Favorite Pokemon: Unova

So, this was my all-time favorite region/generation before Sun and Moon came out. However, Unova will always have a special place in my heart due to how many fond memories I have of Pokémon White and all the teams I built in it in the past. I honestly love replaying Pokémon White (I have to play Black 2 more) every so often just because of how much fun I have. I feel like the animated Pokémon sprites (and the animated Trainer sprites, but more so in Black 2) give the game more life, and I enjoy the story a lot, too. Gen 5 honestly houses a lot of my favorite Pokémon, so this wasn't an easy list to make. But anyways, let's get right to it!

So here's another Pokémon that, while it does admittedly remind me of one of my exes, I still love this cute little ball of fluff. It was used in one of my favorite teams that I've built, specifically the team that Walrein was in, in which it was built to battle against my brother-in-law, but we never wound up fighting. All the same, though, Cinccino has always been one of my favorites, and I can't wait to place it in a team in a future Unova playthrough.

So here's a funny story. I only used Volcarona once in a team with 5 other Pokémon and I, for some reason, based this team off of a book I was reading at the time in school that I really liked. It was in a team with Zoroark, Musharna, Scolipede, Braviary, and Archeops. I don't know why I made said team, especially since it's not exactly the most well-built team out there, especially since half the team could fall to Stone Edge, but I just love how Volcarona is sort of treated as a pseudo-legendary, as there's only two ways to obtain one. One is to catch it in the Desert Ruins, and the other is to get a Larvesta egg from Route 18 (This is with the first game, mind you. I don't know how you obtain one in Black and White 2).

Seismitoad sort of reminds me of Swampert, if only due to the typing of Water/Ground. The last time I played through White, I had one on my team. By the time it was a Palpitoad, it was already showing its worth, especially after it demolished Elesa's team due to her Pokémon being unable to use Volt Switch or any electric moves on it. And it just continued to put in work from there, being, basically, on par with Serperior with how often I was using it to save the day. It also made very short work of N and Ghetsis in the finale, so I'm very happy with how much it was helping and how powerful it was.

I've honestly never used Zebstrika, ever. But I've always wanted to. And as much as I really like Emolga, I just really like this more. Maybe it's part of the mystery and wonder? Maybe it's because the Trainers who have one, or the wild ones, look very powerful? Who knows. But like I said, I've always wanted to use it, I'm just not sure why I haven't, you know?

So here's a bit of fun trivia for you. Snivy was never my original choice to go with. Originally I wanted to go with Oshawott because I found it super adorable and I liked it just a little bit more than I liked Snivy. However, at the time that Black and White was releasing here, my girlfriend (at the time) and I had just recently broken up, and she loved Oshawott as well, and seeing Oshawott reminded me of her. So, I picked Snivy instead, as it was my 2nd option (I like Tepig but I've just never used it yet). However, I don't regret it as, even though I've used Samurott by now and loved it, Snivy will always be my big starter choice for Unova, and like Cyndaquil, it holds a lot of weight with other things I've done as the years have gone by. Plus, it's a big ol' snake, and that's pretty awesome.

I always tend to like weird-looking Pokémon. Cryogonal is a nice example of a weird Pokémon. Now, I do like the Cubchoo line and the Vanillite line (I know some people are going to get really upset over me liking the ice cream Pokémon, but that's how the internet is) but I always liked Cryogonal a bit more. It's really rare (unless it's Winter ingame) and finding one requires you to really hunt it down and take the time to find it, but it's a pretty bulky Ice type, as the one I used was able to take a lot of hits and keep on pushing strong.

So, I used Scrafty in my very first playthrough of White, and it was named after an old friend of mine who really loved Scraggy and Scrafty. However, nowadays, I can honestly tell you that, besides always liking Scrafty, my liking for it has increased ever since I started watching HoodlumScrafty on YouTube, as his content somehow really hits my kind of humor and it always makes me laugh with how silly he and his buddies can be. And because of him, I name my Scrafty after him, because why not, ya know? So thanks for the laughs, Callum, you're a pretty awesome guy.

As you read earlier, Scolipede was used in a team with Volcarona, and it did better than I thought it would. More recently, however, it was part of my first Black 2 team, where it helped take out a lot of Grass and Dark types and could easily stand up to any Fighting type with its 4x resistance to Fighting moves. Honestly this is probably one of, if not, the coolest Bug types I've ever seen in the game (Although for this spot in the list it's technically counting the Poison typing, but you get the idea).

