Apologies if the audio quality is a bit amateurish at points in this one. I should have a better recording setup by the time the next vid comes out! Hope you enjoy regardless :)
looking forward! ur voice even in this one is really nice, i was pretty sleepy and ur voice got me to drift away finally 😅 up now and rewatching it for the great content 🤗
The Japanese name for "Mirror Move" is "Oumugaeshi" or "Parrot Return/Reply/Mimicry". When it appears in the manga, characters usually explain it as a bird pokemon's inherent ability to copy moves in a similar way to how parrots and corvids are known for being able to mimic speech. GameFreak as a developer has never been particularly good at predicting their games' metas. The idea of a character being able to use any attack or skill probably sounded extremely strong to them which is why it shows up late in a moveset
They might have given it so late because it would suck if you had it early when no one has strong moves. Imagine using mirror move on tackle or water gun.
That's interesting. It makes me think of all the times final fantasy and similair rpg's have had mimic as a move. Usually in these games mimic is extremely good and opens up some of the most broken strats in the games that have it.
@@soufpokemario It can be effective, but only in things like one-pokemon challenge runs. A run like that is more like other RPGs, where your enemies have tools you can't get without a mimic move, while in base pokemon anything the enemies have you can just put on your team as well.
@@soufpokemario The issue compared to FF is that pokemon only have 4 move slots (wheras you have access to dozens of skills at once in FFs) and STAB is a big thing you don't want to compromise on if you are trying to do damage. So going off script and trying to use an opponnets move just isn't effective as often as tailoring a move to your pokemon.
Your ability to restrain yourself from making these mons broken meta defining threats is a nice change of pace. Shows some thought about game design and fun factor. Very cool
It’s a tightrope I’m constantly walking lol. No Pokémon should break the entire game, but some Pokémon are so weak that they need major changes. I feel like if I explain all my decisions, people will get it. Glad you liked it!
@@DrCoeloCephalo Is that any different to plenty of other trade evos that are weak until evolved? Like Feebas, Porygon, Clamperl, Karablast, Shelmet, Spritzee, Swirlix, Phantump, Pumpkaboo etc.
It is one thing to theorycraft, but to have gameplay to support them are just amazing. I appreciate the hustle. Will be coming back for videos like this!
I’ve always had a soft spot for pidgeot. Is it just a big bird? Yes. It’s not the most creative flying type or even the most creative of the birds. But something about it just feels so cool but also comforting and huggable. I’d love to both fight along side it and take a nap with it.
Since you were curious about it in the Falkner battle, each Pokemon in the game basically has a "Check" for using a unique moveset or one just based on it's level up pool. The latter is what's used for 99% of Trainer battles and is usually just the 4 most recent moves it could learn relative to the mon's level. The unique check let's the dev's select each move for the Pokemon; usually used in Gym Battles to make them more challenging and allow them to use the Leaders TM. Just thought this may come in handy for future content you make, great stuff.
Thanks for the intel! Like I say in the vid, I’ll probably keep gym fights the way they are as most of them are decently well designed, and tougher than a Pokémon would be in a raw level up moveset. But I may change my mind one day.
Ok, Early Bird is a very interesting change! It does indeed fit far better than Tangled Feet. I also love the changes to these moves. These changes fit both thematically and in game, which is amazing! Good ones! Don't stop now, I really love what you cooking there! :)
IMO, extreme speed is actually better as a Special Event move to increase the likelihood of peeps getting the Bird Jesus, while Heatwave in latter levels is good along with Sky Attack (not just as an egg move)
I feel like Pidgeot's usefulness during the elite four simultaneously justifies Blue's use of one as a champion and shows that he was using his suboptimally.
I'm genuinely surprised by how often Early Bird was relevant. I didn't expect sleep to be as common in boss battles. This makes it feel like a very good and balanced setup imo. Love that I discovered this channel.
as someone working on fangame projects and specifically planning a reimagining of gen 2 Johto, i gotta say i adore your videos! theyre really well thought out! (usually people slap buffs to pokemon disregarding any flavor / wether it fits) sleep powder for chikorita was something i was already planning and seeing it in your previous video reassured me, and i never thought abt giving pidgeot extreme speed but its genius! bless u
Lol thanks, didn’t really think much of it, since the level I added extreme speed is after the elite 4 anyway. Might make more sense as a level 1 relearn move. Like I say, return is the better move anyway, but maybe the player used that TM on another mon.
I absolutely love this kind of content. Maybe some gen 2 mons like Delibird (perhaps some have wandered from Ice Path into Dark Cave?) and Ledian could be cool.
Yeah a ton of Gen 2 mins need help. I like the consideration of how they come to be available earlier! If nothing else, in HGSS in particular, I can always give it via a Primo egg as a last resort. But dark cave for delibird works! I HATE that they always reserve ice types for the late game. Not like they’re OP early on or anything. Glad they stopped doing it in recent gens with the wild area and such.
I really appreciate that you kept the buffs tame on this line. The Pidgeys might not be the best of the birds, but they're still friends that could use more love, especially how gorgeous Pidgeot is.
This concept of fixing pokemon for ingame playthroughs is fun and unique! It shows how much thought you put into these videos. Really love the series, keep up the great work yoou doing!
I would love to see Unfeazant in this series, was always one of the more baffling decisions to make give it a high physical attack when it almost exclusively learns special moves
It should definitely get Shadow Claw with those sharp talons and spurs it has, and Close Combat since male landfowl are usually territorial and will risk their lives fighting predators to protect the flock
Yeah especially when Unfezant’s gimmick compared to something like Pidgeot or Staraptor is the ability Super Luck, but they learn like zero high crit rate moves
I think heat wave would fit. While the other birds get barbaric bird attacks like drill peck, Pidgeot gets a Heat Wave. Considering that its japanese name is just Hot Wind, I kinda picture it being like him using a thermal updraft to attack by blowing it downwards really hard so that it picks up speed. I sorta like the vibe of a pretty common and not super strong pokemon getting a move that reflects on how while its not the biggest buffest bird he's like... a badass normal guy. He's kinda plain but he put in the work, put in the hours and got an exotic and kinda tricky secret technique that only he can pull off. Maybe I just think the aesthetic of a kinda unassuming guy being able to punch above his weight class is cool
Ok so I'm a big Pidgey fan so apologies in advance for this very long comment! Am I so happy to see one of these videos for Pidgey - my favorite Pokémon of all time!
