(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[greentyphlosion]

As for legendary Pokémon being "MacGuffins", I agree that Ho-Oh/Lugia in HG/SS and Xerneas/Yveltal in X/Y are the only real examples of this. They were both just forced into the story for no real good reason. While I like X/Y on the whole as well as their legendaries, I do think the story/characters/lore is one of their weakest parts. Which also makes me wonder what it could have been like in a follow-up game... I guess we'll never know.

I'd argue against Ho-oh and Lugia being MacGuffins in HGSS. One of the central themes in those games is about Pokemon trusting humans; this is expressed clearly through the test in the Dragon's Den Shrine, the player defeating Team Rocket, and the fact that Pokemon in HGSS walk with the player, among other things. It's referenced explicitly in the plot with the people of Ecruteak driving the legendary beasts away out of fear, and the player subsequently getting close to Suicune. The Kimono Girls observe the player becoming a powerful, compassionate Trainer who can connect with Pokemon, and this is what causes the box legendary to appear before them. It's not for no reason, either: it's made clear that bringing the box legend back will be a good omen for the bonds between people and Pokemon.

I actually think it was a fairly refreshing, and subtly mature way to incorporate the legends into the plot, compared to the doomsday scenarios seen in other games.

X and Y, though... dreadful. I despise those games, not least because they came so close to being really great. There's so much that's almost great about them, but they miss the mark on almost every count.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

It was marked in all games starting from HGSS? I don’t recall seeing that up until SwSh. That was also a problem in SwSh. When I first looked at Natures, that was a problem for me too. I thought Blue was positive and Red was negative.

Yes, it has existed since HG/SS. It hasn't always been clearly visible though.

Sp.Atk is slightly blue, and Sp.Def is slightly red in this case. But it just a slight coloration, which is hard to see.

I'm playing B/W right now and it is the same thing there.

Atttack and Defense are the colored stats in this case.

It is a lot more visible in S/S, but not quite as visible in HG/SS and Gen 5. It is slightly better in Gen 6 and then even better in Gen 7, (unsure about LGP/E though, maybe someone who has played one of these games can confirm?).

The natures being marked by the wrong colours is just another regional thing. In almost every JRPG red means boost and blue means decrease. In other games, the colours are inverted.

I had a feeling that it had to do with some regional/cultural thing, thanks for clarifying. It isn't that case in all JRPGs though. In XC2 for instance, decreased stats are red while increased ones are green, which makes more sense to me and feels more obvious.

It also matches the colors we've used for in-battle stat boosts and debuffs since Diamond and Pearl (which is just slightly before HGSS introduced this feature). I guess I might be lucky - I started with Gen IV, so those stat stage colors were intuitive to me in the first place by the time the nature mechanic came around, but I can see why it might be harder for people to catch on if the animations from older Generations are more familiar to them. (Wasn't Gen III color-coded by stat rather than having a consistent "up color" and "down color?" And Gen II was... I want to say blue for both?)
In any case... I think a darker, bolder red (as opposed to this light, warm tint) would still read as a bad thing, or maybe a pair of red and green would make me think of red as the bad one, but it feels more like a case of "red is aggressive/blue is calm" to me, so red being the stat that's extreme/intensified and blue being the stat that's low/mitigated has always made sense.

Good point, I never thought of that. Guess that's partly because I turn off animations after a while, but now that you said it, it does make sense.
I agree that red and green would make an even better pair for Pokémon games, with red being the negative and green the positive like in XC2.

I'd argue against Ho-oh and Lugia being MacGuffins in HGSS. One of the central themes in those games is about Pokemon trusting humans; this is expressed clearly through the test in the Dragon's Den Shrine, the player defeating Team Rocket, and the fact that Pokemon in HGSS walk with the player, among other things. It's referenced explicitly in the plot with the people of Ecruteak driving the legendary beasts away out of fear, and the player subsequently getting close to Suicune. The Kimono Girls observe the player becoming a powerful, compassionate Trainer who can connect with Pokemon, and this is what causes the box legendary to appear before them. It's not for no reason, either: it's made clear that bringing the box legend back will be a good omen for the bonds between people and Pokemon.

