Unpopular opinions

[Theregan]

I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but I hope that Game Freak starts giving old Pokemon not named Eevee new evolutions again. And I hope they buff Zen-Mode for Darmanitan or Forecast for Castform.

I have to agree. I like Gen 4 for giving some of my favourite Pokemon (Yanma, Nosepass, Aipom) new opportunities in their evolutions. There are some Pokemon that I'd like to see an 'upgrade' for, and because GF is experimenting with new super-features, I don't think we'll be getting anymore evolutions, and that's really sad.

That being said, here's my unpopular opinion: I really, really hate prevolutions/baby Pokemon as a concept. I can stand Pokemon like Onix, who were worthless before an evolution, but introducing a weak-as-hell grindfest to be babied and raised diligently until a late evolution only nerfs the family of Pokemon, as I can just go over and catch and train something much easier through leveling up.

 

[Random Passerby]

I have to agree. I like Gen 4 for giving some of my favourite Pokemon (Yanma, Nosepass, Aipom) new opportunities in their evolutions. There are some Pokemon that I'd like to see an 'upgrade' for, and because GF is experimenting with new super-features, I don't think we'll be getting anymore evolutions, and that's really sad.

That being said, here's my unpopular opinion: I really, really hate prevolutions/baby Pokemon as a concept. I can stand Pokemon like Onix, who were worthless before an evolution, but introducing a weak-as-hell grindfest to be babied and raised diligently until a late evolution only nerfs the family of Pokemon, as I can just go over and catch and train something much easier through leveling up.

Yet BW2 gets around this by allowing early access to Lucario, Marill, Electabuzz, etc.

 

[mertyville]

Yes, new re-evolutions are a pain. I can somewhat accept Pichu, Elekid and so on, but Azurill and stuff that need an exclusive item is just too much. Most of the new pre-evos didn't even need one such as that Levitating Psychic type that you get close to late game in Gen 3.
Maybe they can make the items easier to get or just scrap the items overall.
After all Game Freak put even a tutor into the game that can teach Pikachu Volt Tackle... I wish they did that outside of an alola game where I can evolve my Pikachu in a regular Raichu...

 

[Codraroll]

That being said, here's my unpopular opinion: I really, really hate prevolutions/baby Pokemon as a concept. I can stand Pokemon like Onix, who were worthless before an evolution, but introducing a weak-as-hell grindfest to be babied and raised diligently until a late evolution only nerfs the family of Pokemon, as I can just go over and catch and train something much easier through leveling up.

If I may offer my take on this, and maybe put some words in your mouth too...

There's no need to hate pre-evolutions as a concept. I don't think you don't hate it on a conceptual level. But it's hate-worthy whenever the concept is crappily executed, which is actually surprisingly often.

Jigglypuff, Marill, Pikachu and Clefairy are early-game Pokémon. Most of them can be found before the second Gym in some game (Marill's natural habitat is surprisingly late in the games, considering that it evolves at level 18, the same as Turtwig and Totodile). They should be base stage "useless until evolution" Pokémon, and actually were, at first, before a base stage was crammed in below them on their evolutionary ladders. Likewise, nobody asked for a pre-evolution of Chimecho, arguably the worst Pokémon ever, or for something that evolved into the rather useless Wobbuffet. "Congrats, you managed to baby the thing until it evolved! Now watch it need even more babying!".

Likewise, the utility of Pokémon like Sudowoodo, Mantine or Mr. Mime was questionable already, giving them a lower stage probably didn't add much to their desirability.

But some baby Pokémon or pre-evolutions make loads of sense, and can actually enhance their evolutionary line. Take Magmar and Electabuzz, which were originally rather obscure late-game Pokémon. You wouldn't be likely to encounter them until your team was full, so you wouldn't be very likely to catch them. But Magby and Elekid are weak enough to be featured early in the game, letting you utilize the Magmar and Electabuzz line throughout your entire adventure. Happiny does this too, giving you a chance to obtain the elusive Chansey early on. Their evolution lines are transformed from obscure late-game lines to "full-adventure" lines you catch early on and then stick with. Of course, having a powerful late-game evolution helps a lot too. For full effect, the Pokémon receiving the pre-evolution might need a post-evolution too. See: Roselia and Chansey in addition to the two above.

