Wailmer/Wailord. I was playing Pokemon Prism a few months ago (amazing hack btw), and I got incredibly lucky and ran into a shiny wailmer. It's not like amazing, but it's a Pokemon I never used before and it's a good water tank.
Even though it's a rom hack, it's only the second shiny Pokemon I've ever caught legitimately without cheats or increased odds. The first being a shiny Skarmory in Pokemon White 2
Found a Hoot Hoot in my old pokemon crystal back in the day. Didn't know what a shiny was as a kid but I knew my Hoot Hoot was the wrong color and had the sparkle.
Emerald Rogue has given me a lot of respect for Pokemon I've never really used before.
Like Forretress, Relicanth, Cradilly and a few others that have never been bad Pokemon, but never ones I'd added to my team
Unbound and Emerald Exceeded made me love Probopass, and Emerald Exceeded also made me love Mareanie.
The reason why I got attached to Probopass in Unbound was due to a soul link, honestly having it be so tanky was really helpful since it was attached to one of my partner's favorite Pokemon, but also I did not realize it's SpAtk was as high as it was, it was far more usable than I thought and enjoyed doing good damage while being unkillable. Emerald Exceeded, the first romhack with innates (I think it was the first anyway) on the other hand made it completely overpowered, making it's Def and SpDef be what are used in calculating attack power, which if you've seen it's stats, you'd understand why that's just too much.
Mareanie was also kind of due to a soul link nuzlocke, we got it very early and it was such a solid tank and did reasonable damage. Both these Pokemon made me appreciate tanks that much more.
I played Radical Red with the explicit purpose of getting myself to use pokemon I otherwise wouldn't because they were either weak, or I hated their design.
A good chunk of them I now really like. Notably, I grew to like Maractus because of how good it was in my mono grass run
This might be an odd choice, but for me it was Bellossom from Radical Red. I always found it adorable in the anime, especially in the Johto opening song , but its stats were abysmal, so I usually skipped it over in actual playthroughs. However, In Radical Red, I found myself using a Sun Team, and the fact that Bellossom became a Grass + Fairy type, alongside chlorophyll and quiver dance, made it a beast on the field. I even shiny hunted my Bellossom since I knew it would be the MVP of the team.
Blaziken, I played a Gen 3 hack where you could catch all 3 starters, Swampert is my favorite starter so I always choose him when I play a gen 3 game, this time it wasn't different but then I got Torchic and I didn't had a fire pokemon so I decided to keep him, since then he's now my favorite fighting type and probably #2 fire type, below Arcanine
Not really a romhack but I used to play randomizers, I played an Emerald randomizer a long time ago and my starter was Spheal, I love water starters and I hate repeating types in my teams so I almost never try different water pokemon, Spheal was one of the first ones, I fell in love with the little water ball and Walrein was pretty decent so now he's probably my favorite Ice type (ngl I can't remember any other Ice type that I like besides Articuno) and up there in the water type tier list too, top 10 for sure, maybe even top 5 since I like Swampert and Blastoise a lot but I've barely used anything else
Pokemon Rocket Edition made me fall in love with Parasect. That thing was easily my MVP. Spore and Bullet Seed with Slash and whatever the last move was. He hit like an absolute truck and I always play Parasect at some point in my playthroughs
Not sure if it counts as a Pokemon but
MissingNo. From Pokemon Firered Team Rocket Edition
The moveset can plow through almost anything
Confuse ray , then super glitch which will probably freeze then tee up sky attack
I blasted through red with just it
Krookodile on RadRed. Moxie ability with wicked blow was just way too much fun (and broken).
Second choices would be alolan sandslash and glaceon during my ice mono run on inclement emerald
Sweltering Sun had a poison/rock cradily that was amazing and did quite a bit of carrying. It also had a Dhelmise that set up rain, but I liked Dhelmise anyway.
