"Why the forgotten Pokémon of Gen 1 are forgotten"

There's a Sporcle Quiz that challenges people to name all 151 Pokémon. The results page tells us what percentage of people named each one, and so it tells us which Pokémon are the most and least memorable to the average person. The Top 10 list is not surprising:1) Charmander2) Bulbasaur3) Charizard4) Squirtle5) Pikachu6) Charmeleon7) Ivysaur8) Blastoise9) Mew10) RaichuIt's all starters, their evolutions, and Mew. Here are the bottom 10:142) Farfetch'd143) Cloyster144) Marowak145) Tangela146) Shellder147) Krabby148) Kingler149) Exeggcute150) Exeggutor151) LickitungHere, we see some entire families of Pokémon that were mostly forgotten. I decided to do a playthrough of Pokémon Red with these forgotten families to see what it would be like. My team was Farfetch'd, Cloyster, Tangela, Kingler, Exeggutor, and Lickitung. Some screenshots of me defeating the Champion: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. While compiling the team, I realized why these particular Pokémon were so forgettable.Other than Farfetch'd, I added all of these Pokémon to my team at almost the same time: After the Safari Zone. I caught Exeggcute in the Safari Zone and acquired the surf HM. I needed Surf to catch Shellder, Tangela, and Slowbro to trade for Lickitung. I got the Super Rod after the Safari Zone, and I needed it to catch Krabby. After you get Surf, the world opens up to you, and there's a huge number of Pokémon options. The forgettable Pokémon appear at a moment when a huge number of Pokémon become available at the same time, so it's no wonder that some lousy Pokémon ended up forgotten.I'm not saying that all of these Pokémon are lousy, but by the time you can catch them, better options exist. Lickitung has a lower base stat total than Raticate. Farfetch'd has lower base stats than Pidgeotto! Tangela and Exeggutor are unappealing when the player could already have a Venusaur, Vileplume, or Victreebel, and there's no reason to use Kingler or Cloyster when the game simply hands over Blastoise or Lapras.I like the fact that obscure Pokémon exist in distant corners of the world, but I also think the game is more fun when rare Pokémon are a bit more worthwhile to catch. via /r/pokemon http://ift.tt/2mUnaKz