Overall, I think pre-evolutions can be a good thing if applied correctly. There are certain single-stage Pokémon that appear in the wild so late that their utility is wearing off and players have begun to establish their final teams, that could benefit from a pre-evolution stage that brought them to the forefront much earlier in the game. I'd love to see Pokémon such as Cryogonal, Turtonator, Dhelmise or Druddigon get pre-evolution stages, so we could both see their families expanded beyond the outrageously boring "single-stage" concept, and get to use them a little earlier. Or put another way, I'd much rather have a Pokémon that evolves into Heatmor at level 36, than Heatmor remaining unavailable until met in the wild at level 40. But a pre-evolution is pretty worthless if the original Pokémon is encountered on Route 2 and evolves at level 20. That's the very definition of a pre-evolution to begin with, unless you're the cocoon stage of the Route 1 bug.

 

[Altissimo]

i hate pichu with a passion because of its uselessness lmao
and because I really like pikachu and am pissed they felt the need to give it a pre-evolution

 

[Kurona]

Another little sting pointless baby Pokémon like Pichu add is that it makes chain breeding a huge hassle. Each time you need to evolve the baby through friendship if you want to pass down its superior IVs, Egg Moves etc.

 

[pika pal]

I hate the Incense items as breeding tools. They add literally nothing but problems to the design, and seem to exist for no reason besides in-universe justification for why we couldn't breed pre-evolutions of mons before they existed (notably, several of the Incense Pre-Evos are among the "useless" Baby lines mentioned above). They effectively just make breeding more of a pain because if I'm trying to breed an incense-based Pokemon line, I either have to give up 2 IV guarantees, or the Nature guarantee in cases like Budew to get Sleep Powder. For that matter, why do some of these Baby lines have different Egg Move pools in the first place.

Honestly, while the above discussion covered the ups and downs of pre-evos/babies in general, this is one thing I think is an objective problem with them.

 

[thunderbolt73]

I suppose my unpopular opinion would be about gen 2/gen 4 remake- Most people agree that Chikorita is the worst of the three starters. I, on the other hand, prefer to use Chikorita- for ingame use at least. I think ingame teams arent so much about being top-notch as much as it is consisted of your favorite pokemon. (I suppose that is an opinion too, but I have no idea how popular it is)

 

[Taistelu]

I suppose my unpopular opinion would be about gen 2/gen 4 remake- Most people agree that Chikorita is the worst of the three starters. I, on the other hand, prefer to use Chikorita- for ingame use at least. I think ingame teams arent so much about being top-notch as much as it is consisted of your favorite pokemon. (I suppose that is an opinion too, but I have no idea how popular it is)

To each their own, I generally prefer to use Pokemon I like on an in-game run, but tend to make sure my team has atleast some form of type balancing (unless I'm doing a dedicated mono run) and at least 1 Physical / Special attacker. Given the lack of difficulty most Pokemon games have, you can get away with using most of the 'mons in the game. I think a few people think the same way in that they'd rather use favourites over tried and tested "good Pokemon" for an in-game run. There's no fun in demolishing the game anyway, I think.

 

[thunderbolt73]

To each their own, I generally prefer to use Pokemon I like on an in-game run, but tend to make sure my team has atleast some form of type balancing (unless I'm doing a dedicated mono run) and at least 1 Physical / Special attacker. Given the lack of difficulty most Pokemon games have, you can get away with using most of the 'mons in the game. I think a few people think the same way in that they'd rather use favourites over tried and tested "good Pokemon" for an in-game run. There's no fun in demolishing the game anyway, I think.

Sounds good. I usually just keep getting new pokemon throughout the game- and every time i finish, I end up with a whole brand new team~ Although, I do limit the amount of times I can repeat a typing, that bein no more than two. (Ex. Using Venusaur & Gengar in gen 1/gen 3 remake)

 

[Taistelu]

Sounds good. I usually just keep getting new pokemon throughout the game- and every time i finish, I end up with a whole brand new team~ Although, I do limit the amount of times I can repeat a typing, that bein no more than two. (Ex. Using Venusaur & Gengar in gen 1/gen 3 remake)

Yeah, myself personally I prefer to just catch 6 and stick with them, but they usually end up being Pokemon that I like. Mostly because I'm too lazy to train new catches up if I've got all 6 unless it's a Pokemon I really like. Usually I'll do 2 playthroughs to give me the chance to use 'mons I couldn't on the first due to team limit.