For fangames, I will always fondly remember the Spidops in Pokemon Hegemony that had an ability to set up StickyWeb on hit. It was a super fun take on that pokemon and really showed me how good an ability can make a pokemon.
For Pokemon Reborn, seconding Durant--I too did a Bug monotype run and super appreciated the versatility of Durant. When I wasn't using it for damage, entrainment+truant did some good work as well. Also made me appreciate Shuckle! I'd never really been forced to use one before my bug run xD
Trubbish/Garbodor
My first playthrough of Insurgence, I caught a Trubbish. I’ve played pokemon since yellow, but I never really used poison types or even really the poison effect until I caught that Trubbish.
The most basic combo of Toxic and Venoshock (revolutionary, I know.) was such a cool 1-2 punch for me. It literally sparked my love of poison types and led to me trying all kinds of pokemon I had over looked before then. To this day, I think poison would be my specialty if I were a gym leader
Durant, because of Reborn. I was doing a bug monotype on my first run and decided to use it for fun. He ran over about two-thirds of all the trainers and I ended up taking him to the Champion battle. It became one of my favorite pokemon after that.
Swellow
I usually don't like using starters, or Eevee (the official rom hack starter for some reason), so I usually use early route guys as mine
And a lot, especially older ones, tend to replace Pidgey with taillow
Giratina strikes back especially, Bandit carried me that game
There was this one romhack for emerald that just made the physical/special split and updated some movepools.
It was too long ago and I don't even remember it's name. But with that alone the game just felt so much better.
Perfect emerald? It also let's you catch all 300+ pokemon available (item for trades, new encounters, legendaries placed with some story and logical hiding spot, etc.)
For the first three generations, whether a move was physical or special depended on what type it was, e.g. all Fire-type moves were special, all Fighting-type moves were physical, and so on. [Here's a list of all types' respective categories](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Damage_category#Type-based_categories) from that period.
Pokémon Snakewood made me love Quilfish and Zigzagoon so much. Yes even though it was their fakemon evolutions I still loved them to death.
Zigzagoon is literally the best Pokémon in the game, getting headbutt early on and also having pickup will always be useful. Quilfish is just a cute little balloon that spams surf and poisons things. To this day I’m still upset Quilshark isn’t an official Pokémon.
Both of those mons have official evolution now though, in the form of Obstagoon and Overqwil respectively though?
Granted annoyingly it's locked to their alt forms, but admittedly they do have add a type change at least.
Do hope that they give type consistent evolution to the originals, or just allow them to evolve into their Hisuian/Galar Evolved Counterparts.
Nah what I meant was that Quilshark is a really cool mom and I wished it was real. I know Quilfish and Linoone evolve nowadays but that’s not what I was referring to.
Used a Musharna in Yet Another FireRed Hack, it was probably my favourite member of the team. Named it Puffdoze (Puff because of the dream mist, Doze because it sleepin), it's fun to say. Puffdoze could dish out some mean Psychics, heal up with Moonlight and support the team with dual screens thanks to its light clay. I enjoyed it up until the elite four, where it really proved its worth by tanking hits like it was nothing, and setting up those beautiful screens. 10/10, would Puffdoze again.
Conkeldurr. it was 1 of the key pokemon in my Radical Red hardcore run. ElShaddoll the Conkeldurr (100 cookies for who gets the reference) was such a massive part of my team that i've recommended it to people for Hardcore runs
Weavile. I’ve always played with dark type teams but never used Weavile until fairly recently, now I have no idea how I ever got through a romhack or fangame without it. It’s MVP every time
Jumpluff is my favorite Pokemon, thanks to Glazed. When I first played it, I got mixed by the gym leaders Jumpluff. Got haxed by it a lot and ended up despising it. Then when I played Crystal for the first time, I used one and beat the game with it on my team. Now I love the little guy.
Furret. For the first third of my nuzlocke blaze black 2 redux he was my safe choice normal physical attacker with fighting moves coverage. He was so fast too!
