Novelty Pokémon: Difference between revisions

A novelty Pokémon, also referred to as a gimmick Pokémon, is a term for a Pokémon species with either no or few evolutions, little use in battle, and/or a limited movepool. Such Pokémon usually possess some novel quality about them that makes them unique or interesting but lack the ability to be readily shaped up for battle, causing them to be underused or overlooked. Although nearly all Pokémon can be used in a battle effectively, Novelty Pokémon appear to be more added to flesh out the Pokémon world than to be actually used or as fodder for potential evolutions later.

Many of these Pokémon became viable participants in Pokémon Contests after they were introduced in Generation III.

List of novelty Pokémon

• With many other Pokémon sharing its type and most of its abilities, Farfetch'd was a novelty Pokémon in the first generation due to the fact it was rare and could only be acquired by trading.
• Ditto only has one move— Transform which lets it copy the appearance, types, and moves of its opponents. It is not very useful in battle, but invaluable in breeding.
• Capable of learning only one move, Unown's main purpose in the games is that it has 28 forms, causing collecting them all to be its own sidequest.
• Delibird is capable of only naturally learning a single move and is the only Pokémon who can learn it naturally. However, unlike Unown, it can learn more via TMs and being bred. It is largely still considered a novelty Pokémon, though.
• Smeargle learns only one move repeatedly, but this move has the ability to permanently duplicate the moves of other Pokémon. Its stats and rarity mean it is not used as frequently as it could be though but this capability makes it very useful in breeding as well.
• Plusle and Minun were created to showcase the double battle addition to the series in Generation III. As such, they are difficult to use separately.
• Spinda's main gimmick is the variable designs on its body, in a bit of an expansion of the Unown concept.
• Castform has a unique ability to change form depending on the weather. It was also the only Pokémon to learn Weather Ball until Generation IV.
• Kecleon has a unique ability unto itself, however this ability makes it notoriously difficult to use in battles.
• Luvdisc are weak, but can be caught holding Heart Scales which can be used to teach old moves.
• Chatot is comparatively weak to others of its type, and it also has a high catch rate, but it can use Chatter to repeat back messages recorded on the DS microphone.