The Best/Worst Regional Pokédexes

[Lightchao42]

With Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl on the horizon, regional Pokédexes are currently a hot topic, largely thanks to how... interesting the initial Sinnoh Pokédex was. Reflecting on what the previous Pokédexes did right and wrong could be an interesting course of discussion.

What makes a Pokédex good? The Kanto and Johto Pokédexes included every Pokémon that existed at the time, but that might not necessarily make them better than the latter ones. The Kalos dex is currently the biggest with 457 Pokémon, though the Galar dex is bigger if you include the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra. Variety is obviously important, but the distribution of Pokémon and when you can get them could also be a factor; most people don't want to see Rattata and Wingull on every route, after all.

For extra points, mention something other than DP in the worst column.

 

[R_N]

Galar Dex probably is the best, frankly.

It covers a wide bredth even before DLC and, well...I'll be honest the Kalos dex kind of has a lot of "did we really need ALL of these..." type selections that Galar gets to avoid. Base game in general also leans on gen 5 pretty hard, so it also feels more varied.
Most importantly the Wild Area gives SUCH a huge influx of options fairly early in the game, including a bunch that would normally be late game.

Then you add the DLC on top of it and you've got even MORE variety, it's very impressive. Although Crown Tundra is pretty useless for this conversation: it's designed for the post game, even if you can game the system by losing to Peony and getting guaranteed captures from the raids it's not really something that should be looked at in the same way. IOA's great tho.


And worst, well...cliche it may be, yes it has to be DP. Almost by default. The pokemon selection despite being comparable to gen 1 (& 5, for that matter) jsut feels lesser and distribution across the region is also a problem, not to mention the typing issues, but it also makes the region's trainers feel dull. And that's before the annoyance of "like a third of the new gen 4 pokemon arent even in the dex"; Platinum's extra 60 pokemon went a long way to both variety of what you encounter, what you have, when you get them and what you face.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I've always been extremely fond of the Unova dex listing in B2W2, but that's as much to do with the layout as the content.

It's jam-packed with old favourite, highly popular Pokemon - Lucario, Arcanine, Azumarill, Weavile, Electivire, Magmortar, Flygon, Heracross, Ampharos, Eevee and co - as well as all the usual mainstays like Rattata and Zubat, so coming after BW's exclusion of older mons, it really felt like the best of the previous four regions was included along with the entirety of Unova. Unlike with DP's listing where... a few, but very decidedly not the best (Whiscash? Pelipper? Seaking? Noctowl?)... of the previous-gen Pokemon were mixed in with not all of the new Pokemon. Platinum's dex was large, but this was on another level - the amount of choice and versatility was genuinely staggering at the time, which I think has almost been forgotten now.

Also, the way in which the legendaries were divvied up in the ordering was unprecedented and gave it a unique, interesting feel. It also completely scrambles the original order the Unova mons were in - species that came early in BW, like Tympole, Sawk, and Throh, are now at the back end instead. Curiously, some species like the Slakoth line are locked behind the postgame, even though by then you'll have the National Dex.

I do really like what they tried to do with Kalos, too. I'm not a big fan of X and Y, but this was one of the things they did right, and it's cool that they've maintained this idea of large regions having their own individual dex listings. However I prefer the way Kalos did it to the way Alola did it - having the same Pokemon show up in listings for more than one island was confusing, and Alola felt less like somewhere that needed separate dexes since it was so small. Kalos's way, in which each of the 450 Pokemon in the wider Kalos Dex were unique to its three divisions, felt so much neater.

Seeing dex listings begin not with starters, but with "regular" Pokemon, was a neat touch. You'd assume the coastal and mountain listings to be biased towards certain types, but all three manage to be decently diverse. I also like that each different dex contains different legendaries - the Coastal dex ends with Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, the Mountain dex ends with Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, and Mewtwo, and the Central dex ends with Diancie, Hoopa, and Volcanion.