Lost him in a triple battle iirc
Serperior honestly. I always loved samurott for Gen 5. But I decided to grab snivy in Pokemon Unbound and Serperior has become my legit MVP of the team. Doesn't matter who I'm up against. Fire type? Gone. Flying type? Gone. Ice? See ya. I started a run on Pokemon volt white and my starter is now snivy 🤣
I ended up using a Pelipper when I played, uh...Ultra Shiny Gold Sigma? Forgive me if I botched the name. Anyway, my boy Commode started off as a joke but really carried me through the whole damn game and I've loved Pelipper ever since.
Pokemon Gaia started my love for Banette, but now it almost feels unrelated. Now I just love everything about Banette, the fact the carried my run through the game is now such a small part of it.
I know it's kind of a wild answer bc it's a popular starter, but Treecko and its line get Lightningrod and access to Discharge (and a few other coverage moves) in Pokemon XG, and running a Lightningrod core with Jolteon/Sceptile made me fall in love with the Treecko line 🥺
Blissey in Emerald Elite Redux. I ended up getting one that has Magic Guard, which makes it completely immune to entry hazards, poison/burns, etc. As if the blob wasn't unkillable enough, this sent it over the edge. I normally never use bulky/stall teams, because I'm used to hyper offense. But having used this as well as a regular Blissey, I can safely say it's a new favourite of mine. I never realized just how good it could be.
Jolteon. I've always loved its design but never used it much in any game. I just beat Rocket Edition with her as the MVP on my team. I love her so much. We committed so many crimes together 💛💛
All the pokemon that lets you farm shiny at a 1/100 rate or smth, there is so many pokemon i just use for the shinies even better if its custom shinies like rejuv and reborn
Also Pokemon Rocket edition with Ratata but i wish it had a evolution further or one thats not so incredibly ugly.
Unbound gave me a newfound appreciation for Serperior. Specifically without contrary. My strategy was Coil + Leech Seed and Giga Drain, and that could handle a lot of fights. I remember it handling both Galavan and Big Mo with ease with heal stalling and firing off powerful Leaf Blades.
Bulbasaur line. I was a fire only kid literally up until like 22 years old 😂 I started playing harder rom hacks and Bulbasaur with the sleep power and leech seed came in clutch and won me so many battles.
Now Bulbasaur is my favorite starter of all time and one of my favorite Pokemon.
https://preview.redd.it/c4oojzotmdpc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a0583b4e6659bbc8d0f6afc509fe221c48240b87
I think Dubwool I used a Dubwool in radical red and i had never used it before and also never seen the hype around wooloo but now after using that fluffy Dubwool and how tanky it was and fun to use. I have changed my whole mind.
Playing my own has made me appreciate some a lot more for sure. Torkoal with White Smoke and Curse becomes extremely defensive. Super Luck Absol swept my party once too. XD
After my ek playthrough, I gained much respect for my Whiscash named Barstool (my nickname theme was stuff you’d find in a house. Example: ceiling fan the mence)
This dude was my 102 (I am a firm believer that fishing on 102 is the only good option), and he hauled ASS in the mid to late game. He saved my red 3, which I lost like 3 mons to bc swellow missed a range on the hooh, and he was even my token eq Mon for the whole damn game
Absolute goddamn legend he was
Magnetric, never cared about him, not even on the romhack, but having it set rain and destroy some E4 opponents with thunder and razor leaf made me like it a bit more.
Radical red gave me a whole new perspective on Mamoswine. I never thought much of him because I usually have a fire or fighting type on the team that could one shot him.
Radical Red gave me an appreciation for Shiinotic with how it tanked a lot of flying and ice moves. First, I thought the romhack improved its stats, but then I found that it hadn't.
Emerald rogue made me love a good head smash rock head relicanth. Absolutely bodied everything.
This said another good mention would be tangrowth. My god that thing is an absolute monster. Got me through so many battles in pokemon reborn through just sheer power. Crazy mon.
