Most Disappointing Pokémon Evolutions Of Each Generation

Working towards evolution is one of the many goals a player has in the Pokémon games, but some evolutions end up being a disappointment. Whether it’s raising a Pokémon from an egg to its final form, or raising a starter until it evolves for the first time, watching Pokémon grow and change through the course of the trainer’s journey is one of the many facets of the Pokémon series that is so engaging. However, while there are plenty of fantastic evolutionary forms for players to collect, there are also some real flops that end up stuck in storage boxes.

One of the biggest reasons for a Pokémon evolution to become one of the worst comes down to poor design. Every generation in the Pokémon series has a few ugly ducklings visually. While this isn’t as big a deal for unevolved Pokémon, as players may choose not to catch and raise them, it’s far more frustrating when that unfortunate design pops up at the end of an evolutionary chain. What could start as an adorable addition to a player’s team could easily turn into a nightmarish monster after evolving.

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Pokémon’s Worst Evolution Designs: Generation 1 – Muk

The only way to truly avoid some of these failures is to check each chain of evolution before dedicating the time to raise each Pokémon, but this can ruin the surprise of organically discovering each region’s Pokémon. Not every evolution can be a Magikarp evolving into a Gyarados, and even though Generation 1 has pretty solid designs throughout all 151 original Pokémon, Muk is a definite eyebrow raiser. The evolved form of Grimer is basically just its pre-evolution, but bigger. Muk is a Poison-type and is nothing more than a sentient pile of ooze. This gives it the least original design and the prize for the worst Pokémon evolution in the entire Generation.

Pokémon’s Worst Evolution Designs: Generation 2 – Octillery

The Generation 2 Pokémon Octillery doesn’t really make sense. The final evolution of the fish Pokémon Remoraid, this Water-type Pokémon already suffers from an uninteresting design, as it is basically just an octopus with a long nose. However, the real question is how Remoraid, who has an interesting design for a fish-inspired Pokémon, turns into an octopus and one of the worst Pokémon evolutions. Unlike the popular Pokémon GO buddy Magikarp, which has a fantasy element to it when it evolves into Gyarados, Octillery doesn’t make sense as an evolution and feels more like it should stand alone.

Pokémon’s Worst Evolution Designs: Generation 3 – Slaking

Following Gen 1 and 2, Generation 3’s Pokémon range from the well-loved designs like Gardevoir to unfortunate and forgettable designs like Slaking. The entire evolutionary chain for Slaking isn’t fantastic, and it suffers the tragic fate that many Normal-type Pokémon face: being forgettable.

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Slaking only has a defensive move-set going for it, with moves like Rest and Recover to make it a difficult opponent to knock out. However, as it spends most of its battle sleeping and recovering, and not attacking, it is only helpful to players trying to drag out a battle while they revive their other unconscious team members. This is easily the worst Pokémon evolution design in Gen 3.

Pokémon’s Worst Evolution Designs: Generation 4 – Probopass

Generation 4’s Pokémon were a curious mess of added evolutions for prior generations. Probopass is no exception to this, with its pre-evolution Nosepass coming from Generation 3. While potentially meaning to be inspired by the Easter Island Heads of Chile, they didn’t quite make the mark. Instead, Probopass is a floating, Steel/Rock-type nose with a gush of nose hair exploding from its nostrils. With the generation’s worst Pokémon design added to a lacking pre-evolution, Probopass is not the most appealing pick for a player’s team and is one of the worst Pokémon evolution designs altogether.

Pokémon’s Worst Evolution Designs: Generation 5 – Conkeldurr

The Pokémon of Generation 5 harbored many unfortunate designs like Trubbish and Vanillite. However, Conkeldurr takes the cake for the ugliest final evolution of the Generation. The fighting type Pokémon evolves from Timburr, and the entire chain has grotesque veins worked into their designs. The beige skin color of Conkeldurr, and its creepy face make it an ugly and scary thing to bump into when wandering the Sword and Shield Wild Area. For players wanting a solid fighting type, Lucario is a much better pick that looks very good when compared to this bad Pokémon evolution design.

Pokémon’s Worst Evolution Designs: Generation 6 – Malamar

Generation 6 kicks the previous Generations poor designs, bringing players a slew of fantastic Pokémon. However, Malamar is not one of them. Evolving from Inkay, an adorable tiny squid Pokémon, this Dark/Psychic-type looks like an alien.

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Not only is it freakishly tall, with evil eyes on either side of its squid beak, but the anime gives it a particularly terrifying personality, as it regularly attacks Ash and his friends and takes over the mind of unsuspecting victims. This upside-down squid could easily be traded out on a Pokémon team for another Psychic-type, which would guarantee not having to use one of the worst Pokémon evolution designs.

Pokémon’s Worst Evolution Designs: Generation 7 – Incineroar

Generation 7 has some truly inventive and fun designs for players to add to their Pokédex. However, the biggest design disappointment in this generation is one of the three starters for the Alola Region, though it’s at least not one of Gen 7’s easily forgotten Pokémon. Incineror is the final evolution of Litten, and one of the worst Pokémon evolution designs ever. It takes the adorable fire cat starter and puts it on two legs as a wrestler. Of all the design choices that developers could have taken with this starter, Incineroar was not what anyone wanted. To add to the Pokémon’s ample disappointments, instead of being a Fire/Fighting-type to match its pro-wrestler theme, it is Fire/Dark type, making for an overall confusing design.

Pokémon’s Worst Evolution Designs: Generation 8 – Grimmsnarl

Generation 8’s Galar region brought back the same sort of design quality player’s got to see in Pokémon X&Y, with many adorable and powerful new Pokémon making their way into the region’s Pokédex. However, if there is an ugly face in Galar, Grimmsnarl takes first prize. The final evolution of the creepy little Pokémon Impidimp, Grimmsnarl is a Dark/Fairy-type akin to a creature from a horror film and the worst Pokémon evolution design in Gen 8. While the Pokémon takes inspiration from the evil fairies of UK myths, the overall design could have been slightly less hairy and potentially more ethereal. Grimmsnarl’s Gigantamax form in Pokémon Sword and Shield doesn’t help it either, as it just becomes an even bigger version of its ugly self.

Pokémon’s Worst Evolution Designs: Generation 9 – Brambleghast

Generation 9’s Paldea region has many bad Pokémon evolutions, but the worst Pokémon evolution design in Gen 9 is Brambleghast. It is not, by itself, a bad design, but it is almost identical to its previous form, Bramblin. This Pokémon from Scarlet and Violet is a master class in lack of creativity. It is extremely easy to mix up Brambleghast with Bramblin, seeing that their differences are tiny. Even Tandemaus and Maushold, which are similar, have notable differences. Honorable mentions for the worst Pokémon evolution designs in Paldea are Pawmot, Spidops, and Palafin (Zero Form).

For some Pokémon, evolving doesn’t make them more appealing for players to add to their party. Bad Pokémon evolution designs can break a solid pre-evolved design, or create a line of forgettable or unfortunate evolutions that players might not want to haul around a region. While every Pokémon generation since the first has lackluster additions, thankfully the Pokémon series offers plenty of powerful and interesting designs to make up for it.

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Source: The Official Pokémon YouTube channel