Fun Pokemon History

Fun Pokemon is a way for Elloss and Dworlock to get full enjoyment of mediocre Pokemon games that don't fulfill the same amount of fun from the base games themselves. This is our way to express our own ideas and worlds in the form of a simple battle system based on Pokemon mechanics. This article will also break down the categories of the different Fun Pokemon existing thus far. Other articles will also describe Fun Pokemon by batch.

Origin
Elloss found an exploit in his 3DS and used a guide to add custom firmware to it. Essentially, he found a way to hack his 3DS. This created a whole new world of possibilities of fun. He started with adding game ROMs on his 3DS and playing games that he wouldn't be able to regularly get from the Nintendo official online store. Eventually, Elloss told Dworlock about this and they both got in on all the hacking fun.

Soon after this discovery, we found a software on the PC which allows us to hack our 3DS save files. However, it was a very tedious process as it involved exporting the Pokemon save file and access it on his Mac by inserting the SD card into it. Then he opens the software, edits the save file, saves the changes, reinserts the SD card in the 3DS, imports the save file to the game, and finally is able to see the changes and new Pokemon in game.

With this discovery, Elloss as a joke made a Pokemon named Whisk Cash which was supposed to be a pet fish that Wario would own because of the name pun and the fact that it has a 'W' on its forehead. The mustache also helps connect the link as well. After he made this, Dworlock found the idea of making custom Pokemon based on fun stuff intriguing and this started the whole Fun Pokemon stuff we've been doing in "eras" since the beginning some time in the summer of 2018. And just like that, we have started something beautiful and Whisk Cash was the first of currently 72 different Fun Pokemon already created and more on the way.

Era 1 (Mac Era)
This was the beginning of our Fun Pokemon adventures. It took place from around the beginning of July 2018 and ended around mid-September. This era is distinct because the entire time we created all the Fun Pokemon on Elloss's Mac. In this era, it was the most lighthearted as we haven't started making tournaments yet; we just battled with our Fun Pokemon and many of them were even made intentionally terrible. In this era we created the following batches:


 * Batch 1
 * Batch 2

This was a simpler time in our Fun Pokemon days since there was no tournaments, tier lists, or any will to properly balance our Pokemon. There was also no central idea in the initial batch because it was just a bunch of funny jokes and memes we thought of when making these Pokemon battle each other. However, most of the inspiration came from the Pokemon Anime and Monster Hunter series.

The second batch was much smaller (half the size) and can be distinguished from the first batch since most of the Fun Pokemon are based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012 show. Also this batch was important because it is the origin of the most over-powered Fun Pokemon of them all, GLINTER!!!

One infamous Pokemon that never made the cut but was supposed to be in Batch 2 was a Fun Pokemon based on the monster Kirin from Monster Hunter. Elloss never properly finished because of a combination of a lack of ideas, growing tired of making Pokemon using the original method, and losing interest in the whole thing.

Era 2 (Tournament Era)
Around the fall of 2018, Elloss, who up to this point was the one who physically created the Fun Pokemon on the Mac, grew tired of this tedious method of creating them and pretty much abandoned the concept of Fun Pokemon despite Dworlock begging him to not just abandon it. They didn't come back to this activity until May 2019 when Elloss found a way to simplify the process of making Fun Pokemon greatly by making the Pokemon directly on the 3DS using a software that allows you to edit your Pokemon save files. When he discovered this, he quickly downloaded the software on both his and Dworlock's 3DS' and they immediately got to work on new Pokemon with a new sense of inspiration and motivation from the simplification of the process and a new list of ideas. Here are the batches made in this era:


 * Batch 3
 * Batch 4
 * Batch 5

Batch 3 is mostly a nonsense batch that we made just from random ideas that we came up with initially as we got back to making Fun Pokemon. We even made all of it in a single day. Soon after this though, we got to work on a serious new batch with a central theme. The fourth batch mostly consisted of characters from the Nickelodeon show Avatar: The Last Airbender. The reason for this is because we watched the show from beginning to end around the same time we started making Fun Pokemon again. This gave us lots of inspiration for characters from the show as it is a very beloved show to us and gave us lots of material to work with.