I think the design for the pidgey line is great, growing more sleek as it evolves. It gains enough unique traits to be more than "bigger bird and then bigger bird".
You can find more literal move name translations on Bulbapedia. Mirror Move was originally known as [Parrot Mimicry], which doesn't make sense for Pidgeot to have so we're good here. Also, Aerial Ace was originally called [Swallow Return], which is a sword technique.
@@N12015 It's complicated. It's supposed to be reminiscent of "a swallow's tail in flight". So it's a technique that is inspired by birds, that Pokemon is then reclaiming to be used by birds themselves.
I think Extremespeed is a great fit. Pidgeot at this point, and really until it got its Mega (RIP) could use something like that to stand out from the crowd. Also while this is obviously not something that would be available in HGSS, I think in the modern day it would be nice if it got the Wind Rider ability as a new hidden ability. Pidgeot using its flying skills to weather wind attacks from the enemy and use them to its own advantage sounds both flavorful and effective.
You've really gotten me to see these mons in a new light! I love how you stick with themes within their dex entries and build them more to fit those entries. Taking the pokemon's character into consideration while making the movesets is so cool. Keep up the awesome work!
This video just brought back my PTSD of stubbornly trying to use Pidgeot for my entire first Soul Silver playthrough. The movepool is definitely the main issue that needed fixing. Giving him aerial ace and air slash at a reasonable level makes so much difference to how useful he is. Not learning air slash until that late is absurd and being stuck with gust until level 38 is just painful. I like how you made him better, without making him too op for a route 1 Pokémon. You just made him comparable with other early game normal/flying type Pokémon, bar the very op Staraptor. Unfezant definitely needs this treatment too. I tried using one in my first White 2 playthrough, but ended up ditching him due to how useless he was. He's so bad it's not even funny. He has 105 base attack, which was even buffed to 115 in gen 6, but learns entirely special flying moves by level up, except for sky attack at level 66! He also doesn't learn any physical normal moves after quick attack until level 55, when he gets façade. This means he is stuck using his terrible special attack stat for flying stab and a weak normal move, until you get access to some TMs to try a fix this insanity. Even then, most of the moves he can learn are either fairly weak or special moves. U-turn is literally his only physical coverage move, and that's also a TM.
Slight correction: you can actually get Spearow on Route 46, which is just off of the first route, so it does still contend with Pidgey for First Bird Status™
Was just about to write this comment. Was incredibly confused when I heard him say that, I've used spearows and geodudes from this route all the time in nuzlockes. Its literally the second route you can encounter in the game with a high chance of encounter at 35%
It’s actually really cool that subtle changes can make a Pokemon infinitely more useful in-game, and the slight tweaks you gave the Pidgey line in HGSS here is proof of that
I really like that you used the mareep line on your team. Pidgey is a classic. Needs a classic partner Love the format. The fix then the play through. Perfection
Just as a heads up, Aerial Ace is a slightly funky translation of a famous Japanese sword technique that could also be interpreted as 'swallow slash', which is why it's an unerring flying-type move. It's not directly related to the Pokemon that learns it being good at flying.
Right I think I vaguely remember that! I’ll use this as an opportunity to say that i wont consider Japanese translations very much (I can’t be bothered to look up the meaning of every move/ability etc). When referencing a Japanese translation, I feel like people kinda imply that the English translation has no credence, when the English version is still a fully published game. I speak English, so I’ll mostly follow the English translations. This goes for the infamous DARK / evil type too. I’ll inevitably give some Pokémon a Dark typing even though it’s not very “evil”, but because it hides in the dark or something (which is also a pretty sinister tactic, so I never really got this debate in general tbh). I’m rambling now, but thanks for the comment!
@@ZenModeYT I would believe English translation if they weren't so prone to errors like fishious rend not telling the player it's a bite (Kinda important considering that's what broke the derpy fish. ONLY ENGLISH had that mistake btw) or Sucker Punch not being a punch. Still, I feel mirror move doesn't fit Pidgeot's motive, is more of a Chatot or Swellow move.
@@N12015 The ideia of Sucker Punch at least makes sense for the context of the move, after all a Sucker Punch is indeed a surprise attack (and often called a coward's blow, hence the Dark Typing). It makes actually more sense as to why it has priority: because the user is attacking the opponent while they are being attacked (which, in the original name, doesnt make really much sense as to why it would happen first)
@@felipecouto1102 The sucker makes sense (It's cheating), but not the punch. Is still a mistranslation because it's misguiding on functionality, which is the main function translation has. Fishious bite/chomp and Sucker Blow would remain meaning and flavor while better describing functionality. That's why translating is hard, because you need both functionality, flavor and clarity. Again, It's not a detail, Dracovish was though of mediocre instead of busted because of Fishious rend not saying in english is a bite, which can make many people think Water Absorb is better, and because you cannot breed the abominations it's a very big deal; I know internet exists but that's not how a lot of people prefer to discover when playing.
I believe that Spearow is also available quite early, in the southern part of Route 46, between levels 2-3 (according to Serebii). I’m not sure how much this would change anything, but figured I’d mention it
The fact that Pidgey looks so much like its real life counterpart made me realise just how cool even the "simple brown birds" can look. I also like how you gave Pidgeot some personality (or took the preexisting one into account). On a semi-related note, I wonder how you'd fix Ledian. Really cool design, _really_ bad in-game performance.
Head canon Pigeot is a college educated, attentive bird with a good head on its shoulders while the others are more interesting in skipping flight school to smoke or are super sleepy or found a cool stick and is now obsessed with it Pigeot will never beat the basic allegations with that head canon
Watched all three videos so far and I love how you're more than just hypothesizing ideas to buff weaker mons but testing out if those changes can apply. Keep at it mate, this is a hit series! I'm thinking Paras for your next video. Could do some serious damage if it wasn't so slow and frail. It's such a cool design too.
absolutely loving this series of videos, and the way you really bring out the character of the pokemon is so nice, rather than just dumping absurdly overpowered moves and buffing their stats to absurd degrees. i don't have any specific ideas or requests for future videos, except to keep making more just like this cuz they're great
This was an interesting one. In my opinion, you should have left FeatherDance as a fairly early support move to help mitigate physical attackers. Its such a cool signature ability
I really like how you make the changes. They all make sense in the game and are totally balanced. Looking forward new videos, as i hadn't seen anyone doing this kind of content before. Keep it up!
