Can I level with you, dear readers? Generation 4 of the Pokémon franchise is probably my favorite generation of Pokémon. It is the only generation of Pokémon that I have bought all the games for – I own Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. My Pokémon Pearl has the most hours I’ve ever played in any of the Pokémon games, and the games contain some of my favorite Pokémon designs since the original (also, admittedly, some of the worst).
Of all the generations in the series, Gen. 4 appears to be the most divisive. While there are many fans like me who feel the same way about those games, there are about just as many who feel intense hatred for those same games. Apparently, some fans did not appreciate the slow pacing, with the slow combat being one of the most critiqued aspects of the games.
There is definitely nostalgia for Gen. 4 since it has been so long since they were released, but there are still many fans that are adamant with their displeasures with the games. Even though I love these games, I am willing to admit there are faults with them. I may love a lot of the Pokémons in Gen. 4, not all of them were particularly useful. They may have looked interesting and have a unique gimmick, however, there were mostly useless all things considered. That is why we will be bringing 10 Gen 4 Pokémon Nobody Should Pick.
With that said, since I love these set of games in the Pokémon franchise, I want to also bring up the totally underrated Pokémon from Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum as well. Gen. 4 needs more love, and I am more than willing to spread it.
20 Why Does Drifblim Look Like A Hot Air Balloon? (DON’T)
How do Pokémon look like man-made objects? It doesn’t make sense; how can a Pokémon look like a hot air balloon? What kind of natural selection happened when this Pokémon began looking like a giant hot air balloon?
Drifblim shouldn’t be picked not because of its nonsensical design. Heck, I love some of the Pokémon designs that look like man-made products. Drifblim shouldn’t be picked because his stats are kind of weird. Its health stat may be unmatched with most Pokémon, yet almost all its other stats are not good. It can be a tank, taking a lot of damage and not fainting. But it wouldn’t be able to cause any major damage itself. Not only that, his defense isn’t that good either. All it would take is a critical hit from its type weakness, and no matter how much health it has, it will go down fast.
19 Just Look At Luxray! It’s Cool! (DO)
There aren’t enough cool electric Pokémon. Sure there are some like Raichu and Ampharos, yet they’re few and far between. A sizable amount of electric types are Pikachu knockoffs, like Pachirisu and Dedenne, who are useless. Then there is Luxray, who may be the most underrated electric type ever.
Sometimes a high attack is all you need
Just look at it, it’s cool as heck. The black and blue jell nicely, and the in-game sprites for this Pokémon are cool. The only real advantage Luxray has in battle is that it has good attack stats. Most of its other stats are average and below average, which is admittedly kind of disappointing. However, none of its stats are necessarily really bad, and sometimes a high attack is all you need. If your Pokémon is stronger than your opponent’s than a few clean hits are more enough to finish off your foe.
18 Phione, One To Avoid (DON’T)
Legendary Pokémon are not always necessarily the best. In fact, more often than not, I find them mostly useless. They are just challenging Pokémon to find and capture, rarely offer benefits to your team. Sometimes they are super useful and super fun to use. Other times they can be like Phione.
Phione is a water-type legendary Pokémon. The only way to get one is to have Manaphy, a similar water-type legendary, mate with a Ditto and lay an egg. Phione will be born out of that egg, and it will be useless. You can continue mating Manaphy with Dittos to get as many Phione you want, which is undeniably kind of cool. However, Phione isn’t that great. All its stats are the same, and they aren’t particularly high stats. It doesn’t excel in anything, which means it adds nothing of value if placed on your team.
17 It’s All About The Mamoswine (DO)
Generation 4 is when Pokémon really went crazy with adding in extra evolution chains for previous existing Pokémon. Pokémon like Rhydon, Tangela, Magneton, and others received new evolutions. Some of these new evolutions look kind of awful, like Rhyperio and Lickilicky being some of the more heinous designs.