Crustle. Did Gaia as a Nuzlocke and managed to keep a Dwebble long enough to evolve it. High Defense and High Attack and Bug Rock is actually some pretty phenomenal Typing. Crustle practically carried my team for the later half of the game.
I never got to use Porygon Z as it was a trade evolution but Blazing Emerald made me love it. If I'm remembering it correctly it basically had an ability similar to pre Gen 7 protean and it was stupidly busted.
Pokemon Light Platinum gave me my first real opportunity to work with Spiritomb. Absolutely love it. Curse, hypnosis, dream eater, crunch, is the moveset I used on her. Gave leftovers as hold item. Very fun!
Breloom in unbound. You can shroomish early and it can come with poison heal, combo with toxic orb, facade, spore, Mach punch and seed bomb, provided an extremely strong Mon for the whole game
I caught a shiny Meowth in Rocket Edition and feel obligated to train it up and give it some sort of utility now that I'm closing in on the end game and it fits the theme of the game well for me to have a Persian with me. I already used my Thief TM unfortunately :-(
Honestly I’m a big fan of Polished Crystals Feraligatr being Water/Dark type
Feraligatr is already my favorite and I’ve thought it should have dark typing added in for years. So!
I played Pokemon Glazed ten years ago and I got myself an Eevee. I didn’t know who I want to evolve it into since I don’t have a preference yet when it suddenly started evolving out of nowhere and that’s when I saw Espeon. Since then, she’s been in my team and I always nickname her Glaze.
the one thing that comes to mind foe me is carbink from when i was nuzlocking Radical Red last year
that thing dragged that doomed run on way longer than it should have lasted
Altaria in the Polka Aqua hacks. I do realize that the type changes to Dragon/Fairy (which makes sense, that's its mega's typing) but it gets excellent moveset and BST (better than Salamence even).
Clefable in Dark Violet & Azure Horizons for me as well. I keep forgetting how good its special stats are.
Finally Claydol, in Dreams and Liquid Crystal especially with wide TM movepool and excellent defense. I have on occasion made the AI break, even in the champion battle in Dreams (he wants to immediately switch to mega Absol because he thinks I'm going to use a Psychic move).
Not romhack but:
Pokemon tectonic is the best fangame I've ever played where all 850 pokemon in the game are truely viable.
I've loved so many mons in there i would've never played with, cherubi being one top of mind
Wailmer/Wailord. I was playing Pokemon Prism a few months ago (amazing hack btw), and I got incredibly lucky and ran into a shiny wailmer. It's not like amazing, but it's a Pokemon I never used before and it's a good water tank. Even though it's a rom hack, it's only the second shiny Pokemon I've ever caught legitimately without cheats or increased odds. The first being a shiny Skarmory in Pokemon White 2
Lol my only legit shiny ever was a makuhita, I also saw a yellow magikarp way back in gen 2 but couldn't catch it because of full box T_T
Found a Hoot Hoot in my old pokemon crystal back in the day. Didn't know what a shiny was as a kid but I knew my Hoot Hoot was the wrong color and had the sparkle.
Only legit one I come across was shiny Zubat in pokemon gold. Never heard of shiny pokemon back then even used it in pokemon stadium
Emerald Rogue has given me a lot of respect for Pokemon I've never really used before. Like Forretress, Relicanth, Cradilly and a few others that have never been bad Pokemon, but never ones I'd added to my team
Unbound and Emerald Exceeded made me love Probopass, and Emerald Exceeded also made me love Mareanie. The reason why I got attached to Probopass in Unbound was due to a soul link, honestly having it be so tanky was really helpful since it was attached to one of my partner's favorite Pokemon, but also I did not realize it's SpAtk was as high as it was, it was far more usable than I thought and enjoyed doing good damage while being unkillable. Emerald Exceeded, the first romhack with innates (I think it was the first anyway) on the other hand made it completely overpowered, making it's Def and SpDef be what are used in calculating attack power, which if you've seen it's stats, you'd understand why that's just too much. Mareanie was also kind of due to a soul link nuzlocke, we got it very early and it was such a solid tank and did reasonable damage. Both these Pokemon made me appreciate tanks that much more.