I actually think it was a fairly refreshing, and subtly mature way to incorporate the legends into the plot, compared to the doomsday scenarios seen in other games.

X and Y, though... dreadful. I despise those games, not least because they came so close to being really great. There's so much that's almost great about them, but they miss the mark on almost every count.

I never thought about that while playing HG/SS. You make a good point here, but I personally found it way too badly executed to have any impact on how I felt about the story, the concept, and the legends. That said, it has been 8 years since I last played through the main story of HG/SS, but I don't have any positive memories from it.

As for more refeshing stories, I thought S/S did that way better. A more down to earth and simpler story with the legendaries not being the main theme as the gym challenge took that part instead. While parts of it could have been better (especially the ending/climax) I still enjoyed it a lot on the whole.

And I love X/Y! Guess we're in heavy disagreement here. I thought almost everything they did was great, the story being one of the few things that wasn't so great. But story isn't that important to me in Pokémon anymore (feels like I have said that a lot lately). X/Y does almost everything right for me and I'm willing to look past the few things they got wrong just because of everything they do right.

 

[Kurona]

Honestly, I wonder why they don't just have like, small up arrow and down arrow icons. It'd still work well with the simple UI and would make things a lot more obvious, and I think would strike the right balance between making the more complex parts of Pokémon stats more obvious to people while not thrusting them into the whole EV/IV stuff.

 

[R_N]

Honestly, I wonder why they don't just have like, small up arrow and down arrow icons. It'd still work well with the simple UI and would make things a lot more obvious, and I think would strike the right balance between making the more complex parts of Pokémon stats more obvious to people while not thrusting them into the whole EV/IV stuff.

I think that just comes down to game feel.
With colors, you know it means one of the stats is getting a debuff from natures but at a glance you probably wont care-care. It's easy to just internalize and move on.
With arrows it is very blatant: your pokemon sucks in this stat now. Way to go.

Or people think it's a temporary debuff; we use arrows on the status check screen now too for levels of buff/debuff on pokemon.

see also: probably why we wont' see hard number IVs displayed on screen like Literally Every Hack does because us nerds knows what it means and we care a lot but they want to obfuscate it enough so people at large don't know your Pokemon is utter trash. Yeah here's your cool Grookey, it got 0 attack IVs and the only way you can fix that is to reset for a new one or breed, enjoy konwing this and seeing it every time you look at it. Meanwhile the weird hexagon shows it as more "oh they meet the baseline here BUT they are doing really good over there!" Or the IV checker/stat screen upgrade will hedge it in more flavorful terms so it doesnt hurt as much.

Again we all know what this means, so it sticks with us, but obfuscating it even slightly helps take the edge off bad Natures (or IVs, as the case is) for people at large.

 

[Kurona]

I think that just comes down to game feel.
With colors, you know it means one of the stats is getting a debuff from natures but at a glance you probably wont care-care. It's easy to just internalize and move on.
With arrows it is very blatant: your pokemon sucks in this stat now. Way to go.

Or people think it's a temporary debuff; we use arrows on the status check screen now too for levels of buff/debuff on pokemon.

see also: probably why we wont' see hard number IVs displayed on screen like Literally Every Hack does because us nerds knows what it means and we care a lot but they want to obfuscate it enough so people at large don't know your Pokemon is utter trash. Yeah here's your cool Grookey, it got 0 attack IVs and the only way you can fix that is to reset for a new one or breed, enjoy konwing this and seeing it every time you look at it. Meanwhile the weird hexagon shows it as more "oh they meet the baseline here BUT they are doing really good over there!" Or the IV checker/stat screen upgrade will hedge it in more flavorful terms so it doesnt hurt as much.

Again we all know what this means, so it sticks with us, but obfuscating it even slightly helps take the edge off bad Natures (or IVs, as the case is) for people at large.

I still feel it strikes a better balance though -- and is why we have the highlights to begin with. Listing IVs is getting pretty heavily into the more technical aspects and exact data and numbers of it all; while arrows would just be a simple "this Pokémon is good at that but not so good at this" thing. Easy enough to grasp and doesn't get to into it while still introducing you to wider aspects.