Don’t ask me how a pig Pokémon like Piloswine evolves into a MAMMOTH, but that’s how Mamoswine came to be. By teaching Piloswine Ancient Attack, it evolves into the prehistoric-based Pokémon Mamoswine. Mamoswine has great health and attack stats, but mediocre everything else. As mention with Luxray though, a lot of times a high attack is all you need. With its high health, Mamoswine can survive the battlefield long enough to hit its opponent. Because of its high attack, a few simple strong attacks can easily take down enemy Pokémon, making it one of the more useful extra evolutionary Pokémon.
16 I Think I’ll Probopass On This One (DON’T)
Probopass’ defense stats are unbelievably high. Both its defense and special defense stats are over a hundred and thirty in stat points. It has one of the strongest defenses in the entire franchise, and if it uses moves to increase its defense even more, like Harden or Iron Defense, then Probopass may become a difficult Pokémon to take down.
The rest of its stats are terrible
With all that said, everything else about this Pokémon is awful. The rest of its stats are terrible. It doesn’t have good attack, it has low health, and worse of all it is incredibly slow. The rock and steel typing doesn’t help, as most Pokémon strong against those types have a vast variety of moves that can easily land critical hits. Probopass’ biggest sin though is the fact that it looks like a Jewish stereotype, and that can’t ever be forgiven.
15 It’s Electivire (DO)
I’m not particularly a fan of Electivire’s design, but I found it to be so useful during some of my many playthroughs of the fourth generation of Pokémon. Similar to Luxray, Electivire only really excels at high attack. Everything else ranges from pretty decent, to kind of mediocre. With that said, its decent speed stats helps assure it to be first to go in most matches. With its high attack, it can easily knock off foes with its most powerful moves. Electivire is one of the few Pokémon that can truly be considered to be powerhouses, and it often served a valuable member in my many playthroughs in Pokémon. This is a prime example of how you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. It may not look that great but it has a ton of potential.
14 Rotom Away From This One (DON’T)
Rotom has a unique gimmick. An Electric/Ghost Pokémon in base form, Rotom can possess other objects in the real world and become a different type. In Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum it can possess an oven, washing machine, refrigerator, an electric fan, and a lawnmower. Once it possesses one of these objects, its stats become marginally better.
Base form Rotom is mostly useless
However, base form Rotom is mostly useless. It doesn’t have good stats, and it often times gets knocked out easily by enemy Pokémon. There may be value in having Rotom possessing one of the appliances since it does raise its stats, yet even then it doesn’t learn many useful moves. It may be able to change its appearances and types, it doesn’t make them it a better Pokémon.
13 Magnezone Is The Hovering Car Pokémon We All Need In Our Lives (DO)
I love this thing. Magnezone is the hovering car Pokémon that I never knew I wanted until I saw this design as a preteen. It is completely ridiculous and kind of dumb, but I love it anyway. Magnezone is the result of leveling up your Magneton in Mt. Coronet.
What makes Magnezone so awesome, other than its design, is its high special attack and high defense. Its other stats may be bad, nevertheless, its unbeatable special attack is more than enough to defeat any other Pokémon. Its high defense also ensures it will survive in battle long enough to strike its foe with its many different special attacks. Magnezone is so awesome, and I always love having it in my party in most games, even in the later generations.
12 Regigigas - Two Words (DON’T)
Two words – Slow Start. This legendary Pokémon from the Sinnoh region is one of the largest Pokémon out there, with monstrous stats including incredibly high attack. This Pokémon can easily beat any foe put in front of it. It knows a variety of high damaging moves, and it can be totally undefeatable.
It could be if it wasn’t for Slow Start. Slow Start is Regigigas’ ability, which halves its attack and speed stats for the first five turns of a match. The ability was probably enforced on Regigigas to make him easier to catch, since if it didn’t have Slow Start, it would be super difficult to capture. I remember him being one of the more difficult Pokémon to catch, and this is including Slow Start. Nonetheless, it is because of Slow Start that it also makes him useless when making it a part of your team.
11 Hanging With Drapion (DO)
Even though Drapion has pretty good stats overall, what makes him an underrated Pokémon is its typing. It is one of the few poison and dark typings, meaning it only has one weakness – ground. While ground types and ground moves aren’t uncommon in games, it still gives Drapion an incredible edge against most other Pokémon. With its high defense, Drapion can be a hard to take down Pokémon if the opponent doesn’t have any good ground moves.
