Every generation has had an early Bug-type line, and most have had two: Caterpie and Weedle, Ledyba and Spinarak, the diverging Wurmple lines, and Sewaddle and Venipede. Gen. 4 is the only one not to have two analogous early bugs, but it still had Kricketot.
The bird situation is more complicated, and it depends on whether you think the number of evolutionary stages matters much. If it doesn't (which has always been my view), then each generation clearly has at least one early-game "basic bird": Pidgey and Spearow, Hoothoot, Taillow (and Wingull, perhaps), Starly, and Pidove. And if one does consider it important, then there's still never been a generation without either a "Pidgey-type" or a "Spearow-type", with Starly and Pidove falling into the first category and Hoothoot, Taillow, and potentially Wingull falling into the second.
These trends could of course change or be ignored entirely with this generation, as they could with any new games (and as with the recurrence of Rattata, B2W2 did break the mold a little by relegating Venipede to dark grass on Route 20 while Sewaddle was easily found). I'd love it if they decided to shake up the formula and give us some weird mons at the start of the game, myself - I still remember my mind being blown when I figured out that Poochyena was a Dark-type encountered on the very first route. Maybe the player character could live in a big city, and the first wild Pokémon you run into could be stuff like Trubbish in back alleys or Joltik hanging from the power lines.
Sewaddle and Venipede are not "early bugs" by any means. That's like saying Volbeat/Illumise are early bugs. Their role differ in that they are not available in the first few routes, but in the forest located after the town with the 2nd gym, and their final evolutions have actually good stats (instead of being recycled Caterpie/Ledyba data). So no, gen V had no early bug.
There is 2 kinds of early bugs:
A. proper metamorphosis (Caterpie)
B. 2 stages (Ledyba)
Gen I:
A-Caterpie/Weedle
Gen II:
B-Ledyba/Spinarak
Gen III:
A-Wurmple
Gen IV:
B-Kricketot
Gen V:
none
so no consistency there.
Apart from probably having an early bug next again, there is no telling whether it'll be Caterpie or Ledyba-like.
Lets look at birds. Similarly, here too there are 3-staged and 2-staged ones who are recycled for new ones
Gen I:
A-Pidgey
B-Spearow
Gen II:
B-Hoothoot
Gen III:
B-Taillow/Wingull
Gen IV:
A-Starly
Gen V:
A-Pidove
Here at least there has been some every gen, but changing with no pattern whether its a Pidgey or Spearow clone (altho Id bet on a Spearow clone next, accompanied by Pidove like Pidgey was in Johto)
Which brings us to the Normal fellas, which unlike the previous 2 examples have been astonishingly consistent, altho Id count the "mean fellas" into this category too (since its either a Dark poke with very similar data, or the Normal one itself has many Dark moves)
Gen I:
B-Rattata
Gen II:
B-Sentret
Gen III:
B-Linoone/Poochyena
Gen IV:
B-Bidoof
Gen V:
B-Patrat/Purrloin
A-Lillipup
When I look at this, its the most boring and unchanging of them. Sure sometimes theres the dark one (3,5), and with gen V they even introduced the "Pidgey equivalent" (A) for this group with Lillipup...
Isn't it overdue for them to do something fresh in this group now? Especially now, when gen V was the busiest in this category (having both a regular and a dark 2-stage AND a 3-stage on top of that).
I could see them adding either JUST a Dark one, or another 3-stage one (or a Dark 3-stage one, that would be interesting!!), anything but a sixth Normal 2-stage, those need a break.
And seeing Patrat in the trailer just adds to the odds since it can easily play this role in XY, leaving more room for new pokemon in other areas (especially if its gonna be a smaller gen like GS and DP)
There is no logic in ''early-game [insert-type]'', they have always been random, and GameFreak is not bound to these fan-made rules. Who decides Spearow is in this catagory? If so, why not count Slakoth? The only thing you can say about it, is that GameFreak has the tendancy to fill the first routes with Normal, Flying and Bug types, and if there is anything to expect from the next generation, it is that. Hoothoot was also catchable in DPPt, and Pidgey and Rattata in GSC, so it is not that strange if GameFreak decided on using Patrat again, especially not if you consider that all of them are even numbered generations, which contain more ''old'' Pokémon than the odd numbered to begin with.