 

[R_N]

I still feel it strikes a better balance though -- and is why we have the highlights to begin with. Listing IVs is getting pretty heavily into the more technical aspects and exact data and numbers of it all; while arrows would just be a simple "this Pokémon is good at that but not so good at this" thing. Easy enough to grasp and doesn't get to into it while still introducing you to wider aspects.

Well if we really want to put a mark then at least do something that doesn't immediately make it bad & side step thinking it's temporary. Some flavorful language like "Asset/Flaw" might work to better ID what the colors mean but not putting it immediately into "oh this sucks" territory for the flaw; keeps with the "personality" and uniquness of a pokemon too.



Actually it just occured to me are the association between the colors and nature ever linked in game? Surely it is, right? Because that's weird if not, but I've never actually looked into it.

 

[Worldie]

Actually it just occured to me are the association between the colors and nature ever linked in game? Surely it is, right? Because that's weird if not, but I've never actually looked into it.

It's not.

 

[R_N]

It's not.

OK well, step 1 before anything: let's make that association clearer, please

how bizarre

 

[Antihaxxer]

I'm always "stressed" about Natures, because the Red/Blue is not intuitive to me ... Red means something negative / bad for me. I always checked on Bulbapedia or others sources to be sure.

 

[greentyphlosion]

As for more refeshing stories, I thought S/S did that way better. A more down to earth and simpler story with the legendaries not being the main theme as the gym challenge took that part instead. While parts of it could have been better (especially the ending/climax) I still enjoyed it a lot on the whole.

And I love X/Y! Guess we're in heavy disagreement here. I thought almost everything they did was great, the story being one of the few things that wasn't so great. But story isn't that important to me in Pokémon anymore (feels like I have said that a lot lately). X/Y does almost everything right for me and I'm willing to look past the few things they got wrong just because of everything they do right.

Damn. Yeah. We are in total disagreement, haha.

S/S is so down to earth it was almost face down in the sand. It's underwritten to an extent that actually angered me. Like, literally nothing in the game hints at Eternatus' existence until you're outside the door to the control room and someone (Sonia? I can't remember) says "Omg! Rose is going to use the legendary Pokemon Eternatus to cause a catastrophe!" It comes so fast out of nowhere it's downright bizarre.

As others were discussing elsewhere, Eternatus is just the latest in a long line of Pokemon who are legendary or mythical not because they are inherently special or elusive, but because they're just really powerful. It doesn't have any special powers or abilities that set it apart from others outside of just being "really, really strong". It can warp time and space, apparently? What effect does that have on the story or the final battle? None at all. It's so powerful it caused the Darkest Day - how exactly? It's just there to be a big boss but there's no lore, no mystery, no gravitas to it at all.

The central story of X and Y was interesting but so awkwardly handled. I agree with the other posters who said that Xerneas and Yveltal are basically functional legendaries - would the story change hugely if it was Reshiram or Zekrom hooked up to the weapon? The early game teases an interesting conundrum similar to the one put forward in BW, with Lysandre's conversation with Diantha being the highlight. Overpopulation, the dwindling of resources, the world becoming less beautiful as it's chewed up and used by the people who live on it - all of these are interesting ideas, and BW's plot showed that you can have a complex and somewhat mature set of ideas explored well in tandem with the usual Pokemon formula. And yet there's none of the ambiguity and drama of BW. Lysandre is 100% the bad guy, to the point that the game inexplicably shows him augmenting his body with tech (that has... no effect on anything) to show how totally evil he is, you guys. None of the Gym Leaders or Diantha do anything of note in the plot. Team Flare are so forgettable and interchangeable I can't even be bothered to look up the names of the admins (or even remember how many there are, for that matter).

And don't even get me started on Zygarde!

/rant

 

[R_N]

Here's an annoyance from Home.
Preface: When Bank implemented the National Dex, the way it updates its information (pokemon, entries, forms) was by connecting to the game inserted and updating it manually. Pokemon didn't need to be brought into the bank itself, even, so long as there was something in the dex they would pass into it. If Home connects with Bank, all of that is brought over (& you get access to every pokemon's entry even if you only had the entry from a single game, which is nice).