Drapion doesn’t get enough love
It is also immune to psychic moves, which means that some of the series’ most powerful special attacks are powerless against him. I love Drapion; he is one of my favorite Pokémon from this Generation because he was always useful in my teams. Drapion doesn’t get enough love, despite him easily being one of most unbeatable Pokémon to have in any party.
10 Boo To Bronzong (DON’T)
Bronzong has really great defense and special defense stats. It can survive some really strong attacks. Nonetheless, it is also unbelievably slow. It has one of the worst speed stats in any Pokémon game, making it one of the slowest Pokémon ever. It doesn’t help that it doesn’t have an excellent attack or special attack stat; meaning Bronzong is only good for taking some extra hits. While many gamers may see that as a valuable asset, to have a Pokémon take the brunt of the attacks, it makes Bronzong virtually useless in actually taking down strong opponents. Good luck having Bronzong in your party, where it won’t be able to knock out any high-level Pokémon.
9 No Two Ways About Hippowdon (DO)
Hippowdon may have really bad speed stats, however, its high attack and defense stats help make this Pokémon a real winner. The weak speed stat will forever make Hippowdon slower than almost every other Pokémon out there, however, it more than makes up for it other areas. This ground type Pokémon is capable of learning some of the strongest moves in the game, including Earthquake and Double-Edge. It can knock foes out super easy, and because of its high defense, it is a difficult Pokémon to take down. Unless Hippowdon is facing off against a water, grass, or ice type Pokémon, Hippowdon will never be a pushover.
If you want in-game evidence of Hippowdon’s awesomeness, then look no further than the Elite Four of Sinnoh. Bertha of the Elite Four has a Hippowdon, and it was always hard to take down if you didn’t have any water Pokémon.
8 Vespiquen - It’s Not Worth It (DON’T)
To get a Vespiquen, you need to evolve a girl Combee, and finding a female Combee is hard. Combees only appear when the player slathers honey on a honey tree. Several Pokémon are actually attracted to the honey, and Combees are some of the rarest to come across. Worse yet, female Combees are even rarer.
Only 12.5 percent of all Combees are girls
Statistically, only 12.5 percent of all Combees are girls. So not only do have hope you come across a Combee in every honey tree, you also have to hope that the Combee you encounter is one of the twelve percent of female Combees. Once you finally capture a Combee, you can then level it up to twenty-one and evolve it into Vespiquen. For all that trouble, you are rewarded with Pokémon that only has pretty good defensive stats. Whoopee…
7 Gastrodon Deserves A Chance (DO)
Gastrodon’s are pretty good Pokémon to grind against, as they often enough give players a decent amount of experience and aren’t too difficult. They don’t really have good stats, other than their high health, but do learn a range of good water and ground moves. They can be taught to learn Surf and Earthquake, some of the best moves in the entire series.
Not only that, they also only have one weakness – grass moves. The ground typing makes Gastrodon impervious to electric moves, water Pokémon’s worse enemies. Though grass moves are now four times more effective against Gastrodon, the water/ground Pokémon can go toe-to-toe with almost every other Pokémon. Having a ground type is always beneficial when facing against steel types since ground is one of the few types that can hurt steel Pokémon.
6 Bastiodon Even Looks Bad (DON’T)
You’ll notice a trend on this list that I have no appreciation for Pokémon with high defense. While sometimes I do see value in having a Pokémon that can withstand some really powerful moves, I rarely have need for them in my playthroughs in Pokémon. Usually, high attack, speed, or special attacks are what I thrive on during my playthroughs. Maybe in competitive play, there is more value in having high defense Pokémon, however, I personally haven’t had much use for them.
Bastiodon may be the biggest sinner when it comes to high defense Pokémon. Bastiodon probably has the best defense for any non-legendary Pokémon, but everything else about the Pokémon is so very terrible. It is slow, weak, and has low health. Its rock and steel typing makes it extra weak against fighting and ground move. Cause of its low health, Bastiodon can effortlessly be taken out by a few strong fighting or ground moves, making its high defense useless.