Well yes, the point I was trying to make is that they always do it a bit differently, hence it would not be surprising if there was not another Ratatta clone in gen VI for a change.
Well yes, the point I was trying to make is that they always do it a bit differently, hence it would not be surprising if there was not another Ratatta clone in gen VI for a change.
They could skip it, although I do not think so. If there is one thing that all generations have in common concerning the early routes, it is that every generation so far has introduced a 2-stage Normal-type.
It starts out as a small caterpillar (Sewaddle) with bad stats and a limited moveset.
Then it evolves into a cocoon Pokemon (Swadloon) which is more defensive and has an even more limited moveset.
Then it evolves into its final form, which is (technically) a winged insect (Leavanny) in which it has access to its full moveset.
Is it a bit different from Caterpie, Weedle and Wurmple? Sure, Sewaddle and Swadloon learn more moves than Caterpie/Weedle/Wurmple and Metapod/Kakuna/Silcoon/Cascoon, and the evolution method is slightly different, but those aren't significant enough differences to say that Sewaddle is not an early bug.
And I don't care if they omit new early game whatevers, but whatever ones they do decide to include should be more unique than past ones. Either give them unique typing (Bibarel) or unique movesets (Noctowl and Watchog), I don't really care, just as long as they stop making these same generic Pokemon early in the game.
How do we know the Pokemon they show in the gameplay video are actually in the regional dex? They could have done the footage after you get the national dex.
How do we know the Pokemon they show in the gameplay video are actually in the regional dex? They could have done the footage after you get the national dex.
That's quite unlikely. Old Pokemon are confirmed to be in the game, so why show Pokemon that couldn't be obtained before the National Dex? It would make hardly any sense.
How do we know the Pokemon they show in the gameplay video are actually in the regional dex? They could have done the footage after you get the national dex.
We don't. They're likely candidates (and some of the ones featured heavily in the trailer like Golurk and Pikachu are highly likely, as in about 90% likely), but nothing about the regional dex is actually confirmed yet.
Yeah, these fellas we've seen in the trailer are definitely gonna be found in the region, cause its not like they're only showing of random Pokemon at such a stage in developement (just notice how random Golurk would be as a choice, but the statue of it makes it evident its gonna be available.)
That's already 45! (unless they leave out any eeveelutions)
(bold: note that half of the list is gen V)
Now there are 2 assumptions we can probably make:
-new pokemon will be a lower number (since they can rely on previous), ~100
-the regional dex should be somewhere around 200-250, which means more than 100 previous ones
That leaves something like 80 up to speculation.
Alright
Depending on which roles they decide to renew (for example if we knew that Pidgeot/Staraptor/Unfezant is in the games, there would probably be no new common bird like that)
we can consider what they could need to fill the region with.
Since my current guess is that Gen VI will feature plenty of evolutions and special Pokemon again, I'd guess plenty of the old ones will be typical common roles.
Also, the big amount of gen V in the trailer, makes me think gen VIs region will mostly rely on V where possible, but also add enough older things in the name of fanservice (pikachu, eevee etc lol).
But it also actually makes sense if you take into account that this will be the 2nd region that is not based on Japan but the west.
So for example thinking of
"The common surf encounter"
the major options are now Tentacool and Frillish. Due to the above train of thought, and how Tentacool did that for whole 4 generations in a row, the likelihood for Frillish rises by a lot.
In this vein, Id guess these:
-Frillish
-Woobat (Zubat has been in 4 gens AND bw2..)
-Pidove
-Drilbur
(Seein Litwick instead of Gastly, makes me think perhaps even these two lines):
-Timburr (Machops been in 4 gens in a row too)
-Roggenrola (same with Geodude)
(I doubt Solosis/Gothita, as being version exclusive makes them deeper tied to BW, and we know at least Ralts will be available, which also lowers the need for Abra)
(We just had Mareep in bw2, and I could see the other guy fit in here)
-Shinx
(Dratini is a pseudo-legend, and apart from bw2 with its enormous nostalgia-dex, there has never been more than 2 of these in one region.... since gen VI will surely have its own new pseudo-legend, that already makes 2, so no need for Larvitar/Beldum/Bagon/Gible/Deino)
That's all I could think of atm.
