There are a lot of Pokemon out there. With the release of X and Y, the number is now over 700. So, when we thought of doing our “best of” Pokemon list to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Pokemon, we didn’t just stop at eight, or 10, or even 50. We went full balls-to-the-wall and decided to rank all 721 of the little monsters. At least, that was the initial plan, until words like “ridiculous”, “time-consuming” and “budget” were thrown around, knocking us back down to a top 100. But that’s still pretty good!
The top 100 Pokemon of all time isn’t based on a single, solid criteria, and instead factors in the Pokemon’s battle strength, cuteness, coolness factor, iconic status, and design. It’s a list of all of our favorites here at The Escapist, and we hope it will include a bunch of yours too. Today, we are looking at number 86-100, a set of Pokemon that aren’t super popular, but are nonetheless still important in Pokemon history.
Note: All images courtesy of Bulbapedia.
100. Omanyte
I’ll be honest, the only reason Omanyte is even on this list was because of the whole Twitch Plays Pokemon thing. All hail lord helix!
99. Ponyta
Ponyta is a horse that is on fire. The reason it is on the list and not its evolved form, Rapidash, is because Rapidash looks pretty much the same… except not as cute.
98. Arbok
Arbok’s place on the list was secured thanks to Team Rocket’s Jessie. Jessie kept an Ekans as her Pokemon of choice in the first series of the anime. It eventually evolved into Arbok, which looks pretty damn cool. Fun fact, “Ekans” is “snake” spelled backwards, and “Arbok” is “Kobra”.
97. Lapras
Lapras was Ash and crew’s ride whenever they needed to cross the sea. Similarly, in the games, it was a popular choice to teach the HM “surf” to. Based on the infamous Loch Ness Monster, it also has a pretty sweet design.
96. Hitmonchan
The fighting-type, Hitmonchan, was one of the most humanoid of the original 151 Pokemon. Its English name is actually a tribute to infamous Hong Kong martial artist: Jackie Chan, though it seems to resemble Mike Tyson a bit more. I guess Hitmontyson doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as easy.
95. Tangela
Tangela is an adorable little bundle of vines. Kind of like a “Medusa head with legs,” this grass-type Pokemon has a really cool design.
94. Rotom
Rotom is a ghost-type Pokemon that can actually transform into one of five different “formes”. Different from standard evolutions, Rotom can switch between his formes at will. Each forme gives it a different typing: for example, washing machine Rotom is an electric/water type.
93. Honchkrow
Honchkrow is a badass old-school gangster crow. One of the coolest dark-type Pokemon, his crow/raven theme is shared with his pre-evolution: Murkrow.
92. Froslass
Froslass has a pretty specific evolve condition: It only evolves from a female Snorunt when exposed to a Dawn Stone. Froslass is based on the “Yuki-ona” or “Snow woman” Japanese myth, and you can see the clear Japanese influence on her design.
91. Drifloon
Drifloon is a God-damn balloon. Some people would call it one of the worst Pokemon designs, but those people have obviously never kicked the crap out of the elite four with a balloon.
90. Totodile
Why are the water starters always the cutest? Totodile is one of the cutest of the bunch, being an adorable little crocodile baby. In the anime, Ash picked one up, which gave it a bit more of the spotlight.
89. Onix
Onix first made his appearance in the anime as Brock’s faithful companion. It stuck with the team for a really long time, and is one of the more powerful single-evolution Pokemon out there.
88. Slowking
Slowking is a new evolution of Slowpoke added later on in the games. Rather than the equally stupid Slowbro, Slowking actually exhibits some pretty awesome psychic powers.
87. Scizor
Scizor is a cool Pokemon, but the reason it is so low down on the top 100 is because his pre-evolution, Scyther, is infinitely cooler.
86. Houndoom
Houndoom is a dog straight out of the depths of hell. It’s a dark/fire type Pokemon, and its covered with bones. Let’s not even get started on how freaking bad-ass Mega-Houndoom is…
Check back tomorrow when we continue the countdown with numbers 85 to 71.
