Rare Article: 3 Pokémon that Need Evolutions

Sometimes good Pokémon are rendered unusable by their inability to evolve. We're going to look at three Pokémon, from old to new, that deserve an evolution.

Chapter 1: Farfetch'd, Or: The Feathered Failure

Farfetch'd is an odd one, no doubt about it. With, I would argue, one of the coolest Pokémon designs ever, it is odd that Gamefreak would pair it with such underwhelming stats. A clear way to remedy this would be through an added evolution. There are several ways to go about this. The first would be to keep his Normal/Flying typing and give him a more "bird of prey" look, a la Fearow or Braviary. A second, and perhaps more interesting option, would be to make Farfetch'd's evolution be the first Fighting/Flying type. This option would probably play up the leek that Farfetch'd is perpetually carrying make it a little more weaponized. Perhaps even one in each hand, like nun chucks. That'd be baller.

Chapter 2: Smeargle, Or: The Anticlimactic Artist

At first glance it seems that a Smeargle evolution would be overpowered. After all, it can learn every single move in the game. We wouldn't want anything too powerful to have that capability. However, Smeargle's base stats add up to only 250. That puts it below Rattata when looking only at base stats. A Smeargle evolution wouldn't have to increase its stats dramatically, but just enough to allow it to actually enter the competative game beyond being just a decent baton passer. Oh, Smeargle. So much promise, so little delivery. :'(

Chapter 3: Emolga, Or: The Mediocre Mammal

Emolga is pretty boss. When it comes to battle potential, it has only two type weaknesses, and is a speedy user of the fantastic new move, Volt Switch. When it comes to design, he's just straight up gangster. However, other than that it's pretty lackluster. with both of its offensive base stats only reaching 65, Emolga isn't going to be able to do much damage, and his defensive stats and HP are even lower, so those aren't options either. It's a shame that Nintendo had to waste such a cool concept, namely the flying squirrel, on a Pokémon that doesn't evolve. Even so, Emolga is still one of my favorite Pokémon from Gen V.

There we have it folks. I thought I'd write on this because my last few articles were really technical. A few numbers still snuck into this one, but it's definitely a lighter read. Hope you liked it!

PS: I also hope you liked my chapter subtitles this time. I had to consult a thesaurus at one point to think of an apt alliterative phrase.