5 most underwhelming Pokemon evolutions of all time

Many Pokemon introduced early in the franchise have received new evolutions in a later year. While a lot of these instances leave the Pocket Monsters in a much better spot than they were in before, others tend to fall short for a variety of reasons.

With all the different creatures and evolution methods in the Pokemon series, there are bound to be a few evolutions that simply do not strike well with the playerbase. This could be due to the creature's new stats or simply because the effort to obtain the evolution greatly outweighs its value. However, there are a few interesting situations where the pre-evolved form ends up much better than its new evolution.

Note: This list is subjective and solely reflects the opinions of the writer

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5 of Pokemon's most lackluster evolutions

1) Porygon-Z

Porygon-Z requires two trade evolutions in order to obtain, which can be a bit of a pain for the average trainer (Image via Game Freak)

Trade evolutions are enough of an inconvenience for most Pokemon players. However, requiring two to fully evolve a creature sounds outright ridiculous to some.

Porygon was introduced in the original Pokemon Red and Blue titles before receiving another evolution, Porygon2, in Gold and Silver. To evolve into Porygon2, Porygon had to be traded while holding the Up-Grade item.

In the fourth generation, things were cranked up a bit as another evolution was added to the Porygon family. However, rather than requiring a certain level or move, players had to trade Porygon2 holding a new Dubious Disc item to get Porygon-Z. While this is a drag for those looking to complete the Pokedex, Porygon2 is actually a competent metagame contendor with the Eviolite item.

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2) Politoed

Politoed is another trade evolution that many players felt was underwhelming (Image via Game Freak)

Politoed was made much better in the fifth generation. However, the three other generations where it was available were arguably the worst for the frog.

In Pokemon Gold and Silver, where Politoed debuted, it was one of two King's Rock evolutions. King's Rock was a rare item that was used to evolve Poliwhirl or Slowpoke by trading them with it held.

Using King's Rock on Slowpoke is the much better deal as Slowking can do everything Politoed can but in a much superior way. Politoed also has very low offensive stats, making Slowking much better for a casual playthrough. Thankfully, the addition of Drizzle as a hidden ability has resulted in Politoed seeing some success in the fifth generation's competitive scene.

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3) Dudunsparce

Dudunsparce was unfortunately made as a bit of a joke evolution, which disappointed many long-time fans (Image via Game Freak)

Dudunsparce is the evolution of Dunsparce, a creature who debuted in Pokemon Gold and Silver. Many players felt that Dunsparce would get an evolution one day, with the potential of it being a Dragon-type creature, hinted at by the Pocket Monster's access to Dragon Rush via level-up.

However, in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, many players' wishes came true in one of the weirdest ways possible. Rather than receiving a new design for its evolution, Dudunsparce simply has an extra scoop in the middle compared to Dunsparce, with the incentive of possibly gaining two extra scoops if its trainer is lucky enough when it evolves.

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4) Rhyperior

Rhyperior is another underwhelming form, but it allows Rhydon to make use of the Eviolite item (Image via Game Freak)

Rhyhorn and Rhydon have been niche favorites since their debut in the first generation. With word of them getting a new evolution in the fourth generation, many fans grew excited of what Game Freak had in store. However, they were met with another trade requirement.

To evolve Rhydon into Rhyperior, players need to trade a Rhydon holding the Protector item.

While Rhydon looks like a kaiju worthy of a trainer-given nickname like "Godzilla", Rhyperior is a bit like a meatball with legs. Locking this evolution behind a trade requirement also keeps it out of the hands of the casual playerbase. However, its addition does allow Rhydon to see some competitive viability with the Eviolite item, just like Porygon2.

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5) Dusknoir

Dusknoir is definitively worse than its pre-evolved form in the competitive scene, which is a bad sign for any evolution (Image via Game Freak)

Similar to Rhyperior and Porygon-Z, Dusknoir is an example of a creature being worse than its pre-evolved form, thanks to the Eviolite item. Requiring a trade for evolution, Dusknoir evolves from Dusclops, a creature from the third generation of the franchise.

Dusclops was a creature that fit the bit of a utility tank perfectly. With most of its damage coming from Pain Split and Will-o-wisp, attacking stats never really mattered on the creature.

With its evolution giving it five extra points in both defense stats and HP, Dusknoir uses Pain Split much worse than its pre-evolved form, leaving many to prefer Dusclops instead.