5 A Roserade By Any Other Name (DO)
I honestly really like the Pokémon who have a humanoid aesthetics, even though some creeps on the internet kind of ruin it. Gardevoir from Gen. 3 is one of my all-time favorite Pokémon, and so is Gen. 4’s Roserade. There is just something elegant I like about these designs, I just can’t put my finger on it.
Roserade has an amazing special attack
Outside aesthetically, Roserade has an amazing special attack. Moves like Solar Beam and Sludge Bomb are more effective because of Roserade’s stats, making it a useful grass type to have. It may have low health, defense, and normal attack stats, it makes up for it with its good special defense and speed stats. It is one of the most well rounded Pokémon I ever use, and its poison typing now makes it useful against the fairy typing introduced in Gen. 6.
4 Just… Everything About Spiritomb (DON’T)
When Spiritomb first appeared in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, it was unique in the fact that it was one of two ghost/dark type Pokémon. The other ghost/dark type is Sableye from Gen. 3. The ghost and dark combo at the time meant that those two Pokémon had no type weakness, which meant there were no moves that would work well against them. They were also immune to normal, fighting, and psychic attacks. Spiritomb and Sableye were the only Pokémon with no weaknesses…
That is until the Fairy type was included in Gen. 6. Now both Pokémon are weak against fairy moves, losing the only thing that made them cool. Spiritomb has decent stats, especially with defense and special attack – yet without its no weakness gimmick, what’s the point of having one in your party now.
3 Feelin’ A Bit Funny About Lopunny (DO)
I have a weird history with Lopunny. I took me so long to evolve my Buneary in my Pokémon Pearl, that by the time my Buneary evolved into a Lopunny it was one of my highest level Pokémon. Since it was at such a high level, I kept my Lopunny all the way to the Elite Four. It was never useful for my team. Still, I grew to like this Pokémon that was clearly designed to be fan service for furries.
It wasn’t until Gen. 6, when Mega Evolutions were introduced, that Lopunny became relevant. Given a Mega-Evolved formed, Mega Lopunny was given a fighting typing and received a huge boost in stats. Mega Lopunny has really high attack and speed stats, making it a very valuable Pokémon to have on your team. I always knew Lopunny had un-tapped potential.
2 Empoleon Was The Wrong Pick (DON’T)
Currently, in Pokkén Tournament DX there are six Generation 4 Pokémon on the roster, the most from any generation. For how divisive Gen. 4 can be, it seems like the developers of Pokkén have a soft spot for those games. With that said, of all the Pokémon introduced in Gen. 4, why did they choose Empoleon to be part of the roster?
Empoleon is actually a good Pokémon
Don’t get the wrong impression; Empoleon is actually a good Pokémon. The final evolution of Piplup, one of the starters, Empoleon excels in special moves and defense. It is just that the other two starter Pokémon, and their evolutions, are so much better. Infernape, the end evolution of the fire starter, has great stats in attack and speed. Fire types were also incredibly rare in Sinnoh, so that made choosing the fire starter more beneficial. Torterra, the grass starter, I will get into in a moment.
1 Torterra - Literally The Best (DO)
The final evolutions of the starter Pokémon are generally some of the most popular Pokémon in the franchise. Charizard, Blastoise, Sceptile, Blaziken, Greninja, and Decidueye, are some of the most famous Pokémon in pop culture. Most fans, both casual and hardcore, can recognize these Pokémon at first glance. Yet, somehow, Torterra fell through the cracks and is wrongfully not among the pantheon of amazing starter Pokémons.
I know I’ve mentioned it several times on the list, but Torterra is seriously my all-time favorite Pokémon. The final evolved form of Turtwig, Torterra is a giant turtle Pokémon. A grass and ground type, Torterra has amazing attack and defense stats. It learns Earthquake as soon as it evolves, and that move will quickly become your new best friend. I can’t even count how many Pokémon I knocked out with Torterra’s Earthquake, it was such a useful move to have.
Torterra is one of the best starter Pokémon around and is sorely underappreciated.
