Top 10 Pokemon Of All Time

We here at GamingBolt love Pokemon, that’s more or less an open secret at this point in time. Pokemon Black/White remains one of our favorite games of this year, we think Pokemon is one of the best franchises Nintendo has, we think that the franchise alone is one of the biggest reasons that the 3DS  cannot fail and we’re eagerly looking forward to whatever Nintendo has in store for us with Pokemon Generation 6. However, while we talk so much about the games themselves, little attention has ever actually been given to the eponymous creatures that are at the center of the phenomenon. And therefore, we decided to right our wrongs immediately by giving you a list of what we believe are the ten best Pokemon of all time.

Mind you, it wasn’t an easy job- there are 649 Pokemon currently, and narrowing it down to just ten of those was a headache. Then again, we had to avoid the list from getting too predictable- so while you can expect certain favorites to definitely show up in this list, don’t be shocked at the inclusion of some others, or the omission of a few that’s sure to ruffle a lot of feathers. Regardless, we managed to finally figure it out within the parameters that we set for ourselves.

Without further ado, then, our list of the top ten Pokemon of all time-

10. Pikachu (First Appearance: Pokemon Red/Blue)

Pikachu is the franchise mascot, the adorable critter right at the center of all the craze. The yellow rat who can’t say anything but his name instantly won our hearts upon his very first appearance in the anime way back in the late 1990’s,  thanks mostly to his endearing appeal which was aided by his vibrant personality, and his complete inability to express himself. Whereas most of Pikachu’s popularity can be attributed to the cartoon, and to the fact that he is center stage for all of Nintendo’s efforts at merchandising Pokemon, he also remains a popular Pokemon in the games, mostly due to his relative rarity in all the games except for Pokemon Yellow, where he was given the starring role in celebration of the show’s popularity.

Pikachu remains a decent electric type Pokemon, with a great ability, high stats (especially speed) and some great moves. Although he isn’t very popular in competitive battling, he remains a favorite for more casual battlers, and you’ll rarely come across a Pokemon trainer who hasn’t trained at least one Pikachu in all their time as a trainer- and that’s mostly because, while Pikachu may be a great Pokemon and all, he’s also darned cute, and that is just impossible to resist.

9. Rayquaza (First Appearance: Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire)

Rayquaza is uber cool- he looks absolutely great, his coiled serpentine form conveying the message that he means nothing but business, and his place in the Pokemon mythos- he is the L0rd of the Skies, and he is the only one that can stop the warring Kyogre and Groudon- make him even cooler.

Insanely high stats make him a prized gift for anybody hoping to battle in the Uber tier of competitive battling, and the moves he acquires are super powered too. In addition, the fact that there’s only one  of him makes him all the more appealing, and adds to his mystique. Then again, he looked just plain badass in the intro cutscene to Pokemon Emerald, as well as in the Destiny Deoxys movie.

There have been many legendary Pokemon so far, and a lot of cover mascots, but few look as cool and as badass as Rayquaza does. Eight years from his first appearance, he is still talked about a lot. That should tell you something.

8. Garchomp (First Appearance: Pokemon Diamond/Pearl)

In what will be the only entry from the fourth generation of Pokemon in this list, Garchomp, Diamond/Pearl’s version of Dragonite (i.e an insanely and almost unfairly high powered Pokemon that is also a bitch to train) zips past all his peers to land a spot at number eight.

I mean, just look at him. Look at him and tell me he doesn’t look cool.

Yeah, you can’t. You know why? Because he looks cool. And also because, well, if you diss on him, he’ll kind of hunt you down and hurt you bad.

Most players probably remember Garchomp for two things- one would be the fact that after you defeated the Elite Four in the Pokemon League to square off against the Champion, he was the one and only thing that stood between you and absolute victory. But no, Cynthia’s Lucario and Spiritomb were easy to deal with, it was her Garchomp that was a pain in the ass. You just went down to him. Again. And again. And again.

You might also remember him for the fact that, after you’d spent half your life training Garchomp to an acceptable level, only to look up and realize that you and your girl now had kids who looked nothing like you, he was banned from all levels of competitive battling but the Uber tier, which admits only legendary Pokemon, because he was so overpowered.

Well yeah, duh he’s overpowered, that’s the f**king point, isn’t it?