The Best and Worst Boss Fights in Pokemon

[Celever]

Back to being annoyed at Scarlet and Violet. Geeta gets a lot of (deserved) criticism for her team but the Elite Four shouldn't be ignored, either. A full third of the two latter member's teams have a 4x weakness to Ice, and one speedy Ice type rampages across their teams in general. Rika tries with her typings, but Whiscash and Camerupt weren't great options in Gen 3, and they look even worse now.

TBH I don't mind Rika's team, I think Whiscash and Camerupt are a little underpowered for an E4 but Gastrodon would largely be a sidegrade and Quagsire a downgrade, and having Water/Ground representation I think is a good thing. The main thing I think is actually comically weak for an E4 member is Dugtrio, and there are two nice replacements with either Sandaconda for Sand Spit to try and make use of the type's weather, or my preferred option of Toedscruel to form a neat fire/water/grass core.

Similarly, I think Poppy's team is pretty good, though Bronzong is another meh choice for an E4 team. Levitate is nice to an extent but it's also just too weak. Paldea has Lucario for another offensive pick, Orthworm for another "you can't just EQ through this team" pick (and Orthworm is currently repeated on Nemona's team so it could feature here despite being a Titan), or once again my preferred choice of Gholdengo. It would add to the stature of Poppy as an E4 member a lot to have such a rare Pokémon IMO.

Larry's team is straight up comical though. Besides perhaps Staraptor and maaaaaybe Flamigo, none of them feel appropriate for an E4 member's team. Flamigo sorta gets a free pass on account of all the E4's teams using Paldea mons as their aces and (Kilo)wattrel is used by Iono while Bombirdier is a Titan, and since Iron Jugulis is a Paradox mon and this is pre-Area Zero it leaves Larry with only Flamigo or the even worse Squawkabilly as choices. But as for the rest of the time it commits the number one annoyance I have with Flying-Type teams which is that it's mostly full of birds. Gyarados, Jumpluff, Drifblim, Vespiquen, Vivillon, Salamence, Masquerain, and Dragonite are all in the Paldea dex, yet Larry uses Oricorio and Altaria instead? Assuming they don't want a dragon here since the next E4 member is a dragon, I'd replace them both with Drifblim and Gyarados. Tropius can stay since Jumpluff isn't much better and it wants something not fully weak to Electric-Type, and also Tropius is comically good this gen for no reason in rands so I'm partial. That way the team is also 2 birds and 3 not birds which feels much more epic as a flying trainer to me.

TBH though I think of all of them Hassel's team is the most fine. While I'm not against a whole team of pseudos, I prefer it not to be the case to show off some of the other mons, and so Hassel's team does well out of the Dragon-Type picks there are. You could make a case for Appletun replacing Flapple so it's not quad weak to Ice-Type thanks to Thick Fat, but Flapple is generally more threatening than Appletun outside of that so hey.

I'm not going into Geeta because any other team would be better lol. But yeah overall I think the E4 do an alright job, with minor edits outside of Larry's team which I think is a let down.

 

[Just A Seaking]

Brief warning: this post is going to be unbearably salty, and I am not very going to be nice about Scarlet and Violet's boss design. So before I go into that, a brief list of the boss fights in this game that I do genuinely and sincerely like:

• Nemona's final Champion battle - a strong, well-balanced team that speaks very well to her personality. What's not to love?
• Arven's final team - One of the best teams in the series in terms of playing to Arven's personality, with all of them tying into his story or his love of cooking in one way or another. They also take his 'mons used during the Titan fights, which I think is a very cute touch!
• The final battle of The Way Home - I won't go into specifics because of spoilers, but they're handled well by the story, and in particular are the best usage of Legendaries in the final battle of the plot in the series.
  
