Pokemon Gen 10 Revealed

What day is it? What year is it? Oh, it's February 27, 2026?

Why, that's the 30th anniversary of Pokemon! And they announced a new game!

 

I like two of the starters already, and the third isn't awful. Hopefully the rest of the dex shapes up well, but it's not releasing until 2027 so I still have time to finish reviewing Gen 9! 

Help! The Pokemon are leaking again!

I've been awoken from my peaceful slumber by the news of another massive Gamefreak leak. Seems the hackers got a ton of information, from design documents to news of upcoming projects to deep Poke-lore, and most relevant to our purposes: more beta designs!

I don't know if I really want to review all these guys, and even if I do I'll probably wait for someone to draw some artwork of them, but maybe this is a sign from the heavens that I should get off my ass and finish up Gen 9 before somebody leaks the entirety of Gen 10 or something.

oh yeah, hello again, btw. Anybody still out there? Is this thing even on???

Pokemon Legends Z-A

 Well, well, well.

Everyone's said for years how strange it was that Gen 6 never got a 3rd game, how the existence of Pokemon X and Y implies a Pokemon Z, how much unexplained lore was left on the table, how half-baked the region felt... and now Gamefreak finally has the chance to make it all Right.

Personally, the thing that has me most excited is the fact that it won't be coming out until 2025. Hopefully, this means they'll take their time and polish a game for once. It also means that Gen 10 can line up nicely with the franchise's 30th anniversary in 2026, and I really hope they pull out all the stops for that one. PLZA will probably be a Switch 2 game in some form, but Gen 10 definitely will, and it would be nice to have a Pokemon game that actually looks like it belongs in this decade for once.

As for PLZA itself... see, I really liked PLA, despite not liking Diamond/Pearl. It got me to re-examine the Sinnoh Pokedex, and see that there's more to love than I thought. On the other hand, I was already warming up on those guys over the years, whereas I find myself cooling on Kalos. It's definitely my least-favorite Pokemon game, I've decided. Maybe PLZA will be able to pull some magic and change my mind? We'll have to wait and see.

Speaking of waiting, I know that I haven't updated in forever, but it seems we have another few years until a new generation hits, so I'm in no rush! But seriously, while the larger project I mentioned is still a work-in-progress, I would like to finish up reviewing Gen 9 before too long here. But I refuse to make any promises I can't keep, because I don't like breaking hearts.

What's going on?

Since it's the 14th anniversary of NAPACE, I figured that's as good an opportunity as any to update y'all on what's been going on. We'll save the theatrics for the big 15th next year, but the reason NAPACE has been so dead these past months is because of real life shit getting in the way (doesn't it always), but mainly because I've been working on a major project.

This major project is a manifesto of sorts, a thesis to answer the common question "Why don't Pokemon look like Pokemon anymore?". People have tackled this before, and come up with easy-but-wrong answers like "because modern Pokemon are all based on real-life objects like ice cream cones" and correct-but-vague answers like "because the proportions and art style changed". Neither of which is satisfying for me. I want an answer that's quantifiable, without resorting to prejudiced generalizations.

As you can imagine, this has taken time. Currently, I have a draft that covers Gen 1 and 9, but ideally it would work through each generation, covering the design trends that emerge. I presented this draft as a panel at a local anime convention recently (shoutouts to anyone who found this blog from that!) and if people are interested I could post what I have as a work-in-progress, or maybe I'll hold off until the whole thing is done. idk

Regardless, thanks for sticking with me despite the lack of updates. 

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are here!

And for once, I'm going in blind! Well, I know what Nintendo's officially shown off in their trailers. And I saw a few leaks by accident. But mostly, I have no idea what this Pokedex is gonna look like.

Which is a first, for me. For Gen 1-2, I was familiar with the anime & cards before I played the games. Then from Gen 3-5, I would look up the Pokemon from the Japanese release. And from Gen 6-8, I'd keep my ear to the ground for leaks. The point is, I've always known what to expect from a Pokemon game. And I like it that way - I enjoy planning my team beforehand. And as Sword/Shield proved, it's hard to get excited when I don't have anything to look forward to. But then the game released, and it turned out that Gamefreak only showed off the ugly stupid Pokemon and kept all the cool ones a secret!

But, I know a lot of people prefer to play blind. They say it helps keep things fresh, they enjoy the mystery, the childhood wonder, perhaps. And I've always pooh-poohed that nonsense, largely because I've never had that experience but enjoyed the games anyway.

and yet... this time, the release date kinda snuck up on me. I honestly wasn't even paying attention until last week, and then I decided - hey, I haven't been spoiled yet. I could probably just avoid my usual internet haunts and stay that way. Yeah, I'm not especially hype for the game, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised like with Gen 8? And maybe, just maybe, that surprise will be more meaningful if I actually get it in-game instead of browsing somebody's Pokedex leak?

