Video Game Reviews: Number 1 Son's Pokemon Dream Team

From Number 1 son:

493. As of Generation IV of Pokemon, there are 493 Pokemon (we've come a long way from the original 151, haven't we?). Of these, you must choose six. Six Pokemon with which you will battle the Elite Four and the Champion.

Now, you almost never have all 493 available, and typically you can only catch somewhere between 150-200 before you fight the Elite Four (afterwards you are able to get many more Pokemon). Even with this reduced number of prospects, it is not an easy choice. These Pokemon must have good stats, and the team as a whole must have a balanced combination of types, so that one type cannot wipe all of them out.

Even once you choose the six, however, there are more choices to make. Each Pokemon can use a total of four moves, out of hundreds, if not thousands. With these you have to balance power, accuracy, PP (stands for "power points"; indicates how often you can use the move), and type. Finally, there are a huge number of items that Pokemon can hold for benefits, but each Pokemon can only hold one.

Even with all of the planning, however, you have to then go out and catch and raise the Pokemon to good levels so that they can do well against your foes (theoretically, you could trade all of the Pokemon in fully trained from one of your friends, but that is just lame).

Now, as I mentioned before, most of the time you do not have access to all of the Pokemon. In fact, some of the Pokemon that are available can become unavailable (you get to choose one starter, the other two will become unavailable without trading). But, what if you had access to all Pokemon? All 493. Which would you choose to fight against any and all foes? It is a question I am sure that many Pokemon fans have turned over at least once. As my excitement and anticipation are not likely to subside until I have my hands on one of the new games coming out tomorrow, I have decided to share my choices, my Dream Team, if you will.

Here are some notes before I begin. For one thing, none of these Pokemon are legendary, because legendary Pokemon are obscenely powerful and I don't use them. Also, I feel like you should know a little bit about my playing style. I tend to play very fast, and so my Pokemon tend to emphasize speed and power, working on the theory that they will not have to take very much damage if I can prevent the other side's Pokemon from ever getting a turn. With regard to the information I will provide, I will tell you the number (I will give them in numerical order), their type, moves, held item, any other important information, and finally an explanation as to why they are on my team and ways that I am considering making changes. Also note that while I do know about many of the Generation V Pokemon and have started making plans, I know little about how they play compared to the other Pokemon (since the games have not come out yet), so this list has only Pokemon from Generations I-IV. (One final note, all images are from Bulbapedia, this is the link) So, with that said, let's get on with the show.

6. Charizard (Fire/Flying)

Moves: Heat Wave (Fire)

Air Slash (Flying)

Solarbeam (Grass)

Blast Burn (Fire)

Held Item: Charcoal (increases the power of fire moves by 1.5 times)

Any fan of the TV show knows Charizard, because next to Pikachu it was Ash's best Pokemon (both in terms of ability and in terms of awesomeness). It is just as good in the games (although the TV show's version's signature move, Seismic Toss, is not nearly as powerful in the games). Charizard is the fully evolved version of the very first Fire-type starter, Charmander. Charizard has very high Speed and Special Attack (the stat which governs the power of ranged attacks), making him perfect for burning the opponent off of the field before they can do anything. With Charcoal powering up his fire moves, Blast Burn (the most powerful Fire move, which is exclusive to Fire-type starters) becomes ridiculously strong, and can even do significant damage to Water types (unadvised unless you are desperate, it leaves Charizard vulnerable). Solarbeam is in there to cover Charizard's weaknesses. It is super-effective against both Water and Rock types, Charizard's two major downfalls (especially Rock, which does four-times damage). Unfortunately, it has to charge up for a turn, leaving Charizard open to attack. I would change this if I could, but Charizard can learn no other Grass moves.

