The 10 worst new Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have added the most new Pokémon since Generation 5 began in 2010. There are 103 new creatures to catch, and that’s not even including regional forms. Overall, it’s been quite a great roster of new Pokémon, but they can’t all be winners. No matter what generation you look at, there are bound to be some stinkers so we’ve picked out the very worst of what Generation 9 has to offer.
If you’re looking for more Pokémon, then check out our full Pokémon breeding guide.
Shroodle
There’s nothing especially bad about Shroodle’s design, although we wouldn’t say anything stands out about it either. The main issue with Shroodle is that its existence feels a bit pointless. Grafaiai is a great Pokémon, but it doesn’t need a pre-evolution. Not to mention, it barely even resembles Grafaiai, making it a fairly rubbish pre-evolution at the best of times. It’s fine, but I’d rather wait until later in the game to catch a Grafaiai to avoid putting this on my team.
Brambleghast
One of the most ridiculed groups of Pokémon is the “inanimate objects with faces”. Sometimes it’s well-deserved (Vanilluxe), sometimes it’s not (Chandelure), but Brambleghast just about falls into the former bucket. While it does try to make the face fit the design in a way that seems more inclusive with the Pokémon’s theme, it fails to inject it with any sense of personality. It can sit there blinking at you all it wants, but it’s still just a tumbleweed.
Sandy Shocks
For the most part, the paradox Pokémon are good at fitting the role they were made for. The future versions are robotic and a little uncanny and disturbing, but that’s what they were going for. Similarly, the past versions are good at making the Pokémon seem more feral, but Sandy Shocks makes absolutely no sense.
We’re willing to believe that the ancient Pokémon world had creatures based on futuristic concepts, but Sandy Shocks looks so stupid. It doesn’t look feral or dangerous, it just looks like it’s going through an emo-punk phase.
Oinkologne
Lechonk is a great Pokémon, let’s be clear about that, but this evolution fails to capitalize on what made the original great. In fact, it actively goes against it. This is nothing new, we all love Wooloo from Sword and Shield, but can you remember the name of its evolution off the top of your head? We sure can’t. Oinkologne adds a lot of unnecessary details that just feel wrong. The more angular eyes and the way it looks almost as if it’s wearing makeup are quite off-putting for a pig Pokémon. This was a case where it should’ve been kept nice and simple.
Toedscool
This was quite a surprising Pokémon to discover as it suddenly ran out from behind a tree and caused raucous laughter. This isn’t an inherently terrible Pokémon, and the evolved form proves that the concept can work, but this looks so hilarious I can’t take it seriously. The massive body running around on those two noodle-thin legs never fails to make me laugh, and not in an endearing way.
Tinkatink
Baby Pokémon are never particularly appealing. While this isn’t quite as bad as something like Smoochum or Gothita, Tinkatink taps into that same category and brings in a lot of the worst features. Fairy/Steel is a good type combination, and its evolutions make good use of it, but maybe it should’ve just been a two-stage line and this base form could be cut entirely.
Belibolt
In the build-up to Scarlet and Violet’s release, almost every Pokémon revealed was great and showed off the best of the game’s roster. However, from the moment Belibolt showed up, we know it’d be a bottom-tier ‘mon for us. For one thing, it’s already outclassed by other frog Pokémon, but even if that wasn’t a factor, the weird insistence on the big eye-shaped things not being eyes is so weird. The small dots that are its real eyes feels like a forced attempt to reignite the Ditto-face meme, and it makes the whole design look dumb.
Spidops
The early-game bug Pokémon are never usually standouts of a generation, but they tend to have a certain charm, especially with their final evolutions. Spidops took one look at that charm and puked all over it. I understand what it was going for, but it failed entirely. For one thing, it’s quite the leap from its pre-evolution, but even putting that to one side, it doesn’t look even remotely intimidating.
It looks like it’s wearing an apron, and the shape of its face puts me in mind of a stereotypical Italian chef. It should be spinning a pizza on the end of each arm, not shooting webs and trapping its prey.
Espathra
Flittle was an extremely promising Pokémon. A powerful early-game Psychic-type with all the potential to be a great three-stager like Hatterene or Garvedoir before it. To say Espathra was a disappointment would be an understatement. To go from this tiny bird to a massive ostrich is a ridiculous leap. Plus, the colors are so unappealing, to the point where the shiny version majorly improves the design, switching out the pastel orange for chocolate brown.
Gholdengo
Gimmighoul is a brilliant design, but this evolution burns all of its potential. The fact that you need to get 999 coins to evolve it is such a pain, but we’d be able to get on board if the resulting Pokémon were awesome. Gholdengo is far from awesome. You spend all that effort making Gimmighoul evolve and what do you get? An ugly gold-covered creature that looks like the mascot of a failed 90s sneaker brand.
