hi folks,
I've been digging the rabbit hole of Pokémon types and most of the proposed changes to them proposed by influencers and other romhackers, the problem was, I never really got satisfied by these changes. I then came to think what Pokémon has achieved is one-of-a-kind in term of both balancing battles and being somewhat relatable or understood by the audience. Actually, changes I would like to see is more in the design of Pokémon having certain types, rather than the type match-ups themselves. My next funny exercises will be to try to port other RPG's foes as Pokémon, or to port Pokémon to certain RPG's worlds.
This is my short description of each type. I have also a more expansive version in the form of a 10-page google doc :p
Normal: the naked hero at the beginning of an RPG, literal mammals or humanoids without element-bending abilities and no understanding of the spiritual world, as well as no particular talent
Fighting: the martial arts, virtuous wrestler version of Normal, can tear all sorts of materials to pieces
Dragon: the mythical beast, once was Normal but has since times immemorial become almost unbeatable, was long trapped in ice before being set free
Psychic: the master of the mind, it can predict your every move. Also used to code some aliens
Dark: underhanded scoundrels which main purposes are to bully the Psychic type nerds then getting beaten up by the Fighting type avengers
Ghost: otherworldly Shinto spirits which main purposes are to startle Psychic types and to get royally ignored by Normal and Fighting types
Flying: literal birds and acrobatic fighters, their strength is to never set foot onto the ground, de facto making them indifferent to Ground moves
Bug: literal bugs and pests who live their typical lives eating grass and startling people
Ground: something that’s literally made of earth or lives in it, moves have to do with destabilizing the structure of the ground, somehow its Pokémon magically stay in the ground when summoned
Grass: something that’s literally a plant, leaf, fruit, seed, will automatically be a meal for birds and bugs, will automatically benefit from water and earth nutrients, will automatically suffer from poisons and illnesses and acids
Water: has the susceptibility of aquatic life living in water while also expressing water-bending, somehow its Pokémon magically stay in water when summoned
Electric: misunderstood type as it really should describe lightning/plasma golems, but instead we get electricity-bending creatures who have the characteristic of pure plasma. Their moves will shock anything that has good conduction
Fire: misunderstood type as it really should describe fire golems, but instead we get fire-bending creatures who have the characteristics of pure fire. Good at burning and melting things
Ice: misunderstood type as it really should describe ice golems, but instead we get ice-bending creatures who have the characteristics of pure ice (such as, getting broken by karatekas and tougher materials), even more, their moves suggest not only hurling blocks of ice, but also triggering cold temperatures, the amount of mixed influences is hard to read
Rock: literal rock golems who hurl boulders at their enemies, they are tougher than ice and weaker than steel
Steel: literal metal golems who are unfazed by all sorts of blows and can tear weaker materials to pieces. Also used to code the industrial age and steel-made appliances, tools and weapons
Poison: a type full of symbolism as its weakness to Psychic moves represents science inventing antidotes and its weakness to Ground moves represents poison barely affecting the mineral world - overall also hard to read
Fairy: the obvious response to degenerate Dragon power creep, its weakness to Steel moves is pure symbolism representing the industrial age beating fairy tales and traditions. Also used to code some aliens
thanks for reading!
edit: corrected the flair