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A lot of people like to praise generation 1 for having great Pokémon designs, and while I really like some of the designs (such as Lapras, Bulbasaur and Eevee), I think it was overall the worst generation in that regard. Not only design-wise, but they also made some decisions (due to hardware issues or simply lack of identity) that don't fit anymore with what the series has become. Here are some examples:

 

  1. Ekans is just a snake. No more, no less. Its name is also just "snake" backwards.
  2. Nidoran Male and Female are two different species. I guess the Game Boy couldn't handle sprite differences based on gender.
  3. Nidorina and Nidoqueen can't breed. Both Nidoran, Nidorino, and Nidoking can. That's still true in newer games, despite it making absolutely no sense at all.
  4. Dugtrio is the laziest Pokémon ever created. It literally is three Digletts together, not a single new feature added to it. I can understand Magneton being three Magnemites together because that's what magnets do, but moles don't do that as far as I'm concerned.
  5. Psyduck and Golduck are pure Water-types, despite Psyduck literally being an amalgamation of "Psychic" and "Duck". 
  6. A lot of Pokémon are literally wearing clothes. It's not like they have clothes-like aspects, they're clearly using human clothes. Jynx, Hitmonchan, Mr. Mime, Machoke and Machamp all wear human clothes.
  7. Kadabra and Alakazam are holding spoons all the time. Kanto must have a pretty big spoon factory. It's not like the spoons are part of the Pokémon either, they're clearly just holding them.
  8. Graveler evolving into Golem makes no sense. Graveler is a living rock. Golem is a reptile "stuck" inside a rock.
  9. Seel is just a seal. They just changed a letter.
  10. Dewgong is just a Dugong. They just changed two letters.
  11. Muk is just a larger Grimer. And they're both just boring piles of mud.
  12. Krabby is just a Crab. Its name in Japanese is literally "Crab". The only inspiration for its design is a crab.
  13. Electrode is a terrible evolution. It would have been much more interesting to go from Voltorb (a Poké Ball), to a Great Ball and then to an Ultra Ball. Instead, they just flipped it around and gave it a mouth.
  14. Mr. Mime and Jynx look too much like humans. It's weird to even call them Pokémon.
  15. Venomoth is just a regular moth. So creative.
  16. Exeggcute is a bunch of eggs. Just eggs with faces.
  17. Kangaskhan is born with a baby in its pouch. I guess they didn't think that through.
  18. Goldeen is just a goldfish. There's absolutely nothing interesting about it.
  19. Dragonair and Dragonite don't even look remotely similar. Why are they part of the same evolutionary family?
I probably forgot some things, but this is what I can remember off the top of my head. Do you think I'm wrong in any of those points? What's your least favourite generation of Pokémon?
EDIT: If I had to rank Pokémon generations from best to worst, based on Pokémon design, it would go as follows:

1. Gen 6
2. Gen 3
3. Gen 7
4. Gen 4
5. Gen 2
6. Gen 5
7. Gen 1

Last edited by Lucca - on 20 May 2018

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