Around the end of Batch 4, we created a tier list of our Fun Pokemon up to this point for how we would rate the Pokemon just from random unstructured battles with each other.

After that batch, we took a small break to cool off and come up with new ideas when we eventually started a new batch again. In the beginning of summer 2019, we started making Batch 5 and we had the idea for something else new along with it: tournaments. With this batch we created the original mechanics and structure of tournaments which we wanted to implement since even before Batch 4. With this we created point counters for each Pokemon that was to be used to score a Pokemon in battles and give them a proper rating after enough tournaments are done. Examples of these point counters include AKM (Average Kills per Match), ATS (Average Turns Standing), AR (Actual Rating), and TR (Team Rating). After we did several (three) tournaments with all five existing batches, we decided that a lot of Fun Pokemon were suffering in battle because of being not properly balanced. Batch 1 suffered this the most because that batch had many Pokemon that were made initially for the joke instead of being a competitive Fun Pokemon. When this was made obvious based on their performance in battle and on their final statistics after the three tournaments, we realized that we needed to buff them properly and make them a Pokemon we would want to pick in a draft instead of choosing them last just because we had to fill our team slots. We then went to work on balancing them. Some of the biggest changes we made are completely changing a Pokemon in all aspects including, moves, abilities, items, nature, IV's, EV's, and even the Pokemon itself. Because of this, we had to approximate where these newly changed Fun Pokemon would place on a tier list, so we had to give them some "Safety Points" which were our guess on how much stronger they got after their buffs. With the changes, we were finally able to make a real tier list based on the tournaments instead of just our perceptions. And it came with many surprises.

Hibernation Period
After fixing the Pokemon and completing the latest tier list, we slowly started losing the motivation to create new Fun Pokemon as we transitioned to other games. However, we didn't completely lose inspiration for coming up with new ideas to make new ones. In fact we even started coming up with new concepts for a new batch during the hibernation period between the two eras. Dworlock actually made a few Batch 6 Pokemon before we got truly back into it. He made them because he didn't want to wait before Elloss got over his laziness to continue making Fun Pokemon and he also didn't want to lose the inspiration he had and let it go to waste. We also got ideas from our mini-stories, stuff that our mom says, and more Monster Hunter stuff.

Era 3 (Expansion Era)
Eventually by March 2020, Elloss regained the will to continue making Fun Pokemon again and they were back at it and better than ever before. Not only did we start making new batches again, we also made several new improvements to the tournament structure and also Elloss made new contributions to the Fun Pokemon universe by creating new graphics and even this wiki to keep records of all our Fun Pokemon and miscellaneous adventures. Here are the batches made in this era:


 * Batch 6
 * Batch 7

It started with Batch 6 which was a long time coming and was actually being created even before this era during the hibernation period. Batch 6 was a pretty balanced batch in terms of a theme with a healthy amount of different ideas. With this, Elloss made a category graphic that places all Pokemon up to this point in boxes based on their common theme.

Unfortunately, it was around this time when Dworlock lost his 3DS when he got in trouble. Because of this, we are now unable to properly test out our Batch 6 Fun Pokemon or even make any others. However, this didn't stop us from expanding on the Fun Pokemon concept.

While we were taking a walk to Wendy's, we started coming up with ideas to improve on the tournament structure such as how we will handle the drafting process as more Fun Pokemon are introduced, how status moves are accounted for, and some changes to the existing framework such as how points are scored. Once we complete Batch 7 and finish testing out both that and Batch 6, we will start doing tournaments again with the new structure so that we can update the tier list with the latest Pokemon and statistics.

By September 2020, Elloss and Dworlock worked out the details on the tournament rework. It includes changes to the drafting process, new ways to interact with your teams during the tournament, and a new stat called SEI which takes effects of non-damaging moves and abilities into account.