 

[Hugin]

I liked Kalos's a lot. Galar has a lot of variety, but the raid mechanic makes getting a specific pokemon a pain, and even figuring out whether something's available generally involves about 8 Bulbapedia tabs. Kalos not only has a bunch of options, but the variety available early is impressive. You can easily have a full team before the first gym without relying on derps, and it's probably the easiest game for mono-type runs in terms of actually assembling your team quickly.

It's cliche to say it, and I like the games, but Hoenn's dex is rough. The actual mon selection is pretty good, but the distribution isn't. There's a lot that are locked behind getting Surf, the water-type encounter tables are bad, and it just really pushes you towards using the same stuff repeatedly.

 

[The Mind Electric]

Best: Platinum

I really like this one. It front-loads a lot of good Pokémon which I appreciate, and while certain types are still left somewhat wanting for variety (Fire comes to mind), I think it does a good job of rounding out the D/P Dex and making it possible to effectively use any type of Pokémon in playthroughs. Plus, Platinum does an excellent job of ensuring that the player will see every Pokémon there is over the course of a playthrough if they fight all the trainers and letting them know when they've seen everything via the giving of the National Dex, so the players knows what their options are on repeat playthroughs without having to spend time looking up everything. It's the little things.

Worst: HG/SS

People who have had the misfortune of reading many of my posts on this forum will know that I don't much care for these games, and the Dex is a big reason why. Way too many bad Pokémon, way too few good Pokémon, and potentially interesting options come too late at too low a level to be helpful or are locked behind evolution items that you can't get until after Lance. I would bet a not-insignificant amount of money that over 90% of all playthroughs of this game by experienced players have used at least a few of the same 11 or so Pokémon. It's natural for people doing casual playthroughs to gravitate towards easy, efficient picks, but shit gets dire when your small handful of easy picks are the only decent options you have.

 

[DrumstickGaming]

I liked Kalos's a lot. Galar has a lot of variety, but the raid mechanic makes getting a specific pokemon a pain, and even figuring out whether something's available generally involves about 8 Bulbapedia tabs. Kalos not only has a bunch of options, but the variety available early is impressive. You can easily have a full team before the first gym without relying on derps, and it's probably the easiest game for mono-type runs in terms of actually assembling your team quickly.

It's cliche to say it, and I like the games, but Hoenn's dex is rough. The actual mon selection is pretty good, but the distribution isn't. There's a lot that are locked behind getting Surf, the water-type encounter tables are bad, and it just really pushes you towards using the same stuff repeatedly.

I agree with pretty much everything here.

the Wild Area is seriously probably the second worst thing Game Freak has ever done in my opinion (first is Honey Trees)

like in theory all this variety is amazing but in practice it causes you to comb through about 37 different encounter tables accounting for weather and THAT is not fun.

didn’t help it caused the region to have pretty much no side areas at ALL, like wow they actually outdid Unova and Kalos in linearity

Hoenn is weird. Almost everything is decent but nothing is exceptional or exciting to use. Quite a bit fall victim to “too late to be helpful”

 

[R_N]

If you want a SPECIFIC pokemon the Wild Area is varying levels of annoying, but honestly if you just want some interesting Pokemon you can just wander all around that area and find like 80 options

 

[bdt2002]

I'll just leave this image here and let it do the talking for me.

Controversial opinion: Sword & Shield's infamous PokéDex cut was not fun for anyone including the developers, but the selection that did stay in Galar is arguably the best in the franchise, made even better by the DLC expansions.

 

[R_N]

I'll just leave this image here and let it do the talking for me.

View attachment 384276

Controversial opinion: Sword & Shield's infamous PokéDex cut was not fun for anyone including the developers, but the selection that did stay in Galar is arguably the best in the franchise, made even better by the DLC expansions.

I'm curious what you're extending "Regional Dex" to, because HGSS & ORAS effectively have the same dexes as GSC & RSE, just with some (but not all (and with several caveats)) of the cross gen evolutions.

 

[bdt2002]

I'm curious what you're extending "Regional Dex" to, because HGSS & ORAS effectively have the same dexes as GSC & RSE, just with some (but not all (and with several caveats)) of the cross gen evolutions.

