When it comes to Pokémon, no single generation is without its... questionable design choices here and there. Sure, one generation literally introduced a lamp, but Johto isn't so holy either. Gold and Silver and the Johto region is considered by many to be where the inspiration for the idea to just turn this sunflower into a Pokémon was born, so let's not start throwing stones here. Since the beginning, there have been Pokémon designs that arent quite up to par with others, and today we'll be looking at 10 of Johto's designs that fit that description. Let's jump right into it.
10 Sudowoodo
What is going on here? Sudowoodo is a Pokémon designed after a tree, with its sole purpose seemingly being to trick humans into thinking that it really is, you guessed it, a tree. Excuse me? What was the goal here? Creating a tree Pokémon is fine (just reiterating, we have a lamp Pokémon so this isn't that bad), but what is that entire tree complex about? Was it created specifically to be a roadblock to players of the games? Yeah... probably. Despite the strange design choices, Sudowoodo has found his way into our hearts.
9 Sunflora
Continuing on with our nature theme here, we have a sunflower. That's all. Yeah, that's the entire design. Sunflora is literally just a sunflower with uncomfortable little green feet that don't quite fit in with the rest of its body. It makes sense though, why come up with a Meganium when you can just come up with something that already exists? More power to them! There's 1,000 Pokémon at this point. They aren't all going to be home runs and that's okay.
8 Quagsire
Well hello, you giant gelatinous blob, how are you today? This little cutie is the evolved form of Wooper, and seems to be based on some sort of lizard, maybe a beaver, who really knows? It really just seems to be a gigantic blue smiling creature that you can't help but love.
Does that make its design good though? No. There really just isn't that much to criticize about Quagsire because there is just so little going on there. That kind of fits the entire Quagsire vibe though.
7 Forretress
And in the opposite camp of just too much going on there, Forretress ladies and gentlemen. You probably forgot this one existed, didn't you? Evolving from a literal pinecone, Forretress does what any pinecone does and turns into... you know absolutely no words come to mind to describe this thing. What is it? Pointy red steel sphere man, what are you? We just want answers, you make no sense. If you get this letter, please respond.
6 Dunsparce
Hmmm. Interesting. Blue and yellow flightless centipede looking boy. Absolutely, all in on that one. Dunsparce was also essentially made to be trash, so that's pretty relatable too. Dunsparce is just kind of meh. He really isn't the worst of the bunch on the list, but he's not a showstopper by any means. But still, if you happen to pass by a Dunsparce, give him a pat. He's more than earned it.
5 Shuckle
You know that thing where sometimes e a Pokémon's face looks like it was kind of just drawn on with magic marker? Meet Shuckle! This very yellow and very leggy boy is based around a turtle, and has the ever so wonderful species name of the, "Mold Pokémon." What a distinction.
Shuckle is just another Johto Pokémon that just doesn't have that much interesting going on, although, look at that face. While there seems to be almost no emotion in those eyes... doesn't it seem like there's something there, lurking in the shadows? Something dangerous? An absolute monster. Also please never take your shell off Shuckle no one needs to see what's hiding under there.
4 Hitmontop
Oh come on this cannot be comfortable. Hitmontop, who shares an evolution line with Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee, is based off a top probably? Who even knows at this point. The Pokémon is often found upside down spinning on its head, once again, not comfortable. The rest of its time it seems to spent ice skating, as its model from the mainline games would have you believe. Doesn't this one give off vibes that like, he's just kind of trying too hard and everyone around him is very aware of it?
3 Qwilfish
You poor, poor thing. How on earth did they think that it was okay to not give you an evolution? You're doomed to look like this forever, aren't you? Qwilfish is just so forgettable. Think about the last time that you thought of Qwilfish. Was it never? It was probably never. Qwilfish would have been just fine as a pre-evolution of something, but nope. This is it. The Qwilfish line is literally just Qwilfish. That is such a shame. The thing is literally just a pufferfish. And an ugly one at that. Game Freak, if you're going to do Qwilfish this dirty at least make him cute.
2 Unown
Did you forget how to spell? Well, good news, Unown and its 28 forms are here to help! What came first, Unown or the alphabet? With different forms representing all 26 letters, along with ? and ! (no period though), Unown is a lot to deal with. But don't worry, it makes up for that with the one move that it knows. Hidden Power. And if you were concerned by the fact that it only knows one move, don't worry, it definitely doesn't back that up with any worthwhile stat worth talking about. Great work Unown, you're killing it!
1 Smoochum
Jynx wasn't good, to begin with, so of course, the only logical conclusion was to give her a baby pre-evolution, Smoochum. With short blond hair and huge lips for no reason whatsoever, Smoochum is ready to go... unfortunately. Look, like most of the baby Pokémon, Smoochum is kind of unnecessary (Except Igglybuff. NEVER disrespect the Buff), and its design doesn't do anything whatsoever to mitigate that fact. Smoochum just doesn't need to be here, and that's all there is to it.