So, Pokémon fans. You’ve had ample time to play your way through Pokémon Ultra Sun and Moon by now. What were your thoughts? Were you one of those players who howled and whined online about Game Freak making us buy the same game again, only to proceed to do so anyway? There were lots of those, as there always are.
In my eyes, a lot of the Ultra content was specifically geared towards those who had already played through Sun and Moon. That was evident in all kinds of little touches, from the bait and switch with the Elite 4 to the subtler verbal exchanges. What was my personal highlight of the Ultra games? The new Pokémon, for sure.
Now, sure, everyone’s going to feel their own unique type of way about this. There are those detractors who believe Game Freak are completely out of ideas now, and only the original 151 Pokémon designs are worth the time of day. They’ll point out Vanilluxe, the ice cream cone with a face, or Trubbish, the literal trashbag Pokémon, and they’ll mock. They’ll mock like the mocking mocksters of mock that they are.
Which is all well and good. Not everybody can support the ridiculous-looking Blacephalon’s design, after all. Nor can you pick your team on looks alone, as some of the coolest-looking Pokémon in Alola are some of the worst. On that note, let’s check out 25 Awful Ultra Sun and Moon Pokémon Everyone Uses (Even Though They Have The Worst Stats).
25 Incineroar, The Awkward Teenage One
Now, let’s not misunderstand each other here. Nobody’s talking needless smack about Incineroar. For me, this is one of the best-looking Fire-type starters Game Freak have brought us for generations. I hardly need to tell you about the mass love-in that Litten enjoyed from the moment it was announced, either.
Incineroar’s issue, I would say, is its stat distribution. It isn’t super strong, and it’s not weak either. The same goes for its defenses. It’s darn slow, though. As a result, it doesn’t quite have a place in most teams, competitive-wise. However you use it, it could probably be replaced by something more effective.
Let’s talk about those enormous hands, too. The poor guy looks like it’s been stung by bees.
This is the reason animators generally choose to give their anthropomorphized animals less than five fingers.
24 Gumshoos, The One That’s A Little Less Interesting Than You Thought
If you’ve been playing the Pokémon games as long as I have, you’ll know certain well-established rules about them. One of these is that there’s going to be designated Route One Trash. These are some of the first wild Pokémon you encounter on your journey, and they have about as much personality as a flat-pack dresser.
Usually, they’re some of the first Pokémon Game Freak reveal when a new game is on the way. Sure enough, prior to Sun and Moon, we got an early glimpse at Yungoos and its evolution. I had high hopes for this thing, with its unique ability and all (Stakeout, which increases the damage of a move if a Pokémon has switched into it). It’s just totally underwhelming in practise, though, even in game. A lot of people tried out this meme of a Pokémon when it arrived, but it proved to disappoint.
23 Alolan Raichu, The Gimmicky Surfing One
I see where you were going with this, Game Freak. Alola is a tropical, sandy sort of region, and Pokémon have had to learn to adapt to life there. The idea of Alolan forms is one that I quite like, and of course, the much-beloved mascot(‘s evolution) was going to get one. The whole surfing motif Alolan Raichu has going on looks pretty darn great too, in my books.
It gets style points, that's for darn sure.
Pikachu has always been quite a gimmicky choice, relying on its incredible frail Light Ball shenanigans to achieve anything in battle. Similarly, Alolan Raichu is a very specific team member, enjoying the support of Tapu Koko and its ability. Outside of this specific area, it just doesn’t have the firepower to get the job done.
22 Alolan Muk, The Oily Rainbow One
You know, I’m just not quite sure how I feel about Alolan Muk. On the one hand, there’s no denying this super-slimy character’s popularity. Competitive wise, it’s probably the most frequently used of all the Alolan forms Pokémon Sun and Moon introduced. In practise, it’s easy to see why. It performs so well against a lot of the big threats (Tapus and such), delivering a swift (albeit funky and diseased) fist to the meta.
It’s odd, though. Looking at its stats, they’re by no means bad, but they aren’t stellar either. Alolan Muk, for me, is a Pokémon that tends to perform much better than it looks like it should. It can’t quite be built fully offensive, nor does it really function in a solely defensive role. It gets the dang job done, though.