25. Pikachu (Electric)

Moves: Thunderbolt (Electric)

Thunder (Electric)

Iron Tail (Steel)

Grass Knot (Grass)

Held Item: Light Ball (doubles Pikachu's Attack and Special Attack stats)

Even if you didn't know about Charizard, you should definitely know about Pikachu. By far the most famous Pokemon and the mascot of the franchise, Pikachu is somewhat unique in my team. For one thing, it is the only member that is not fully evolved (yes, fans of the TV show, I have followed Ash's example, and refuse to evolve Pikachu into its final form). For this reason, Pikachu's stats (apart from Speed) are not very good, although its offensive stats are decent. However, you can remedy this problem in a number of ways. One is to use a Light Ball, like I do. I highly recommend this, as you will be struggling to use Pikachu without one. As you can see, it doubles Pikachu's offensive stats, which often gives him the highest offensive stats on my team (Gyarados, beware, your doom is at hand). It can be hard to acquire a Light Ball, since wild Pikachu are the only source, and they only have a 5% chance of having one (the first time I went after one it took three months and untold amounts of money, to the point that I still think the Safari Zone in Pokemon Emerald should have been named after me; to compound my frustration, my brother Number2Son tried for about two hours and found TWO!). The other option is to use all of your vitamins (items which raise both a stat and the rate at which that stat increases) on Pikachu (hey, I may not want to use legends, but I have no problem with putting my Pokemon on steroids). The reason I have two similar moves (Thunderbolt and Thunder) is that Thunder, while powerful, hates me and is prone to missing (I could remedy this by teaching Pikachu Rain Dance, which makes Thunder always hit, but in my experience, Pikachu will not last long enough to waste a turn setting up an attack). As an Electric type, Pikachu is only weak to Ground types, on whom his Electric attacks have no effect. So, I added Grass Knot and Iron Tail. Grass Knot does damage based on how heavy the target Pokemon is, and Ground types tend to be very heavy. As for Iron Tail, Ground types also tend to be only part Ground, while also being another type, especially Rock, which Iron Tail is good against. This is subject to change, however, and oftentimes I consider replacing Iron Tail with the less powerful but more accurate Brick Break, which is Fighting type and would therefore have an advantage over other types.

131. Lapras (Water/Ice)

Moves: Ice Beam (Ice)

Psychic (Psychic)

Surf (Water)

Hyper Beam (Normal)

Held Item: Mystic Water (increases the power of Water moves by 1.5 times)

Lapras is the last of my Pokemon from the first generation of Pokemon, and somewhat different. Lapras is much more defensive than most of the other Pokemon on my team, with decent attack stats and is probably the slowest Pokemon on my team. However, it is a Special tank, able to withstand tons of punishment from ranged attacks, due to its high HP and Special Defense. As for its moves, Surf is the only one on my Dream Team that comes from an HM (a move that you can use outside of battle for special effects, such as crossing water; I made my Dream Team based on the assumption that HMs were unnecessary), because it is my favorite Water type move. Ditto (not the Pokemon) for Ice Beam, except with Ice. Psychic is on my list because it is powerful against Fighting types, who gain an advantage through Lapras's Ice type. As for Hyper Beam, which is a Normal type version of Blast Burn (or technically, the other way around, since Hyper Beam came first) it is just to give Lapras some added punch when needed. Strangely, however, Lapras is actually weak to Rock, a type whose primary weakness is Water (again due to the Ice type). Since Lapras is slower, there is a chance that a Rock move could get in and cause serious damage (and you would not believe how often that happens; why are there so many Rock-type Pokemon?). For this reason, I occasionally actually consider taking Lapras off of my team in favor of a different Water Pokemon, such as Blastoise or Swampert. However, these are nothing more than thoughts for now, as Lapras is still a very good Pokemon, and has saved my rear end countless times, mostly in those situations where I find it impossible to blitz the other guy.