 

[Reviloja753]

This is something that I'm going to get a lot of flack for, but I love Garbodor design-wise. Trubbish is adorable, meanwhile Garbodor is the most hilarious Pokémon known to man, imo. I also like the Vaniluxe line. Also, Cherrim-Sunshine is my second favorite Pokémon, only behind Sylveon. It's just so happy, and the dancing is even better!

 

[_Data_Drain_]

Hm... interesting topic here. I guess I'll share some of mine then. (Though not all of them, since I can't think of everything right off the bat.)

I HATE Misty in the Pokemon Anime. I was neutral about her.... Until one episode. I can't remember the name of it. But both her and Jesse did some "princess" contest or something? The prize was a set of dolls. Jesse NEVER had the chance to own them. Thanks to being super poor. Meanwhile, Misty got hand me down dolls....

And of course, because she's the "hero", Misty wins. And what does she do with them? Send them to her sisters out of spite. I'm sorry, but that rubbed me the wrong way, even back when I was a kid.... I'm no moral guardian, far from it. But I feel like that actually sent a kinda bad message to little kids.

Now, onto a few game opinions.... I don't hate Garbodor. I think it's actually kind of amusing.... If it was better in battle, I'd probably even use it. Plus, I feel sorry for it, because of how much people hate it. Because it's disgusting.... Yet, they have no problem with Muk. (Although, I do like Alolan Muk quite a bit too.)

Another one I kinda like that most people hate, is Alolan Persian. I feel sorry for it. Sure, it's goofy looking.... But it's not outright HIDEDIOUS. Plus... it's honestly more in line with Meowth's design than vanilla Persian. Meowth has a big head. But suddenly looks more like a normal big cat when it evolves.

Phew.... It kinda feels good to type these out.

 

[Nelson Tangela]

Pokémon Sun and Moon did disappoint me hard. I had way more fun with the previous games.

 

[mertyville]

Regarding Chikorita, I think people think it is the worse because it slows the game down quite a bit because of the lack of good offensiv pressence. But I feel typing wise and defensively it is very difficult to find a replacement for it, if that is how you want to experience the game.

I feel, while having the most offensive pressence, Totodile is the easiest to replace.

 

[Nelson Tangela]

Regarding Chikorita, I think people think it is the worse because it slows the game down quite a bit because of the lack of good offensiv pressence. But I feel typing wise and defensively it is very difficult to find a replacement for it, if that is how you want to experience the game.

I feel, while having the most offensive pressence, Totodile is the easiest to replace.

The only reason you'd ever need a Grass-type in these games is if you started with Cyndaquil and need a way to deal with the rival's Totodile, which completely takes Chikorita out of the equation anyway.
Grass-type STAB is complete trash in Johto. There is really no point in 'replacing' something that is pretty much useless in the first place. Chikorita has one great and notable matchup against Chuck's Poliwrath.
It might offer bulk, but ingame a powerful offense is the best defense and just killing things saves you from many trips to the Pokémon Center.

Gym 1 is Flying. RIP.
Gym 2 is Bug. RIP.
Gym 3 is Miltank. No offensive presence will allow Miltank to use Rollout and Milk Drink forever. If your Chikorita is male, which it most likely is, you'll also have to deal with Attract (though that goes for all the starters). RIP.
(Cyndaquil might hate Rollout more but Smokescreen provides great utility here.)
Gym 4 is Ghost/Poison. RIP².
Gym '5' is Fighting. You beat Poliwrath unless it gets some serious Dynamic Punch and Hypnosis hax. Good.
Gym '6' is Steel. Magnemite walls you. Steelix is neutral. Still the worst out of the three possible starters at this point. Especially if you consider Dig Croconaw/Feraligatr.
Gym '7' is Ice. You hit them for super effective damage with Razor Leaf because of secondary typings, but they hit you for super effective with Ice-type moves. Mediocre.
Gym 8 is Dragon. Only one of the Dragonair hits you for super effective damage with Ice Beam, but Meganium is hardly an efficient way to tackle this Gym. It's not the worst though since Typhlosion hates this place more.