This tier list was designed to organize each of the regional PokéDexes relative to each other as opposed to being judged on their own merits. Things like how many Pokémon were available that weren't in other games in that Generation for example played a big part in this. I also took postgame areas and the rewards for completing each one into account as an added bonus.

 

[khlaylav]

Gen 1's dex is the worst. Only 151 Pokemon? Only Kanto mons? Absolutely criminal!

Kidding. I think I'd give the edge for best to Black and White 2, honestly. Good balance of old favorites while still featuring Unova mons, which is a major problem with my other major contender (X and Y).

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Surprised no-one's discussed the Alola Dex yet. On balance it's not the best overall but it's still pretty good in my opinion. (I'll talk about the USUM listing specifically since it's basically just SM's with extras, but is totally superior to it.)

Firstly, I think it's interesting that even with the additions it's still smaller than XY's. Of course, there's no way to be sure, but I suspect someone on the design team felt that 450 was a tad too large since Galar's ended up being 400 as well. SM's original listing wasn't good - it felt too small, and ripe for an expansion, which I think most people expected to happen. But USUM's dex strikes the right balance of old and new. I really like how it throws in some Pokemon very early that in other games took slightly longer to find - Inkay, Bonsly, Happiny, Munchlax, Drowzee, Growlithe.

I'd say it does every bit as good a job as B2W2 of incorporating the old favourites in to complement Alola's mons. This is fitting for the 20th anniversary games, and especially so given that - by and large - the remaining 400 can't be found at all in Alola. All the usual mainstays like Bagon, Larvitar, Riolu, Electabuzz, Magmar, Mareep, Staryu, Beldum, Scyther, Heracross, Sandile, Trapinch, Gible, Sneasel, Abra, and Gastly are there, as well as some quirky picks like Larvesta, Delibird, Porygon, and ALL the old fossils. It includes a bunch of the more popular and appreciated species from the previous generation like Pancham, Fletchling, Hawlucha, and Phantump. And of course, it's positively stuffed with interesting legendaries - not all of them are shoved to the back, which I always appreciate.

When I got Ultra Moon originally, I diligently beavered away to complete the Pokedex and had a lot of fun with it. It contains a lot of my personal favourites such as Clamperl, Noibat, Relicanth, Tropius, and Wigglytuff, which made hunting them all down enjoyable even though a substantial number of Pokemon such as Relicanth are extremely rare and take ages to find. I think it's a really solid dex listing all things considered.

 

[bdt2002]

I got very bored earlier today so I made this extra tier list, based on the amount of Pokémon available as opposed to my first list that was purely opinion based. The tiers change every 50 Pokémon, and it was honestly pretty fascinating to see how accurate this tier list was to the actual numbers, which I found on the following webpage: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Regional_Pokédex

I'll have a list of the exact numbers in each tier listed down below the chart I made. Quick reminder that I used the first version of each pair of games to openly represent pairs this time around. Anything I'm missing? I don't think so. Enjoy!

Actual Regional PokéDex Statistics By Tier

XY (Full Combined Total): 457

USUM (Full Combined Total, no duplicates): 403
SS (base game): 400

B2W2: 301
SM (Full Combined Total, no duplicates): 302

GSC: 251
HGSS: 256

RSE: 202
Platinum: 210
ORAS: 211
SS (Isle of Armor total): 211
SS (Crown Tundra total): 210

RBY: 151
FRLG: 151
DP: 151
BW: 156
XY (Central Kalos): 153
XY (Coastal Kalos): 153
XY (Mountain Kalos): 151
USUM (Melemele Island): 150
USUM (Akala Island): 160
USUM (Ula Ula Island): 160
LGPE: 151
BDSP: 151

Regional PokéDexes that have less than 150 Pokémon are as follows.

SM (Melemele Island): 120
SM (Akala Island): 130
SM (Ula Ula Island): 130
SM (Poni Island): 100
USUM (Poni Island): 130
SS (Isle of Armor, new Pokémon): 110 out of 211
SS (Crown Tundra, new Pokémon): 74 out of 210