I really like how much emphasis you put in to Pidgeot's flight capabilities when discussing your moveset changes. You do a lot of work to bring out more of the Pokemon's personality rather than simply making them statistically better. When I was messing with Pidgeot for my FireRed ROMhack, I looked at Mega Pidgeot and decided to use that as an influence, having Pidgeot focus on being more of a Special Attacker to set itself further apart from Fearow and Dodrio. I did make some necessary level-up movepool adjustments as I went, such as adding in Swift, and swapping out Wing Attack for Air Cutter as a late teens-early 20s STAB prior to learning Air Slash. You brought up your decision to not give Pidgeot Hyper Voice, since its Dex entries talk more about its wings and flying abilities rather than its chirping, and this got me looking at the entirety of the Normal-type movepool. While the move inexplicably takes two turns, I feel like Razor Wind would be a neat alternative, since Pidgeot seems capable enough of producing winds so precise that they can slash opponents. Granted, I think Razor Wind should be a single-turn move, but that's for me to test out.
finally some love for my l’oreal bird This is a great concept and I love how you showed the ways it would effect the game directly! And I agree I’m glad you didn’t stray so far it made Pidgeot absolutely INSANE and game breaking, just solid and different from the other birds.
This is probably one of my favorite pokemon series of videos on RUclips in quite a while! I often spend a lot of time thinking of how my favorite mons could be better, but most videos i ever see discussing them only seem to care about Competitive. So these have truly been a breath of fresh air! Especially seeing as how you don't go overboard and try making them overpowered. I'd absolutely love to see a video about some of the ignored bug types like Volbeat and/or Illumise. Keep up the great work!
Pidgey as a fast Special Attacker with Gust, Swift, and Special coverage moves is (chef's kiss). Having a preferred attacking stat makes Keen Eye more valuable (even though it's almost entirely for Sand Attack), and it being Special means all the 20,000 Growl-spam encounters won't slow your progress. Having a Special Attacker early that doesn't fall off like Butterfree gives you a very consistent main member for most of each game, which is really what you want to see with Pokemon that would otherwise be overlooked.
Even Ch'ding, the trade far fetched, is a better pick in the early game of fr/lg because its always adamant and is holding a stick to boost its attack. Plus I always picked spearow instead, so making it a bit stronger would really help it, but pidgey is definitely the cutest of them second only to doduo
Did not think of that! Honestly didn’t mention farfetchd much here but he’s definitely fun because of the meme factor. Crit builds are kinda fun. Plus the 50% exp boost is nice
I came from Rangod channel... i must to say that i never thought something like this: "Fixing the worst option among some pokemons" is interesting... i don't know if you have already made this video but i would like to see a "How i would fix Ice-type in Pokemon Series" cuz literally my cryobros have the worst Type ever
I would love to see a playthrough with a full team of your updated pokemon in the future! I think that could really show how much each pokemon benefitted in a team setting without having to play differently than a normal player would by leading the rebuilt pokemon into each battle despite the fact that it may be weak to the opponent's pokemon
Un youtuber español llamado Rangu te recomendó alegando que había visto mucha calidad en un canal pequeño y que hacía siglos no recomendaba a nadie. Los comentarios de "azul" que probablemente empieces a recibir se deberan a eso. Pd: no intento hablar en inglés para no dar pena.
Just got to say, I absolutely love this series. I’d love to see a Romhack with all of the Pokémon you’ve covered in one game at some point in the future - who knew that this video would make me excited to use a pidgey of all things!
Hope you see this. Just wanna say I’m obsessed with this series and I can’t wait for more. Love the idea, and love your execution. So excited for the next upload.
he has stolen my identity AND my special interest this man must be stopped fr though this is exactly my kind of niche content, I had some content of my own hack recorded already that implemented a lot of the changes you made in your Chikorita video before I watched it, I'm glad we're very much on the same wavelength when it comes to that dumpster fire of a mon lmao. Keep up the good work
Can't wait for Fearow to be so below the belt he gets Night Slash. Yes, it sounds strange in English, but I mean...a bird shaped like that committing a Cross-Road Killing (When Samurai would just wait on the crossroads for a passerby to come out to test their sword on), that would be fitting. Also, only trainers who don't possess the custom moves tag will be affected by the changes. Trainers with the custom moves tag won't be affected because they can have illegal/different moves regardless (It's why things like Lance's illegal Aerodactyl in Gen 2 occur).
I'd love to see you do this with any game Parasect is in. I love Parasect's design so much and I use him whenever I can out of sheer love, and dgmw he is actually pretty good for catching (spore/weak attacks) but he deserves more than to be a utility pokemon =(
Hi Zen I really enjoyed this video. One thing I'll add to your change log that Game freak realised is that Pidgeot is too slow (base 91 speed) and they actually buffed it's base speed in XY to 101 base speed. I love all your changes, however I would also add that one minor base speed change to your list of changes.
Hm I started this video on a random whim and gotta say I love the way you not only approach fixing the mon but you playing it out too in particular. Awesome idea.
I love this series so much! I love how dedicated you are to your ace pilot interpretation, it's really charming. I think... maybe Goldeen will be next? Looking forward to it!
Gust is to me a tipoff that Pidgey should lean special to distinguish itself from its cohorts (which Mega Pidgeot confirms), and by giving it Air Cutter/Slash as it grows you could give it a nice niche. Here's how I'd do it, using yours as a baseline: PIDGEY 1: Quick Attack (love this idea) 5: Mud Slap (may not be as good vs Falkner and Bugsy but literally the first Mud Slapper we ever meet is a Pidgey, gives nice early coverage) 9: Gust (vanilla) 13: Sonic Boom (legally a special attack, leans on the ability to control wind, early enough to still be useful) 17: Evolution! PIDGEOTTO 17: Air Cutter (Gust upgrade) 20: Swift (adding moveslot here for better Normal coverage) 23: Twister (keeping vanilla because now it's flavor, but a level later) 27: Roost (like your change) 32: U-Turn (like your change) 34: Evolution! PIDGEOT 34: Air Slash (matches the Air Cutter upgrade) 38: Whirlwind (finally, sure, not that great in-game but better when your team has hazards) 44: Tailwind (moved down to amp up level 50) 50: Hyper Voice (hoorah!) 56: Brave Bird (like giving it this, get it late, let Pidgeot be mixed now if you want) 62: Mirror Move (GF like this for birds and giving it now lets you use better moves earlier Agree that Heat Wave and Steel Wing are better as learnable moves than natural ones, and I in general wish that moves like Tailwind and Trick Room worked differently between singles and doubles so they could be balanced in both.
