I think the comparison to chess is reasonable, but it is better compared to poker, where prediction is required to play well, Pokemon is, in some ways more complex than Chess depending on how you want to define it
I play VGC actually (: When I was talking to my dad trying to explain it to him I basically said it was chess but you could pick your own non-pawn/King pieces. Like I could play with 7 Knights if I wanted. The Queen was allowed only sometimes but you’d often get 2. Stuff like that
This is your best video so far. I am not a Pokémon fan, but this video opened my mind to respect this competitive scene which is very dedicated and I think that’s really cool. I am glad people can enjoy this series in a way they like, even if it’s not the way the developers thought of. As I said, great video, friend. :)
Great video, enjoyed listening even as someone intricately familiar with everything you went over, can’t recommend enough that anyone who grew up with Pokémon or enjoys strategy games to hop on showdown and give it a go
I already made a video on this but Pokemon is NOT a chess game. Chess is a game with 2 main components that seperates it from Pokemon: 1. Actual board movement. Pieces move to specific spots to strategize with multiple pieces out in the front lines. All you have out in Pokemon's main system is one monster out at a time and Singles has so many problems that Game Freak basically brushes under the rug by making the official format a bring 6 use 4 2v2 in VGC. 2. Specialization Pokemon is in a weird spot where there is both too little and too much customization where Dragon Quest Monsters offers far more customizing and Yo-Kai Watch on the other end of the spectrum offers true specialization. Chess pieces are specialized. They can only move certain ways and you cannot set their skills to change that. Because of Pokemon lacking TRUE specialization, it leads to alot of overlap where certain monsters do the exact same thing anyway. Very few Pokemon are actually "unique" due to this like how in Singles the Pokemon Electrode will often run the same optimal Volt Switch sets you will get out of similar Pokemon like Jolteon, Mega Manetric and Regieleki. Chess only has that in one piece hence why the queen is the unquestioned top tier cuz she can do anything any other piece can do. Both of these features exist more in Yo-Kai Watch 3 where you have actual board movement and monsters have incredibly specialized movesets. Pokemon meta has more in common with rock-paper-scissors than with chess.
First of all, thanks for your comment, your insight about the topic is really substantial and I agree with some of the statements. However, I'd like to go over some of your arguments starting with the comparison with chess. It's true that both Pokémon and chess differ in many ways, especially in the lack of an actual board in Pokémon. But Pokémon does have a form of movement in switching. Pivoting is a crucial skill both in Singles and VGC and the player must have positional awareness to utilize this mechanic properly. While I agree that Pokémon have more in common with rock-paper-scissors than with chess, my comparison was more focused on the player's positional planning and uniqueness of each piece. Regarding specialization, while it's true that overlapping design is a problem that affects many Pokémon, there are still major differences that affect the game plan for the majority of the cast. Even going with the examples provided in your comment, all the Pokémon you mentioned are unique in many ways. Electrode is the fastest Pokémon in generation 1, meaning that it has the highest critical rate in that generation (as in gen 1 it's calculated based on the speed), not only that but it also has access to explosion which makes it the fastest Pokémon with that move in gen 1. And while Electrode might not be the most optimal Pokémon in RBY, these are unique traits that set it apart from the rest of electric types in that generation. Jolteon has access to baton pass, which is extremely useful in older generations where the move is legal. Not only that but Jolteon also has an immunity to electric type moves which is helpful in pivoting and baton pass chaining. Mega Manectric is a really unique case because it has access to two incredible abilities. Manectric is on its base form it can use lightning rod for redirection, which is extremely powerful in doubles. But once you activate the mega you get intimidate which gives defensive support. Regieleki, while at first it looks like a more powerful version of Electrode, it actually has a few unique tools. Regieleki has access to electroweb which gives you an option for speed control (which is extremely important in doubles), the only other Pokémon that can learn that move from the ones you mentioned is Jolteon, however Regieleki is way faster. Not only that but Regieleki can also use rapid spin to clean hazards. It's true that in more recent generations overlapping has become more of a problem and the most optimal sets might look similar between different species, but most good Pokémon have multiple good options. In tournaments we have seen teams getting success with suboptimal sets. As an example, Yuta Ishigaki reached second place at VGC Worlds 2024 using a support set for Iron Valiant, a Pokémon that is designed as an attacker. As such, I stand with the opinion that every Pokémon have at least one thing that makes it stand out from the rest.
