in Generation 1. It has arguably the most devoted fan base, and every Pokémon from the first games is for the most part, a memorable classic. Some Pokémon might see less use, but they’re at least recognizable by the majority of the fandom.
Ledian/Ariados are arguably one of the overlooked, having low stats and hardly if ever seeing any competitive use. However, I don’t consider these to be quite so overlooked since they’re available early in Gold and Silver, and fill the role of the “weak early bug”, an important role that has been present in every generation. They might suck competitively, but you see them often enough that they’re hard to forget.
Xatu is the first one I’ll look at. It’s very easy to miss in a play-through, I’ve personally never used one (I’m not sure I’ve ever even caught one during a normal play-through). It’s not entirely awful, it has fairly decent stats (about on par with Venomoth) with decent speed and special attack and an interesting movepool. However, it’s just bad enough (not saying it’s bad) and rare that it’s easy to forget. However, it has been gifted with Magic Bounce through the Dream World, making it a lot more competitively viable. For that reason it has rise a bit above obscurity in late. Also, prior to Xerneas, it was the only Pokémon with a name starting with the letter “X”. I also really like the design for it. It looks unique for a bird Pokémon, and is heavily stylized to be similar to the Aztec and Mayan, with elements of the Native American totem.
Sunflora. Now, when I was young playing Gold and Silver, I thought Sunflora was really neat. With weather being a new concept and the idea that SolarBeam could be fired in one turn during sunlight, Sunflora, to me, showcased this new feature. You caught Sunkern in the national park, where you could get the Sun Stone, and evolve it immediately after catching it if you wanted. Sad to say, it sucks. It’s completely awful. This is probably a lot of why it has been so overlooked. Sunkern actually has the lowest base stat total of all Pokémon. Literally nothing is lower, or even tied with it. This makes sense too, since it’s literally just a sunflower seed. Because of this, I feel Sunkern has more attention than Sunflora. Hilariously weak, but with for some reason the highest possible Pokéathlon stats. Sunflora is also probably overlooked because of its design. It’s not bad, it’s just boring. I like the design, I feel it’s not overdone and it’s clear what it’s trying to be. Unfortunately, those traits also lend to mediocrity.
In closing, these are just the first couple of Pokémon I feel have been overlooked. Please post your comments of why you think they haven’t been, if you agree, or Pokémon you feel have been overlooked.