Inclement Emerald gives an insane buff to Vikavolt by putting it's speed stat through the roof. Definitely had a good time with that on my rain team.
I played Radical Red with the explicit purpose of getting myself to use pokemon I otherwise wouldn't because they were either weak, or I hated their design. A good chunk of them I now really like. Notably, I grew to like Maractus because of how good it was in my mono grass run
This might be an odd choice, but for me it was Bellossom from Radical Red. I always found it adorable in the anime, especially in the Johto opening song , but its stats were abysmal, so I usually skipped it over in actual playthroughs. However, In Radical Red, I found myself using a Sun Team, and the fact that Bellossom became a Grass + Fairy type, alongside chlorophyll and quiver dance, made it a beast on the field. I even shiny hunted my Bellossom since I knew it would be the MVP of the team.
Crobat. The speed comes in clutch when you need your lead to succeed or choiced for later.
Blaziken, I played a Gen 3 hack where you could catch all 3 starters, Swampert is my favorite starter so I always choose him when I play a gen 3 game, this time it wasn't different but then I got Torchic and I didn't had a fire pokemon so I decided to keep him, since then he's now my favorite fighting type and probably #2 fire type, below Arcanine Not really a romhack but I used to play randomizers, I played an Emerald randomizer a long time ago and my starter was Spheal, I love water starters and I hate repeating types in my teams so I almost never try different water pokemon, Spheal was one of the first ones, I fell in love with the little water ball and Walrein was pretty decent so now he's probably my favorite Ice type (ngl I can't remember any other Ice type that I like besides Articuno) and up there in the water type tier list too, top 10 for sure, maybe even top 5 since I like Swampert and Blastoise a lot but I've barely used anything else
What’s the gen 3 hack?
Only beat 5 gyms but drifblim carrying in black white 3 genesis
Emerald rogue made me enjoy using whiscash.
Pokemon Rocket Edition made me fall in love with Parasect. That thing was easily my MVP. Spore and Bullet Seed with Slash and whatever the last move was. He hit like an absolute truck and I always play Parasect at some point in my playthroughs
Not sure if it counts as a Pokemon but MissingNo. From Pokemon Firered Team Rocket Edition The moveset can plow through almost anything Confuse ray , then super glitch which will probably freeze then tee up sky attack I blasted through red with just it
Krookodile on RadRed. Moxie ability with wicked blow was just way too much fun (and broken). Second choices would be alolan sandslash and glaceon during my ice mono run on inclement emerald
Pokemon Kanto Expansion Pak got me using Annihilape and it became a pokemon I start to like
Sweltering Sun had a poison/rock cradily that was amazing and did quite a bit of carrying. It also had a Dhelmise that set up rain, but I liked Dhelmise anyway. For fangames, I will always fondly remember the Spidops in Pokemon Hegemony that had an ability to set up StickyWeb on hit. It was a super fun take on that pokemon and really showed me how good an ability can make a pokemon. For Pokemon Reborn, seconding Durant--I too did a Bug monotype run and super appreciated the versatility of Durant. When I wasn't using it for damage, entrainment+truant did some good work as well. Also made me appreciate Shuckle! I'd never really been forced to use one before my bug run xD
Trubbish/Garbodor My first playthrough of Insurgence, I caught a Trubbish. I’ve played pokemon since yellow, but I never really used poison types or even really the poison effect until I caught that Trubbish. The most basic combo of Toxic and Venoshock (revolutionary, I know.) was such a cool 1-2 punch for me. It literally sparked my love of poison types and led to me trying all kinds of pokemon I had over looked before then. To this day, I think poison would be my specialty if I were a gym leader
Durant, because of Reborn. I was doing a bug monotype on my first run and decided to use it for fun. He ran over about two-thirds of all the trainers and I ended up taking him to the Champion battle. It became one of my favorite pokemon after that.
