Pokemon that appear too late in the game to be useful

An unusual candidate for me is Pyroar. As I was starting Ultra Sun, I decided on a full team of 30 Pokémon that I wanted to represent all types mostly evenly. This included three fire types in the plan: Marowak, Salazzle, and Pyroar. Marowak I didn't like using because I had three other ghosts on my team, and Salazzle I didn't like using because it's so fragile to Ground. But a good reliable Fire Type with backup offensive Normal? Count me in!

Imagine my disappointment when I find out that it's post-E4 only in Ultra SunMoon. I was very close to deciding to just GTS it instead. Of those 30 intended, I had 29 when I became champion.

 

That was kind of an issue for me in Black/White where there aren't very many good fire types. Victini was event only and I don't generally use legendaries aside from the box legendary on my teams, I didn't choose Tepig because Serperior seemed cooler than Emboar, and I didn't really like Darmanitan or Chandelure when they first came out. (Still not a huge fan of Darmanitan but Chandelure's pretty cool.) You can get Larvesta after the 6th gym at the earliest, but only as an egg, which means you'd have to hatch it and then train it to level 59, which is a pain. That's assuming you even know where to find it and you remember to keep an empty slot in your party when you go to get it. I think I might have actually tried it, but gave up. The only other real option is Heatmor, which you can't find until Victory Road. On my first playthrough, I ended up catching a Heatmor just before going to the Pokémon league and adding it to my team. I actually liked it, but I would have liked to have caught it sooner. And of course I almost immediately replaced it with Reshiram.

 

Moltres in FireRed. You can’t get it until after you defeat the 7th gym. It’s useless in the next gym, as most of the Pokémon used resist fire. Then we got the E4. The first trainer is an ice-type one, but most of them know water-type moves, so it pretty much dies in one or two hits. It might be useful for fighting the fighting type trainer, but I don’t think it had any flying-type moves, so once again, useless.

 

I had the problem with Mienfoo, it is such a nice and strong Pokémon, but caught so late that there is so little time with it. They need to stop placing Pokémon only in Vicotry road and areas after the eight gym, honestly.

 

Most ice types really are just too late into the game to use. Not to mention their terribly low defenses, weak to four types and resisting only itself. I think Abomasnow could work fairly well on a team in Sinnoh but since you get it so late you practically have your team set up and there’s not a slot for it. The same goes for Weavile, Alolan Ninetales, Alolan Sandslash, and others.

 

With the way my training goes, pretty much all of the mascot Legendaries - they're several levels below my main team and getting them up to speed is a slow, painful process. They're never quite at a level with the Elite Four, which just makes it a nuisance to use them.

 

There's always dragons and cool Pokémon that only appear late game, and they just can't be added to the team (unless you have had a really unlucky nuzlocke) So for me, if there are cool Pokémon I want to trade, I'll often breed special teams to play through the game with. I did this with Deino in Black/White, and I really enjoyed using him. I really enjoy getting to try training new Pokémon, and learning which are good low level Pokémon and which aren't.

 

It's Larvitar/Tyranitar for me. I've always loved Larvitar, and I've wanted to use it so badly, but I just get it so late in the game, and it evolves at such a high level that it really doesn't end up working out.

 

While they're not part of the main games, has anybody played the Mystery Dungeon Games?

Traditionally you start off with two pokémon: the protagonist and the partner. (in the 'Explorers' games, at least) You can't evolve either of them, not until you beat the post-game, and at that point not much stands in your way, aside from recruiting the odd pokémon here and there, and maybe beating the more challenging dungeons. But once again, there isn't much to do once you complete the game.

(says the guy who hasn't evolved his protagonist or partner at all. #Mudkip_for_Life)

 

I've played one or two mystery dungeon games, and I felt like I almost had too many options to add to my team. They certainly weren't all higher leveled, or better evolutions, so that made things tricky. It would have been nicer if there were side quests that gave you the chance to add better Pokémon to your team. There might have been a few that I'm not aware of, and I think it would be cool if it were obvious as to whether or not the quest you were on, would score you a better teammate.

On a note of the original post, I would like to say that seeing and capturing better Pokémon earlier in the journey would be nice. Technically it would make the game easier, but with how random each Pokémon spawns, I don't think it would make too big of an issue.

 

There were some Pokémon in X&Y that were too late in the game to be useful, namely Mightyena, Liepard, and Zoroark. The first two are meant to be early-game Pokémon since they have such low base stats compared to other dark types in the game, but getting them so late just seems pointless, especially when there are way better Pokémon around like Phantump/Trevenant.

Another late game Pokémon is in Moon exclusively, Drampa. If you've already caught and trained up a Jangmo-o, poor old Drampa kinda gets lost in the dark in Victory Road. Which is a shame, because I like his design and inspiration.