• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
  • Do you have audio editing experience and want to help out with the Famiboards Discussion Club Podcast? If so, we're looking for help and would love to have you on the team! Just let us know in the Podcast Thread if you are interested!

Discussion My Top Ten Favorite Pokemon Designs In Generation I

meatbag

happiness
Moderator
I've been playing a spot of coop Pokemon with my nephew, and I was again reminded of how much I liked the designs of the Generation 9 monsters. I've been chomping at the bit to gush about Palafin and Houndstone and Rabsca, but unfortunately we still don't have the official 2D art for a lot of them (as far as I can tell), and I'd like to have those on hand because there's some details I miss in the 3D models.

So instead, I decided to channel my fanboying into talking about previous generations instead, starting with the first one! These will basically be my ramblings as a massive biology/zoology nerd whose interests were catered to (and then some) by a massive multimedia franchise. Pokemon is a treasure trove of interesting monster designs, the current tippity top in the field as far as I'm concerned, and I'd be delighted if you'd join me in my gushing/critique/word vomit.

Disclaimers: this is all just my opinion, these rankings are in no way concrete and subject to change on any given week, I'll be bundling evolutionary stages together whenever I feel like it, and for simplicity's sake I'm not gonna count stuff like Megas or G-max forms until the generation they debuted in


900px-095Onix.png



#10 Onix

What an exceedingly elegant concept! Giant earth-burrowing serpents have been a staple in fiction (think Tremors, Dune or Star Wars). Pokemon slaps the rock type onto that blueprint by forming the literal earth-worm's body out of a line of charmingly rugged boulders. The stern, serious-business expression fits it perfectly, and I bet thousands of five year olds back in 1998 got intimidated by this hulking beast from Brock's team. I sure was.








034Nidoking.png



#9 Nidoking

The Nidoran family stood out to me in the first generation for being a clear case of sexual dimorphism, with the sexes being treated as separate species. Now both are badasses, but I have to give a slight edge to Nidoking here, who looks like he got pissed that Godzilla has been kicking its butt in all the movies, and now he's ready to be the one kicking butt in greener pastures. This was definitely one of the gnarliest looking mons in Gen I, a poisonous spike-studded dinosaur that by the way could also summon lightning and quake the earth. Fun fact: this bloke is also the centerpiece of the current world record speedrun for Pokemon Yellow.






079Slowpoke.png




#8 Slowpoke

Look at this thing's huge, blank eyes and derpy smile. What a dork. How can you not love it? But even cuter is that this thing is Psychic type. Its name is literally slowpoke and somehow this marbles-challenged mammal has a brain powerful enough to achieve telekinesis. It's one of the things that Pokemon has consistently done well-- introducing fresh twists to common creature concepts. Not pictured is its evolution Slowbro, where a symbiotic Shellder is consistently injecting poison to its host, but that's alright because that's basically morning coffee for Slowbro. Funny little creatures.






dcrdr27-6798d01a-5d66-4c4c-906a-46385d3be06d.png
#7 The Bulbasaur line

Guess who my first pick for starter was.

But why did I pick Bulbasaur I guess is the real question. And the answer would be that: more than Charmander, more than Squirtle, Bulbasaur embodied the idea of what a monster was. It's equal parts toadlike dinosaur and onionlike bulb, a conundrum that sent my head spinning as I pondered what its internal anatomy must have looked like. A part of me thinks that's why it's Pokemon numero uno. It's the designers over at Game Freak telling the world, this is a taste of what we have to offer.

I also quite like the flowery tree on Venusaur's back. A prehistoric-looking plant on a prehistoric-looking dino. Neat.



103Exeggutor.png



#6 Exeggcute


I think we've always underappreciated how FREAKY this thing is. It's not just a walking palm tree. Its "coconuts" are its heads! And there's three of them and every single one of them is psychic. So they could explode your head from twenty meters away, but instead they apparently opt to drop their own heads. After which the self-decapitated coconut-face is happy to roll "away". To where? What does it do? DOES IT COLLECT MORE HEADS?