@@Hirai-Soba Thanks for your willingness to hear out what I have to say. The issue with switching is that switching has almost no risk behind it. EVERY monster collector has a feature to swap out party members. That's not unique to Pokemon. Yo-Kai Watch 3 has one and it is arguably far more dynamic because it has a cooldown. Slow, bulky stuff in YKW3 usually has to wait anywhere from 5 to 7 "turns" before they can switch in again to help with defensive play. Both YKW3 and even TemTem puts more risk behind switching out because the monsters KEEP the debuffs applied to them until you clear them unlike Pokemon where debuff skills like Screech are pretty weak. Singles lets you exploit that lack of cooldown easily because of Regenerator stuff. Everyone hates Toxapex, Slowbro can keep setting up snow and Shed Tail caused problems. The uniquness from movepools only goes so far cuz Pokemon's customization is so weak and so many Abilities just do the same thing and often better. For example, Zapdos has Baton Pass too and Zapdos has always been a more consistent option over Jolteon. At that point, where does that leave Jolteon?
Ngl I find it kinda funny that both your comment and the original video fails to mention the most fundamental difference between chess and Pokemon, which is that Pokemon is NOT a turn-based game :) Turns resolve simultaneously (like in rock paper scissors). In Pokemon there is prediction, in chess there is not. I don't really agree with the rest of your points, Pokemon is a BRILLIANT competitive game, that is not always balanced, but as a system is fantastic. Alright byeeee
The idea that pokemon doesn't have specialization is absurd. You can change a pokemon's nature, EVs, and even IVs not to mention moveset. I've literally built specific pokemon to beat pokemon they normally wouldn't just to trick people, if you think it has basically no specialization you're uncreative, uneducated, or just dumb.
@@calebmon You can do that in any other monster collector. It's not a unique feature to Pokemon. Many of them even make the process laughably easier compared to Pokemon. If you are so educated, then shouldn't you know that? Also, you don't exactly have much room to trick people with certain Pokemon. How are you expected to trick anyone if you use a Pokemon like Unown or Wobbuffet due to movepool restrictions? You are aware the official format also enforces open team sheets that show off all of your movesets to the opponent, right? If I am the dumb one and I know these things, what does that make you?
On the pay to win part: couldn't that money expense be avoided by ... "having friends"? I mean, trading IS one of the main points of the marketing of the games (and the excuse they give for having two versions of each game). Finding someone, who can lend you a Pokemon, and getting Ditto, can't cost more than that, can it? (I still agree with the time consuming part though)
![Explaining Every Pokemon in Competitive Gen 2 [PART ONE]](/img/n.gif)
17:29 EVs no longer max out at 255. Since at least Sword and Shield, there is a hard cap at 252 to prevent waste.
It actually started with X and Y
I think the comparison to chess is reasonable, but it is better compared to poker, where prediction is required to play well, Pokemon is, in some ways more complex than Chess depending on how you want to define it
I play VGC actually (: When I was talking to my dad trying to explain it to him I basically said it was chess but you could pick your own non-pawn/King pieces. Like I could play with 7 Knights if I wanted. The Queen was allowed only sometimes but you’d often get 2. Stuff like that
The way you pronounce "genre" makes me smile. Great video. Lol
This is your best video so far. I am not a Pokémon fan, but this video opened my mind to respect this competitive scene which is very dedicated and I think that’s really cool.
I am glad people can enjoy this series in a way they like, even if it’s not the way the developers thought of.
As I said, great video, friend. :)
Great video, enjoyed listening even as someone intricately familiar with everything you went over, can’t recommend enough that anyone who grew up with Pokémon or enjoys strategy games to hop on showdown and give it a go
I already made a video on this but Pokemon is NOT a chess game.
Chess is a game with 2 main components that seperates it from Pokemon:
1. Actual board movement.
Pieces move to specific spots to strategize with multiple pieces out in the front lines. All you have out in Pokemon's main system is one monster out at a time and Singles has so many problems that Game Freak basically brushes under the rug by making the official format a bring 6 use 4 2v2 in VGC.
2. Specialization
Pokemon is in a weird spot where there is both too little and too much customization where Dragon Quest Monsters offers far more customizing and Yo-Kai Watch on the other end of the spectrum offers true specialization. Chess pieces are specialized. They can only move certain ways and you cannot set their skills to change that. Because of Pokemon lacking TRUE specialization, it leads to alot of overlap where certain monsters do the exact same thing anyway. Very few Pokemon are actually "unique" due to this like how in Singles the Pokemon Electrode will often run the same optimal Volt Switch sets you will get out of similar Pokemon like Jolteon, Mega Manetric and Regieleki. Chess only has that in one piece hence why the queen is the unquestioned top tier cuz she can do anything any other piece can do.
Both of these features exist more in Yo-Kai Watch 3 where you have actual board movement and monsters have incredibly specialized movesets. Pokemon meta has more in common with rock-paper-scissors than with chess.
First of all, thanks for your comment, your insight about the topic is really substantial and I agree with some of the statements. However, I'd like to go over some of your arguments starting with the comparison with chess.