Batch 7 was also completed in this time after a long 6 months of taking a break from Fun Pokemon. Batch 7, as originally planned back in March, has a majority of Pokemon based off of Alien Planet, although a few less than originally intended in the final version. We also added a few Monster Hunter Pokemon which we had planned for Batch 8 but decided to use them for Batch 7 after we eliminated those Alien Planet slots. Overall, this batch came out to have the vast majority of Pokemon being physical, creating a larger imbalance between the number of physical and special Pokemon they have made. It wasn't until six months after the creation of Batch 7 in March 2021 that they returned to Fun Pokemon to finally finish testing these two batches.

Near the end of this Era after testing out Batches 6 and 7, Elloss and Dworlock looked back at the Pokemon from previous batches that still were bad. They had found that several Pokemon, mostly from Batches 1 and 3, were still horrible and seriously needed buffing. This is when we began our second major rework. Some of the Pokemon that received major changes are Horseradish, Go Puferfish, Thunderarmor, Zuko, Zapdragos, Squidwhoa, Ganon, and Elderblast. A lot of other Pokemon also received minor changes that gave it slightly better endurance, made their strategies better, and increased their power. This usually meant changes to their EVs, abilities, and maybe one or two moves. The reason we went back and fixed so many Pokemon was to make them as good as they can get before they start doing tournaments so that their inferiority doesn't lower their AR score when playing in them. Elloss and Dworlock are especially happy with how these Pokemon have turned out because we gave most of them really creative, new strategies that makes them more interesting, fun to use, and powerful.

Era 4 (Revolution Era)
Once they finished testing Batch 6 and 7, fixed a bunch of bad, old Pokemon, and tested all those out, Era 3 finally came to a close after being dragged on for so long since the beginning of last year. This new era is defined by the new ways that they will be doing Fun Pokemon related stuff from now on. This includes playing in the new tournaments format, the new tier system, and the new way batches will be made from now on. Here are the batches made in this era:


 * Batch 8 (currently being made)
 * Batch A (planned)
 * Batch 9 (planned)

The new tournament format includes a variety of changes to the original tournament structure including the new SEI stat, the new Ban & Switch system, and the new pool group where "benched" Pokemon will sit. This era will see the use of the new tournament format. We will do at least three tournaments before we give a conclusive AR rating for all the Pokemon up to Batch 8. This will also allow us to create a new tier list which will also use new tiers that from worst to best go "Okay, Good, Great, Amazing, Exceptional."

Batch 8 is the last conventional batch that will be made with 12 Pokemon per batch. Because of Elloss and Dworlock having used almost every good move and ability remaining, creating 12 new Pokemon per batch is not only draining because of trying to come up with unique move sets, but coming up with 12 different Fun Pokemon is difficult and requires a lot of reasoning on why it should get certain move sets. Because of this, batches from now on will only consist of 6 Pokemon each, similar to how Batch 2 and 3 are. This will allow them put in less time and effort into creating new Fun Pokemon while still keeping the move sets fresh and innovative by not experiencing "Fun Pokemon Design Fatigue".

Another new addition to Era 4 is the creation of Alternative Move set or "Alt Set" Pokemon for short. These batches will consist of new reimaginings of existing Fun Pokemon that will have new strategies, new move sets, and even new Pokemon. They will stand out from the original Pokemon with a new but similar name. These Alt Set Pokemon are a fun way of creating new Fun Pokemon without having to come up with new concepts every time. This allows us to give old Pokemon new breaths of life by reimagining their entire concept. These batches will be lettered instead of numbered to show that they contain Alt Set Pokemon instead of entirely new Pokemon. The first of these Alt Set batches is Batch A and will be created after the release of Batch 8.

Along with all these new additions, new graphics will be designed to be updated with all Pokemon existing up to Batch 8. One new graphic will be an updated version of the Category graphic from the previous Era, but will look much better and will include Batches 7 and 8. Another new graphic will be the tier list with the new tier system and have all Pokemon up to Batch 8 as well. Finally, a new type of graphic, the "Style" graphic, will divide all existing Pokemon into five distinct styles: Tough Guys, Strikers, Marios, Supports, and Glass Cannons. You can read more about Fun Pokemon Styles by following this link.