Oh my god. Is that why it's called Exeggcutor?!






060Poliwag.png




#5 Poliwag

Another thing Pokemon is great at is sneaking in biological factoids, and Poliwag was the first and I think still is the only fictional depiction of a tadpole that I can think of that shows off one of that animal's more striking features, which is its intestines peeking through its translucent abdomen. And in a fun Pokemon twist, they can even use their swirling guts as a tool for hypnosis! No need to add any extraneous doodads (looking at you standard JRPG wolves), just had to reinterpret real anatomical details for a fantasy world.







071Victreebel.png


#4 Victreebel

One of the most fun things about my encyclopedia trawls back when I was a child was how the stuff in those books would totally upend what I was being taught in school. Plants for instance were generally accepted to get their sustenance from photosynthesis. So of course little ol' me got instantly invested in the idea of carnivorous plants, and my first loves for that particular group of organisms were the venus flytrap and the pitcher plant.

Back then I thought it was interesting that Pokemon went with Victreebel for its carnivorous plant rep when every other video game and anime was doing their own variation of the Piranha Plant. And I think Victreebel and its preevo are still fairly unique in that regard in pop culture. I had to give Victreebel bonus points over Weepinbell for staying upright like a proper pitcher plant, and also by having a leaf-tipped vine that it can use to lure unsuspecting Weedle into its belly full of digestive acids. It doesn't even need the fangs, except it wanted to look menacing.



150Mewtwo.png


#3 Mewtwo

I just love how it looks EXACTLY how you would expect a defective clone of Mew to look. Its three fingered hands and feet remind me heavily of 80s rubber aliens, its chest little more than ribs, and my favorite touch, a secondary spinal cord which presumably contains that extra bunch of psychic neurons that boost Mewtwo's stats to legendary status. Mewtwo was also the edgy misunderstood loner in the anime, which only makes it cooler.

The lore surrounding Mewtwo was pretty engrossing, too. Reading all those files in that abandoned manor on Cinnabar, wondering what kind of creature could cause all this destruction... and all that ominous information just stays in the back of your head as you pummel the League and become Champion. Then you finally get the chance to explore Cerulean Cave, and lo and behold, there he is. The final antagonist of your journey, and if you're good enough, you can become his friend.





141Kabutops.png



#2 Kabutops

We all knew which was the cooler fossil. This thing deserves to be called Scyther more than the real Scyther.

But the coolest thing about this Pokemon is that its shield-like head and segmented thorax are clearly based on a trilobite, while coopting the "arms" of its fellow ancient arthropods, the eurypterids, for its scythes. Kabutops basically runs with the idea of a trilobite adapting to a life on land and evolving to become the apex predator. A different but no less terrifying kind of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Which reminds me, Jurassic Park with fossil Pokemon still needs to happen.





047Parasect.png
#1 Parasect

The idea of "zombie fungi" has become rather popular in recent years, but back in 1997, I didn't see the likes of Cordyceps in movies and video games. I read about them in an encyclopedia focused on fungi, where there was a picture of an infected ant, with its dead eyes, and body overgrown with the ghostly, whitish strands of its parasite. That picture took up half the page along with 3-4 paragraphs explaining the plight of the poor bug. It creeped the hell out of me. It gave me nightmares, but I was so, so fascinated with it.

Then comes Pokemon. I take one look at Parasect's eyes and... it had the same dead eyes that had haunted my dreams. And right then and there I wanted one as part of my collection (not on my team-- I wasn't about to have redundant Grass types).

More than the pitcher plant, more than the trilobite T-rex, this mind-controlling parasitic mushroom was the biggest nerdgasm. It's a little more passe nowadays, but Parasect will always have a place in my heart as something that secured me as a lifelong fan of Pokemon.