You should make a video on each Pokemon in hgss, then play a Nuzlocke with all of the changes. It would be interesting see all of your changes play off of each other in a serious play through.
Keep going when changes aren't doing what you want, I say. I think that going back to drawing board might affect your motivation to keep working on these projects. But you know yourself better than I do.
It’s true I WOULD have to start the run over and make a new rom. So yeah I’ll probably just do what I did in this run, and note that something doesn’t work, and a hypothetical about how I wanted it to work. Appreciate your thoughts!
Love the videos, immediately share them with my friends as soon as I see them. I hope to see a Durant video someday when you get to the gen 5 games. Looking forward to watching this channel grow, thanks for the great content!
This was the cleanest modification so far. I like how simple the changes ended up being, and the emphasis on testing it with a full team. As a side-note, you mention that the Elite Four has fully EV trained teams, but that’s not correct. Trainers outside of battle facilities didn’t have EVs until gen 7.
I think you made the right move by sticking with the playthrough even though tailwind wasn't as useful as you thought it was. I think if more assumptions come back to bite you in future videos, rolling with the punches is the best way to go.
Nice vid! I used Pidgeot for a mono-flying run in FireRed, and was surprised by how underwhelming it felt. Looking into it a bit more, I realized how much better other normal/flying options like Fearow and Dodrio were, which felt really wrong to me. Even Farfetch'd fills a more useful niche as a Swords Dance user. As Gary's other ace besides the starter, I always felt that Pidgeot should've been stronger, and this video really helped it out without deviating from the route 1 bird aesthetic.
Hope the next video is about Parasect. It would be a serious challenge to make a slow Pokémon with a horrid defensive typing work without boosting its Speed a ton or changing said typing.
I was happy to see you give Pidgeot access to Extreme Speed. For a move to replace Tailwind, I'd pick amongst Air Cutter, Ominous Wind, or Silver Wind. I do hope that you one day do a video on Hoothoot & Noctowl. They're among my favorite Flying-type bird Pokémon.
You avoided giving Mud Slap to Pidgey, but it might be interesting. In Johto, Mud Slap is iconic on Falkner's Pidgey and Pidgeotto, so it could be a neat reference.
I really enjoyed this video! In HGSS rematches Blue's Pidgeot knows double team and Falkner's knows Swagger, ut made it seem like Pidgeot is all about evasion which I agree isnt how most people see Pidgeot based on its design.
Personally I would love to see Fearow getting an ability to increase peck, drill, and piercing moves by 1.5 so Drill peck and Drill Run will do massive damage. Calling the ability "Lancer".
I think that the very idea of testing things and going back to fixe mistakes is the true purpose of this series. So if it feels like a modification was wrong, I think you should go back to fixe it again. Great vids btw 🙆♂️
I feel like alot of the gen 1 Pokémon make more sense in the context of the series being a single video game. Stuff like dugtrio makes more sense in the game where the idea would be "oh its a group of them" and not a singular entity. In the same way pidgeot is literally a big monster bird cuz back then the series didn't have the insanely specific identity it had
Awesome video as well! Might I recommend making one for Slugma/Magcargo in HGSS? You can get the Egg from the Violet Pokémon Centre by speaking to Primo and entering the right code, so it should be a fine challenge as well!
Hey, my suggestion from the Chikorita video made it! Glad you took a crack at improving the original early route bird! I liked some of the suggestions in that comment on making it a dedicated special attacker, but I guess that's why Noctowl exists. As for other suggestions, perhaps Seaking, Octillery or Dewgong? I feel like they could have the potential to be decent water types, but are are lost in the sea (heh) of better options. Keep up the good work!
Apologies if the audio quality is a bit amateurish at points in this one. I should have a better recording setup by the time the next vid comes out!
Hope you enjoy regardless :)
Looking forward to it! Very glad I found this channel
Excited to hear it :)
I was just about to ask what happened.
No hurry man, take your time with the new videos and updates with the mics
We still enjoy the videos no problem
looking forward! ur voice even in this one is really nice, i was pretty sleepy and ur voice got me to drift away finally 😅 up now and rewatching it for the great content 🤗
The Japanese name for "Mirror Move" is "Oumugaeshi" or "Parrot Return/Reply/Mimicry". When it appears in the manga, characters usually explain it as a bird pokemon's inherent ability to copy moves in a similar way to how parrots and corvids are known for being able to mimic speech. GameFreak as a developer has never been particularly good at predicting their games' metas. The idea of a character being able to use any attack or skill probably sounded extremely strong to them which is why it shows up late in a moveset
They might have given it so late because it would suck if you had it early when no one has strong moves. Imagine using mirror move on tackle or water gun.
That's interesting. It makes me think of all the times final fantasy and similair rpg's have had mimic as a move. Usually in these games mimic is extremely good and opens up some of the most broken strats in the games that have it.
@@soufpokemario It can be effective, but only in things like one-pokemon challenge runs. A run like that is more like other RPGs, where your enemies have tools you can't get without a mimic move, while in base pokemon anything the enemies have you can just put on your team as well.
@@soufpokemario The issue compared to FF is that pokemon only have 4 move slots (wheras you have access to dozens of skills at once in FFs) and STAB is a big thing you don't want to compromise on if you are trying to do damage. So going off script and trying to use an opponnets move just isn't effective as often as tailoring a move to your pokemon.
Meanwhile gen 5 gives you assist Purrloin right off the bat
Your ability to restrain yourself from making these mons broken meta defining threats is a nice change of pace. Shows some thought about game design and fun factor. Very cool
It’s a tightrope I’m constantly walking lol. No Pokémon should break the entire game, but some Pokémon are so weak that they need major changes. I feel like if I explain all my decisions, people will get it. Glad you liked it!
I hope you do one on the Onix line
Its criminal how weak they made him💀just to have an absurd defense
@@orbboom6119 Wasn't Onix buff the fact it got an evolution?
@@FraserSouris A trade evolution that you cannot reasonably get on your own that is slow, weak to alot of coverage and just has an okay Atk stat.