  Alright, we've gotten that out of the way. So, to be blunt about it - outside of the cases I just listed, I think Scarlet and Violet's boss design is genuinely the worst in the series, and it's not even close. By some miracle, they've managed to surpass X and Y's and SWSH's poor boss design and have landed into truly uncharted territory of being straight up boring. You've got three kinds of major battles, to go with the three storylines - Victory Road, Starfall Street and Path of Legends - and they're all bland and low points of the game. To elaborate on them more, let's go through what I consider "best" to worst:
  
  1. Starfall Street - Yes, this is somehow the best of all of them. While I think the Let's Go autobattles are a complete wash - meaningless, bloated filler that exists for no purpose but to eat up your time - the actual Team Star fights are actually pretty fun! The unique Starmobile Revavrooms make for fun bosses that ties Team Star together while also being interesting in every encounter, and the teams themselves are pretty well designed, for the most part. I'd like to mention Eri in particular, who actually caught me off guard with her bulky Annihilape and Revaroom. I can nitpick some things - it's embarrassing that many of these 'mons don't have 4 moves, or that they use very few Paldea 'mons - but overall, they're the best fights this game has to offer. Penny and her Baby-Doll Eyes spam after all this is a bit disappointing, but she's got a 10/10 battle theme so I can't be too bad.

I'm sorry to say that this is probably the last time I will even remotely approach positivity in this post lmao

2. Path of Legends - The Titans are, frankly, a joke. What makes the concept of the 6v1 battles - namely Totem Pokemon in SM/USUM or Nobles in PLA - interesting is that they take advantage of the inherent juxtaposition inherent to fighting a team of 1 Pokemon and add unique things to compensate for it. The Totems gain a statboost of some kind and call upon some kind of helper to aid them (and turn the fight into a 2v1), while the Nobles are less oriented around the battle itself and more around using overworld mechanics - and in doing so feel like unique experiences and rewarding fights. I'd like to mention USUM's Totem Araquanid and SM's Totem Lurantis in particular as highlights.

Path of Legends throws this out of the window in favor of bland shlock that exists as nothing but filler to justify Miraidon's HMs. Splitting the fight into phases is actually pretty interesting, as it introduces an overworld element to the battle and breaks from the restriction of one HP bar - but the game does nothing interesting with this concept, so who cares? The first phase is just against a single Pokemon that's bigger than average, and the second phase is a 2v1 where the Titan gains a statboost you have Arven helping you out. This is a fine concept, until you realize that it screws up the Titan's AI and gives them an obvious target, trivializing the fight even further. The 2v1 in Totem fights is stacked against the player to offset the disadvantage of a Totem being just one Pokemon against up to 6, but the 2v1 in SV just stacks things even more in the player's favor. It's just... profoundly disappointing. I think the best showcase of this is Titan Dondozo/Tatsugiri. Given how Dondozo and Tatsugiri play in Doubles, this could be an exciting to take advantage of that and make a really cool and creative boss, but instead the battle is just divided into two segments - one fight versus a Dondozo, and the other versus Tatsugiri. It's so uninteresting, and completely wastes the most obvious gimmick for a Titan battle! Dondozo is the one Pokemon ever that actually wants the fight to be a 2v1, and yet that's simply gone to waste.

1. Victory Road - Every battle except for Nemona is a complete and utter joke. People in this thread and elsewhere have gone on about how bad Geeta is, and I certainly agree with that, but she's just one example of many. No Gym Leader ever uses more than 4 Pokemon, most of them don't have 4 moves, and Terastalization is used in the most uninteresting way possible. Not once is it ever used in a clever or creative way - it just takes a random, non-gen 9 Pokemon and turns them into that gym's type. This makes them all utterly predictable, and furthermore places the emphasis on their team away from the Paldean Pokemon they use and instead make their ace into some random Pokemon from an older generation. X and Y Gym Leaders were bad, but at least they consistently used 'mons from their own region! Terastalizing is by far the mechanic with the most potential for mix-ups and creative strategies, so why is it put to such waste here? It's not as if you have to be too cruel about it - even just occasionally turning into a type that has good defensive synergy with their team (such as Ghost for Larry, or Ground for Grusha) would be enough to justify the Gym Leaders using the mechanic.

