Support NeoGAF

[A Link to the Past]

Call it

Electric - Lightning
Grass - Plant
Ghost - Spirit
Fairy - Magic
Psychic - Mind
Fighting - Strength
Water
Fire
Ice
Poison
Steel - Metal
Dragon
Bug
Ground - Earth
Flying - Sky
Normal
Rock
Dark (Dark is fine, it doesn't have to be in the literal meaning it could just mean a dark disposition :V)

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

I'm just wondering how that bat legendary wasn't Fairy/Dark given the association with the moon and coloration.

Or the Pixie Trio from Gen 4 not being pure Fairy. Or the Azumarill line being Fairy at all.

 

[PinballRJ]

I don't know what it's called everywhere else but in New Hampshire we call them Frost Heaves

 

[NormalFish]

Yeah, pokemon typing is a bit odd. I always wrote it off as being a bit of an after thought, which isn't really an excuse but makes sense, given that the actual typings aren't much of a focus in truth.

 

[ash_ag]

I have no major issue with types being inconsistent term-wise, but I do think certain names sometimes limit the concepts they can use to create new Pokémon. Anything related to Air/Wind is a prime example of that. Very few Pokémon are Flying-type because of their association with Air (rather than their ability to fly). Perhaps just Tornadus and Fan Rotom.

I mentioned the three types I find narrow in a previous post:

I was recently thinking that it may not be a bad idea to rename a few types and make them more workable with further concepts. For example:

• Flying-type -> Sky-type. It's a very well known thing that the element of Air/Wind has little representation in the series when not in the context of "flying". Sky is a good name, in that it can represent both flying in general, and further related concepts, like wind.
• Ghost-type -> Horror-type or Weird-type. Maybe there's a better name, but the basic idea is Ghost-type representing not just ghosts, but all related mythological concepts. "Horror" speaks for itself; mummies, vampires, zombies, and so on. "Weird" refers to weird fiction, which is a Horror subgenre of sorts. As a type name, it would provide an antithesis to Normal-type.
• Poison-type -> Biohazard-type. Okay, I'm joking with this one. I'm not sure what a suitable name would be, but I always thought "Poison" is too narrow as a concept compared to, say, Water or Fire. Poison-type representing biological hazards in general (implementing concepts like radiation, for example) could be interesting.

A few less important changes would be Ground -> Earth, Steel -> Metal, and Psychic -> Cosmic. They would be better descriptors for the actual types, but considering those three already do a good job in not strictly sticking to what their name implies, it's not a big deal.

I don't really care for the name changes, but I definitely want these three to expand to new concepts. A Poison-type based on nuclear radiation, a Ghost-type based on zombies, a Flying-type based on wind control. The revelation of Solgaleo and Lunala as Psychic-types is yet another example of a type not used within its strict territory, and the reason why we frankly don't need a Cosmic-type.

 

[18-Volt]

I believe Satoshi Tajiri borrowed types Ghost and Dragon from his favorite game, Dragon Quest V: Undead and Dragon. Maybe Steel too, Dragon Quest games also have "material" type of monsters.

 

[Beyonce Beytwice]

Fun fact: there are three types with different names in Japanese: Dark (the Evil type), Fire (the Flame type), and Psychic (the Esper type).

 

[Samaritan]

You're definitely reading way too much into all of this. However! I can agree with pretty much all of your renames. Spirit instead of Ghost, Light instead of Fairy, Metal instead of Steel, Strength instead of Fighting, Mind instead of Psychic, Lightning instead of Electric. All of these are good ideas. I've always been of the opinion that Ground and Rock should've just been combined into Earth.

 

[The Silver]

I just want them to free the cosmic type from the evil clutches of psychic, tired of them slapping psychic on space things.

 

[RionaaM]

I agree with most of the things in the OP. The thing that bugs me is Poison being a separate type, when that's not the case for any other status. There's no Sleep type, no Paralysis. Why is Poison so special? It should probably be changed to Chemical, or something like that (kinda like the Biohazard joke type that was posted above, but a bit more serious). It could also include corrosive stuff, like acid, which doesn't necessarily poison you.