@@DrCoeloCephalo Is that any different to plenty of other trade evos that are weak until evolved? Like Feebas, Porygon, Clamperl, Karablast, Shelmet, Spritzee, Swirlix, Phantump, Pumpkaboo etc.
Mirror Move is Flying-type because of the association of birds and mimicry. Like parrots or mockingbirds. A weak reason, but there is a reason.
It is one thing to theorycraft, but to have gameplay to support them are just amazing. I appreciate the hustle. Will be coming back for videos like this!
I’ve always had a soft spot for pidgeot. Is it just a big bird? Yes. It’s not the most creative flying type or even the most creative of the birds. But something about it just feels so cool but also comforting and huggable. I’d love to both fight along side it and take a nap with it.
Since you were curious about it in the Falkner battle, each Pokemon in the game basically has a "Check" for using a unique moveset or one just based on it's level up pool. The latter is what's used for 99% of Trainer battles and is usually just the 4 most recent moves it could learn relative to the mon's level. The unique check let's the dev's select each move for the Pokemon; usually used in Gym Battles to make them more challenging and allow them to use the Leaders TM. Just thought this may come in handy for future content you make, great stuff.
Thanks for the intel! Like I say in the vid, I’ll probably keep gym fights the way they are as most of them are decently well designed, and tougher than a Pokémon would be in a raw level up moveset. But I may change my mind one day.
Ok, Early Bird is a very interesting change! It does indeed fit far better than Tangled Feet. I also love the changes to these moves. These changes fit both thematically and in game, which is amazing!
Good ones! Don't stop now, I really love what you cooking there! :)
Thanks! I thought early bird was perfect too. A subtle change that had huge benefits!
IMO, extreme speed is actually better as a Special Event move to increase the likelihood of peeps getting the Bird Jesus, while Heatwave in latter levels is good along with Sky Attack (not just as an egg move)
I feel like Pidgeot's usefulness during the elite four simultaneously justifies Blue's use of one as a champion and shows that he was using his suboptimally.
I'm genuinely surprised by how often Early Bird was relevant. I didn't expect sleep to be as common in boss battles. This makes it feel like a very good and balanced setup imo. Love that I discovered this channel.
as someone working on fangame projects and specifically planning a reimagining of gen 2 Johto, i gotta say i adore your videos! theyre really well thought out! (usually people slap buffs to pokemon disregarding any flavor / wether it fits) sleep powder for chikorita was something i was already planning and seeing it in your previous video reassured me, and i never thought abt giving pidgeot extreme speed but its genius! bless u
Lol thanks, didn’t really think much of it, since the level I added extreme speed is after the elite 4 anyway. Might make more sense as a level 1 relearn move. Like I say, return is the better move anyway, but maybe the player used that TM on another mon.
I absolutely love this kind of content. Maybe some gen 2 mons like Delibird (perhaps some have wandered from Ice Path into Dark Cave?) and Ledian could be cool.
Yeah a ton of Gen 2 mins need help. I like the consideration of how they come to be available earlier! If nothing else, in HGSS in particular, I can always give it via a Primo egg as a last resort.
But dark cave for delibird works! I HATE that they always reserve ice types for the late game. Not like they’re OP early on or anything. Glad they stopped doing it in recent gens with the wild area and such.
I really appreciate that you kept the buffs tame on this line. The Pidgeys might not be the best of the birds, but they're still friends that could use more love, especially how gorgeous Pidgeot is.
This concept of fixing pokemon for ingame playthroughs is fun and unique! It shows how much thought you put into these videos.
Really love the series, keep up the great work yoou doing!
I would love to see Unfeazant in this series, was always one of the more baffling decisions to make give it a high physical attack when it almost exclusively learns special moves
It should definitely get Shadow Claw with those sharp talons and spurs it has, and Close Combat since male landfowl are usually territorial and will risk their lives fighting predators to protect the flock
Unfezant shouldn't be hard to balance. Just give it Slash and Night Slash by level up.
Yeah especially when Unfezant’s gimmick compared to something like Pidgeot or Staraptor is the ability Super Luck, but they learn like zero high crit rate moves
@@haidynwendlandt2479 Air Cutter
I think heat wave would fit. While the other birds get barbaric bird attacks like drill peck, Pidgeot gets a Heat Wave. Considering that its japanese name is just Hot Wind, I kinda picture it being like him using a thermal updraft to attack by blowing it downwards really hard so that it picks up speed. I sorta like the vibe of a pretty common and not super strong pokemon getting a move that reflects on how while its not the biggest buffest bird he's like... a badass normal guy. He's kinda plain but he put in the work, put in the hours and got an exotic and kinda tricky secret technique that only he can pull off. Maybe I just think the aesthetic of a kinda unassuming guy being able to punch above his weight class is cool
Ok so I'm a big Pidgey fan so apologies in advance for this very long comment!
Am I so happy to see one of these videos for Pidgey - my favorite Pokémon of all time!
I think the design for the pidgey line is great, growing more sleek as it evolves. It gains enough unique traits to be more than "bigger bird and then bigger bird".
"In gen 2 spearow is not viable"
Kenya: you dare offend me mortal
You can find more literal move name translations on Bulbapedia. Mirror Move was originally known as [Parrot Mimicry], which doesn't make sense for Pidgeot to have so we're good here.
Also, Aerial Ace was originally called [Swallow Return], which is a sword technique.
Aka something more akin to A Scyther or Weavile, not a flying type.
@@N12015 It's complicated. It's supposed to be reminiscent of "a swallow's tail in flight". So it's a technique that is inspired by birds, that Pokemon is then reclaiming to be used by birds themselves.
@@gigastrike2 Yeah, I prefer aerial ace. It's not a good idea to confuse kids with Japanese jargon.
I come from the youtuber @RanguGamer
What a nice video dude, keep going (:
I think Extremespeed is a great fit. Pidgeot at this point, and really until it got its Mega (RIP) could use something like that to stand out from the crowd. Also while this is obviously not something that would be available in HGSS, I think in the modern day it would be nice if it got the Wind Rider ability as a new hidden ability. Pidgeot using its flying skills to weather wind attacks from the enemy and use them to its own advantage sounds both flavorful and effective.
I live with a bird, and I see two possible puns based on the facts that:
1. Birds like to play with mirrors.
2. Parrots parrot.
I'm here by rangugamer's recommendation. Great quality video!