And would bring the 45 up to 63....
Of course any evolutions/new stages would require the originals to be in too, so I would say 20 spots would go to these, bringing it up to ~80, leaving maybe 40 more to go:
the rest as I said is pretty much dependant on whether they make a new feline (otherwise Purrloin or Skitty for example), many Bugs (which I doubt after gen V added record high numbers), or plants (to resort to Oddish/Hoppip/Roselia/etc if not),
and pretty much what exotic locations we will explore, like whether there will be a desert (Sandile probably more likely than Trapinch and co..), snowy places (Cubchoo), underwater stuff, caves, spooky locations, or even just lots of places to fish (I feel like they'd rely on plenty of fish from the past then, think Goldeen/Finneon/Carvanha/..)
The inclusion of Patrat makes me think that we might not get a 6th "bidoof" counterpart this time, similarly how there sometimes is no Caterpillar, or 3stage bird etc..
-Fairy showcase
I'm sure the ones they've shown weren't random, otherwise Clefairy would have been shown at least.
It reconfirms two of them we already saw in trailers/art: Ralts line (Kirlia in trailer), Marill-line (city art), so just Jiggly is new here:
-Igglybuff
-Jigglypuff
-Wigglytuff
-Rhyhorn - statue in 3rd trailer outside your house + mentioned to be another ridable Pokémon at e3
-Rhydon
-Rhyperior
-Charmander
-Charmeleon
-Charizard - 3rd trailer (which fits with "the source")
-Gastly
-Haunter - short trailer skybattle
-Gengar
-Houndour - short trailer horde
-Houndoom
------ 106! old pokemon so far.
okay...way too many pseudos. Im not sure anymore if all of these could really be part of the regionaldex, but ones that are already on the list keep showing up in new footage (like Kirlia being in first trailer and then Gardevoir shown as an example of a Fairy-type, or low-level Axew being featured in a horde battle along with Haxorus being shown to be weak to Fairy...)
i have no idea why, but i have the strangest feeling they're bringing the Chansey line back into the games in this generation, as well as Farfetch'd... they just seem to fit so well, and seem so neglected by Pokemon Co. nowadays
I think they will be using Unovas pokemon for "common roles" where they have a choice between overused old guys and still fresh and barely annoying gen V pokes.
For example, common surfing encounter:
-Tentacool (I II III IV)
-Frillish (V)
Chocie: Frillish
audino's only popular for the EXP reward
and we haven't seen the Chansey line since HGSS, but it was rarely seen on those. I saw more when playing DPPt, so most players might not have seen them since Platinum.
That, and we've had enough audino for a while, especially since both gen 5 games have it almost everywhere you go
Its been in the trailer already (unlike Chansey), and I feel like it is not just a new version of it (do you realize Chansey would also be popular for its exp since Audino is just a modified version of it in terms of data? They both give immense exp), but actually expanded its role. I mean, the next time we see Chansey, I wouldn't be surprised if it was doing the shaking grass role too.
It does have a completely opposite catch rate atm tho..
Oh and I think there is a good chance for "Audinos Blissey", in which case Audino would return also.
if they do audino blissey, that's fine. if they just do audino alone, then i don't like that. also, in the promotional pre-release BW screenshots, weren't there some non-Unova pokemon in it as well? i mean, it would make sense if they only showed other pokemon in the pre-release media just because they don't want to reveal many pokemon or anything
speaking of which, i have the strangest feeling they have almost the entire generation's pokemon designed, but not modeled :/
look closely and you'll notice a few pokemon on there
you can see fennekin far to the top, and see that fletchling has a 3-stage evolution line, but there's an unrecognizeable green pokemon with a red tail after that. it's not chespin's sprite if you compare it to it's sprite shown in the screenshots...
also, you can tell by this that Zigzagoon and Linoone are the Rattata and Raticate of this region, and that the mystery pokemon has a possible 3 stage evolution line