254. Sceptile (Grass)

Moves: Leaf Blade (Grass)

Frenzy Plant (Grass)

Dragon Pulse (Dragon)

Rock Slide (Rock)

Held Item: Miracle Seed (increases the power of Grass types moves by 1.5 times)

Sceptile is the fully evolved form of the Generation III Grass type starter. It is one of my favorite Pokemon, probably due to its similarities to Charizard. Its main problem, however, stems from its moveset. You see, the Grass type, while one of the most useful, is very hard to get, becuase most of the Grass Pokemon are really bad, and those that aren't have bad moves. Take Sceptile: of the moves I list, only Leaf Blade is a move that Sceptile learns naturally. Two of the others are obtained by TMs (items that teach moves to a Pokemon that it could not ordinarily learn). Frenzy Plant is the fourth move and like Blast Burn (they are statistically identical except for type), can only be taught to a Grass starter by special NPCs. The other main problem with Sceptile is that most of its moves are physical, while its Special Attack is better. However, its Attack stat (which governs the power of physical attacks) is pretty good, and the two moves that use it (Leaf Blade and Rock Slide) make up for it (Leaf Blade has a good chance of doing double damage, and Rock Slide has a good chance of preventing the other Pokemon from moving). Rock Slide is used to counter all of Sceptile's weaknesses (Fire, Bug, Flying, Ice) with one fell swoop. Dragon Pulse is there to give Sceptile some variety. It uses special attack and makes Sceptile a good choice for a Dragon type killer (yeah, the Dragon type is so powerful that it had to be weak against itself).

376. Metagross (Steel/Psychic)

Moves: Meteor Mash (Steel)

Zen Headbutt (Psychic)

Earthquake (Ground)

Giga Impact (Normal)

Held Item: Metal Coat (increases the power of Steel moves by 1.5)

Yeah, it looks that awesome. Metagross is sort of the best of both worlds: both extremely powerful, physically (its Attack stat is through the roof), and a tank (its Defense is also great). Its other stats are also very good. So, with Metagross you have a slower Pokemon, which will get hit, but won't take that much damage, and will make the opponent wish that it was somewhere else. Meteor Mash is a powerful Steel type move, and Zen Headbutt is a physical Psychic move (yeah, try to make sense of that). Giga Impact is a a physical version of Hyper Beam, and is there so that Metagross can launch the opponent into next year (although it can only be learned with one of the most annoying TMs to try and get). Earthquake is there to eliminate the Fire types, one of Metagross's only weaknesses. Earthquake is one of the strongest moves in all of Pokemon, with great power, great accuracy, and no downsides whatsoever. Not really anything to change here, since Metagross is one of the most powerful Pokemon ever.

448. Lucario (Fighting/Steel)

Moves: Aura Sphere (Fighting)

Flash Cannon (Steel)

Water Pulse (Water)

Dark Pulse (Dark)

Held Item: Black Belt (increases the power of Fighting moves by 1.5 times)

The only member of my team from Generation IV, Lucario was the first Generation IV Pokemon we knew about, and I can see why they used it as the face of the new Generation. Lucario is awesome, and unique for a fighting type, because its Special Attack is slightly better than its Attack. Its moveset is also very good, and these are only a few of the possibilities, although many of its other moves would work. Aura Sphere is a ranged Fighting move, and one of my personal favorites, due to the fact that it never misses (ever) and is very powerful. Also, from what I read, Aura Sphere is an attack that consists of Lucario throwing its own life force at you (with no apparent ill effects). Flash Cannon is also decently powerful, and rounds Lucario out a bit. Water Pulse is very good because it takes out Ground and Fire, Lucario's main weaknesses. Dark Pulse is there to counter Ghost and Psychic types, since no one else on my team really gets an advantage over them. As I said earlier, any of these moves could easily be replaced (although I wouldn't replace Aura Sphere). One possibility is Return, a move that increases in power the more a Pokemon likes you (it can get REALLY powerful). This is good because Lucario can only be obtained by evolving a Pokemon that only evolves when you make it like you enough.

So, that's the six Pokemon I would choose to fight against any one and everyone. You may be asking, how good can these Pokemon be? Well, I would point out that only two of my Pokemon (Pikachu and Sceptile), are never used by a Pokemon League Champion (although Pikachu is used by Red, the greatest Pokemon trainer ever; by the way, he uses a Light Ball). Now, naturally, this team has its flaws, but Pokemon evolve, and so do teams of Pokemon. As Generation V increases the number of Pokemon to 649, we'll have all new choices, and will continue to get new choices as the franchise continues.

Who knows? Perhaps one day I'll do a post with some of those Pokemon on them.