I think the worst example of this in the game is Larry, which is a shame since I love him as a character. His team of Komala and Dudunsparce is easy to steamroll with a Fighting type, and his Staraptor only has TWO MOVES! Not only that, but his Staraptor switching out of the Flying type makes his team even more susceptible to being swept by a Fighting type. Even just having Quick Attack would be a nice little trick coming off of Tera's STAB boost, but they couldn't even do that - it just has Facade. What a joke.



As a tangent, the lack of level scaling is, frankly, pathetic. If romhacks of Gen 1 and 2 games can implement it, Game Freak has no excuse to not implement such a basic mechanic for an open world game. What's the point in roaming the whole wide landscape when I'm pigeonholed into doing boss encounters in a set order?

To be blunt about it, Scarlet and Violet are the only Pokemon games in which I am actively not interested in battling, and that is something I should never feel in a Pokemon game. It's as if battling is a mere distraction that takes away from the experience of exploring the overworld. It's a shame, too, because I think Scarlet and Violet have a lot of potential and I really hope the series draws more from it going forward, but I don't think I'll ever replay it when the boss fights give me almost nothing to look forward to. No game in the series, not even the easier or more dull ones like the aforementioned X and Y or SWSH, actively bore me during boss fights, and that's a real shame how once again, GF proves its inability to take a step forward without taking 3 more back.

 

[Esserise]

No Gym Leader ever uses more than 4 Pokemon, most of them don't have 4 moves, and Terastalization is used in the most uninteresting way possible. Not once is it ever used in a clever or creative way - it just takes a random, non-gen 9 Pokemon and turns them into that gym's type.

I agree with like 99.9% of your post, but I want to give Iono at least a little credit here. Her Pokémon’s movesets still suck, but her Mismagius is the sole instance of the game trying to use Terastal against you in a clever way, because while it does “just turn into the Gym’s type,” it’s synergized with a Levitate mon to bypass Electric’s only weakness. (Which, sure, could’ve also been accomplished by simply having an Eelektross on her team, but I think it’s a good, entry-level illustration for younger/newer players to get an idea of the strategic potential of Terastal, which is part of what I think Gym Leaders should do, in addition to providing a challenge.)

 

[Castersvarog]

I agree with like 99.9% of your post, but I want to give Iono at least a little credit here. Her Pokémon’s movesets still suck, but her Mismagius is the sole instance of the game trying to use Terastal against you in a clever way, because while it does “just turn into the Gym’s type,” it’s synergized with a Levitate mon to bypass Electric’s only weakness. (Which, sure, could’ve also been accomplished by simply having an Eelektross on her team, but I think it’s a good, entry-level illustration for younger/newer players to get an idea of the strategic potential of Terastal, which is part of what I think Gym Leaders should do, in addition to providing a challenge.)

I would also give Larry the teeny tiniest fragment of credit because of the adaptability boost its facade does have. But otherwise, these fights are honestly even easier then XY because of stuff like Skeledirge and Torch song. Grusha gets annihilated by that thing faster then his snow boarding career and couldn't even be damned to make use of Snow, Slush rush and Blizzard to shut that down.

 

[Siggu]

I would also give Larry the teeny tiniest fragment of credit because of the adaptability boost its facade does have.

But that's kind of counteracted by the fact his Staraptor has no coverage whatsoever.

Staraptor is a species strongly associated with Close Combat, being a move that it has always been able to learn the moment it evolves (and now it's outright labeled as an Evolution move), making it the first early bird in the franchise that could learn a strong move that dealt super-effective damage to Rock and Steel-type Pokémon... but Larry's Staraptor does not have the move in the first battle, meaning it's completely walled by the Pokémon its species is famously able to take on.