And that's it. Mind you, there are a fair few mons that could conceivably take any of the top ten spots if I were in a slightly different mood, but as much as I'd love to gush about them, this list is already outrageously lengthy. If you did manage to get to the end, 1) wow, you have a lot of free time and 2) thank you for reading! Smell you later.
 
Last edited:
This is one of the Top 10 Most Educational Top 10s of all time
Thank you! I really wanted to talk about the layers that go into Pokemon design. Oftentimes most discussions about the subject boil down to "it looks cool" or "ugh it's bipedal" or "it looks like my favorite corgi". I wanted to tackle it from a monster enthusiast perspective!

Props for having Kabutops at #2
It is a marvelous beast.
 
Figured I'd post my favorites from the gen also:

#1: Kabutops

kabutops_by_000sans000_dc9j9v2-fullview.jpg


#2: Golbat

2042-Shiny-Golbat.webp

#3: Venonat

teagan-white--venonat.webp


Lots of others I really like from the gen, but I'll just go with my very favorites here. Def one of my favorite gens overall for designs.
 
I won't look at Parasect as I always did
Happy to help! Pokemon is always better when it's a little bit effed up.

Finally some Victreebel appreciation
Just wanted to add that Victreebel also has that leaf on top that real pitcher plants use to close the hole, trapping the unlucky bug or frog in pool of acids, with no recourse but to wait to be digested. We can assume Victreebel does the same. So cute!

Honestly, pitcher plants are rad, there should be more monsters based on them.

#2: Golbat
I always thought Golbat would have looked a lot better if it was eyeless, like Zubat. Nevertheless, think about how scary it is to be traversing a dark cave, and something from above darts to you and it's just one big gaping mouth! Way spookier and therefore better than Crobat that's for sure.

#3: Venonat
This is such a classic bug design. A fuzzball with two antennae and two, big, beautiful compound eyes. Those peepers are definitely its most striking feature, and it's still weird to me that it evolves into a moth rather than a fly. But Pokemon is just weird with evolution like that, sometimes.
 
I always thought Golbat would have looked a lot better if it was eyeless, like Zubat. Nevertheless, think about how scary it is to be traversing a dark cave, and something from above darts to you and it's just one big gaping mouth! Way spookier and therefore better than Crobat that's for sure.


This is such a classic bug design. A fuzzball with two antennae and two, big, beautiful compound eyes. Those peepers are definitely its most striking feature, and it's still weird to me that it evolves into a moth rather than a fly. But Pokemon is just weird with evolution like that, sometimes.

I've seen that opinion before about Golbat, tbh I actually like it better with the eyes. It is different than Zubat, but I feel like the eyes add more personality to it personally. Although Cyndaquil is one of my favorite Pokemon and it always has its eyes closed, so...yeah, idk. But I still like Zubat too, it would prob be in top 5 designs for this gen for me.

Yeah Venomoth's eyes really stand out to me. Just a simple but very cute Pokemon imo. I like Venomoth too, although not as much. And yeah Venonat does look pretty different from Venomoth. I wonder if maybe they should have had an in-between "cocoon" evolution like some of the other bug lines, when something like Caterpie or Weedle evolved into something drastically different looking like Butterfree or Beedrill.
 
Gonna give this a shot. Tough to try and separate how I feel about the designs from how I feel about the Pokémon as a whole, but I'll do my best.


600px-087Dewgong.png




#10 — Dewgong

I'm not sure how much I can say about Dewgong, since it's a relatively simple design, but it's shaped like a friend and I like it. Pulls off the fat and graceful combo better than a lot of other Pokémon, and even though it's mediocre, there aren't a lot of cute Pokémon that show up late in the game, so it gets points for that in my book. While it's used by Lorelei and Pryce, the only Dexes aside from Kanto and Johto it appears in are B2W2's and USUM's, and the role of Water/Ice-type is better filled by Cloyster and Lapras, so it's usually more of a background Pokémon, but it fills that role well enough.