You've really gotten me to see these mons in a new light! I love how you stick with themes within their dex entries and build them more to fit those entries. Taking the pokemon's character into consideration while making the movesets is so cool. Keep up the awesome work!
This video just brought back my PTSD of stubbornly trying to use Pidgeot for my entire first Soul Silver playthrough. The movepool is definitely the main issue that needed fixing. Giving him aerial ace and air slash at a reasonable level makes so much difference to how useful he is. Not learning air slash until that late is absurd and being stuck with gust until level 38 is just painful. I like how you made him better, without making him too op for a route 1 Pokémon. You just made him comparable with other early game normal/flying type Pokémon, bar the very op Staraptor.
Unfezant definitely needs this treatment too. I tried using one in my first White 2 playthrough, but ended up ditching him due to how useless he was. He's so bad it's not even funny. He has 105 base attack, which was even buffed to 115 in gen 6, but learns entirely special flying moves by level up, except for sky attack at level 66! He also doesn't learn any physical normal moves after quick attack until level 55, when he gets façade. This means he is stuck using his terrible special attack stat for flying stab and a weak normal move, until you get access to some TMs to try a fix this insanity. Even then, most of the moves he can learn are either fairly weak or special moves. U-turn is literally his only physical coverage move, and that's also a TM.
Slight correction: you can actually get Spearow on Route 46, which is just off of the first route, so it does still contend with Pidgey for First Bird Status™
Was just about to write this comment. Was incredibly confused when I heard him say that, I've used spearows and geodudes from this route all the time in nuzlockes. Its literally the second route you can encounter in the game with a high chance of encounter at 35%
love these so far, this is a great concept you've got here :) looking forward to future videos in this format!
Thanks I’m having a lot of fun with it! So many Pokémon I’d love to see improve!
It’s actually really cool that subtle changes can make a Pokemon infinitely more useful in-game, and the slight tweaks you gave the Pidgey line in HGSS here is proof of that
Rangu sent us, and yes your quality is nice!
I really like that you used the mareep line on your team. Pidgey is a classic. Needs a classic partner
Love the format. The fix then the play through. Perfection
Just as a heads up, Aerial Ace is a slightly funky translation of a famous Japanese sword technique that could also be interpreted as 'swallow slash', which is why it's an unerring flying-type move. It's not directly related to the Pokemon that learns it being good at flying.
Right I think I vaguely remember that! I’ll use this as an opportunity to say that i wont consider Japanese translations very much (I can’t be bothered to look up the meaning of every move/ability etc).
When referencing a Japanese translation, I feel like people kinda imply that the English translation has no credence, when the English version is still a fully published game.
I speak English, so I’ll mostly follow the English translations. This goes for the infamous DARK / evil type too. I’ll inevitably give some Pokémon a Dark typing even though it’s not very “evil”, but because it hides in the dark or something (which is also a pretty sinister tactic, so I never really got this debate in general tbh).
I’m rambling now, but thanks for the comment!
@@ZenModeYT I would believe English translation if they weren't so prone to errors like fishious rend not telling the player it's a bite (Kinda important considering that's what broke the derpy fish. ONLY ENGLISH had that mistake btw) or Sucker Punch not being a punch. Still, I feel mirror move doesn't fit Pidgeot's motive, is more of a Chatot or Swellow move.
@@N12015 The ideia of Sucker Punch at least makes sense for the context of the move, after all a Sucker Punch is indeed a surprise attack (and often called a coward's blow, hence the Dark Typing). It makes actually more sense as to why it has priority: because the user is attacking the opponent while they are being attacked (which, in the original name, doesnt make really much sense as to why it would happen first)
@@felipecouto1102 The sucker makes sense (It's cheating), but not the punch. Is still a mistranslation because it's misguiding on functionality, which is the main function translation has. Fishious bite/chomp and Sucker Blow would remain meaning and flavor while better describing functionality. That's why translating is hard, because you need both functionality, flavor and clarity.
Again, It's not a detail, Dracovish was though of mediocre instead of busted because of Fishious rend not saying in english is a bite, which can make many people think Water Absorb is better, and because you cannot breed the abominations it's a very big deal; I know internet exists but that's not how a lot of people prefer to discover when playing.
"Swallow Return" (Tsubame Gaeshi [燕返し]), to be exact.
I believe that Spearow is also available quite early, in the southern part of Route 46, between levels 2-3 (according to Serebii). I’m not sure how much this would change anything, but figured I’d mention it
Yeah true, its before cherrygrove and basically adjacent to the first route of the game so super easy to get early on.
Real men use zubat and have to grind leech life until you get bite 😂
@@matthewsmith8727 Realer men use Supersonic and throw Poke Balls for confusion damage 💪
I haven't even watched the video but I had to press the like button, this channel and this format is so based
Thanks so much! Appreciate the support!
The fact that Pidgey looks so much like its real life counterpart made me realise just how cool even the "simple brown birds" can look.
I also like how you gave Pidgeot some personality (or took the preexisting one into account).
On a semi-related note, I wonder how you'd fix Ledian. Really cool design, _really_ bad in-game performance.
Head canon Pigeot is a college educated, attentive bird with a good head on its shoulders while the others are more interesting in skipping flight school to smoke or are super sleepy or found a cool stick and is now obsessed with it
Pigeot will never beat the basic allegations with that head canon
Watched all three videos so far and I love how you're more than just hypothesizing ideas to buff weaker mons but testing out if those changes can apply. Keep at it mate, this is a hit series!
I'm thinking Paras for your next video. Could do some serious damage if it wasn't so slow and frail. It's such a cool design too.
absolutely loving this series of videos, and the way you really bring out the character of the pokemon is so nice, rather than just dumping absurdly overpowered moves and buffing their stats to absurd degrees. i don't have any specific ideas or requests for future videos, except to keep making more just like this cuz they're great
This was an interesting one. In my opinion, you should have left FeatherDance as a fairly early support move to help mitigate physical attackers. Its such a cool signature ability
I love how you diagnose the specific issues with the mon and try to fit them into a specific role, instead of just making them good in a vacuum.
the "pidgeon hole" pun was not lost on me, that was godlike LMAO
I try
I really like how you make the changes. They all make sense in the game and are totally balanced. Looking forward new videos, as i hadn't seen anyone doing this kind of content before. Keep it up!
