is charizard (and kanto) overrated

[Sheep]

we all know charizard is a favorite to include in many ways across the franchise. it has two megas and a gigantamax form, and is the signature mon of the champion from the most recent generation, rather than a gen VIII pokémon. the three most popular pokémon in galar are also from kanto - charizard, gengar, and machamp.

do you think charizard/kanto is overrated? or do you not care?

 

[Zeostar]

I would disagree with calling Kanto/Charizard overrated, even though i'm not fond of either.

It seems to be more internal favoritism, some of the developers probably feel strongly for Charizard. I see more people bashing charizard these days than praising it.

For Kanto, I think it's normal for the originals to get priority. It seems to be an unspoken rule in some franchises. If you look at a series like super smash brothers, the original characters have never been cut from any game. That and Kanto pokemon are probably the most recognizable for a casual audience.

It's interesting to me, because many fans have now grown up who were not born yet when the series and Kanto started, myself included. If they wanted to cash on nostalgia, many other regions are available.

 

[Roni]

Nostalgia goggles really do a good job of overrating Charizard and Kanto. They're part of the OGs after all, and god forbid Game Freak stray away from those.

 

[Caite-chan]

I don't care but at the same time it can be annoying that you always see the same Pokémon get the special treatment. Almost 900 Pokémon and its the same handful or two that get everything. Just because Charizard is a favorite doesn't mean that it should get everything. I mean 8 Generations and Kanto gets everything. Unless you add like a new area that's never been discovered you can only do the same thing over and over again before its just boring and pointless.

 

[niche_niche_]

Charizard has always been the most popular Kanto starter, no doubt the guys at the Pokemon Company are aware of this. I'm guessing they're giving him special treatment to nostalgia bait older fans of the series to keep buying the games, even though they've been getting steadily worse, imo.

That said, I don't really think something can be overrated; a community likes what it likes.

I think the more recent bashing of Charizard's popularity is just a result of contrarianism on the internet; wanting to be seen as cool for going against the grain, and there's always gonna be people who see themselves as rebels because they think it makes them unique.

Blastoise is better lmao

 

[FeraligatrMaster]

Yes, Charizard is overrated. That doesn't mean I don't like it. I still like using it in playthroughs of Pokemon games and ROM hacks.

 

[TepigLover101]

Yeah Fire dragon face is getting to much special treatment more much then it deserves in my opinion and I get it its a fan favorite but Since I didn't grow up with Red Blue or heck even yellow (or green idk) It just makes him more annoying can you give some other starter pokemon the spotlight like I don't know someone like tepig? just a thought nintendo hit me up ehh let's be honest charizard is gonna keep showing up
till the end of time and I'm ok with it ig?

 

[VisionofMilotic]

No, I don't think it's overrated because Charizard has an appealing design, and in the anime it was portrayed as a strong pokemon with a colorful personality, the relationship it had with Ash being an integral part of the show. It has like Pikachu been with him since season 1, and was featured in lots of climactic showdowns in several different important battles over the years in gyms, the battle frontier, conferences, and encounters with legendary Pokemon. So I understand why it is so beloved. Now if the question was just does Charizard receive more fan service than other Pokemon, then yup definitely, I like Charizard, but it's just true. Being the only pokemon to receive two megas other than Mewtwo speaks for itself. I think getting shown favoritism and being overrated are two different things though.

Is Kanto overrated? No, I think the opposite is true. Being the first region is an extremely difficult to be in because there would be no Pokemon franchise today had Kanto not paved the way for every region that followed by introducing pokemon itself to the world, including a number of enduring pokemon with fan favorites like Charizard, Mewtwo, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Magikarp, Snorlax, Eevee, Meowth and, Dragonite, as well as establishing the fundamental mechanics of battle with turn-based rp, experience, levels, TMs and the structure of the main series story from completing gyms, dungeon exploration, fighting evil teams, encountering legendary pokemon, becoming champion of the pokemon league, and filling the Pokédex. Yet by being the first region it is also the one that has some of the most criticisms levied against for not having the aesthetics or post game activities or refined mechanics of Pokemon games today due to it's age. There's always another more comprehensive region to compare Kanto with. I think Kanto deserves a pat on the back though, and I like it in spite of its limitations, and when I think of the region I'm reminded of the adage, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

 

[pkmin3033]

Whether Charizard is overrated or not depends on how much you like Charizard, I guess. That's down to aesthetic taste. I do think it is getting a tad overused at this point, but I don't think it is especially overrated.

I find calling Kanto "overrated" to be somewhat ironic though. I am the last person who will hold up classic titles as the pinnacle of the genre - in fact, I loathe doing this, and it's something of a pet peeve of mine when people hold up old games as things that cannot be surpassed - but I will concede that video game history is important, and without Kanto, the trends it set, and its success, there would be no Pokemon as it is today in all probability. Calling Kanto overrated is basically calling the Pokemon franchise itself overrated, because the games owe their success solely to Gen I's success: if they didn't do what they did, we would not have had sequels. Or the franchise would have been relegated to a low-tier, low priority Nintendo franchise, like Kid Icarus or, god forbid, Ice Climbers. The best it would have been able to hope for would have been Metroid levels of popularity; i.e. a small cult following that gets very loud on certain areas of the internet at times.

Bringing Kanto as a region back repeatedly is not really a negative either because each time they have attempted to modernise the gameplay...which, if you've played a Gen I game, you'll know it REALLY needed. There's a pretty big jump between Fire Red and Red, and an even bigger jump between Let's Go! Pikachu and Fire Red. The older the game, the more it needs to be brought up to modern day standards, and when you're setting up new gameplay trends and standards - as they did with Let's Go - it makes perfect sense to start at the beginning, so newer fans get to experience the franchise in its entirety, and older fans get that taste of nostalgia that basically drives the entire gaming industry forward, for better or worse. Let's Go! is a spinoff series, whether the devs care to admit that or not, and once you take that out of the equation, Kanto has had ONE remake, the same as Gens 2 and 3. On one Nintendo console. That's hardly grounds to call it overused, which is what people usually mean when they say something is overrated. Yes, you can re-tread Kanto in the Gen II titles, but that is postgame, and it's one of the reasons Gen II is so highly praised.

As for Kanto Pokemon getting more evolutions, pre-evolutions, etc etc - well, part of that is modernising them and making them relevant in the current generation; there are a lot of Pokemon now after all. The other part is probably because of popularity polls in Japan and maybe in the West as well. I expect there is some game balancing in there, and...well, Kanto Pokemon all have very simple designs. They're probably much easier to adapt than later generations of Pokemon, and if Game Freak have proven anything, it's that they're a ridiculously conservative company that likes to cling to their past successes in the hopes that they can stay relevant in an industry that has completely changed whilst they have remained exactly the same. I'm not saying it hasn't worked - it clearly has - but...well, can you blame them? If it sells, it sells. Later generations just didn't perform as well in terms of sales - which is all they care about - so of course they're going to try and keep Kanto as relevant as possible, because Kanto makes money.

So...no, I wouldn't say Kanto is particularly overrated.

 

[Fairy]

 

[dabeatmaster123]

Yeah, kind of is annoying tbh... I've always gone with bulbasaur in Kanto so I love crushing Charizard regardless of being at the disadvantage

 

[RedDragonThunderzord]

I definitely think Kanto is overrated, and I wish Kanto Pokemon weren't the ones with the power-up forms all the time. I think Charizard is too, but there since there isn't any generation in which I wouldn't pick the Fire starter first, it's still my Kanto pick, overrated or no.