However, Home does not do the same thing with Sword & Shield's pokedex. It only registers the 81 new Pokemon if they were physically placed in Bank which means that even though I have a valid entry for Zamazenta in my copy of Sword it doesn't count. Have to have an actual copy of it placed into Home.
This also applies to any alternate forms, most notable if you're trying to finish the Research Tasks. I placed a Wash Rotom & Female Indeedee into Home but it didn't register normal Rotom & Male Indeedee (Despite owning & seeing both in Sword) so I couldn't finish those tasks without placing them directly in Bank.

oddly it does throw a weird solid for Alcremie. You need to put in the proper flavor but you don't need to put in every decoration variant. I only have Strawberry Matcha but I can view all 7 decorated versions of Matcha including Ribbon & Star.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

If you go to the comments section of the 2014 VGC World Championship Finals (the one where Sejun Park rocked the scene with a Pachirisu) you will find a particular quote spammed incessantly:

"Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with their favorites."

This upsets me on a few levels.

Firstly, Park didn't choose Pachirisu because it was his favorite. I mean, it probably became his favorite after the fact, but Park chose Pachirisu because its unique traits were the best fit for the team he already had. These commenters might as well be spouting off about skilled Roys. Not only is it derogatory towards competitive Pokemon as a whole, but it undermines what makes Park's choice of Pachirisu so incredible. There's a pretty stark difference between thinking outside the box and finding the right tool for the job in an unexpected place, and using something because "lol its muh favret".

Secondly, Karen is a bit of a hypocrite. Three out of her five Pokemon (Umbreon, Gengar, and Houndoom) range from decent to amazing in GSC OU, and Vileplume is pretty okay in GSC UU. For someone who preaches the importance of ignoring strength and using your favorites, a lot of her favorites just so happen to be pretty damn strong. How convenient.

Thirdly, what the fuck do you mean "that is only the selfish perception of people"? You mean to tell me that it's all in my head that Kyogre's rain-boosted Water Spouts are stronger than a dinky Water Pulse from a Feebas? That it's not true to say that DVs and IVs make some Pokemon objectively stronger than their brethren? Bitch, you ever heard of math? Probably not, because Pokemon exists in a goddamn shonen world were the only things that matter in life are believing in yourself and your friends and the heart of the cards and other such bullshit. Who has time for basic schooling when there is glory to be won? Certainly not the entire fucking population of every region of every game.

This concludes my ranting.

 

[CoolMan6001]

its unique traits were the best fit for the team he already had.

Out of curiosity, what were these specific traits from Pachirisu that were used?

 

[Hematite]

Out of curiosity, what were these specific traits from Pachirisu that were used?

I believe it was the ability to have Nuzzle, Follow Me and Super Fang on one Pokémon, plus good enough Special bulk to tank the hits he wanted. It was basically the perfect support Pokémon for his purposes.

 

[R_N]

False Swipe Gaming did a good breakdown on all the things that came together for Pachirisu to make it on the team

It was basically an anti-meta pick combining all its many qualities (including typing, use of Follow Me, Super Fang, Nuzzle, stats, Volt Absorb) taking advantage of people's unfamiliarity with the squirrel

 

[Stellar]

This is late, but the way I remember positive/negative nature colors is by thinking of Plusle (Red / Positive) and Minun (Blue / Negative).

 

[Kanburi]

For natures, I go with temperature: red = higher temperature = increased stat, blue = lower temperature = decreased stat.

That said, I tried to go with that for marking the IVs of my bred Pokemon in SS, with red = 31 IVs and blue = 0 IVs, only to realize after a few surprise trades that most people are doing it the other way around...

 

[Ironmage]

For natures, I go with temperature: red = higher temperature = increased stat, blue = lower temperature = decreased stat.

That said, I tried to go with that for marking the IVs of my bred Pokemon in SS, with red = 31 IVs and blue = 0 IVs, only to realize after a few surprise trades that most people are doing it the other way around...