21 Lycanroc Dusk, The One That Tells You They’ve Changed But They Totally Haven’t
Ew, I bitterly regret that tagline already. That conjures up all kinds of memories of awful relationships. I thought I’d flushed those memories down some rotten Hades u-bend years ago.
Anywho, back to the point. Lycanroc is a Pokémon I so wanted to like at the start of seventh gen. It looks beyond supercool, the Midday/Midnight form thing is a neat concept, and...
It has an exclusive motherfreaking priority Rock move.
That last fact alone is enough to make me come dangerously close to losing bowel control (who am I kidding, I actually did when Accelerock was revealed).
Lycanroc is a simple, straight-up offensive Pokémon, in its superior Midday form. Again, though, it doesn’t quite boast the raw strength needed to succeed in that role. Ultra Sun and Moon saw the addition of a new form, Dusk, which is another great design with the same unfortunate problems.
20 Alolan Marowak, The One With The Sweet Dance Moves
You know, I’ve always had a sweet spot for Marowak. That tragic backstory, the eerie design… what’s not to like?
When it comes to battling, I prefer to base teams around particular archetypes, rather than throwing six great Pokémon together and rolling with that. Goodstuffs teams, as they’re called, are fine if that’s your bag, but they’re not really for me. I like to stick with a rain or Trick Room-based strategy.
When it comes to Trick Room, classic Kanto-style Marowak is must for all of my teams. Statistically, it’s nothing special, but man alive is it powerful with that Thick Club equipped. The same is true of Alolan Marowak, which sports a different typing (Fire/Ghost) but identical stats to standard Marowak. It can perform well, but it’s totally reliant on that item (which doubles its Attack stat) to do so.
19 Decidueye, The One That Tried Desperately To Be Super Cool But Failed
Once again, I’m not just bashing anyone for no reason here. I’m a huge fan of Rowlet, and the little guy has been my companion throughout every Alolan adventure I’ve had.
The weeny owl is just the right choice, and I don’t often pick the grass-type starter.
While I do totally dig the design of its final evolution, I’m still all kinds of disappointed with its stats. When the final evolutions were revealed at long last, I was expecting this thing to be the Grass-type Greninja of the generation. Deceptively powerful, swift, with all the defensive ability of a one-legged kitten in a coma. While Decidueye’s a little more robust than I was expecting, and its offenses aren’t bad at all, its speed is just completely average. 7/10, not enough ninja.
18 Alolan Persian, The One-Trick Pony
Ever since the first generation of Pokémon, Persian has been one iconic kitty. A lot of this is due to its associations with Giovanni, Team Rocket boss, and all-round bumbling supervillain. It’s just the image of the guy sitting in his spinning office chair, Bond villain style, stroking his Persian.
When it comes right down to it, classic Kanto Persian can’t do a whole lot, besides a gimmicky Technician set with Water Pulse or something. Alolan Persian might fare a little better, but it’s quite a predictable supporter. Fake Out and Parting Shot are the crux of this thing’s gameplan. It can do little damage by itself, outside of Foul Play which does slim to bupkus against specially-oriented threats.
I wanted to like Alolan Persian, but it looks like its head has been inflated with a bicycle pump, and I can’t condone that.
17 Crabominable, The Weeble
Now, I hear what you’re saying. I get it, I totally do.
Crabominable, frequently used? Stick with me, though, there’s some logic here.
In-game, Crabrawler is quite popular, because there aren’t many notable Fighting-types available. This is one of the first you’ll come across. By accident, probably, as it leaps at you out of nowhere while you’re trying to collect berries.
On first sight, a lot of people wanted a piece of that action. It’s an angry little crab wearing boxing gloves, after all, and I don’t know how you turn that down.
The good news is, on evolving, Crabominable becomes a Fighting/Ice type. This is a unique new combination, and I always enjoy seeing those. Its ridiculous design is unfortunate, if hilarious, but this thing can do some decent work in a Trick Room team. That’s all, though, because its stats in everything but HP and Attack are appalling.