So that's what I'm doing! Picked up the game today and got started. I chose Fuecoco, because without knowing any of the final evolutions of the starters, I figured Fire usually ends up decent. We'll see how it goes.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet announced

And here I was thinking Gamefreak was gonna take it easy after pumping out two games back-to-back...

I enjoyed the hell out of Legends Arceus and will probably make a post about it later, but suffice to say I'm really glad that Gen 9 is keeping the open-world vibes. I hope it brings back the emphasis on trainer battles, and let the Pokemon follow you around.

New starters look fine, we got a weed cat, applegator, and donald duck. As always, what really matters is their final evolutions, but I instantly like these more than last gen's.

Will I be able to review those Hisuian forms before these games launch? Knowing me, it'll be a struggle.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus launches!

 The new game is here, and from what I've seen the Hisuian forms introduced are... hit and miss. Mostly miss. But I want to play the game myself a bit, and wait until we have good official artwork, so it'll be a while before I get to those reviews of the new Pokemon.

In the meantime, I think I'll review some trainers, so look forward to that.

The best Gen 8 Pokemon

From one perspective, marketing the game with the early-route birds and rodents, some Galarian forms, and a few random Fairies keeps the actual Pokedex a mystery and allows people to discover the game for themselves. But for people like me, I have to know what I should look forward to, in order to get excited about a Pokemon game.

10. Galarian Zigzagoon

9. Galarian Darmanitan

8. Frosmoth

7. Galarian Moltres

6. Polteageist

5. Orbeetle

4. Grapploct

3. Centiskorch

2. Dragapult

1. Toxtricity

And boy, did Galar deliver. If we'd know that Toxtricity and Dragapult were headlining the game, I legitimately think a lot of negative press could've been avoided. Because at the end of the day, what matters most is that there's awesome Pokemon to catch.

How about you? What were your favorites of the 8th gen?

The Worst Gen 8 Pokemon

Well well, what's all this then? You lot up to some mischief as usual? Good riddance to bad rubbish, I always say!

10. Dracovish

9. Runerigus

8. Galarian Weezing

7. Galarian Mr. Mime

6. Eternatus

5. Greedent

4. Chewtle

3. Arctovish

2. Blipbug

1. Calyrex

Some of the ones here are spaghetti messes like Runerigus and Eternatus, others are ugly cartoons like Blipbug and Greedent, and then Calyrex deserves a tip of the hat for becoming the new Worst Pokemon Ever. Actually, scratch that. Calyrex deserves nothing. Nothing except a swift kick in the head.

But, now I ask the peanut gallery - you are your Bottom 10 Pokemon from this gen?

8th Gen Summary

Perhaps Legends: Arceus should be counted as part of Gen 8. I mean, it's not really Gen 9 yet, is it? But I don't feel like waiting around to see how things develop, the timing is right to wrap this up here. We'll cover the Hisuan Forms later.

Anyway, the 8th Gen averaged out to 5.7 / 10. Like as in Alola, we factor in the Galarian forms, but not Gigantamax. The Gigantamaxes come out to 5.5 / 10, so they actively bring the generation down.

That means this is the best-ranking Generation since Hoenn, which sounds wild but... actually, kinda tracks. The first Pokemon they showed off were underwhelming, just boring mainly. But upon release, all the hidden gems came out and I ended up with a dozen or so that I absolutely loved! And that was the overall impression of the game, too. I went in not expecting much, but surprisingly enjoyed it.

A lot of the criticisms I have still stand, and I remain cynical about the future of the franchise (although Arceus: Legends might be a step in the right direction?), but it makes me glad to know that the designers can still turn out some killer Pokemon. 

other regional scores, for reference:
Gen 1 - 6.2

Gen 2 - 5.8

Gen 3 - 6.1

Gen 4 - 4.8

Gen 5 - 5.4

Gen 6 - 5.6

Gen 7 - 5.4

Gen 8 - 5.7

12th anniversary

It's a little early to celebrate 12 years, but its my birthday today, so. I won't say the actual number, but it's a momentous age that really makes me want to put my life in order, you know?

knowing it was coming up gave me the drive to get back in the saddle. I'm gonna finish up these Galarian goons, and then we need to review the Gigantimax forms, wrap-up the generation, review the 8th gen trainers and gym leaders, and by then Arceus: Legends will be out and that'll bring some more new Pokemon...

I also took this time to update the archives and fix all the broken images and tags, migrating from Bulbapedia to Pokemondb as the main source because they're less likely to screw their urls up for no reason. Hopefully this leads to more archive views, now that the pictures are back!

Let me know if you notice anything else needs fixing, and thanks for sticking with NAPACE all these years.

Pokemon Legends Arceus has Restored me to Life

Oh baby. This is it. This is what I've been waiting for. This is the game that I wanted Sword & Shield to be - open world environments, but still with turn-based battles. It's clearly early footage, but I'm so excited I'm going to pretend I like Sinnoh. I'm also going to imagine that the final release won't have frame-rate issues.

