Inspired by this post, I'm curious what people's most memorable encounters are against an NPC mon, be it boss or mook. There are similar threads floating out there but I think this differs in that I'm looking for memorable in-game mons which you have faced up against, not so much their trainers and respective rosters. I'll leave it open ended as to why people nominate a specific mon for their in-game Enemy Mon Hall of Fame, be it difficulty, showmanship, etc. But here's mine:
1. FRLG - Champion Rematch Rival's Blastoise
This is the one reason I hate picking Charmander in FRLG. It results in the absolute monster that is your rival's Blastoise in the champion rematch, a mon that can cover both of its weaknesses and still fire away with Hydro Pumps (potentially rain boosted) on anything it wants to hit for neutral or worse. Just a devastating mon that is very difficult to 1v1.
2. RS - Steven's Metagross
The first pseudo-legend you face in the franchise without a 4x weakness to exploit. This thing definitely left an imprint on me as a kid. Not just its stupendous stats, typing and menacing appearance, but I love the showmanship of Meteor Mash as a signature move. You had never seen it before and just by looking at the animation, you knew it was going to hurt. It's a punch from outer space for fuck's sake.
3. Pt - Fantina's Mismagius
For my money, the hardest Gym leader mon to take down ever, even more so than Whitney's Miltank. Just a nasty mon for that stage of the game that really forces you to think of some out of the box strategies and utilize true team work to take it down. Love the showmanship of Mismagius's matching visage with Fantina as well.
4. BW - Ghetsis's Hydreigon
Anther pseudo-legend without a 4x weakness (at the time). And with stupendous coverage it surely left a mark. Pretty decent showmanship as the first explicitly evil looking pseudo-legend to pair well with what might be the most overtly evil human being in the Pokémon universe. Perhaps to a fault, but I digress.
5. B2W2 - Iris's Haxorus
No matter what iteration, rematch, Challenge mode, whatever, that Focus Sash will cause problems. Once it gets off a Dragon Dance, good fucking luck.
With all of these, not having an easily exploitable 4x weakness goes a long way towards making the encounter memorable since that mon is most likely sticking around for a while. High stats aren't purely enough for me, which is why I kept off stalwarts like Cynthia's Garchomp and any of Lance's Dragonites. Anyway, curious to hear other people's thoughts...
1. FRLG - Champion Rematch Rival's Blastoise
This is the one reason I hate picking Charmander in FRLG. It results in the absolute monster that is your rival's Blastoise in the champion rematch, a mon that can cover both of its weaknesses and still fire away with Hydro Pumps (potentially rain boosted) on anything it wants to hit for neutral or worse. Just a devastating mon that is very difficult to 1v1.
2. RS - Steven's Metagross
The first pseudo-legend you face in the franchise without a 4x weakness to exploit. This thing definitely left an imprint on me as a kid. Not just its stupendous stats, typing and menacing appearance, but I love the showmanship of Meteor Mash as a signature move. You had never seen it before and just by looking at the animation, you knew it was going to hurt. It's a punch from outer space for fuck's sake.
3. Pt - Fantina's Mismagius
For my money, the hardest Gym leader mon to take down ever, even more so than Whitney's Miltank. Just a nasty mon for that stage of the game that really forces you to think of some out of the box strategies and utilize true team work to take it down. Love the showmanship of Mismagius's matching visage with Fantina as well.
4. BW - Ghetsis's Hydreigon
Anther pseudo-legend without a 4x weakness (at the time). And with stupendous coverage it surely left a mark. Pretty decent showmanship as the first explicitly evil looking pseudo-legend to pair well with what might be the most overtly evil human being in the Pokémon universe. Perhaps to a fault, but I digress.
5. B2W2 - Iris's Haxorus
No matter what iteration, rematch, Challenge mode, whatever, that Focus Sash will cause problems. Once it gets off a Dragon Dance, good fucking luck.
With all of these, not having an easily exploitable 4x weakness goes a long way towards making the encounter memorable since that mon is most likely sticking around for a while. High stats aren't purely enough for me, which is why I kept off stalwarts like Cynthia's Garchomp and any of Lance's Dragonites. Anyway, curious to hear other people's thoughts...