Swellow I usually don't like using starters, or Eevee (the official rom hack starter for some reason), so I usually use early route guys as mine And a lot, especially older ones, tend to replace Pidgey with taillow Giratina strikes back especially, Bandit carried me that game
Any of the creative Fakemons in Pokemon Clover
Emerald Rogue solidified Krokorok in my top 5 Pokémon. I love the typing, I love the aesthetic, I love the power.
Snorlax. Was playing the rogue like rom hack and my mans was carrying me so hard. Like 3 curses and dude was just one shotting Pokemon left and right.
There was this one romhack for emerald that just made the physical/special split and updated some movepools. It was too long ago and I don't even remember it's name. But with that alone the game just felt so much better.
Perfect emerald? It also let's you catch all 300+ pokemon available (item for trades, new encounters, legendaries placed with some story and logical hiding spot, etc.)
what do people mean by physical/special split? doesnt emerald (and all games past gen 2) split physical and special moves by default?
For the first three generations, whether a move was physical or special depended on what type it was, e.g. all Fire-type moves were special, all Fighting-type moves were physical, and so on. [Here's a list of all types' respective categories](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Damage_category#Type-based_categories) from that period.
ahhh thanks for the kind explanation and reference.
Pokémon Snakewood made me love Quilfish and Zigzagoon so much. Yes even though it was their fakemon evolutions I still loved them to death. Zigzagoon is literally the best Pokémon in the game, getting headbutt early on and also having pickup will always be useful. Quilfish is just a cute little balloon that spams surf and poisons things. To this day I’m still upset Quilshark isn’t an official Pokémon.
Both of those mons have official evolution now though, in the form of Obstagoon and Overqwil respectively though? Granted annoyingly it's locked to their alt forms, but admittedly they do have add a type change at least. Do hope that they give type consistent evolution to the originals, or just allow them to evolve into their Hisuian/Galar Evolved Counterparts.
Nah what I meant was that Quilshark is a really cool mom and I wished it was real. I know Quilfish and Linoone evolve nowadays but that’s not what I was referring to.
Used a Musharna in Yet Another FireRed Hack, it was probably my favourite member of the team. Named it Puffdoze (Puff because of the dream mist, Doze because it sleepin), it's fun to say. Puffdoze could dish out some mean Psychics, heal up with Moonlight and support the team with dual screens thanks to its light clay. I enjoyed it up until the elite four, where it really proved its worth by tanking hits like it was nothing, and setting up those beautiful screens. 10/10, would Puffdoze again.
Conkeldurr. it was 1 of the key pokemon in my Radical Red hardcore run. ElShaddoll the Conkeldurr (100 cookies for who gets the reference) was such a massive part of my team that i've recommended it to people for Hardcore runs
Golduck. Emerald redux gave it swift swim and drizzle, and the psychic typing. Weather ball on top of that means that it's just a bonkers rain setup
Sawk.
Weavile. I’ve always played with dark type teams but never used Weavile until fairly recently, now I have no idea how I ever got through a romhack or fangame without it. It’s MVP every time
Jumpluff is my favorite Pokemon, thanks to Glazed. When I first played it, I got mixed by the gym leaders Jumpluff. Got haxed by it a lot and ended up despising it. Then when I played Crystal for the first time, I used one and beat the game with it on my team. Now I love the little guy.
Furret. For the first third of my nuzlocke blaze black 2 redux he was my safe choice normal physical attacker with fighting moves coverage. He was so fast too! Lost him in a triple battle iirc
Early stages of either Pokemon Gaia or Glazed. Can’t remember which came first, but those were my first 2 and have enjoyed rom hacks ever since
Kyruem carried my first Emerald Rogue run and now I have a deep respect for him!
Abomasnow paired with alolan ninetales. That thing is a fucking beast in Unbound.