All the Johto Team Rocket members either wall Chikorita or outright eat it alive.
They have Pokémon like Koffing, Weezing, Ekans, Arbok, Grimer, Muk, Magnemite (Scientists), Venonat, Zubat, Golbat, Gloom, Vileplume, Murkrow, Houndour, Houndoom, ...

???, the rival, has Cyndaquil, Zubat and Gastly in the early parts of the game and adds Magneton, Sneasel and Alakazam in the later parts of the game.
Have fun dealing with that team if you're relying on Razor Leaf + Normal-type attack coverage for damage with low offensive presence to begin with.

Meganium's matchups against the Gen II E4 are quite terrible too.
Will has Xatu, Exeggutor, Jynx and another Xatu. Slowbro has Amnesia and doesn't care about Body Slam, but you should be able to beat that one easily at least.
Koga eats Meganium completely. Even the crappy AI would get enough free turns against Meganium to set up forever and ever...
Bruno is neutral. Fire Punch/Ice Punch Hitmonchan is laughable at best. He does only have one Onix in GSC though. Meganium shouldn't have too much trouble here, but there are many better ways to beat Bruno.
Karen will Mean Look Sand-Attack Confuse Ray a Meganium with Umbreon. If you get past that, have fun dealing with Vileplume, Gengar, Murkrow and Houndoom.
Lance. LOL. You kinda wall the Gyarados unless it gets low enough for a threatening Flail. Three Dragonite with elemental moves, Charizard, Wing Attack Aerodactyl and a bunch of Hyper Beams will have a great time against Meganium.

Chikorita has bulk and can actually survive many of the super effective hits that it would encounter on its journey to Lance, but even if you survive those attacks, then what?
Razor Leaf + Body Slam is terrible coverage and you'll be stuck with Razor Leaf + Tackle/Headbutt for most of the game anyway.

If you're trying to have some fun ingame and like Chikorita, sure go ahead... use it. Nobody is stopping you.
If you're trying to have an even remotely efficient run through Johto, Chikorita is garbage.
Choosing Chikorita is like playing GSC on hard mode.

 

[Cresselia~~]

Hm... interesting topic here. I guess I'll share some of mine then. (Though not all of them, since I can't think of everything right off the bat.)

I HATE Misty in the Pokemon Anime. I was neutral about her.... Until one episode. I can't remember the name of it. But both her and Jesse did some "princess" contest or something? The prize was a set of dolls. Jesse NEVER had the chance to own them. Thanks to being super poor. Meanwhile, Misty got hand me down dolls....

And of course, because she's the "hero", Misty wins. And what does she do with them? Send them to her sisters out of spite. I'm sorry, but that rubbed me the wrong way, even back when I was a kid.... I'm no moral guardian, far from it. But I feel like that actually sent a kinda bad message to little kids.

Now, onto a few game opinions.... I don't hate Garbodor. I think it's actually kind of amusing.... If it was better in battle, I'd probably even use it. Plus, I feel sorry for it, because of how much people hate it. Because it's disgusting.... Yet, they have no problem with Muk. (Although, I do like Alolan Muk quite a bit too.)

Another one I kinda like that most people hate, is Alolan Persian. I feel sorry for it. Sure, it's goofy looking.... But it's not outright HIDEDIOUS. Plus... it's honestly more in line with Meowth's design than vanilla Persian. Meowth has a big head. But suddenly looks more like a normal big cat when it evolves.

Phew.... It kinda feels good to type these out.

Well... I'd say that Misty is not popular in Asia at all and lots of people hate her.
I don't have any written prove, but since I lived in Asia back in the 90's , that was what I felt back then.

However, regarding to the Princess episode (which is the Hinamatsuri festival), Misty didn't get to own any dolls neither because her sister would have taken all of them from her.

 

[Rapti]

Pokémon Sun and Moon did disappoint me hard. I had way more fun with the previous games.

