Strategy & Metagame Remembering our roots: A look back at the heroes of generations past

[Syberia]

In this article I am going to take a look at the most powerful and influential pokemon (in OU) of each past generation. I'll talk about what they did in their respective generation, their most powerful set, and other factors that made them great. Sorry if I'm giving a rather vague description here but I feel that this article is pretty straightforward.

Gen 1: Alakazam, Tauros
Gen 2: Snorlax, Skarmory, Blissey
Gen 3: [Generic bulky water], Salamence, Tyranitar
Gen 4: Garchomp, Salamence, Scizor
Gen 5: Politoed, Tyranitar, Ninetales [runner-up status because outclassed]

I'll end with a quick recap of gen 6. Megakhan was absolutely broken until it was banned. Lucario played much the same role as gen 4 Salamence and suffered the same fate. Aegislash fits well on just about any team like gen 4 scizor but is far from broken. Talonflame is just cool and does something we've never seen before.

As I begin writing this, I'll have to take into account article length. If it starts to get too long I'll cut a few out (gen 3 Tyranitar and gen 5 Ninetales come to mind).

 

[Flora]

Hmmmm, I see where you want to go. I think "most powerful" may be a little subjective. For instance, Heatran and Tyranitar for generation 4 may be contending for top spots with the three you mentioned. Oh, now that I noticed, you're taking into account the periods in which a certain Pokemon wasn't banned, is it (I see this for DPP Garchomp and Salamence)? That may get a little messy because we have had multiple suspect tests in which we had really strong Pokemon that were in the tier for some time. Soo perhaps to make it less "all over the place," you should just stick to what is currently available in OU? It'll also be difficult to get some feedback for generations 1-3 for content checking so we'd just have to trust your knowledge there hehe. Aaand, I'm afraid of how much Tyranitar is going to be repeated lol!

Otherwise, it seems like an okay idea. I'll see what the others have to say first though.

(also sorry for the lack of responses!)

 

[Syberia]

Yeah maybe "most powerful" isn't what I was getting at. "Most significant" might be a better way of phrasing it. That wold allow me to include Stealth Rocks under gen 4 even though it's not a pokemon, it certainly had a huge role in shaping the metagame.

The focus with Tyranitar in both places is not necessarily going to be on Tyranitar itself, but rather its perpetual Sandstorm. In gen 3 it was the first time we had any type of permaweather in OU, and in gen 5 I'll be talking more about what Tyranitar brought with it - Excadrill, Landorus, and friends - than Tyranitar itself.

I think I might just drop Salamence from gen 4 if I decide to put Stealth Rock as a major factor instead; as it never centralized the game anywhere close to the way Garchomp did. THe reason I went with Scizor is because it was literally the #1 pokemon in OU for much of gen 4 post-Platinum, and it's such a great pivot you can really just throw it on almost any team without too much thought and proceed to spam U-turn (remember, this is when there was no team preview).

I can see what you're saying about only including things that are currently available in OU, but gen 4 was the first time we ever banned a non-legend (sans Wobbuffet) and in the months leading up to the ban, the metagame was literally almost all about Garchomp. It was literally the influential factor in early gen 4.

 

[Flora]

Syberia Okay, we can try this. Give Tyranitar its own section so you can just dump all of its gen 3-5 stuff there. This gives a little more room for other significant Pokemon in those generations. Do you think this would be to your fitting or not? (Or if you don't think its gen 4 part is significant, I guess you can omit it there.) Perhaps we'll just go with what you're thinking?

Yeah, Garchomp was definitely very significant. I guess it being banned or not won't be relevant now.

I'm most likely going to approve this after your response. :) I don't think the others have any comments.

 

[Syberia]

Yeah I can give Tyranitar its own section as sort of a "this pokemon has always had multiple uses in each generation." I'm not going to mention Stealth Rock as its own section as it's not a pokemon, but I can include a section on Heatran as you seem to find it relevant. In fact, with Heatran and Scizor, I can just touch on the Dragon/Steel metagame that developed with Latias and Salamence once Garchomp was gone. And then after Latias and Mence got the boot, mention how Heatran and Scizor are still extremely useful pokemon, the latter maintaining the #1 spot in usage overall.

Tyranitar's part in gen 4 would basically be more of the same as gen 3, setting up sandstorm, through it did find a new role as a Pursuit trapper with Sandstorm boosting its sdef which it did not do before.

In gen 5, with the focus on weather wars, I will of course mention the pokemon which are supported by each of the three.

Sorry if I've made it sound like it's more "all over the place" than it was originally, but that was not my intention if I did.

 

[Flora]

That's alright. Approved! Good luck and have fun!