Speaking of status effects, why isn't Confusion a proper condition? You even have Frozen as one, which happens maybe once every three or four games, meanwhile Confusion is 10000x as common but it doesn't get its own status label. Don't get me wrong, I hate it because it's totally annoying, but if it's gonna be there then it would be fair to put it on the same level as the others.

 

[Beyonce Beytwice]

I agree with most of the things in the OP. The thing that bugs me is Poison being a separate type, when that's not the case for any other status. There's no Sleep type, no Paralysis.

Burn and Frozen say hi

 

[RionaaM]

Burn and Frozen say hi

But burn and frozen are brought about by Fire and Ice, which imply more than the result (getting burned or turned into ice). You can heat something or cool it without reaching breaking point. Poison is just being poisoned, nothing more.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

you can poison things in a million different ways and at different strengths too...

 

[Syril]

Speaking of status effects, why isn't Confusion a proper condition? You even have Frozen as one, which happens maybe once every three or four games, meanwhile Confusion is 10000x as common but it doesn't get its own status label. Don't get me wrong, I hate it because it's totally annoying, but if it's gonna be there then it would be fair to put it on the same level as the others.

Confusion doesn't have its own label because it wears off when the one who has it leaves or ends battle and can be stacked with other statuses.

 

[Somnid]

Dark always confused me. I thought it was evil/demonic and could never tell what was a dark move until I realized it was more like "pokemon who fight dirty"/street brawler.

 

[Benzychenz]

I've thought about this too.

Flying is a weird name for the type when wind/air works so well.
Grass is strangely specific, and plant or something would be better.
Bug especially has always been weird to me, like a bug can be poison or ground or flying

Spoiler

/wind

or whatever else. There isn't a 'fish' type or anything like that. Dragon/ghost I never minded as they were special types for a select few Pokemon (for the first couple gens at least).

 

[papertoonz]

The Species : Bug / Dragon / Fairy / Ghost​

-inue…!? So now we have types referring to the species of a POKéMON? Where’s the logic in this? Why are Bug and Dragon types but not Dog or Cat? I don’t really know how to get these in line with the others… seems fitting we’re stuck at thirteen, the unlucky number. There’s no real way to incorporate these fully into the element system, but with a bit of creativity we can figure this out.

just a question you do know charizard isn't any of those types right?

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

So I take it the Fairy type reclassified pokemon like Clefairy and Clefable from Normal to Fairy? What is Fairy strong and weak against?

 

[Llyrwenne]

just a question you do know charizard isn't any of those types right?

That was the joke. >w> Charizard is obviously a dragon or at least dragon-like enough to be indistinguishable from other dragons, but is not Dragon type. I get that they did this for gameplay purposes ( who would not want the Dragon starter? ), but it still highlights a weird quirk in that a POKéMON of a certain species can not get the type that indicates that species because of gameplay reasons. Bonus fun fact; apparently Charizard cannot learn Fly in POKéMON Red / Blue despite being Flying type and having huge wings.

Seeing some cool tidbits here, might put an extra "Fun Facts" bit in the OP for them;

But hey what can you expect from the series where there is a Ground type move called Spikes that no ground type Pokemon can learn...

Yes I am serious.

Fun fact: there are three types with different names in Japanese: Dark (the Evil type), Fire (the Flame type), and Psychic (the Esper type).

I believe Satoshi Tajiri borrowed types Ghost and Dragon from his favorite game, Dragon Quest V: Undead and Dragon. Maybe Steel too, Dragon Quest games also have "material" type of monsters.

^ ( Anyone got a source for this one? ) ^

Even though I find English translation better than the Spanish translation, in Spanish "Grass" type is "Plant" Type (Planta), Ground type is "Tierra", a word that can refer to Land, Earth AND Ground at the same type. Dark Type is "Siniestro" (Evil Type) and so on.

Fighting type is for those Pokemon whose fighting style resembles those of human fighters, by the use of Martial Arts, Wrestling and other type of fighting. It even has something as an Energy blast like hadoken. In Spanish it is "Lucha" which is a word that can be used for everything mentioned.