Going back and playing Pokémon games from before the physical special split just fucks me up a little. What do you mean Thunderpunch exists in a game where all electric moves are special? What’s the point of it?
It makes Abra EXTREMELY good
Generally, I think the physical/special split is when Pokemon becomes much more enjoyable to play, but there are quirks to the old system that are interesting in their own way. Its such a love/hate relationship for me because it gives some pokemon FANTASTIC options for coverage and raw damage output in some cases, but in most others it just makes a large portion of the roster very difficult to use effectively.
Physical hyperbeam feels really good to use on a pokemon like Slaking, and Alakazam getting full access to all of the elemental punches using it’s incredible special attack stat is SO satisfying… but then you also have pokemon like Gyarados, who completely lack physical STAB outside of awful moves like bounce (which im not even sure it got until gen 4), or Gamefreak’s titular punching bag - Flareon -being doomed to near uselessness due to it’s stat spread + it’s typing… (Editor’s note: they still haven’t given Flareon a break LMAO).
I dunno where I was going with this. I think it just creates such a weird split between pokemon generations that most people don’t think about at all. The only region(s) that you can’t visit in a modern era with all the modern mechanics is Kanto, (if you don’t count HGSS’s truncated postgame visit or Let’s Go!’s lack of abilities and standard catching mechanics), or Orre - though Orre’s status as “Canon” to the mainline franchise is shaky at best. Kanto’s been done enough as-is, but I’m hoping some day, every region is featured with all the mainstay, modern mechanics and typings. Pipe dream, I know.
It’s so strange in retrospect because you’ve got Pokémon with high attack and miserable sp attack like Hitmonchan who end up having all their thematically appropriate coverage moves scale with their worst stat
In Gen 1-3 Hitmonchan has moved with “punch” in the name that don’t do any damage because of how the split works. It’s honestly kinda ridiculous.
And physical hyper beam felt great for a lot of pokemon in Gen 1, but once they removed the accidental-but-really-cool mechanic of removing the recharge turn if hyper beam kills, it became a lot worse. Which is a shame because the introduction of Giga Impact as the physical Hyper Beam replacement never actually saw use due to said recharge turn being detrimental. I know the meta would become significantly worse if they have some of the power creeped special sweepers of today access to 150 power moves that don’t punish you if you kill in the form of Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, Blast Burn, Frenzy Plant, and Hydro Cannon, but I still love the idea of that mechanic even if it was a total accident. Well whatever, at least Slaking can use it without issue. Okay I’m gonna stop typing here because I have jumped to a completely different topic at this point. Physical Special pre split is weird though
I don’t think a single pokemon suffered from the pre-split more than sneasel. Back in gen 2, both dark AND ice were special types, but sneasel is a physical attacker. Not only that, but its pool of coverage moves was extremely limited, so one of its best options was fucking slash.
It’s so weird that dark moves were special originally considering that there aren’t really that many special dark moves today
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ALT