 

[Turtlek]

Best: Brock(lgpe)
I like Brock for one experience. I was nuzlocking Eevee and I caught a Pidgey. I also caught a Bell to pass the exam, but I fixed that I wouldn’t use it. So, I had to beat Brock using Eevee, and it’s the first time I ever had to use status moves to win a fight. I didn’t lose, but it still made me laugh when I had to use that X Defense at the top of the Gym

 

[Karxrida]

I'm not sure I'd call it a "Best" fight, but I like how Winona is handled as a Gym Leader. Obviously you have the threat of DD Altaria, but there's a bit more to the fight than that.

Let's look at her original team first.

The first and most important thing to keep in mind is that all of Winona's Pokémon after Swellow have secondary typings that negate one of Flying's weaknesses. Pelipper is part Water and is not weak to Ice, Skarmory is part Steel and not weak to Ice or Rock, and Altaria is part Dragon and not weak to Electric. The three also have moves to handle Rock-types, which is the most readily available type to deal with Flying due to cave Geodudes and Arons. (Atlaria will also nuke Electrics.) This makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to rely on a single Pokémon to clean sweep the entire fight, which is unusual for a Gym Leader. Unless you overleveled your Marshtomp and have Swampert, but it's Swampert so. Also, as a bonus, Swellow has a kind of FEAR thing going with Endeavor + Quick Attack, but it can't really take advantage of the strat because it doesn't have Endure and it's too fast and frail. It's probably more of a threat if you're Nuzlocking the game.

So here's her Emerald team.

The most important difference here is that she has a Chlorophyll SunnyBeam Tropius, which fucks over Marshtomp and Swampert super hard since I'm pretty sure they can never OHKO with Ice Beam. And it continues the theming of her previous team of having Flying-types with secondary typings to combat weaknesses, as Grass removes the Electric weakness and is strong against Rock.

So yeah, well-designed fight.

 

[Siggu]

It's a fun fight until you face Pelipper and remember Gen III AI's hair-tearingly annoying tendency to use Protect every other turn.

 

[Just A Seaking]

When thinking of Gym Leaders, one of the very first that comes to mind has to be Brock. The very first Gym Leader and true boss of the series, many a Pokemon fan over the years remembers fondly - and perhaps with a bit of fear - seeing Brock send out the giant rock snake Onix for the first time. He wasn't just a boss - he's symbolic of what's to come. Up until this point you've been beating up bugs, birds, and rodents - Brock is the first trainer to really use a Pocket Monster. It is with that reputation in mind that I have to say that... I don't like Brock in RBY and FRLG. I think he's a very poorly designed boss. Let me explain why.

The choice to have Rock be the first gym (which has been done across three different generations!) has always baffled me from a design standpoint. Not only is it super imbalanced in terms of starters in terms of type match-ups, but it outright punishes you for using other Pokemon that you find early on. This is especially true in RB - no Mankey on Route 29 to save you here. Squirtle and Bulbasaur players are not only rewarded for brute forcing with a single 'mon, but outright penalized for attempting alternate strategies or training up other 'mons they may have found. This is actually the case for Charmander users too in RBY specifically, seeing as neither Geodude nor Onix have any Rock-type moves and their low Sp. Def. There is something to be said for rewarding players early on for identifying good type match-ups and taking advantage of them, but the fight is... so absurdly polarized in the player's favor. FRLG is slightly, but only slightly, better - this is by virtue of having Brock actually use a Rock type attack. It also gives access to Mankey on Route 29 as a potential counter, but in return you lose the Nidos with Double Kick. I think the choice not to give Rock Tomb to Geodude was actually a good one, as it allows Charmander users to have it contribute more to the fight, but overall the fight is fairly similar to RBY. Onix having a 60 BP STAB move is a notable improvement in terms of damage output, but it doesn't matter when Squirtle or Bulbasaur click a STAB move and win.

How would I, personally, change this fight? There's only really a handful of changes I'd make, but I think they'd be significant enough to make an impact and be more engaging without being too difficult or complex for the very young children playing the game.

