Our very own @lopezgreen has been playing Pokemon for around 20 years at this point and has seen some great Pokemon created and some truly bad. With the release of Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! this week we thought we’d let him do a run through The 5 Best and 5 Worst Pokémon Ever, though it’s worth pointing out that some of these aren’t going to be in this specific release as far as we are aware.

The Worst:

5. Trubbish

Essentially a bin bag with a face, it feels like the designers literally looking at whatever shite was lying around and then designing a pokemon on that basis. The evolution is a mild improvement but still fundamentally a pile of rubbish. You really do have to ask what someone was thinking here.

4. Vanillish

I could have picked Vanillite or Vanilluxe here too as they’re all equally ridiculous. They start as a pot of ice cream, the first evolution is to an ice cream cone and then the final evolution adds an extra scoop. It really feels like this was a point where the Pokemon guys were struggling for ideas a little.

3. Klefki

Keeping with the theme of terrible design decisions this Pokemon is a ring of keys, I shit you not. It’s something of a miracle that they’ve managed to get away with some of these designs as they are incredibly lazy. Thank christ they’ve managed to turn it around for the most part.

2. Kakuna/Metapod

These are a two for one as they’re basically the same Pokemon – middle evolutions that are essentially cocoons with no real offensive capability. They consistently use harden to make their defence increase to the point where you’re hardly doing any damage to them. I’m of the opinion that you’d only have them in a party with EXP share to evolve them to their final forms.

1. Jynx

Somewhat controversial initially as the anime portrayed her as having something suspiciously like blackface, which various people have called out over the years. To the point where Game Freak had to re-design her in various medias and certain anime episodes in the US are censored or not shown at all.

The Best:

5. Pichu

My head says I should go for Pikachu given he’s the face of the franchise and as he’s an evolved form of Pichu so is going to be stronger. My heart says Pichu though as he’s just so damn cute. Pretty much useless in battle against a semi-decent Pokemon so it’s purely an aesthetic decision.

4. Wailord

There’s a crapload of water Pokemon across the various games but my favourite is Wailord, which is odd as on paper this is pretty uninspired. I think I just enjoy the simplicity of it as well as the fact that it’s bloody huge and has a big cheesy grin. Ripping off real-life animals isn’t a bad thing is what I’m saying.

3. Charizard

It’s a dragon, it looks awesome and it breathes fire, it’s pretty obvious why this one is a firm favourite. There’s an argument to be had that it’s the pinnacle of dragon Pokemon in the games, as the evolved form of one of the starters from the original game (and cover star for Pokemon Red).

2. Metagross

A steel and psychic Pokemon, this looks badass and is pretty handy in a battle (fire type aside). It takes a lot of levelling to get a Metagross from the humble beginnings of a Beldum but it’s definitely worth the effort as it’s a pretty useful party member at the best of times.

1. Mew

I fell in love with Mew as a result of his level in Pokemon Snap and his appearance in the first Pokemon movie. He’s super cute but has really only ever been available as a giveaway rather than being able to be caught in the game. This is the reason I’ve gone for the Pokeball version of Let’s Go, Pikachu!, I need that Mew. And as an added bonus a semi-decent psychic Pokemon is pretty handy to have.

Now I’d obviously be interested to hear what other people think in terms of Pokemon they hate and love, the beauty of there being over 800 Pokemon at this point is that there are a lot to choose from. Leave a message in the comments below!