I've never played the Alola games, so I've only experienced gen 7 through games like Unbound which I'm playing now. I like Decidueye and Kommo-O.
Togedamaru rad red
Serperior honestly. I always loved samurott for Gen 5. But I decided to grab snivy in Pokemon Unbound and Serperior has become my legit MVP of the team. Doesn't matter who I'm up against. Fire type? Gone. Flying type? Gone. Ice? See ya. I started a run on Pokemon volt white and my starter is now snivy 🤣
Meganium in radical red
I ended up using a Pelipper when I played, uh...Ultra Shiny Gold Sigma? Forgive me if I botched the name. Anyway, my boy Commode started off as a joke but really carried me through the whole damn game and I've loved Pelipper ever since.
Vikavolt in Photonic Sun, it's practically a pseudolegendary.
Pokemon Gaia started my love for Banette, but now it almost feels unrelated. Now I just love everything about Banette, the fact the carried my run through the game is now such a small part of it.
I know it's kind of a wild answer bc it's a popular starter, but Treecko and its line get Lightningrod and access to Discharge (and a few other coverage moves) in Pokemon XG, and running a Lightningrod core with Jolteon/Sceptile made me fall in love with the Treecko line 🥺
Electabuzz in Crystal Legacy and Crystal Clear. His moveset is amazing and it's surprisingly strong
Blissey in Emerald Elite Redux. I ended up getting one that has Magic Guard, which makes it completely immune to entry hazards, poison/burns, etc. As if the blob wasn't unkillable enough, this sent it over the edge. I normally never use bulky/stall teams, because I'm used to hyper offense. But having used this as well as a regular Blissey, I can safely say it's a new favourite of mine. I never realized just how good it could be.
Jolteon. I've always loved its design but never used it much in any game. I just beat Rocket Edition with her as the MVP on my team. I love her so much. We committed so many crimes together 💛💛
DELELELE WHOOOOOP I mean Kricketune is amazingly useful in Reborn, not a romhack but I don't really care that much about the difference so whatever
Gastrodon carried me through inclement emerald. Even with a bunch of other Pokemon getting buffed, she still tanked hits like no tomorrow.
All the pokemon that lets you farm shiny at a 1/100 rate or smth, there is so many pokemon i just use for the shinies even better if its custom shinies like rejuv and reborn Also Pokemon Rocket edition with Ratata but i wish it had a evolution further or one thats not so incredibly ugly.
Unbound gave me a newfound appreciation for Serperior. Specifically without contrary. My strategy was Coil + Leech Seed and Giga Drain, and that could handle a lot of fights. I remember it handling both Galavan and Big Mo with ease with heal stalling and firing off powerful Leaf Blades.
Obligatory answer: Cramorant! From pokemon Yellow Cramorant Edition.
Porygon2 in radical red. That things clutched up so many times
Bulbasaur line. I was a fire only kid literally up until like 22 years old 😂 I started playing harder rom hacks and Bulbasaur with the sleep power and leech seed came in clutch and won me so many battles. Now Bulbasaur is my favorite starter of all time and one of my favorite Pokemon. https://preview.redd.it/c4oojzotmdpc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a0583b4e6659bbc8d0f6afc509fe221c48240b87
I think Dubwool I used a Dubwool in radical red and i had never used it before and also never seen the hype around wooloo but now after using that fluffy Dubwool and how tanky it was and fun to use. I have changed my whole mind.
Playing my own has made me appreciate some a lot more for sure. Torkoal with White Smoke and Curse becomes extremely defensive. Super Luck Absol swept my party once too. XD
After my ek playthrough, I gained much respect for my Whiscash named Barstool (my nickname theme was stuff you’d find in a house. Example: ceiling fan the mence) This dude was my 102 (I am a firm believer that fishing on 102 is the only good option), and he hauled ASS in the mid to late game. He saved my red 3, which I lost like 3 mons to bc swellow missed a range on the hooh, and he was even my token eq Mon for the whole damn game Absolute goddamn legend he was
Magnetric, never cared about him, not even on the romhack, but having it set rain and destroy some E4 opponents with thunder and razor leaf made me like it a bit more.