This announcement got me so hype I'm actually gonna return to the blog and finish the generation!

 

EVEN MORE BETAMONS

GOD DAMN


Thanks to an enormous leak of Nintendo beta builds, they uncovered even MORE beta Pokemon, from an early version of Diamond/Pearl. Unlike the past leaks, hardly any of these are "new" Pokemon - just early designs, or unfinished sprites. Can you guess who everybody here is supposed to be? (shouldn't be that hard)

At this rate, they're discovering new Pokemon faster than I can review the existing canonical ones. That's worrying.

MORE Betamons

So apparently they found ANOTHER early build of Gold/Silver, with even more Betamon designs! Some completely original ones, some early versions of existing ones, and some earlier versions of beta designs that ended up being cut anyway!



That's Celebi in the top middle, by the way. Looking like a desiccated corpse.

I'll wait for people to unpack everything and create some appropriate artwork, but I definitely intend to take a look at these peeps, too!

DLC Expansions

man, I stay busy the entire month of December with family stuff, but now I'm back and ready to actually review this generation.

Coincidentally, they also just announced some new expansions, with new Pokemon! I cannot wait to talk shit about this clusterfuck of a design. Literally every where you look, something terrible is happening, and none of it goes together in the slightest. This Pokemon looks like what Picasso felt when he painted Guernica. It makes me want to write a letter to my congressman. I'm tempted to take up drinking, or give up drinking, whichever will make me more miserable.



I suppose I'll get around to him sometime in 2022, if my track record is anything to go by.

Gen 8 reviews?

I want to do them!!

But... we're lacking official artwork for most of the Pokemon. We only have the starter's first forms, even. So be patient.

Besides, I'm not even done with the game yet. I'll do a writeup of my progress and stuff to stall for time, if they can't find those official artworks soon.

10 years.

Wow.

10 freaking years.

I suppose it's not like I did anything to make 10 years pass, they would've passed regardless. And I haven't been active enough to qualify as "keeping this thing running" for 10 years of steady updates, but...

still. damn. 10 years.

10 years ago there were only 500 Pokemon. Now there's set to be over 1000, when you count the alternate forms and Megas and stuff.

10 years ago I was in high school. Now I'm out of college and employed full-time.

10 years ago Nintendo was still riding high on the DS and Wii. Now we've come through the dark times of the WiiU into the success of the Switch.

10 years ago I loved Pokemon.



Now, I still do, despite everything I might say.



I just saw the leaks for the new Pokemon, and there's some good ones in there. I'm finally allowing myself to start to get excited for Sword & Shield. I'll be here to review them, for any of you loyal NAPACE readers who are still hanging around. I can't promise it'll be on a regular schedule, but I'll do at least this one last generation for all of you. Not sure if there's much point in continuing past, since it'll be another few years until a new generation, and the site would be silent for all of those years... but hey. Someone's gotta tell you knuckleheads which ones of these Pokemon are any good, right!?

Thanks for reading.

Wednesday Ramble

this is such bullshit.

Beta Gen Summary

(if you don't know what this is, click here)

I suppose I shouldn't keep you waiting any longer. Let's look back on the dream of things that might have been.

The 69 Beta Pokemon I reviewed averaged out to 5.9/10. That's pretty good, even with the host of stupid babies dragging down the average!

Of those, 30 were rough drafts of existing Pokemon, and half of them turned out better than their final counterparts, for a net gain of 27 points. They shouldn't have second-guessed themselves!

Now, using the ratings I gave to the actual Gen 2 Pokemon, if Gold/Silver had shipped with the Beta Pokedex, it would have averaged out to 5.8/10. Which is... exactly what the actual Gen 2 got. How did that happen, when I just said the beta-versions were better overall? Well, keep in mind that because the Beta version had original Pokemon like Bellmitt and Twinz, it was missing actual Gen 2 Pokemon like Heracross and Chinchou. And it all ended up evening out.

So what's the moral, here? Apparently if the Beta had been final, it would've still been about as good. There's no need to wish for an alternate universe, here. But I do wish that we could get that top crop of Beta-mons in the real games, some day.

Now I want to see the discarded designs for all the generations...

The Best Beta Gen Pokemon

I weep for what never got the chance to exist. We were missing out, man.

10. Pangshi

9. Beta-Magby

8. Bomseaker

7. Dynabear

6. Anchorage

5. Rinring

4. Bellboyant

3. Warwolf

2. Tigrette

1. Octillery

I made the executive decision to bump Beta-Scizor from the list, because while he is indeed awesome, he's equally awesome to his final version, whereas Beta-Magby was a vast improvement. And this also opened a slot for another original Pokemon, Pangshi, to squeeze in there. Hey, it's my site, I make the rules, ok?

How about you - which Beta Pokemon do you wish were real?

(no all-time ranking update, since I'd be comparing idealized phantoms with the all-too-fallible flesh)