16 Alolan Dugtrio, The One That Looks Like A Sixties Boy Band
There was some logic to Alolan Dugtrio’s design. Somewhere along the line, there was. I’m sure of it. It wasn’t just a case of Game Freak watching Queen’s video for Bohemian Rhapsody one night and thinking, hey, you know what would be darn funny?
However the whole thing went down, here we are with this thing. If simple novelty value alone is enough to earn a Pokémon a teamslot, Alolan Dugtrio would be right in there. I do see a surprising amount of them cropping up, but I can’t quite fathom why.
If you’ve used Dugtrio in the past, you’ll know that it’s great for finishing things off. Its raw speed, its ability (which traps opponents in with it)… it totally shines in this role. Alolan Dugtrio is much worse in this regard, losing precious speed and gaining more weaknesses with that Steel typing. It does have fabulous hair, though.
15 Golduck, The One You Got Saddled With For No Good Darn Reason
As I said previously, rain is probably my favorite team archetype of all. As the metagame has changed over the years, I’ve subbed out Pokémon, items, and moves, but my primary goal has been the same: get the rain up, keep it up, and sweep through.
I’ve always been a fan of hyper offense, and rain is one of the most effective ways to make that happen.
This is what I set about making for my first team, when Sun and Moon were released. Pelipper was given the auto-rain ability Drizzle, which gave us options beyond Politoed. So that was neat. In terms of Swift Swim users, however, what were our options? Golduck. That was it. By default, this thing became incredibly popular, forming the ‘Double Duck’ team with Pelipper.
It was surprisingly powerful with Waterium Z, but it was only used because essentially nothing else was available.
14 Wishiwashi, The One That Sucks Without Its Squad
Could you imagine ever watching an episode of Friends that only included one of the gang? It just would not function. Who would Chandler sarcastically snark at? Who would Ross bore the cheeks off of with his incessant dinosaur talk? It just doesn’t bear thinking about. If you’ve ever watched Joey, you’ll know that the rest of the guys are absolutely crucial (man, was Joey bunch-your-own-eyeballs-in-the-face awful).
One Pokémon that knows all about this concept is Wishiwashi. For me, this is one of the most interesting new gimmick abilities in Sun and Moon. In its Schooling form, this Water-type is incredibly powerful, but Schooling deactivates when it falls below a quarter HP. At this point, its stats become Magikarp-terrible. One of the more interesting Pokémon this generation, Wishiwashi sees use but needs to be played carefully to reach its potential.
13 Araquanid, The One That Casts A Darn Good Bubble Head Charm
For me, Araquanid is another Pokémon that always seems to perform better than you’d expect. I’m not sure what kind of illicit witchcraft this is, but it works for Alolan Muk as well.
When you first encounter this thing as it’s pre-evolution Dewpider, you’d be forgiven for being unimpressed. It’s early in the game, after all, and bears far too much resemblance to Surskit.
Surskit, I hardly need to tell you, sucks with all the combined force of a Dyson showroom.
Looking at Araquanid’s stats, nothing but its high Special Defense stands out. Regardless, this thing has had a good deal of success in tournament teams, and can often be relied upon to do its job. One of the more surprising success stories, competitive-wise.
12 Shiinotic, The Wannabe Mushroom One
Come on now, Game Freak. What exactly are you trying to pull here? As I’ve already said, I fully support a lot of the new Ultra Sun and Moon designs, but why does Shiinotic exist? We’ve already got a tanky mushroom Pokémon that infuriates us with its Spore and Rage Powder shenanigans. Get this Amoongus wannabe out of here already.
The comparison’s an interesting one. Shiinotic’s defenses are higher than Amoongus’s, but it has much less HP. Each is lacking some utility that the other can bring to the table, but Shiinotic’s Grass/Fairy typing tends to make it more of a liability. This is another one that players were keen to take for a spin when the game was new, and the results tended to be mixed.
11 Salazzle, The Super-Frail Lizard
As I say, I’m a huge fan of hyper offensive Pokémon. This is why I keep reverting back to playstyles like Trick Room and rain, they just suit me so well.