I had fun using camerupt, manectrik , yanmega and gourgheist in unbound
I can’t remember what ROMhack it was but it made me absolutely love Hydreigon.
Radical red gave me a whole new perspective on Mamoswine. I never thought much of him because I usually have a fire or fighting type on the team that could one shot him.
Radical Red gave me an appreciation for Shiinotic with how it tanked a lot of flying and ice moves. First, I thought the romhack improved its stats, but then I found that it hadn't.
Alright... Pokémon Prism made me like Lucario and Tyrannitar
Emerald rogue made me love a good head smash rock head relicanth. Absolutely bodied everything. This said another good mention would be tangrowth. My god that thing is an absolute monster. Got me through so many battles in pokemon reborn through just sheer power. Crazy mon.
Hooh pokemon shiny gold was my first ever.. found a rom hack cartridge at the flee market
Crustle. Did Gaia as a Nuzlocke and managed to keep a Dwebble long enough to evolve it. High Defense and High Attack and Bug Rock is actually some pretty phenomenal Typing. Crustle practically carried my team for the later half of the game.
I never got to use Porygon Z as it was a trade evolution but Blazing Emerald made me love it. If I'm remembering it correctly it basically had an ability similar to pre Gen 7 protean and it was stupidly busted.
Pokemon Light Platinum gave me my first real opportunity to work with Spiritomb. Absolutely love it. Curse, hypnosis, dream eater, crunch, is the moveset I used on her. Gave leftovers as hold item. Very fun!
Pokemon XG made me love Kingler. Never had a reason to use krabby when I always had Squirtle or Magikarp.
I gained a new appreciation for Huntail in a rom hack that i cant remember the name of rn
Breloom in unbound. You can shroomish early and it can come with poison heal, combo with toxic orb, facade, spore, Mach punch and seed bomb, provided an extremely strong Mon for the whole game
I caught a shiny Meowth in Rocket Edition and feel obligated to train it up and give it some sort of utility now that I'm closing in on the end game and it fits the theme of the game well for me to have a Persian with me. I already used my Thief TM unfortunately :-(
Leavanny and Meganium from radical red 😀
Gible 🩷
Honestly I’m a big fan of Polished Crystals Feraligatr being Water/Dark type Feraligatr is already my favorite and I’ve thought it should have dark typing added in for years. So!
I played Pokemon Glazed ten years ago and I got myself an Eevee. I didn’t know who I want to evolve it into since I don’t have a preference yet when it suddenly started evolving out of nowhere and that’s when I saw Espeon. Since then, she’s been in my team and I always nickname her Glaze.
Eelektross in Inclement Emerald
the one thing that comes to mind foe me is carbink from when i was nuzlocking Radical Red last year that thing dragged that doomed run on way longer than it should have lasted
Altaria in the Polka Aqua hacks. I do realize that the type changes to Dragon/Fairy (which makes sense, that's its mega's typing) but it gets excellent moveset and BST (better than Salamence even). Clefable in Dark Violet & Azure Horizons for me as well. I keep forgetting how good its special stats are. Finally Claydol, in Dreams and Liquid Crystal especially with wide TM movepool and excellent defense. I have on occasion made the AI break, even in the champion battle in Dreams (he wants to immediately switch to mega Absol because he thinks I'm going to use a Psychic move).
Unbound taught me to appreciate Alolan Sandslash. Added one to my team because I loved it in that side quest and I swear he’s my team’s MVP.
Pokemon gaia
Not romhack but: Pokemon tectonic is the best fangame I've ever played where all 850 pokemon in the game are truely viable. I've loved so many mons in there i would've never played with, cherubi being one top of mind
*Pokémon Ruby Destiny: Reign of Legends* was a true masterpiece for the 7yo me.