Great, now I'm broken even further on this, because I have the misfortune of understanding blackbody radiation. (for those who didn't study physics, the colour of the light emitted by a hot object depends on its temperature. blue light has a shorter wavelength than red light, so it's higher energy and thus only starts being emitted at very high temperatures. In other words, physics tells you that blue is *hotter* than red)

 

[Kate]

It's always baffled me how Evil teams even spring up with some of their insane ideas. Team Skull is clearly the most down to earth and believable in this aspect but it's still really hard for me to buy that a bunch of unorganized hooligans managed to take over an entire town. Team Rocket makes the next bit of sense, they're just a bunch of criminals and them existing isn't totally preposterous.

Now things go off the walls. Team Plasma genuinely feels like it's missing a ton of lore. The top brass obviously have a culture about them that's hard to explain with just "Ghetsis created them for N". I mean, they have a castle built around the Pokemon League. It's never really explained how they came up with the resources to build a giant castle because it isn't relevant. It's very weird to also see people join an organization to liberate Pokemon when we get pretty much no evidence that this was something bothering people in any of the editions prior to BW. Neo Plasma sorta fixes this by just pretty much succeeding Rocket in a lot of regards.

The last two are simply baffling and I cannot fathom how these exist. Team Galactic is stacked in money terms. They have multiple bases throughout Sinnoh and afaik it's never said how they came about this insane amount of wealth. Not only this but Cyrus never really makes his goals apparent and the grunts barely even know what they're doing. So why did you join? To what conviction do you owe this Shadow group? Why are you dressed in these ridiculous suits for no reason? Apparently they believe they're trying to "harness energy" or something, which is pretty hard to believe since the group's actions are all over the place and anyone with a brain can clearly see that this isn't the point. It makes no sense thematically either since Sinnoh is not like Galar and doesn't require energy. This is never brought up in DPP at all. It eludes me why anyone would become a criminal for goals that are as undefined as the size of gas.

Team Aqua and Magma are far and away the worst, however. These groups leaders make their goals apparent so there is zero excuse for this. How are you really expecting me to buy that people would join organizations that want to wipe out all land or water?? C'mon this is absurd. It's why I never bought the whole "Archie and Maxie were good guys who made a mistake". Honey, a mistake is dropping a plate that you're putting away. A mistake is not trying to kill all of humanity by erasing things necessary to survival by using insanely powerful pokemon even after you've lost to a ten year old. That's called being a moron. These teams are based solely on idiocy and replaying RSE or ORAS is severely hampered by the sheer magnitude of how unbelievably stupid and contrived the villain plot is.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

How are you really expecting me to buy that people would join organizations that want to wipe out all land or water??

I mean, people join organizations with similar goals in the real world too. It's called terrorism.

 

[Codraroll]

The last two are simply baffling and I cannot fathom how these exist. Team Galactic is stacked in money terms. They have multiple bases throughout Sinnoh and afaik it's never said how they came about this insane amount of wealth. Not only this but Cyrus never really makes his goals apparent and the grunts barely even know what they're doing. So why did you join? To what conviction do you owe this Shadow group? Why are you dressed in these ridiculous suits for no reason? Apparently they believe they're trying to "harness energy" or something, which is pretty hard to believe since the group's actions are all over the place and anyone with a brain can clearly see that this isn't the point. It makes no sense thematically either since Sinnoh is not like Galar and doesn't require energy. This is never brought up in DPP at all. It eludes me why anyone would become a criminal for goals that are as undefined as the size of gas.

I always assumed that Team Galactic owned a bunch of power plants in Sinnoh. That energy company gave them a legitimate front and is probably how they're recruiting so many people. The brainwashing bit probably came later. As for the suits, well, people in the Pokémon world seem to have a deep affinity for uniforms. Presumably, any organization bigger than three people will eventually come up with their unique costume everyone in the group are required to wear down to the smallest detail. See the Pokémon Center nurses, the Mart clerks, or the various Trainer classes, for instance. The Team Galactic Energy Company simply went a bit creative with theirs.