600px-085Dodrio.png




#9 — Dodrio

Dodrio is funny because it's a Flying-type Pokémon based on flightless species of birds, so instead of flying it just runs really fast. Also it has three heads that bicker with each other, which is always good for a laugh. Like Dewgong, this Pokémon hasn't appeared much outside of Kanto and Johto, though both showed up in New Pokémon Snap and got to showcase a lot of their personalities in Lental. I like that the mid/late-game replacement for Pidgey and Spearow is this mutant freak. It's also the namesake for the Pokémon Stadium mode that lets you play the Game Boy games at 3x speed, which has to count for something.






110Weezing.png




#8 — Weezing

Another polycephalic Pokémon, Weezing makes the most of its simple design. The protrusions on its body that expel toxic gas give it some visual variety beyond spherical shapes, as do the clouds of gas surrounding it. What earns this thing a spot on the list is just how expressive it is. Between its two faces comprising the majority of its front profile, Weezing's got the jawline, the brow, and the fangs to cover everything from dopey to menacing to bashful to joyful, and it'll cycle through all of them as it annoys you with moves like Smokescreen, Toxic, and Explosion.






600px-068Machamp.png




#7— Machamp

Machamp is the go-to when the series needs a lunkhead bruiser guy, and it fulfills that role pretty well. This thing is Pokémon's answer to Goro, but instead of being mean and violent, it's portrayed as goofy and vain, flexing its pecs and muscles in many of its animations. You're more likely to find Machamp as a partner for a martial artist Trainer or moving furniture than helping out the bad guys. Even though you know what you're getting into with it, Machamp's always fun, and I'm glad it got the opportunity to strut its stuff in Pokkén Tournament.






600px-130Gyarados.png




#6 — Gyarados

You diligently switch-trained a fish at every opportunity, and your reward is a bigger and meaner fish. With its huge stats and powerful moves, it's no wonder this thing gets used by so many boss Trainers. Jagged fins, tough scales, this wind sock serpent doesn't pretend to be anything other than brutal and destructive, yet it manages to pull off a reasonable continuity with Magikarp. While it's pre-evolution's agape mouth was silly and dumb, Gyarados's mouth bares its fangs and could blast out a Hyper Beam at any moment. Later games let it use Water moves from its physical Attack stat, but in an era of easy leveling up, I think it's gotten a little too easy to obtain.





600px-003Venusaur.png



#5 — Venusaur

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Venusaur. Back in the day, it was all about Charizard, and maybe sometimes Blastoise, but now it seems like everyone's a "Bulbabro." Maybe it's Venusaur's nature; try as it may to look menacing standing next to its childhood friends from Oak's Lab, we all know it's more at home soaking up some rays in a grassy field or forest somewhere. And yet, Venusaur tries its hardest anyway. Instead of a flaming tail or cannons, it's bogged down by a gigantic plant, and also it's covered in warts, but it still tries its best. It's styled itself as the thinking Trainer's choice with its good Special stats and an array of disruptive moves, wielding status moves as a status symbol to aspire to use.






600px-129Magikarp.png



#4 — Magikarp

The poster child of "be careful who you make fun of in middle school," Magikarp is expressionless and slack-jawed, unwitting and unable. It's an icon of uselessness in a simple, charming design. This makes it great for comedy, whether that's in a huckster pitching it to unsuspecting youth for 500 big ones, or devoted fishermen aiming for the big leagues with a squad full of them, with the Paul Dano "does he know?" twist of its potential for evolution providing just a tinge of intrigue to the bit. Pokébiology enthusiasts will recognize Magikarp as an r-selector, overflowing Kanto's ponds, rivers, and sea with Lv. 5 offspring in the hopes that at least a handful will go on to evolve.

Did you know that in manipless speedruns of HGSS, the route catches a Lv. 50 Magikarp on Route 43 to use as the main Pokémon for the rest of the game? Bet you feel silly now for sticking that red Gyarados on your team.