Alright so we have a Pokémon that just looks amazing. It's like a big automaton of destruction and I absolutely love its typing of Ghost/Ground. And when paired with the Iron Fist ability, Golurk will seriously be punching holes in the opposition. It was in my first White team and it was just knocking everything down, as once I saw this, I said to myself, as I say with many Pokémon, "I need this. Right now."

So here's something cool. I was raising a Rufflet to be a Braviary as I was working on the Pokedex and such. As I trained on Victory Road, a shiny Rufflet appears. So I caught it and trained that one and BAM, shiny Braviary. Now, I do admit that I like the colors of Braviary more than its shiny variant, but you can't beat that my first impression of Braviary was a shiny version of it, which is some pretty awesome luck.

Musharna was, again, on that team with Volcarona and Scolipede. I haven't really used it again since, but it was a very bulky and powerful Psychic type and I loved having it by my side to tackle Fighting and Poison types, as its powerful Psychic moves could cut through them like a hot knife through butter and simply rip them apart. All the while, it's just sleeping away and emitting Dream Mist. Eat your heart out Komala, we had a heavy sleeper way before you (Although to be fair, Snorlax did it first)!

So, I missed out on having a shiny Galvantula once. And I regret that to this day. I was building a team, and so I was going around Unova to train. As I went through Chargestone Cave to train more, I came across a shiny Joltik! The problem was... I didn't have a single Poké Ball on me... Yeah, not very fun, eh? So, I just ran from it. And ever since that day I've made sure that I ALWAYS have a healthy supply of Poké Balls in my inventory, for any such occasion. Besides that big memory, I just really love spider Pokémon, what can I say? This is an awesome Pokémon.

Oh Archeops, your ability is so pitiful. But I always liked this better than Carracosta. It always looked so fearsome in its gen 5 sprite, but then it became so goofy once gen 6 and its 3D models came around. Like, it gained weight in 3D and looks fat and goofy, but that makes me like it a lot because it gives me a good laugh. All the same, though, it proved to be really handy when I made the team with Volcarona, and Archeops was using Acrobatics on everything and demolishing them all.

So I feel really stupid. I've been calling this "Confagrigus" the whole time, by adding an n into the name that doesn't belong there. That's embarrassing, so say the least. But anyways, Cofagrigus has always been so much fun to use and it just looks so menacing. Like it looks like it just wants to snatch you right up and shove you in its coffin and kill you, or take your soul. Whichever, I guess. Its ability, Mummy, is pretty useful depending on the situation, as it renders some abilities useless. For example, it can completely remove a Scrafty's Moxie ability and prevent it from gaining Attack every time it defeats a Pokémon. It's just so much fun to use, honestly.

So, I love Dragons and this one is just amazing. It's part Dark, so there's my favorite type right there. But actually obtaining one is a pain! It doesn't evolve from Zweilous until level 64. Yes, 64!!! That's a VERY long day to go! But it's worth it to have this monster in your party. I've used Hydreigon a few times, but every time I have, it's just destroyed everything. Could you imagine if this gave it a Mega Evolution? I think it'd be pretty tough to beat, if you ask me.

So I was pretty interested in Zoroark ever since it was leaked and shown off, and there were all of these cool little fan-made tracks on YouTube about a potential "Battle! Zoroark!" theme, which was pretty cool as everyone was still summing up potential battle themes and making renditions of what they thought would be it. But it has a cool Ditto-like ability, but once it takes damage, the Illusion wears off. It also doesn't change from being Dark type, so you have to watch what Pokémon it transforms into. Also, even though it's not Zoroark, Zorua reminds me of one of my best friends, as her sona is a shiny Zorua, so that makes me like the evolution line even more than I already did!

Excadrill has always just looked cool to me. It's got some fearsome claws and it's got a pretty fun type of Steel/Ground. Of course, this gives it all of the weaknesses that Steelix has, but I've used Excadrill once in a team before, and it was pretty handy with its moves, and I just really love having it around. I need to use it on more teams though, it has yet to unleash its full potential against some tough opponents.

And finally, we have our fluffy Whimsicott. Now, since I have White, I can't obtain a Cottonee naturally. However, in Nacrene City, I can trade a Petilil to someone in order to receive said Cottonee (And I imagine that in Black,  it works the same way, just with the Pokémon switched). I've always loved it, because it's just a very adorable Pokémon and it's very fluffy. Like it has all of the cuteness that I'm a sucker for and I just want to give it a hug. But all the same, it's a very tough Fairy/Grass type and it means business too, especially if you have your Dark/Fighting/Dragon types around!

And that's it for Unova! I enjoyed going through my 2nd favorite region today and I'll see you again tomorrow for Kalos as we approach the end of my favorite Pokémon list!

Have a nice day!~