One thousand and twenty-five. That’s how many Pokémon exist now, after nine generations of creature-collecting RPGs. As Pokémon turns 30 — and as it’s about to usher in a new crop of creatures through Winds and Waves — there’s no better time to rank the best of the best. Herein, the 100 best Pokémon of all time.
Yes, you might notice the scales here tipped toward Pokémon introduced in Red and Blue. On the one hand, that probably reveals much about the collective elder millennial tastes of Team Polygon. But on the other, the original 151 are true classics — designs that have endured over the decades for good reason.
That’s the beauty and the brilliance of Pokémon. Nearly every one of these creatures speaks to at least one Pokémon fan. Ask ten people their favorite, you’ll get ten different answers. And as Pokémon continues to evolve, those tastes will only get more varied. Here’s to another 1,025.
How we chose the 100 best Pokémon of all time: Polygon writers and editors submitted ballots ranking their 20 top favorite Pokémon. From there, a small group of in-house Pokémon experts discussed the tiebreakers, considering factors like cuteness, coolness, and overall cultural impact in determining placements. Data for entries was sourced from the inimitably valuable Bulbapedia and Serebii resources.
Polygon Quiz
Easy (15s)Medium (10s)Hard (5s)
100
Arceus (#493)
Generation: 4
Type: Normal (but technically all of them)
Arceus sounds like the type of Pokémon an overeager kid would invent. It can be any type! All its stats are equally awesome! It created the universe! It’s a unicorn and a dragon! But Arceus really is that awesome: It headlined its own game, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, one of the best-regarded entries in years.
99
Venusaur (#3)
Generation: 1
Type: Grass/Poison
Venusaur is validation for the impatient. Its competing final-form Gen 1 starters, Charizard and Blastoise, evolve when you level up Charmeleon and Wartortle respectively to level 36. Venusaur, meanwhile, evolves when you level up Ivysaur to level 32. Forget the lesson about the tortoise and the hare.
98
Trubbish (#568)
Generation: 5
Type: Poison
Some people look down on the trash Pokémon. We would never. In fact, these sentient piles of garbage deserve just as much love as the all-powerful Legendaries and awww-powerful cuties. The trash Pokémon are emblematic of the creativity that courses through this series, of the school of thought that anything can serve as inspiration for good creature design. And Trubbish is, quite literally, the trashiest.
97
Poliwhirl (#61)
Generation: 1
Type: Water
Poliwhirl has always possessed a fierce serenity. Its final-stage evolution, Poliwrath, walks around with rage on its face, a loose cannon ready to start a fight. Make no mistake — with those mitts, Poliwhirl could still win a fight. But its calm eyes belie peace, which is more welcome than ever these days.
96
Kabutops (#141)
Generation: 1
Type: Water/Rock
Imagine you’re a paleontologist. You head to the dig site, expecting to analyze some sediment or maybe uncover some bones. And then you discover a trilobite with swords for hands. The original crop of fossil Pokémon — including Kabuto, Omanyte, Omastar, and Aerodactyl — teased a richness to the world of Pokémon, that Red and Blue were but a chapter in an ongoing saga flush with ancient history.
95
Slaking (#289)
Generation: 3
Type: Normal
Slaking is living the dream. In Pokédex entries for multiple regions, it is called “the world’s laziest Pokémon” — a giant oaf of a creature who spends its days lying around, sitting around, loafing around, and only when the need calls for it, moving around. To find food. Before returning to lying, sitting, loafing. Truly, the dream.
94
Vanillish (#583)
Generation: 5
Type: Ice
Vanillish helped steer Pokémon into some uneasy territory: Would you eat a Pokémon? Should you eat a Pokémon? Vanillish is, by all appearances, an ice cream cone with a scoop of tempting vanilla soft serve on it. But it also has feelings. And a face. And is smiling. For the philosophical quandaries it raises, Vanillish makes the cut.
93
Latios (#381)
Generation: 3
Type: Dragon/Psychic
For years, the Master Ball was thought of as a tool to be saved, kept in your back pocket for one use: instantly capturing the most powerful Pokémon in the game. Latios isn’t the most powerful Pokémon in Ruby and Sapphire, the games that introduced it, but it is arguably the hardest to find. So when you lucked out enough to find it, well, you learned not to waste the chance. Latios helped redefine the use of a quintessential Pokémon item. And did it all while combining two of the coolest categories of action figure — dragons and fighter jets — into one elegant design.
92
Latias (#380)
Generation: 3
Type: Dragon/Psychic
All of the above. Red’s a better look, though.
91
Clefairy (#35)
Generation: 1
Type: Fairy
Clefairy was a normal-type Pokémon for roughly a decade and a half. When the sixth generation of games introduced the new fairy type, shaking up the longstanding Pokémon type chart, several Pokémon adopted it. Clefairy was the mascot for the change (and, by extension, for Pokémon’s general willingness to shake up its fundamentals when needed). It’s right in the name!
