6 Pokemon That Received The Best Upgrades

Pokemon

By David George Morten

Published Jun 2, 2024

Pokemon is a video game franchise that has been successfully releasing mainline entries for almost thirty years. While that lifespan has been great from a financial point of view, the developers have faced numerous challenges in the series' existence. For example, it is easy for some older Pokemon in the games to become overshadowed or forgotten as new creatures and mechanics are added to the games.

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With over 1000 Pokemon in the franchise at this point, it is normal that some have fallen out of favor over the years. Either they just aren't relevant anymore, or a new Pokemon does their job much better in battle. Fortunately, GameFreak is aware of this problem, so they have given some Pokemon a notable upgrade over the years.

6 Granbull

Adding The Fairy Type Made This Gen 2 Pokemon Worth Using

Generation It Was Upgraded: 6

The Generation 2 Pokemon games had the huge task of introducing the first new Pokemon to the franchise and having them keep up in popularity with the old favorites. One of the ways they expertly made this transition was by adding in some of the newer Pokemon into the anime to make them feel as if they already belong in the world.

One of the new Johto Pokemon that received this treatment was the normal type, Snubbell, who appeared in the short film, 'Pikachu's Vacation', that aired before the first Pokemon Movie. Fans loved this little guy, but its evolution left more to be desired. Granbull is quickly outmatched by other normal types in the games, with its base stat total of 450, so it is not used very often. However, the addition of the Fairy type in generation 6 gave players a new way to counter the powerful Dragon type. Granbull retroactively received this new type, which gave players a reason to actually use it in their team. Its stats may not have changed, but it now has a decent role to play.

5 Magikarp

The Gen 1 Pokemon That Receives The Biggest Upgrade Upon Evolution

Generation It Was Upgraded: 1

In fairness, all Pokemon receive an upgrade when they evolve. However, it is difficult to discuss the Pokemon that have received the biggest upgrades without talking about the one that gets the biggest upgrade when evolving.

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When players first encounter Magikarp in Kanto, they are met with a boring water type that has a pitiful base stat total of 200. It also only learns poor moves, like Splash, Tackle, and Flail. However, any player who is patient enough to level up Magikarp to level 20 will see it evolve into the mighty Gyarados. This Pokemon gains the Flying type and has a base stat total of 540. It also has a wide variety of moves it can learn and gains access to Mega Evolution in Gen 6. As such, Gyarados is one of the strongest Water types a player can use in Gen 1, and it all comes from having a little patience.

4 Raichu

Giving This Pokemon A New Type Makes Pikachu's Evolution Stand Out Again

Generation It Was Upgraded: 7

It was always going to be difficult for the evolution of the franchise mascot to stand out. Raichu debuted alongside Pikachu in Gen 1, but it was always overshadowed by its more popular pre-evolution. At best, Raichu stood as a basic Electric type that was valued for its speed stat. That was until Gen 7.

The Generation 7 Pokemon games added the concept of regional forms to the franchise. This meant that older Pokemon were given a tweaked design and a new type. Not only did Raichu's new design make it look more appealing, with it surfing on its tail, but its new type was something a lot of players wanted. Alolan Raichu is an Electric/Psychic type that blows its previous form out of the water, and it fills two spots on a player's team rather than just one.

3 Gengar

Mega Evolution Made The Gen1 Ghost Type A Powerhouse

Generation It Was Upgraded: 6

Mega Evolution is a battle gimmick that was introduced in Gen 6 to give some older Pokemon in the franchise a power buff. Many of these Pokemon came from Gen 1, with the iconic Ghost type Gengar being one of the Pokemon to receive a new Mega Form.

Gengar was already a big hitter in the competitive scene before Gen 6, as its Ghost-type made it difficult to hit, and it had a massive special attack stat of 130. Adding another 100 points to this Pokemon's base stat total obviously made it much stronger, and so Mega Gengar quickly started sweeping through opponents in the competitive scene. Plus, the ability Shadow Tag prevents the enemy Pokemon from being switched. In fact, Mega Gengar is so powerful that it was banned from big Pokemon tournaments like Ubers.

2 Arcanine

Giving This Pokemon A New Ability Made It Hard To Take Down

Generation It Was Upgraded: 3

Arcanine is arguably one of the few Pokemon in the franchise that did not need an upgrade. This Gen 1 Fire-type has been a reliable team member for years, mainly due to its high speed and its base stat total of 555. However, this Pokemon received a huge buff in Gen 3 anyway.

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Arcanine has a weakness to Ground and Rock moves, and using these physical attacks is a great way to deal with the Fire-type dog. Despite this, the Gen 3 games added hidden abilities to the series. Arcanine received the Intimidate ability, something that lowers the enemy Pokemon's attack when Arcanine enters the field. As such, it became much more difficult to take out an Arcanine after this upgrade.

1 Eevee

The Pokemon That Can Be Upgraded In Many Ways

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Generation It Was Upgraded: 1,2,4, and 6

Gen1 of Pokemon added 151 creatures to the franchise, and many of these were great in battle or had a unique gimmick. Eevee fits into the latter category, but it could also evolve to be part of the former. Eevee's base form was a simple normal type, but it could evolve into one of three new types. Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon were solo Water, Electric, and Fire types that could hold their own in battle. As such, every player had a reason to add this Pokemon to their team.

The developers didn't stop there, though. Eevee received two more evolutions in Gen 2, with one of these being Umbreon, a Dark type introduced to try and balance the super-powerful Psychic type. Eevee has received three more forms since then, and there are plenty more options for a new evolution in the future. As a result, Eevee is a Pokemon that has constantly been upgraded and will most likely continue to be upgraded as the series continues.