Sucks about tail wind but still makes sense. It still is a early game bird so all it's moves can't be hits. Love the content!
I really like how much emphasis you put in to Pidgeot's flight capabilities when discussing your moveset changes. You do a lot of work to bring out more of the Pokemon's personality rather than simply making them statistically better.
When I was messing with Pidgeot for my FireRed ROMhack, I looked at Mega Pidgeot and decided to use that as an influence, having Pidgeot focus on being more of a Special Attacker to set itself further apart from Fearow and Dodrio. I did make some necessary level-up movepool adjustments as I went, such as adding in Swift, and swapping out Wing Attack for Air Cutter as a late teens-early 20s STAB prior to learning Air Slash. You brought up your decision to not give Pidgeot Hyper Voice, since its Dex entries talk more about its wings and flying abilities rather than its chirping, and this got me looking at the entirety of the Normal-type movepool. While the move inexplicably takes two turns, I feel like Razor Wind would be a neat alternative, since Pidgeot seems capable enough of producing winds so precise that they can slash opponents. Granted, I think Razor Wind should be a single-turn move, but that's for me to test out.
finally some love for my l’oreal bird
This is a great concept and I love how you showed the ways it would effect the game directly! And I agree I’m glad you didn’t stray so far it made Pidgeot absolutely INSANE and game breaking, just solid and different from the other birds.
This is probably one of my favorite pokemon series of videos on RUclips in quite a while! I often spend a lot of time thinking of how my favorite mons could be better, but most videos i ever see discussing them only seem to care about Competitive. So these have truly been a breath of fresh air! Especially seeing as how you don't go overboard and try making them overpowered.
I'd absolutely love to see a video about some of the ignored bug types like Volbeat and/or Illumise. Keep up the great work!
Pidgey as a fast Special Attacker with Gust, Swift, and Special coverage moves is (chef's kiss). Having a preferred attacking stat makes Keen Eye more valuable (even though it's almost entirely for Sand Attack), and it being Special means all the 20,000 Growl-spam encounters won't slow your progress. Having a Special Attacker early that doesn't fall off like Butterfree gives you a very consistent main member for most of each game, which is really what you want to see with Pokemon that would otherwise be overlooked.
Keep these videos coming, it’s so awesome to see this original idea
Even Ch'ding, the trade far fetched, is a better pick in the early game of fr/lg because its always adamant and is holding a stick to boost its attack. Plus I always picked spearow instead, so making it a bit stronger would really help it, but pidgey is definitely the cutest of them second only to doduo
Slight correction, the Stick raises its critical rate not it's attack.
@@Mnglkrmps oh true, my mistake
Did not think of that! Honestly didn’t mention farfetchd much here but he’s definitely fun because of the meme factor. Crit builds are kinda fun. Plus the 50% exp boost is nice
DUX is also surprisingly solid in RBY. You can either spam critical Slashes or Swords Dance and Body Slam.
65 attack. Good luck being better than pidgeot.
I came from Rangod channel... i must to say that i never thought something like this: "Fixing the worst option among some pokemons" is interesting... i don't know if you have already made this video but i would like to see a "How i would fix Ice-type in Pokemon Series" cuz literally my cryobros have the worst Type ever
I love that pidgeot getting some love. One of my favorite gen 1 mons! Great job!
This man’s scripts have so much flavor
I would love to see a playthrough with a full team of your updated pokemon in the future! I think that could really show how much each pokemon benefitted in a team setting without having to play differently than a normal player would by leading the rebuilt pokemon into each battle despite the fact that it may be weak to the opponent's pokemon
Mirror move in Japanese is オウムがえし (Parrot Mimicry), which is why it is Flying type and learned mainly by birdlike Pokemon.
Un youtuber español llamado Rangu te recomendó alegando que había visto mucha calidad en un canal pequeño y que hacía siglos no recomendaba a nadie. Los comentarios de "azul" que probablemente empieces a recibir se deberan a eso.
Pd: no intento hablar en inglés para no dar pena.
No worries, I appreciate it! Luckily RUclips can translate comments!
Just got to say, I absolutely love this series. I’d love to see a Romhack with all of the Pokémon you’ve covered in one game at some point in the future - who knew that this video would make me excited to use a pidgey of all things!
Hope you see this. Just wanna say I’m obsessed with this series and I can’t wait for more. Love the idea, and love your execution. So excited for the next upload.
he has stolen my identity AND my special interest this man must be stopped
fr though this is exactly my kind of niche content, I had some content of my own hack recorded already that implemented a lot of the changes you made in your Chikorita video before I watched it, I'm glad we're very much on the same wavelength when it comes to that dumpster fire of a mon lmao. Keep up the good work
Can't wait for Fearow to be so below the belt he gets Night Slash.
Yes, it sounds strange in English, but I mean...a bird shaped like that committing a Cross-Road Killing (When Samurai would just wait on the crossroads for a passerby to come out to test their sword on), that would be fitting.
Also, only trainers who don't possess the custom moves tag will be affected by the changes.
Trainers with the custom moves tag won't be affected because they can have illegal/different moves regardless (It's why things like Lance's illegal Aerodactyl in Gen 2 occur).
"... I'll pigeonhole hole us into" VERY underrated phrase usage lol
I'd love to see you do this with any game Parasect is in. I love Parasect's design so much and I use him whenever I can out of sheer love, and dgmw he is actually pretty good for catching (spore/weak attacks) but he deserves more than to be a utility pokemon =(
(Good news. That video was made.)
Hi Zen I really enjoyed this video.
One thing I'll add to your change log that Game freak realised is that Pidgeot is too slow (base 91 speed) and they actually buffed it's base speed in XY to 101 base speed.
I love all your changes, however I would also add that one minor base speed change to your list of changes.
Hm I started this video on a random whim and gotta say I love the way you not only approach fixing the mon but you playing it out too in particular. Awesome idea.
A 40 minute video about a basic Pokemon from a very specific game? Hell yeah, this is a good recommended video!
I love this series so much! I love how dedicated you are to your ace pilot interpretation, it's really charming.
I think... maybe Goldeen will be next? Looking forward to it!
