Training Pokemon to be Strong without Evolving?

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Sweet Veil

Bright Days
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Who here does this?

I never let my Pikachu evolve in any of my games and my Pikachu in White is still a Pikachu and is staying one. Even now I'm at the 4th gym and he's still one. So who here trains there Pokemon to be strong without evolving them? For me it's fashion over function.
 
A. Im pretty sure tHis doesn't Have to do witH tHe new 5tH gen pokemon.

B. HOW DID YOU GET A PIKACHU IN WHITE WITHOUT NATIONAL DEX?
 
Same here, the only exception for me was Pikachu, but only because it can utilize it's Light Ball. I have one in HeartGold all EV-trained straight from birth. Too bad it doesn't know Volt Tackle. I just love sweeping teams with him, though, he's amazing. I'll probably breed a Volt Tackle Pikachu with DW ability LightningRod this generation. Also, I think with the introduction of Eviolite, some pre-evolutions may become more viable compared to their evolutions; just off the top of my head, Shelmet has a very different stat distribution than Accelgor.

EDIT: On second thought, a LightningRod Pikachu with Volt Tackle wouldn't be.. compatible. Electro Ball/Thunderbolt would work better.
 
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I'd say it's better train non-evolved pokémons, because they will learn moves faster.
 
Not evolving them is a regrettable gimmick leftover from the anime and it's desire to keep Pokemon as cutesy for as long as possible. There are a few exceptions like Light Pikachu and Eviolite, but in general it's silly not to evolve a Pokemon just because you think it's more cute that way.
 
Well, maybe people don't like evolutions. I'd hold back on evolving my Ponyta because Ponyta was one of my favorites. It had nothing to do with looks.
 
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Zeta said:
Not evolving them is a regrettable gimmick leftover from the anime and it's desire to keep Pokemon as cutesy for as long as possible. There are a few exceptions like Light Pikachu and Eviolite, but in general it's silly not to evolve a Pokemon just because you think it's more cute that way.
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I tried that once while playing through JP plat. I regretted it. I ended up with a LV 40 which was getting defeated by LV 15-20 Pokemon. It was annoying.

And that is why you don't play games like the Anime. Because the Anime is just gimmicks.
 
A Pokemon can be strong, even if you don't evolve it. It just takes more work.

Is there really anything wrong with basing your gameply style off of the anime? It's a person's choice how to play, and if they don't mind the extra little challenge, so be it.
 
In fact, I train a lilipup I use to pick up itens, but, despite its stage, I won the last 4 Unova gyms with it (yeah, you can win the last gyms only with a lv. 50 lilipup. I'm not surprised, the gyms are stupidly easy, this gen).

Its current level is 53, since I use it mainly as a pick uper, but, the little guy saved me many times.
 
It's not me really trying to be gimmicky ^_^' I just like Pikachu more then Raichu. Plus the Light Ball and the right nature(Modest, Hasty, Naive, Mild, or Rash) makes Pikachu a absolute monster for me. Taking down every opponent easily and much quicker then my other Pokemon, thanks to the high speed rate as well. Of course I don't keep my starters in there first forms. But, I have experimented with the idea in the past and surprisingly the starter managed pretty good.
 
This isn't the anime so I have no need for pointless things like that

I only keep them un-evolved if 1) I don't have anything that can make it evolve 2) To make them learn moves earlier (which isn't really a problem for me)
 
I think about this, but I generally don't go through with it. xD I was thinking about keeping a Dewott and Joltik as they were playing through White, but I just went with it. I now like Samurott. <3

This is the reason why I generally don't use trade-evolve Pokemon if I don't have the access to it. (Ex. When I played the 4th gen games since I only have one DS and I didn't get DS Wi-fi back until the 1st of this month after not having it for years.) It just irks the heck out of me when they're not fully evolved.
 
Depends if I really like an unevoled form. The only example I have in mind is Buizel; I'd never let my Buizel evolve into a Floatzel, because I don't like it. Beside, it's always fun to win battles with an unevolved Pokémon.
 
I always evolve my Pokemon, simply because I despise Ash for not doing it. And besides, several of my Pokemon would not be as strong as they are now if I hadn't evolved.
 
I usually evolve my Pokemon, however, I have an Eevee in Pearl that I kept unevolved. I love Eevee!
 
No unless if its a lightball Pikachu or a Pokemon that can use the Evolite well such as Dusclops.
 
Raizhu said:
I always evolve my Pokemon, simply because I despise Ash for not doing it. And besides, several of my Pokemon would not be as strong as they are now if I hadn't evolved.
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This. Its always annoyed me that Ash never evolved Squirtle or Bulbasaur. The moment I get a pokemon on my main team i'm already planning to evolve it.

I've never been one for breeding so i've never had a light ball Pikachu, but i've seen one in action and I can see why you wouldn't want to evolve it.
 
I've never tried it, but I've thought of doing it with Bidoof for the lulz.
 
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