1. Make Onix a pure Rock type. This is a design change to a specific Pokemon, but given Onix's role as an early-game boss, I think it's fine. The 2x weakness instead of 4x makes the fight relatively simple, but still not entirely a cakewalk, and your starter may be defeated if you underestimate Bind or are weighed down by Rock Tomb's Speed drop. For RBY specifically, I'd also give Onix Rock Throw, replacing Tackle.

2. Introduce a few more Pokemon advantageous against Rock at this stage of the game. Nothing too crazy, of course - but I think limited options really push the player even more to just using their starter and not branching out or trying other things. I'd shift the Old Rod to Viridian City (formerly in Vermillion City, right before an Electric and then a Grass gym) and grant the player access to Magikarp, Goldeen, and Poliwag. On Route 2, instead of the bugs from the upcoming Viridian Forest, I'd allow the player to grab Bellsprout or Oddish, along with Diglett. Having more options available gives the player more leeway in how they want to approach the gym, and rewards Charmander users in particular for reviewing their options and opting for a better type match-up.

While Brock suffers from some pretty serious design flaws, I think these can be amended with some pretty light changes that benefit the game as a whole and do a better job at being a teaching tool to new players. What I do like about Brock's fight is that it makes a damn good first impression on the new player - there's a reason that Onix is such an iconic Pokemon to this day, and it's because of its appearance under Brock as the first real boss of the series. I don't feel it lives up to its reputation, but its impact is undeniable.

 

[Castersvarog]

I'm not sure I'd call it a "Best" fight, but I like how Winona is handled as a Gym Leader. Obviously you have the threat of DD Altaria, but there's a bit more to the fight than that.

Honestly I think Winona might be one of the better Gen three gym leaders, that is fair but still pretty tough unlike say Watson. Winona’s almost building a team like a monotype player, covering for as many weaknesses as possible while still staying to the same type, something gym leaders and elite 4 honestly don’t do enough. Even Grass type gym would be way harder if they carry a member of the Lotad line.
I think it’s why other flying type users didn’t really stand out despite using the same type,

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Karen's Houndoom is probably the single scariest boss before Kanto proper, at least in GSC. Woman killed my Pokemon multiple times in Nuzlockes. Most of her team is annoying and has all sorts of hax or nasty stuff like Pursuit to toss at you, but that doggy is a straight up menace. Fast, strong, surprisingly bulky and likely overleveled compared to your teammates, and Flamethrower burns - though rare - helped basically ruin my latest run.

 

[SwampySwampert]

Replaying Violet:

Worst: None of Ryme’s Pokemon have full movesets, and her Mimikyu doesn’t have a Fairy move, which is the whole reason for it being on this team. <_< Seriously, why do none of the Gym Leaders have four moves?

 

[bdt2002]

Replaying Violet:

Worst: None of Ryme’s Pokemon have full movesets, and her Mimikyu doesn’t have a Fairy move, which is the whole reason for it being on this team. <_< Seriously, why do none of the Gym Leaders have four moves?

From what I remember, this has been a recurring problem ever since Pokemon X & Y to varying extents. In that game there’s only one Gym Leader (Olympia) that uses full movesets, and while Gen 7’s Totems do fix this issue, most of the other major bosses in the game don’t.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Replaying Violet:

Worst: None of Ryme’s Pokemon have full movesets, and her Mimikyu doesn’t have a Fairy move, which is the whole reason for it being on this team. <_< Seriously, why do none of the Gym Leaders have four moves?

For the # of Moves that's likely in an attempt to better guide their AI into using specific Moves/predictable pattern without having to mess with the Trainer AI that much.