Gust is to me a tipoff that Pidgey should lean special to distinguish itself from its cohorts (which Mega Pidgeot confirms), and by giving it Air Cutter/Slash as it grows you could give it a nice niche. Here's how I'd do it, using yours as a baseline:
PIDGEY
1: Quick Attack (love this idea)
5: Mud Slap (may not be as good vs Falkner and Bugsy but literally the first Mud Slapper we ever meet is a Pidgey, gives nice early coverage)
9: Gust (vanilla)
13: Sonic Boom (legally a special attack, leans on the ability to control wind, early enough to still be useful)
17: Evolution!
PIDGEOTTO
17: Air Cutter (Gust upgrade)
20: Swift (adding moveslot here for better Normal coverage)
23: Twister (keeping vanilla because now it's flavor, but a level later)
27: Roost (like your change)
32: U-Turn (like your change)
34: Evolution!
PIDGEOT
34: Air Slash (matches the Air Cutter upgrade)
38: Whirlwind (finally, sure, not that great in-game but better when your team has hazards)
44: Tailwind (moved down to amp up level 50)
50: Hyper Voice (hoorah!)
56: Brave Bird (like giving it this, get it late, let Pidgeot be mixed now if you want)
62: Mirror Move (GF like this for birds and giving it now lets you use better moves earlier
Agree that Heat Wave and Steel Wing are better as learnable moves than natural ones, and I in general wish that moves like Tailwind and Trick Room worked differently between singles and doubles so they could be balanced in both.
You should make a video on each Pokemon in hgss, then play a Nuzlocke with all of the changes. It would be interesting see all of your changes play off of each other in a serious play through.
Keep going when changes aren't doing what you want, I say. I think that going back to drawing board might affect your motivation to keep working on these projects. But you know yourself better than I do.
It’s true I WOULD have to start the run over and make a new rom. So yeah I’ll probably just do what I did in this run, and note that something doesn’t work, and a hypothetical about how I wanted it to work. Appreciate your thoughts!
Salute to you for these realistic changes! Learning Extreme Speed is just chef's kiss!
Love the videos, immediately share them with my friends as soon as I see them. I hope to see a Durant video someday when you get to the gen 5 games. Looking forward to watching this channel grow, thanks for the great content!
This was the cleanest modification so far. I like how simple the changes ended up being, and the emphasis on testing it with a full team.
As a side-note, you mention that the Elite Four has fully EV trained teams, but that’s not correct. Trainers outside of battle facilities didn’t have EVs until gen 7.
I think I meant to say IV’s there. But yeah good catch. Point still stands!
I like this take on pidgey. I always thought he was a stern little bird. Glad to see I'm not the only one who got that impression!
I’m glad RUclips recommended me your channel. You have awesome ideas, a good script, and a good voice as well.
I think you made the right move by sticking with the playthrough even though tailwind wasn't as useful as you thought it was.
I think if more assumptions come back to bite you in future videos, rolling with the punches is the best way to go.
Nice vid! I used Pidgeot for a mono-flying run in FireRed, and was surprised by how underwhelming it felt. Looking into it a bit more, I realized how much better other normal/flying options like Fearow and Dodrio were, which felt really wrong to me. Even Farfetch'd fills a more useful niche as a Swords Dance user. As Gary's other ace besides the starter, I always felt that Pidgeot should've been stronger, and this video really helped it out without deviating from the route 1 bird aesthetic.
Hope the next video is about Parasect. It would be a serious challenge to make a slow Pokémon with a horrid defensive typing work without boosting its Speed a ton or changing said typing.
Hello, I love this content :3
Pd: Azul
Thanks :) I love this comment!
a 40-minute video about pidgey is extremely my thing
I loved the concept of this video and I really liked your emphasis on the pokémon's character, really fun!!
Your bird social class analogy was awesome 😂
Thanks lol I didn’t know if people would agree
I was happy to see you give Pidgeot access to Extreme Speed.
For a move to replace Tailwind, I'd pick amongst Air Cutter, Ominous Wind, or Silver Wind.
I do hope that you one day do a video on Hoothoot & Noctowl. They're among my favorite Flying-type bird Pokémon.
You should combine all these changes into a single HGSS rom hack!
Azul
Vermelho
Yay! You did Pidgeot! I always loved Ash's Pidgeotto... I also thought it was one of his cooler Pokemon!
You avoided giving Mud Slap to Pidgey, but it might be interesting.
In Johto, Mud Slap is iconic on Falkner's Pidgey and Pidgeotto, so it could be a neat reference.
Love how you are giving some of these ignored Pokemon some love!! I hope you will give Jumpluff some love in a future video :)
I really enjoyed this video! In HGSS rematches Blue's Pidgeot knows double team and Falkner's knows Swagger, ut made it seem like Pidgeot is all about evasion which I agree isnt how most people see Pidgeot based on its design.
Love these HG/SS videos! Please do more of them, as I think that HG/SS are the two best Pokémon games!
This video format is so interesting
I really like your analyses and decisions
I cant express how much I love these videos! keep it up!
Personally I would love to see Fearow getting an ability to increase peck, drill, and piercing moves by 1.5 so Drill peck and Drill Run will do massive damage. Calling the ability "Lancer".
This series never misses! They're great :)
I think that the very idea of testing things and going back to fixe mistakes is the true purpose of this series.
So if it feels like a modification was wrong, I think you should go back to fixe it again.
Great vids btw 🙆♂️
I feel like alot of the gen 1 Pokémon make more sense in the context of the series being a single video game. Stuff like dugtrio makes more sense in the game where the idea would be "oh its a group of them" and not a singular entity. In the same way pidgeot is literally a big monster bird cuz back then the series didn't have the insanely specific identity it had
Great video! Love seeing the changes you made to an old favourite
Keep up the great work! Looking forward to the next video! I feel lucky to have found this channel
Awesome video as well! Might I recommend making one for Slugma/Magcargo in HGSS? You can get the Egg from the Violet Pokémon Centre by speaking to Primo and entering the right code, so it should be a fine challenge as well!
Hey, my suggestion from the Chikorita video made it! Glad you took a crack at improving the original early route bird! I liked some of the suggestions in that comment on making it a dedicated special attacker, but I guess that's why Noctowl exists.
As for other suggestions, perhaps Seaking, Octillery or Dewgong? I feel like they could have the potential to be decent water types, but are are lost in the sea (heh) of better options. Keep up the good work!
I'm so happy someone is fixing one of my favorite mons when I was a Kid. I loved Pidgeot, but boy, sometimes it was noticeably weak
This is a really good video, love the thought put into it.