It's true that both Pokémon and chess differ in many ways, especially in the lack of an actual board in Pokémon. But Pokémon does have a form of movement in switching. Pivoting is a crucial skill both in Singles and VGC and the player must have positional awareness to utilize this mechanic properly. While I agree that Pokémon have more in common with rock-paper-scissors than with chess, my comparison was more focused on the player's positional planning and uniqueness of each piece.
Regarding specialization, while it's true that overlapping design is a problem that affects many Pokémon, there are still major differences that affect the game plan for the majority of the cast. Even going with the examples provided in your comment, all the Pokémon you mentioned are unique in many ways. Electrode is the fastest Pokémon in generation 1, meaning that it has the highest critical rate in that generation (as in gen 1 it's calculated based on the speed), not only that but it also has access to explosion which makes it the fastest Pokémon with that move in gen 1. And while Electrode might not be the most optimal Pokémon in RBY, these are unique traits that set it apart from the rest of electric types in that generation.
Jolteon has access to baton pass, which is extremely useful in older generations where the move is legal. Not only that but Jolteon also has an immunity to electric type moves which is helpful in pivoting and baton pass chaining.
Mega Manectric is a really unique case because it has access to two incredible abilities. Manectric is on its base form it can use lightning rod for redirection, which is extremely powerful in doubles. But once you activate the mega you get intimidate which gives defensive support.
Regieleki, while at first it looks like a more powerful version of Electrode, it actually has a few unique tools. Regieleki has access to electroweb which gives you an option for speed control (which is extremely important in doubles), the only other Pokémon that can learn that move from the ones you mentioned is Jolteon, however Regieleki is way faster. Not only that but Regieleki can also use rapid spin to clean hazards.
It's true that in more recent generations overlapping has become more of a problem and the most optimal sets might look similar between different species, but most good Pokémon have multiple good options. In tournaments we have seen teams getting success with suboptimal sets. As an example, Yuta Ishigaki reached second place at VGC Worlds 2024 using a support set for Iron Valiant, a Pokémon that is designed as an attacker. As such, I stand with the opinion that every Pokémon have at least one thing that makes it stand out from the rest.
@@Hirai-Soba Thanks for your willingness to hear out what I have to say.
The issue with switching is that switching has almost no risk behind it. EVERY monster collector has a feature to swap out party members. That's not unique to Pokemon. Yo-Kai Watch 3 has one and it is arguably far more dynamic because it has a cooldown. Slow, bulky stuff in YKW3 usually has to wait anywhere from 5 to 7 "turns" before they can switch in again to help with defensive play. Both YKW3 and even TemTem puts more risk behind switching out because the monsters KEEP the debuffs applied to them until you clear them unlike Pokemon where debuff skills like Screech are pretty weak.
Singles lets you exploit that lack of cooldown easily because of Regenerator stuff. Everyone hates Toxapex, Slowbro can keep setting up snow and Shed Tail caused problems.
The uniquness from movepools only goes so far cuz Pokemon's customization is so weak and so many Abilities just do the same thing and often better. For example, Zapdos has Baton Pass too and Zapdos has always been a more consistent option over Jolteon. At that point, where does that leave Jolteon?
Ngl I find it kinda funny that both your comment and the original video fails to mention the most fundamental difference between chess and Pokemon, which is that Pokemon is NOT a turn-based game :) Turns resolve simultaneously (like in rock paper scissors). In Pokemon there is prediction, in chess there is not.
I don't really agree with the rest of your points, Pokemon is a BRILLIANT competitive game, that is not always balanced, but as a system is fantastic. Alright byeeee
The idea that pokemon doesn't have specialization is absurd. You can change a pokemon's nature, EVs, and even IVs not to mention moveset. I've literally built specific pokemon to beat pokemon they normally wouldn't just to trick people, if you think it has basically no specialization you're uncreative, uneducated, or just dumb.
@@calebmon You can do that in any other monster collector. It's not a unique feature to Pokemon. Many of them even make the process laughably easier compared to Pokemon. If you are so educated, then shouldn't you know that? Also, you don't exactly have much room to trick people with certain Pokemon. How are you expected to trick anyone if you use a Pokemon like Unown or Wobbuffet due to movepool restrictions? You are aware the official format also enforces open team sheets that show off all of your movesets to the opponent, right? If I am the dumb one and I know these things, what does that make you?
EV training is whatever. IVs is what deters me also what's not stopping someone from constant switching?
Every time you switch your opponent has a chance to move, so if you’re only switching you’re constantly losing progress in the match
On the pay to win part: couldn't that money expense be avoided by ... "having friends"?
I mean, trading IS one of the main points of the marketing of the games (and the excuse they give for having two versions of each game). Finding someone, who can lend you a Pokemon, and getting Ditto, can't cost more than that, can it?
(I still agree with the time consuming part though)
Video starts at 4:24
Thank you
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