Of course, whenever it came to selecting movesets, their choices have always been baffling. Note that most NPCs they just have their moveset be the latest four Moves that Pokemon can learn (at least I think that's how they do it). So the only time (theoretically) they ever touch Movesets in the main game is with "boss" trainers (Rivals, Gym Leaders, Villain Team, Pokemon League, etc.). In theory this should allow boss trainers to have more strategic movesets as well as access to TMs and Tutors (not to mention the best Ability for the scenario and holding an item even if it is just a Berry)... but instead of actually making boss trainers look like they're tougher opponents, GF goes into "RPG progression mode" and design the team so that it'll hit hard if you aren't paying attention or training your team, but if you are it's a no sell on your end. This calls back to when I challenged Tulip, the 7th Gym Leader, as my 4th Gym and, while seemingly a tougher battle, that's because I was going in a bit underlevel... and I still won. Once my Skeledirge got a few Torch Songs off her later Psychics fell to one or two Shadow Balls. Had she had a more planned moveset (as well as a Held Item) that may not have been the case (or it would have been a closer battle), but since the Gym Leaders are nerfed as they are I had no issue.

Though oddly the Team Star bosses fair better in this regard. While most do have Pokemon with just 3 Moves, in addition to their Starmobile having a full moveset some of their Pokemon do to (infact Ortega's entire team has a full moveset). Though there are some silly things with them, like Giacomo's Pawniard not having a DARK-type Move (you know, the Type Gaicomo specializes in).

 

[khlaylav]

Watching a Pokémon video recently, I wanted to give a shout out to Chuck. On the downside, the fifth gym leader having just 2 Pokémon is embarrassing. But, those Pokémon (especially in Heart Gold and Soul Silver) are well set up to show off his signature move in a way that's pretty rare in Pokemon:

• While in Gold and Silver his Primeape is pretty bad (Rage/Leer/Fury Swipes/Karate Chop is a terrible moveset at any level), Poliwrath features two moves that take advantage of its third move in Mind Reader: Hypnosis and DynamicPunch. Both of those moves have atrocious accuracy, but Mind Reader fixes that perfectly. Plus, Surf to hit pretty much anything hard neutrally.
• Since Chuck's TM got switched to Focus Punch, which only works if the Pokémon isn't attacked, there's some more thought in Primeape's moveset. Now it gets Double Team so it can have a chance to dodge a move and hit back, as well as Rock Slide to hit Flying types (and not be hard walled by Ghosts). While Poliwrath sadly loses Mind Reader, it does pick up Body Slam for a chance to paralyze.
• Then there's his rematch team. While only 3 of his Pokémon still carry Focus Punch, each has a chance to inflict a negative condition on opponents to increase the chance of that sweet, sweet 150 BP attack. Breloom carries Substitute and can even heal that self-inflicted damage thanks to its Poison Heal ability, Hitmonchan carries both Swagger to confuse AND Double Team, and Poliwrath carries both Double Team and Substitute.

All in all, a fairly thoughtful way of demonstrating Chuck's signature TM.

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Falkner is especially annoying for me because the fact that his team is so low-levelled is actually what makes it difficult if you're doing certain self-imposed challenges, e.g. not levelling past the gym leader's ace, using the same number of Pokemon as them, and never using bag items in-battle. If you don't use Totodile he can be extremely (if arbitrarily) tough to beat for a lot of teams.

Cyndaquil, Geodude and Onix are all stuck with Tackle for damage, you can't get Butterfree/Beedrill, and pretty much everything else really struggles 1v1 against the much stronger Pidgeotto. Mud Slap just adds to the frustration.

Having said that, theorycrafting how to beat him with two Level 9 Bug-types in my mono-Bug run of Crystal and then successfully executing the plan on attempt 2 was very satisfying.

Facts. Falkner unironically ended Nuzlocke runs a few times for me due to that fact.

 

[SwampySwampert]

Facts. Falkner unironically ended Nuzlocke runs a few times for me due to that fact.

I hate B2W2 Nuzlockes for a similar reason but for Cheren. If you didn't get the 5% Riolu spawn, you're in for a world of pain.