And this ladies and gentlemen is an unpopular opinion (like seriously even the whole "more elemental monkeys" thing is more popular than "I had more fun in X/Y")

Mattapod sure was right

 

[Norne]

The only reason you'd ever need a Grass-type in these games is if you started with Cyndaquil and need a way to deal with the rival's Totodile, which completely takes Chikorita out of the equation anyway.
Grass-type STAB is complete trash in Johto. There is really no point in 'replacing' something that is pretty much useless in the first place. Chikorita has one great and notable matchup against Chuck's Poliwrath.
It might offer bulk, but ingame a powerful offense is the best defense and just killing things saves you from many trips to the Pokémon Center.

Gym 1 is Flying. RIP.
Gym 2 is Bug. RIP.
Gym 3 is Miltank. No offensive presence will allow Miltank to use Rollout and Milk Drink forever. If your Chikorita is male, which it most likely is, you'll also have to deal with Attract (though that goes for all the starters). RIP.
(Cyndaquil might hate Rollout more but Smokescreen provides great utility here.)
Gym 4 is Ghost/Poison. RIP².
Gym '5' is Fighting. You beat Poliwrath unless it gets some serious Dynamic Punch and Hypnosis hax. Good.
Gym '6' is Steel. Magnemite walls you. Steelix is neutral. Still the worst out of the three possible starters at this point. Especially if you consider Dig Croconaw/Feraligatr.
Gym '7' is Ice. You hit them for super effective damage with Razor Leaf because of secondary typings, but they hit you for super effective with Ice-type moves. Mediocre.
Gym 8 is Dragon. Only one of the Dragonairs hits you for super effective damage with Ice Beam, but Meganium is hardly an efficient way to tackle this Gym. It's not the worst though since Typhlosion hates this place more.

All the Johto Team Rocket members either wall Chikorita or outright eat it alive.
They have Pokémon like Koffing, Weezing, Ekans, Arbok, Grimer, Muk, Magnemite (Scientists), Venonat, Zubat, Golbat, Gloom, Vileplume, Murkrow, Houndour, Houndoom, ...

???, the rival, has Cyndaquil, Zubat and Gastly in the early parts of the game and adds Magneton, Sneasel and Alakazam in the later parts of the game.
Have fun dealing with that team if you're relying on Razor Leaf + Normal-type attack coverage for damage with low offensive presence to begin with.

Meganium's matchups against the Gen II E4 are quite terrible too.
Will has Xatu, Exeggutor, Jynx and another Xatu. Slowbro has Amnesia and doesn't care about Body Slam, but you should be able to beat that one easily at least.
Koga eats Meganium completely. Even the crappy AI would get enough free turns against Meganium to set up forever and ever...
Bruno is neutral. Fire Punch/Ice Punch Hitmonchan is laughable at best. He does only have one Onix in GSC though. Meganium shouldn't have too much trouble here, but there are many better ways to beat Bruno.
Karen will Mean Look Sand-Attack Confuse Ray a Meganium with Umbreon. If you get past that, have fun dealing with Vileplume, Gengar, Murkrow and Houndoom.
Lance. LOL. You kinda wall the Gyarados unless it gets low enough for a threatening Flail. Three Dragonite with elemental moves, Charizard, Wing Attack Aerodactyl and a bunch of Hyper Beams will have a great time against Meganium.

Chikorita has bulk and can actually survive many of the super effective hits that it would encounter on its journey to Lance, but even if you survive those attacks, then what?
Razor Leaf + Body Slam is terrible coverage and you'll be stuck with Razor Leaf + Tackle/Headbutt for most of the game anyway.

If you're trying to have some fun ingame and like Chikorita, sure go ahead... use it. Nobody is stopping you.
If you're trying to have an even remotely efficient run through Johto, Chikorita is garbage.
Choosing Chikorita is like playing GSC on hard mode.

You forgot poison powder and synthesis, honestly a core of slowbro or quagsire with Meganium is nigh unstoppable.

This is a game that rewards you with early Magmar and in Crystal Phanpy, Meganium shines with both of them whereas cyndaquil early fireblast and tortodile offensive presence would often lead you out of trying new Pokémon.

Honestly, Chikorita is the one that allows you to try more stuff by virtue of being a defensive Pokémon, this is something that also becomes true with serperior even in B2W2.

