In sports, a lot is said about "classes" in the draft. For example, the 2004 NFL Quaterback draft class was famously great. 2007's was famously a terrible quarterback class, but was pretty good in other positions.
With that, I would like to start a similar discussion on Pokemon. Instead of positions, types. Instead of years, generations. What is the greatest class of a certain Pokemon type in a single generation? You can obviously evaluate them in many ways, but lets use simple "design + overall likeability" as a rule instead of metagame impact and such.
Some examples of great classes, IMO:
- The 4th Generation Flying-type class: Starly line, Mothim, Combee line, Honchkrow, Gliscor, Togekiss, Drifloon line, Chatot, Mantyke, Yanmega, Rotom-F, Shaymin-Sky
Anchored by one of the coolest regional birds and several great evolutions of pre-existing Pokemon. Also has one of the coolest unique type combos and inventive designs with Drifloon/Drifblim. Unlike previous gens, Flying isn't dragged down by the Bug/Flying types.
- The 3rd Generation Dragon-type class: Mega Sceptile, Vibrava, Flygon, Altaria, Bagon line, Latias, Latios, Rayquaza
Dragon types were almost nonexistent up to this point, and Gen III more than doubled their numbers. Flygon is GOAT tier Pokemon, Altaria is the first "easy to get" Dragon in the games, Salamence is awesome and the legendaries are all pretty great too. Mega Sceptile was added later on.
But to me, the greatest ever has to be...
- The 5th generation Bug-type class: Sewaddle line, Venipede line, Dwebble line, Joltik line, Karrablast line, Shelmet line, Larvesta line, Durant, Genesect
Holy shit, this is just amazing. No generation gave any type a bigger leap than this: amazing type combos, great designs and usefulness in battle. Gen V singlehandedly made Bug my favorite type. You can go monobug in Black/White and basically have the best monotype line-up of any Pokemon game ever. Sugimori and co. were truly inspired when they made these Pokemon.
Of course, there are also some pretty shitty generations for certain types. To name a couple:
- The 4th generation Fire-type class: Chimchar line, Magmortar, Heatran
Quantity is the issue here. It didn't help that Magmortar and Heatran weren't even in the original Sinnoh dex. Instead, Ponyta and Rapidash were the only Fire types outside the starters in the game. Diamond and Pearl had a Fire type E4 member that barely used fire types and used a final starter evolution as his ace (which always bugged me honestly). Disgraceful. Thank goodness Platinum fixed this.
- The 6th generation Ice-type class: Bergmite line, Amaura line
While an Ice type fossil is pretty damn cool, quantity was again an issue here (it kind of plagues gen VI and VII due to a smaller Pokedex numbers). At least Mega Abomasnow was a thing?
So, what are, in your opinions, the best and worst "type classes" in Pokemon history? Do you think any types are "owed" a badass class like Bug types were in Gen V?
With that, I would like to start a similar discussion on Pokemon. Instead of positions, types. Instead of years, generations. What is the greatest class of a certain Pokemon type in a single generation? You can obviously evaluate them in many ways, but lets use simple "design + overall likeability" as a rule instead of metagame impact and such.
Some examples of great classes, IMO:
- The 4th Generation Flying-type class: Starly line, Mothim, Combee line, Honchkrow, Gliscor, Togekiss, Drifloon line, Chatot, Mantyke, Yanmega, Rotom-F, Shaymin-Sky
Anchored by one of the coolest regional birds and several great evolutions of pre-existing Pokemon. Also has one of the coolest unique type combos and inventive designs with Drifloon/Drifblim. Unlike previous gens, Flying isn't dragged down by the Bug/Flying types.
- The 3rd Generation Dragon-type class: Mega Sceptile, Vibrava, Flygon, Altaria, Bagon line, Latias, Latios, Rayquaza
Dragon types were almost nonexistent up to this point, and Gen III more than doubled their numbers. Flygon is GOAT tier Pokemon, Altaria is the first "easy to get" Dragon in the games, Salamence is awesome and the legendaries are all pretty great too. Mega Sceptile was added later on.
But to me, the greatest ever has to be...
- The 5th generation Bug-type class: Sewaddle line, Venipede line, Dwebble line, Joltik line, Karrablast line, Shelmet line, Larvesta line, Durant, Genesect
Holy shit, this is just amazing. No generation gave any type a bigger leap than this: amazing type combos, great designs and usefulness in battle. Gen V singlehandedly made Bug my favorite type. You can go monobug in Black/White and basically have the best monotype line-up of any Pokemon game ever. Sugimori and co. were truly inspired when they made these Pokemon.
Of course, there are also some pretty shitty generations for certain types. To name a couple:
- The 4th generation Fire-type class: Chimchar line, Magmortar, Heatran
Quantity is the issue here. It didn't help that Magmortar and Heatran weren't even in the original Sinnoh dex. Instead, Ponyta and Rapidash were the only Fire types outside the starters in the game. Diamond and Pearl had a Fire type E4 member that barely used fire types and used a final starter evolution as his ace (which always bugged me honestly). Disgraceful. Thank goodness Platinum fixed this.
- The 6th generation Ice-type class: Bergmite line, Amaura line
While an Ice type fossil is pretty damn cool, quantity was again an issue here (it kind of plagues gen VI and VII due to a smaller Pokedex numbers). At least Mega Abomasnow was a thing?
So, what are, in your opinions, the best and worst "type classes" in Pokemon history? Do you think any types are "owed" a badass class like Bug types were in Gen V?