With that in mind, some of my favourite Pokémon of all are real glass cannons. Weavile, Mega Sceptile and Pheromosa are three examples; all three of which would faint if a light summer breeze happened to blow in their direction.
I’m now proud to add another new member to the ranks of my super offensive favourites: Salazzle.
Poison/Fire is another funky new typing, and it suits a fast special attacker. The thing about these sorts of Pokémon is that they’re incredibly vulnerable after attacking, unable to take any kind of hit at all in return. Chances are, if you tried Salazzle out, she didn’t last very long.
10 Oranguru, The Not-So-Wise Old Instructor
For many Pokémon players, slow and stally damage sponges are the bane of the game. Cresselia, say, is notorious for being a darn pain to fight against, and the infamous SkarmBliss combo from back in the day (Skarmory and Blissey on the same team) was never a good time. Not by any wild stretch of the imagination.
Designated supporters, by extension, are a pain too. Look at something like Smeargle, which can do precisely nothing in terms of damage but will ruin your day regardless. Oranguru is a similar case, in that it’s designed to support teammates with things like Trick Room and its signature move.
There was a lot of hype around Instruct in the early days of Sun and Moon. In so many cases, though, it just didn’t live up to the potential.
9 Golisopod, The ‘Strategic Retreat’ One
Now, Golisopod wants to make it super clear that it isn’t just being a big old coward. Its pre-evolved form, Wimpod, sports an ability called Wimp Out, which sees it automatically switch out of battle if its HP is brought under half. Golisopod’s ability does the exact same darn thing, but is instead called Emergency Exit. You know, just to demonstrate that we’re being strategic now, and not just running away like wuss. Not anymore, you understand.
Emergency Exit is only for the brave who want to run... bravely.
Golisopod bore all the hallmarks of a popular Pokémon. It’s strong, has access to great moves (and an excellent signature move in First Impression) and it just looks like a boss. The issue is that while a couple of its stats are excellent, the others are beyond sub-par, and that ability makes it so awkward to use at times.
8 Komala, The Cute Sleepy One
Now, you can give the whole spiel about choosing Pokémon based on utility rather than looks. That’s totally cool. The fact of the matter is, though, some just look so much better than other. Of Ultra Sun and Moon’s designs, none instantly captured my heart quite like Komala did. Just look at it. Look. At it. I’ve never looked up adorhuggable in the dictionary, but I’m pretty sure I’d find a picture of Komala’s face there if I did.
The concept is neat, and the ability is very, very nice too. With Comatose, this Pokémon cannot be status'd, as it’s considered to be ‘asleep’ already. That’s quite a gimmick to have, and there was a lot of love for Komala.
In a competitive sense, though, its sub-standard stats render it low tier material.
7 Turtonator, The One That Real Wants To Be Cool
I see you there, Turtonator. I really do. I see your brilliantly pun-tastic name. Your whole ‘deadly shell’ aesthetic, a little like Blastoise. I see your Fire/Dragon typing, too, which is darn good and was previously only seen in Mega Charizard X.
I can appreciate everything you’re bringing to the table there, Turtonator.
There’s such a thing as trying too hard, though. You just reek of desperation when you try that hard to be cool. You’re Bob Hope when he used to dress as The Fonz from Happy Days, Turtonator. That’s what you are. It’s a shame, because there was a lot of potential here, but this Pokémon’s stats just don’t do it justice. It’s very one-dimensional, with its Shell Smash sweeps, and so can easily be shut down.
6 Togedemaru, The One That’s Less Sucky Than Most Electric Rodents
Now, I’m sure that nobody here needs to be introduced to Pikachu. Since the series began way back in the mid-to-late 90s, Pikachu has been the poster child. Its face has been plastered on every kind of plastic craptastic merchandise you can imagine, and it still gets some kind of special item, outfit or such in the games.
So popular was Pikachu, every generation of games since has included some kind of electric rodent Pokémon in homage to it. The Alola region brought us Togedemaru, which is a little more competitive than previous similar Pokémon. With added Steel typing and some actual usability, Togedemaru has actually seen some tournament success, but does this make it a true powerhouse? Compared to the barrel-scrapings that are Plusle and Minun or Emolga, maybe.