The Case For Power Creep in Pokémon

People often talk about power creep in Pokémon like it’s a bad thing, but in this video, I discuss why it is not necessarily a bad thing and is actually good when done in moderation.

Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:40 - What Power Creep Looks Like
04:29 - Why Power Creep is a Thing
09:31 - Power Creep in Real Life
10:50 - Excessive Cases of Power Creep
13:35 - Good Examples of Power Creep
14:55 - Outro

[InsertFunnyThingHere]

People shit on the signature move spam and like i get it, but also I'd much rather have a bunch of pokemon with wacky unique moves over "this guy is the exact same as last guy but he's slightly more minmaxed and has like one extra good move"

[videakias]

I hope false swipe gaming will do "how GOOD was base 100 speed ACTUALLY".
He did say that this speed tier could have its own video back when he was talking about charizard.
this speed isn't as good as it used anymore.
I think that 120 is the new 100.

[T.W.]

The fact that moves get better on average is mostly because GameFreak doesn’t introduce as many wide spread new moves anymore and new moves are usually Signature Moves who are meant to be stronger and special.


Also Power Creep did Scorvillain dirty. Poor fella couldn’t even hold his unique type combo for one generation…

[ShakerSilver]

Something left unexamined is the impact this power creep can have on the options you have to play with. New strong pokemon can be interesting, but it's more interesting when it increases the options you have rather reducing them by overshadowing them.

[MustafaZincir-rc]

I don't like when old Pokémon get completely outclassed by power creep. It feels unnecessary.

[GeatShadw]

I honestly think ability‘s are the biggest factor in power creep. Yes, stats are getting more min maxed and moves are becoming more generally powerful but with these things you can only push the numbers so far. Ability‘s basically let you say „I want this pokemon to whatever I want“ and that’s kind of what they’ve been doing. People talk about Mewtwo having below average typing and stats for a modern restricted and that’s true but it also has… pressure. For a nother example look at how much worse Zacian got upon having it’s ability nerved. The -20 attack isn’t what did it in, it’s the fact intrepid sword is only once per battle. Ability‘s are becoming more and more important and yes, more creative too. If you wanted to buff old pokemon better ability‘s wouldn’t be the only thing many of them need but it would be a very good starting point.

[typemasters]

Honestly, my only gripe with power creep is how it makes some Pokemon “old Pokemon but better”
But if power creep has to exist then there are two things that I want to see continue or see more of
1. Make sure some of the Pokemon in a generation are intentionally bad, have their appeal be their design or a niche combination of type, ability, and move pool
2. Buff older Pokemon with new moves, abilities, and possibly increased BST to make sure they don’t just become weaker versions of new Pokemon

Also I think keeping most of the power creep to legendaries, mythicals, and other group categories (Ultra Beasts and Paradox Pokemon) is a good idea, one reason being that it creates a divide for players who don’t want to mess with power creep and another reason being that the real world isn’t all “Canada has stronger animals because it was founded after America”

[abopo]

You made some good points, and I liked the graphs. But, saying that releasing average strength Pokemon is bad marketing is a very weak argument. I don't think anyone has bought a Pokemon game because they heard the new legendary is OP. Casuals buy the games because they love Pokemon, and competitors buy the games because tournaments are held in the newest game. The relative strength of the new Pokemon is irrelevant to sales imo.

[flareblitz]

I personally think small buffs to older pokemon over time could help combat power creep. An example of this is Electrode getting 10 extra speed points in Gen 7

[hunterkinsella]

There’s only one Pokémon I think is completely egregious: Urshifu. Because it fundamentally breaks the way competitive is played.

[lasercraft]

Power creep is only bad when its overdone... And I think it is definitely wayyy overblown, especially when it comes to the DLC Pokemon. You shouldn't need to pay for the strongest Pokemon (Urshifu and Calyrex especially).

[ShadowNinjaMaster]

We absolutely do not need power creep to push sales, lets be extremely real here. TPC could release Pokemon Trash and Pokemon Garbage with absolutely not a single Pokemon stronger than the previous gens, but if there are good or charming pokemon designs in it, people would buy them in droves. Remember: The games dont drive up profits for TPC, its merchandise.

[BigMuskachini]

gholdengo blocking defog is kind of main character syndrome though. Rapid spin and status is already enough

[Moakmeister]

I just wish that old Pokemon would get incremental buffs to keep them relevant. Like if Garchomp ever became bad, they’d give it Dragon Dance.
Edit: also Gyarados needs a better movepool now, holy balls. Give that guy Brave Bird, Roost, and Wave Crash ffs, all its attacks have such low base power.

[Aurora-knfu]

Then there is arceus the most balanced,
no difference between attacking and defending stats
No stat over 140
No Broken ability that destroys part of the game like ignoring status
And also needs to hold an item to change forms

[TheDelybird]

Gotta hard agree with Ogerpon being a well done version of power creep. It's role compression is also next level with follow me and different forms, but still feels fair.
Love the sports comparison even though I do not follow sports much it makes sense!

[MultiAmmar]

Power creep doesn't have to be as intense as it has been in the past couple of generations.

Incremental power creep is good enough and does the job. Otherwise, we would end up like Yu-Gi-Oh. And Yugioh is insane, as a yugioh player.

[olivernelson]

I wish that game freak would go back and slightly buff older gens, not enough to make them broken, but just enough they have a chance to compete or be considered

[qualityarsenic]

6:25 "They can't just change these stats completely." Sure they can, they just choose not to. They've done so in the past, but it's only really been minor buffs to certain Pokemon's stats, and even then they usually underperformed after the buffs. Gamefreak just refuses to go whole-hog and give Pokemon that are never used a stat rework. Even the miniscule stat buffs that were given to certain Pokemon over the generations caused them to gain some traction since they were better than before, even if not by much. Imagine if they gave some select Pokemon entire stat reworks to account for the Physical/Special split? And no, I don't mean like Mega evolutions. Gamefreak are just too cowardly to try it, and it's always kinda ticked me off when people defend it as "they can't".

A great video regardless, but I didn't really like that point. Pretty much everything else has no holes.

[nicolasromani]

Honestly my problem is not with the new Pokémon with minmaxed stats and ridiculous abilities. It's with the broken new moves that older mons don't get access to.
Fishious Rend, Rage Fist, Last Respects, Population Bomb, Lumina Crash, Jet Punch, Ivy Cudgel, Wicked Blow and Surging Strikes are crimes against humanity and throw any semblance of balance out the window.