 

[Nuclearstomp]

It's always baffled me how Evil teams even spring up with some of their insane ideas. Team Skull is clearly the most down to earth and believable in this aspect but it's still really hard for me to buy that a bunch of unorganized hooligans managed to take over an entire town.

Team Aqua and Magma are far and away the worst, however. These groups leaders make their goals apparent so there is zero excuse for this. How are you really expecting me to buy that people would join organizations that want to wipe out all land or water?? C'mon this is absurd. It's why I never bought the whole "Archie and Maxie were good guys who made a mistake". Honey, a mistake is dropping a plate that you're putting away. A mistake is not trying to kill all of humanity by erasing things necessary to survival by using insanely powerful pokemon even after you've lost to a ten year old. That's called being a moron. These teams are based solely on idiocy and replaying RSE or ORAS is severely hampered by the sheer magnitude of how unbelievably stupid and contrived the villain plot is.

I think it's less that Team Skull took over the town, and more that the town was probably already in a state of disuse or ruin and Team Skull simply moved in and nobody important wanted to or had the time to deal with the problem.


As for Team Magma / Aqua, Team Magma's side of the coin is a lot better than Team Aquas. They didn't want to erase the oceans or anything, they just wanted to create more land for human's and land Pokemon to develop further. Their idea was in a way, plausible. They go about it in a bad way though, and in Gen 3 they're actually completely stupid by the end of the story. (I mean SERIOUSLY, dumping rocket fuel into a volcano?! What the hell where they thinking?)

On the flip side, Team Aqua's is just awful in comparison. The oceans are already huge and water type Pokemon have plenty of space to live. I mean, they ALREADY live in a region FULL OF WATER TOO.

Gen 6's Team Magma and Aqua are a little better due to some better characterization for Maxie and Archie and some very slight atonement for their mistakes, but Magma's idea is still very much better than Aqua's at the end of the day.

I do agree that Magma and Aqua got off light though, especially since we get to see the consequences of members of an evil team trying to be better members of society with the Team Plasma members who are no longer members in B2W2.

 

[Pikachu315111]

If you go to the comments section of the 2014 VGC World Championship Finals (the one where Sejun Park rocked the scene with a Pachirisu) you will find a particular quote spammed incessantly:

"Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with their favorites."

This upsets me on a few levels.

Firstly, Park didn't choose Pachirisu because it was his favorite. I mean, it probably became his favorite after the fact, but Park chose Pachirisu because its unique traits were the best fit for the team he already had. These commenters might as well be spouting off about skilled Roys. Not only is it derogatory towards competitive Pokemon as a whole, but it undermines what makes Park's choice of Pachirisu so incredible. There's a pretty stark difference between thinking outside the box and finding the right tool for the job in an unexpected place, and using something because "lol its muh favret".

Secondly, Karen is a bit of a hypocrite. Three out of her five Pokemon (Umbreon, Gengar, and Houndoom) range from decent to amazing in GSC OU, and Vileplume is pretty okay in GSC UU. For someone who preaches the importance of ignoring strength and using your favorites, a lot of her favorites just so happen to be pretty damn strong. How convenient.

Thirdly, what the fuck do you mean "that is only the selfish perception of people"? You mean to tell me that it's all in my head that Kyogre's rain-boosted Water Spouts are stronger than a dinky Water Pulse from a Feebas? That it's not true to say that DVs and IVs make some Pokemon objectively stronger than their brethren? Bitch, you ever heard of math? Probably not, because Pokemon exists in a goddamn shonen world were the only things that matter in life are believing in yourself and your friends and the heart of the cards and other such bullshit. Who has time for basic schooling when there is glory to be won? Certainly not the entire fucking population of every region of every game.

This concludes my ranting.