 

[Nelson Tangela]

You forgot poison powder and synthesis, honestly a core of slowbro or quagsire with Meganium is nigh unstoppable.

This is a game that rewards you with early Magmar and in Crystal Phanpy, Meganium shines with both of them whereas cyndaquil early fireblast and tortodile offensive presence would often lead you out of trying new Pokémon.

Honestly, Chikorita is the one that allows you to try more stuff by virtue of being a defensive Pokémon, this is something that also becomes true with serperior even in B2W2.

"It's good because you need other Pokémon to do the killing.": The Post

Stalling ingame with 5 Synthesis PP.
Trying to kill Pokémon with regular poison damage when a third of the Pokédex back then was Poison-type + a few Steel-types.
Yeah baby!!! Sign me up!

PS: Basically anything can be 'unstoppable' ingame. Some things just need alot longer to actually get anywhere...


EDIT: I forgot the best thing. Poison Powder has 75% accuracy. Literally lol.

 

[Karxrida]

Synthesis is pretty worthless when Potions and the like exist. You only run it because Chikorita's movepool is nonexistent.

Also, you're still running a staller when smacking things around with a battering ram is overall way more efficient for in-game runs. Why waste 20 turns per battle when I can do them in 5?

 

[hypno28]

You only run it because Chikorita's movepool is nonexistent.

That doesn't even justify it. You'll always have enough money for items that heal it to max health, so there's truly never a legitimate reason to use Synthesis in-game unless the 'mon actually has no other learnable moves at all.

 

[Norne]

The point is the challenge, it's kinda like doing a pistol only run in an fps, you get to explore more options like level layout due to the time you are exposed to the environment.

 

[Karxrida]

The point is the challenge, it's kinda like doing a pistol only run in an fps, you get to explore more options like level layout due to the time you are exposed to the environment.

You can get the same challenging experience from choosing Chikorita by boxing/releasing Cyndaquil or Totodile.

 

[thunderbolt73]

Yeah, myself personally I prefer to just catch 6 and stick with them, but they usually end up being Pokemon that I like. Mostly because I'm too lazy to train new catches up if I've got all 6 unless it's a Pokemon I really like. Usually I'll do 2 playthroughs to give me the chance to use 'mons I couldn't on the first due to team limit.

Raising pokemon is my favorite part, so I guess the grind was never really a problem for me. They are like adorable little children that fight for me~

Regarding Chikorita, I think people think it is the worse because it slows the game down quite a bit because of the lack of good offensiv pressence. But I feel typing wise and defensively it is very difficult to find a replacement for it, if that is how you want to experience the game.

I feel, while having the most offensive pressence, Totodile is the easiest to replace.

The only reason you'd ever need a Grass-type in these games is if you started with Cyndaquil and need a way to deal with the rival's Totodile, which completely takes Chikorita out of the equation anyway.
Grass-type STAB is complete trash in Johto. There is really no point in 'replacing' something that is pretty much useless in the first place. Chikorita has one great and notable matchup against Chuck's Poliwrath.
It might offer bulk, but ingame a powerful offense is the best defense and just killing things saves you from many trips to the Pokémon Center.

Gym 1 is Flying. RIP.
Gym 2 is Bug. RIP.
Gym 3 is Miltank. No offensive presence will allow Miltank to use Rollout and Milk Drink forever. If your Chikorita is male, which it most likely is, you'll also have to deal with Attract (though that goes for all the starters). RIP.
(Cyndaquil might hate Rollout more but Smokescreen provides great utility here.)
Gym 4 is Ghost/Poison. RIP².
Gym '5' is Fighting. You beat Poliwrath unless it gets some serious Dynamic Punch and Hypnosis hax. Good.
Gym '6' is Steel. Magnemite walls you. Steelix is neutral. Still the worst out of the three possible starters at this point. Especially if you consider Dig Croconaw/Feraligatr.
Gym '7' is Ice. You hit them for super effective damage with Razor Leaf because of secondary typings, but they hit you for super effective with Ice-type moves. Mediocre.
Gym 8 is Dragon. Only one of the Dragonairs hits you for super effective damage with Ice Beam, but Meganium is hardly an efficient way to tackle this Gym. It's not the worst though since Typhlosion hates this place more.