600px-145Zapdos.png




#3 — Zapdos

Zapdos rises above the common bird Pokémon of Kanto with its jagged, angular design that cuts a figure both fearsome and majestic, kinetic and imposing. Its eyes pierce as deep as its Drill Pecks, and the black plumage on the top of its body provides a sharp contrast to its yellow body, highlighting its outstretched frame. This is a Pokémon worth venturing into the abandoned Power Plant for, and it will demonstrate why if you reach it unprepared. The legendary birds sometimes catch flak for not having enough lore, but Zapdos isn't here to tell you its life story, it's here to shock and awe anyone foolish enough to engage with it that didn't bring a Golem or a Rhydon.





600px-082Magneton.png




#2 — Magneton

Magnemite is an elegant design, a steel orb adorned with horseshoe magnets and Phillips head screws. How do you improve on that design? You stick three of them together. It works, because they're magnets! That's what they do! Yes, it's an unfeeling robot that wrecks electronics with its mere presence, but that's part of its charisma. They can't all be cute rodents in grassy fields or epic dragons. The little details are what brings this Pokémon together. Notice that the horseshoe magnets don't stick together because the alike polarities face each other, and the bottom Magnemite each lose a screw to avoid cluttering with the top Magnemite's screws. I like how Sandy Shocks is a Ground-type found near the rocky slope of Area Zero, since Magnemite and Magneton inhabit "rough-terrain" according to the FRLG Pokédex.




600px-114Tangela.png



#1 — Tangela

Now this is peak Pokémon design. It's a ball of vines with a pair of eyes poking out from the abyss, walking around on a pair of red shoes. Tangela's got charm, it's got intrigue, it's got style, it's got a unique type combination in the original games. What more could you ask for? Do you want to know what it eats, or what's underneath the vines, or where it gets its shoes from? Only a creep would ask those questions. Like Pikachu, Tangela is rare in the wild, and on top of that, it's found late in the game in a patch of grass that's completely optional, probably because the developers knew everyone would want one. They had even planned to capitalize on its popularity in Gold and Silver by giving it an evolution and a pre-evolution, but those plans were sadly scrapped, so we're just left with Tangela.
 
Last edited:
I'm not sure how much I can say about Dewgong, since it's a relatively simple design
One thing I can praise about Dewgong is, well, a lot of fantasy works often create their fantasy animals by simply plopping a horn onto an existing animal's head. Seel and Dewgong do the same, but it has in-universe justification because they use the horn to break ice! Definitely not just a slapped on anatomical detail.

Dodrio is funny because it's a Flying-type Pokémon based on flightless species of birds
Interesting tidbit about this is that Flying type is just Bird type in Japan, so Dodrio totally fits! This also suggests that Psyduck, who did not get Bird typing, is not in fact a duck, but a platypus.

The protrusions on its body that expel toxic gas give it some visual variety beyond spherical shapes, as do the clouds of gas surrounding it
Koffing and Weezing are definitely fantastic designs, some sort of a warty, toxic-spewing landmines. Weezing looks especially grotesque with the second little fella acting like a tumorous outgrowth on the big one's perpetually dour face.

Magikarp as an r-selector
This is a fantastic point about Magikarp! They're weak, but there's so many of them a few will inevitably be able to grow up to fearsome Gyarados.

You diligently switch-trained a fish at every opportunity, and your reward is a bigger and meaner fish
Easy to see how this dopey fish grew to be so popular-- YOUR Magikarp was going to be one of the chosen few that could become draconic avatars of wrath and destruction.

Back in the day, it was all about Charizard, and maybe sometimes Blastoise, but now it seems like everyone's a "Bulbabro."
To be fair Charizard is still the most popular, for obvious reasons because every kid apparently loves boring ol' dragons. But yeah I'm really glad Bulbabros have been making themselves heard more!

You stick three of them together. It works, because they're magnets!
Indeed. A magnet monster evolving by sticking to other magnet monsters just makes a lot of sense.
 


Back
Top Bottom