So much so that in ORAS they included a Gentleman in the Battle Resort who touts the opposite philosophy:

That said I think what Karen says can be justified in two ways:

1. Karen's dialogue was written during Gen II. At that time the game only had 251 Pokemon, there was no Abilities, there was no super mechanic, and they just introduced new Types (Steel & Dark) & Breeding. Speaking of Breeding, back in Gen II Breeding wasn't as manipulative as it is now, you pretty much bred a Pokemon for Egg Moves which also weren't that complex. Also the Special Attack and Special Defense stat was all one Special Stat, and a Moves category was strictly based on the Type which left some Pokemon with a weak STAB. Combining this altogether, honestly back then I'd say it was perfectly feasible to do what Karen said cause the mechanics weren't as refined you could probably get away with it.
Of course, by HGSS things had RADICALLY change. What Karen says just doesn't fly anymore, at least if you want to battle your way through the post game battle facilities. I think it should have been changed to something like "Strong Pokemon. Weak Pokemon. If you have a favorite Pokemon that shouldn't matter. It's more fun to try and win with what you love than following what anyone else says". I think that keeps in tone with what they wanted Karen to say (it's fun to use your favorite Pokemon) while not hiding that there are better Pokemon then others.

2. Karen is a Dark-type user. Many Dark-type specialists we've been given in a way have been a form of an "anti-trope". Sidney is a posh punk, Grimsley is a destitute aristocrat, Nanu is a jaded police officer, Piers is an anti-establishment goth rocker, and Marnie is a bit antisocial and stoic. So, what does that make Karen? Well, judging by her dialogue and she was the first Dark-type trainer made during the early days of Pokemon, she may just be a typical rebel character. Rebelling against what? What people are saying are the best Pokemon, of course. I guess in a way she's also a hipster. She may not even care about winning or losing, she just wants to have a good battle and the more interesting battles are with Pokemon that aren't the ones everyone is using.
So in that regard, she probably would have loved how Sejun Park won an official tournament Championship with a Pachirisu. Not because it shows that if used in just the right way any Pokemon can come out on top. No, she would have loved it because this guy found a loop hole in the metagame to let him play a trick on everyone by using a Pokemon people deemed weak to climb to first place. Instead of using a tried and true team that makes up more than 90% of all teams, here's a small Pachirisu to mess things up! And even if Sejun Park doesn't consider Pachirisu a favorite, there are people who probably do and got a kick out of seeing Pachirisu support its team to the championship.

 

[Kurona]

No matter what 'side' you're on people take Karen's quote way too seriously. It's literally just saying the "oh you did it with your partners your pokemon are your friends :)" message the series always has, it's not special lmao

 

[earl]

So much so that in ORAS they included a Gentleman in the Battle Resort who touts the opposite philosophy:

That said I think what Karen says can be justified in two ways:

1. Karen's dialogue was written during Gen II. At that time the game only had 251 Pokemon, there was no Abilities, there was no super mechanic, and they just introduced new Types (Steel & Dark) & Breeding. Speaking of Breeding, back in Gen II Breeding wasn't as manipulative as it is now, you pretty much bred a Pokemon for Egg Moves which also weren't that complex. Also the Special Attack and Special Defense stat was all one Special Stat, and a Moves category was strictly based on the Type which left some Pokemon with a weak STAB. Combining this altogether, honestly back then I'd say it was perfectly feasible to do what Karen said cause the mechanics weren't as refined you could probably get away with it.
Of course, by HGSS things had RADICALLY change. What Karen says just doesn't fly anymore, at least if you want to battle your way through the post game battle facilities. I think it should have been changed to something like "Strong Pokemon. Weak Pokemon. If you have a favorite Pokemon that shouldn't matter. It's more fun to try and win with what you love than following what anyone else says". I think that keeps in tone with what they wanted Karen to say (it's fun to use your favorite Pokemon) while not hiding that there are better Pokemon then others.

The special stat only existed in gen 1. By gen 2 we had special defense and attack

And gen 2 is debatably less flexible than later gens in terms of viable choices- virtually every team needs a Snorlax and one of the 2 legendary electrics, and from then on there’s not a super deep pool of viable choices. There are a fair amount of unviable choices, though. Gen 1 is even more severe, with the 3 big normals (Chansey, Tauros, Snorlax) occupying virtually every team, and then after that you have about 10ish or so viable options. Basically, the games have always had pretty clear good and bad pokemon.

As for in-game outside of facilities, yeah you can win with anything