All the Johto Team Rocket members either wall Chikorita or outright eat it alive.
They have Pokémon like Koffing, Weezing, Ekans, Arbok, Grimer, Muk, Magnemite (Scientists), Venonat, Zubat, Golbat, Gloom, Vileplume, Murkrow, Houndour, Houndoom, ...

???, the rival, has Cyndaquil, Zubat and Gastly in the early parts of the game and adds Magneton, Sneasel and Alakazam in the later parts of the game.
Have fun dealing with that team if you're relying on Razor Leaf + Normal-type attack coverage for damage with low offensive presence to begin with.

Meganium's matchups against the Gen II E4 are quite terrible too.
Will has Xatu, Exeggutor, Jynx and another Xatu. Slowbro has Amnesia and doesn't care about Body Slam, but you should be able to beat that one easily at least.
Koga eats Meganium completely. Even the crappy AI would get enough free turns against Meganium to set up forever and ever...
Bruno is neutral. Fire Punch/Ice Punch Hitmonchan is laughable at best. He does only have one Onix in GSC though. Meganium shouldn't have too much trouble here, but there are many better ways to beat Bruno.
Karen will Mean Look Sand-Attack Confuse Ray a Meganium with Umbreon. If you get past that, have fun dealing with Vileplume, Gengar, Murkrow and Houndoom.
Lance. LOL. You kinda wall the Gyarados unless it gets low enough for a threatening Flail. Three Dragonite with elemental moves, Charizard, Wing Attack Aerodactyl and a bunch of Hyper Beams will have a great time against Meganium.

Chikorita has bulk and can actually survive many of the super effective hits that it would encounter on its journey to Lance, but even if you survive those attacks, then what?
Razor Leaf + Body Slam is terrible coverage and you'll be stuck with Razor Leaf + Tackle/Headbutt for most of the game anyway.

If you're trying to have some fun ingame and like Chikorita, sure go ahead... use it. Nobody is stopping you.
If you're trying to have an even remotely efficient run through Johto, Chikorita is garbage.
Choosing Chikorita is like playing GSC on hard mode.

True, I just feel like the trouble is worth it to have a team that you feel like you could genuinely be friends with. I would probably burn my hand if I tried to pet a cyndaquil, and totodile looks like it would bite my hand off. I'm a little weird I guess :/

You forgot poison powder and synthesis, honestly a core of slowbro or quagsire with Meganium is nigh unstoppable.

This is a game that rewards you with early Magmar and in Crystal Phanpy, Meganium shines with both of them whereas cyndaquil early fireblast and tortodile offensive presence would often lead you out of trying new Pokémon.

Honestly, Chikorita is the one that allows you to try more stuff by virtue of being a defensive Pokémon, this is something that also becomes true with serperior even in B2W2.

I like this

"It's good because you need other Pokémon to do the killing.": The Post

Stalling ingame with 5 Synthesis PP.
Trying to kill Pokémon with regular poison damage when a third of the Pokédex back then was Poison-type + a few Steel-types.
Yeah baby!!! Sign me up!

PS: Basically anything can be 'unstoppable' ingame. Some things just need alot longer to actually get anywhere...


EDIT: I forgot the best thing. Poison Powder has 75% accuracy. Literally lol.

PP Up for synthesis?

Synthesis is pretty worthless when Potions and the like exist. You only run it because Chikorita's movepool is nonexistent.

Also, you're still running a staller when smacking things around with a battering ram is overall way more efficient for in-game runs. Why waste 20 turns per battle when I can do them in 5?

That doesn't even justify it. You'll always have enough money for items that heal it to max health, so there's truly never a legitimate reason to use Synthesis in-game unless the 'mon actually has no other learnable moves at all.

The ability to play multiplayer casually with friends may also be considered.

The point is the challenge, it's kinda like doing a pistol only run in an fps, you get to explore more options like level layout due to the time you are exposed to the environment.

I like this

You can get the same challenging experience from choosing Chikorita by boxing/releasing Cyndaquil or Totodile.

Why do that when you could just choose Chikorita?