 

[Yung Dramps]

I hate B2W2 Nuzlockes for a similar reason but for Cheren. If you didn't get the 5% Riolu spawn, you're in for a world of pain.

just use the oran berries lol

 

[R_N]

I don't know what Riolu accomplishes unless you grind it to Lucario before Cheren. It's not that defensive, its most available kill move is Counter, and Cheren likes to set up.
Like I'm sure it can do stuff, but I feel people kind of overstate Riolu being a counter.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I don't know what Riolu accomplishes unless you grind it to Lucario before Cheren. It's not that defensive, its most available kill move is Counter, and Cheren likes to set up.
Like I'm sure it can do stuff, but I feel people kind of overstate Riolu being a counter.

Riolu is no more defensive than the other Pokemon at that point in the game. Like the most definite "defensive" Pokemon at that point are Sewaddle, Audino, and Dunsparce. Also special note goes to Mareep who, while not defensive, does come with Thunder Wave if I'm reading Bulbapedia correctly.

 

[R_N]

Riolu is no more defensive than the other Pokemon at that point in the game. Like the most definite "defensive" Pokemon at that point are Sewaddle, Audino, and Dunsparce. Also special note goes to Mareep who, while not defensive, does come with Thunder Wave if I'm reading Bulbapedia correctly.

You can't get Audino or Dunsparce before cheren, shaking grass doesn't activate until after the first gym.

But honestly the rest of the offerings not being bulky kind of emphasizes my point more: it doesnt seem like the panacea you need to succeed. You would probably be better off with Lillipup, who is slightly bulkier across the board, and only barely weaker and slower (which wont matter because you'll probably outspeed cheren anyway). Riolu can put in work but its not the make it or break it for the pain threshold.

And I will partially correct myself, less grind happiness to Lucario and more grind level to 15 for Force Palm. But considering the state of EXP in that part of the game, that still seems a bit much; and the ~*hardcore*~ nuzlockes have level caps but thats probably not relevant to most people. plus like I feel you could probably grind most of the offerings to 15 and come out of it with a Pokemon that can swing harder than Cheren you know?

 

[bwburke94]

To keep with the topic of Unovan first gyms, Striaton Gym is basically a check on "do you have the gift monkey from the Dreamyard", making it one of the worst boss fights conceptually.

The only other thing it shows off is the rework to Pickup, which isn't really that relevant in-game with how scarce Berries are in this generation.

 

[SturdyShedinja]

I honestly think that the Straiton Gym would be a better tutorial if the game gave you more options to work with. Only having the garbage patrat and purrloin or the solid but unspectacular lillipup before the first gym makes the monkey feel more forced than it otherwise could’ve been. It also doesn’t help that the monkeys are both pretty underwhelming and end up being very common, which makes it all the more frustrating to put them in a team. It’s an interesting concept ruined by only having one or two forced solutions.

 

[Castersvarog]

I honestly think that the Straiton Gym would be a better tutorial if the game gave you more options to work with. Only having the garbage patrat and purrloin or the solid but unspectacular lillipup before the first gym makes the monkey feel more forced than it otherwise could’ve been. It also doesn’t help that the monkeys are both pretty underwhelming and end up being very common, which makes it all the more frustrating to put them in a team. It’s an interesting concept ruined by only having one or two forced solutions.

Heck the game has two perfect options for that very thing. Pidove and Blitzle are both found immediately after the first gym and are perfect against Cilan and Cress. Chille is the hardest to find a second option for but that’s just because both Roggenrolla and Drillbur are exclusive to caves.

 

[Hugin]

Heck the game has two perfect options for that very thing. Pidove and Blitzle are both found immediately after the first gym and are perfect against Cilan and Cress. Chille is the hardest to find a second option for but that’s just because both Roggenrolla and Drillbur are exclusive to caves.

The games are really obsessed with FWG as the example for type matchups, and...I get it, it's simple, immediately intuitive, and is going to be the first type matchup new players run into, so it's worth it to talk about. But they seem really adverse to using anything else to train players early on, even if would obviously make sense.