Pokemon took a swing for the fences in Generation VII when they introduced Alolan regional variants. They were a success with most fans, serving as a way to rehash old favorites into something more interesting. It was only natural to have it return in Generation VIII, with the Galar region’s own rehashing of certain Pokemon. Fans now have two regions to marvel at in terms of regional variants of old Pokemon.
Not only does that bring new Pokemon to look at from a lore perspective or with respect to a certain region, but many of them also brought new competitive niches that their old versions didn’t have. These Pokemon took some older ones that had been forgotten about and made them more useful in a competitive sense.
11 Mr. Rime
While the new evolution isn’t a huge improvement from a base stat total perspective, Mr. Rime brings tons of benefits to the table that Kantonian Mr. Mime doesn’t have. While its Ice/Psychic-typing is terrible defensively, it can bring some unexpected power to the offensive side, especially with a very good 110 Special Attack.
Its main selling point as a regional variant is its signature ability, Screen Cleaner, which removes all screens from the battlefield (Reflect, Light Screen, Aurora Veil). That hasn’t pushed it to prominence just yet, but if ever the competitive metagame gets dominated by screen-setting, Mr. Rime is primed to become more viable.
10 Galarian Corsola & Cursola
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Generation VIII did Corsola right after it was completely forgotten for every single generation after its release. Fans applauded Game Freak for taking a stance on climate change by turning a coral into a Ghost-type. It was equally refreshing for competitive players, as it gave Eviolite-heads a new not-fully-evolved Pokemon to crown with the held item.
Cursola on its own is a decent special wallbreaker, rocking quite a high Special Attack stat at 145 and multiple avenues of coverage. Meanwhile, Galarian Corsola gets tremendous benefits from the Eviolite’s defensive boosts, being a high-defense Pokemon. While the former makes its mark with potent Shadow Balls, the latter works best in a utility role, with moves like Stealth Rock, Night Shade, and Strength Sap.
8 Alolan Raichu
It’s tough giving a new form to the franchise’s most popular evolutionary line, but Alolan Raichu pulls it off with a delightfully unique design in line with the region it’s from. Not only that, but it gives the once pure Electric-type the ability to fill an interesting competitive niche.
With the introduction of Terrains in Generation VI came tons of new strategies, one of which was utilizing Alolan Raichu’s Surge Surfer ability a generation later. It’s essentially an Electric Terrain version of Swift Swim, and it turns it into an unexpectedly good sweeper in the right circumstances. Not only does it pack an extra Psychic-type punch, but it has access to good coverage moves too, such as Grass Knot, Focus Blast, and Surf, as well as Nasty Plot for setting up.
7 Alolan Muk
Poison/Dark is quite an underrated dual typing, only have one weakness (the Ground-type). Muk gained that tremendous benefit and more with its new Alolan regional variant in Generation VII.
It puts that typing to good use with nice defensive stats on the special end. It also helps that that typing, in particular, was a great check for lots of Pokemon in its metagame, so it gained a lot of traction that way. While it won’t have access to Pursuit if ever it returns in Generation VIII, it’ll have moves like Crunch and Gunk Shot to take advantage of its equally good 105 Attack.
6 Galarian Slowbro & Slowking
While the Slowpoke line’s Galarian regional variants are pretty similar in terms of stats and potential roles on teams, there’s just enough about them that’s different for them to fill specific competitive niches.
Part of that is to the new signature moves and abilities, though that’s really only the case with Slowbro. Its move, Shell Side Arm, in conjunction with its ability, Quick Draw, gained a bit of traction as a suitable niche despite its reliance on RNG. With Slowking, neither the move Eerie Spell nor the ability Curious Medicine really get any attention from a competitive teambuilding standpoint. In fact, most opt for a standard defensive Regenerator set, to the point of it gaining tons of usage in Generation VIII’s OverUsed metagame.
5 Alolan Ninetales
Even though Ninetales lost most of its competitive viability in Generation VII thanks to Torkoal being a better sun setter, its Alolan counterpart bailed it out the very same generation, but instead as a hail setter.
Much like Kantonian Ninetales’ Drought that brings in the sun upon entry, Alolan Ninetales has Snow Warning as an ability, which brings in hail upon entry. Not only that, but it has access to Aurora Veil, a move that can bring in the effects of both Light Screen and Reflect in one turn when hailing. For an Ice-type, the additional Fairy-typing is also something to watch out for, even if it doubles down on its weakness to Steel.
4 Alolan Marowak
While Marowak is by no means a horrible Pokemon, it hadn’t been in any high tiers of competitive play for a long time. The Kantonian Ground-type just didn’t have much going for it, but it was a different story for the Alolan regional variant.
Fire/Ghost is a very good typing, and that makes for an unexpectedly powerful attacker. While it’s still quite slow, it has pretty good defenses to make up for it, allowing you to hit back harder. In terms of abilities, it’s got some really good ones; Rock Head is great for moves like Flare Blitz, and Lightning Rod, while useless on regular Marowak, provides a welcome immunity to the table.
3 Obstagoon
The original Zigzagoon line, while not awful, was difficult to use in serious competitive battles thanks to Linoone’s low base stat total. A no-brainer remedy for a low base stat total Pokemon is, of course, to just give it an evolution.
The Galarian version of the line did just that, and the way they went about it with Obstagoon was excellent, both in terms of design and battling prowess. It isn’t just Linoone with better stats and an extra STAB typing; the ability makes all the difference. It can now legitimately put its hat in the ring as one of the best Guts attackers in the competitive space. The new signature move, Obstruct, was also welcome, giving competitive players a unique protection option.
2 Galarian Darmanitan
Regular, Unovan Darmanitan is certainly a solid Pokemon, but it’s got some features to gripe about from a competitive standpoint. Its Zen Mode, which a unique gimmick, is too taxing for battles, having to switch between physical and special attacks midway through.
The pure Ice-type Galarian Darmanitan not only fixed this problem, but concocted a whole slew of other problems for opposing players. Not only is its Zen Mode actually viable for not forcing a player to switch from physical to special, it’s completely broken. Its regular Gorilla Tactics ability is really good, too, functioning like a Choice Band. Regular Darmanitan is no slouch, but its Galarian regional variant is a whole new beast.
1 Sirfetch’d
Now, this is how you make a regional variant. Take a Pokemon that’s been totally forgotten about, flip it on its head, and turn it into a really cool regional variant with an evolution that’s actually useful for battling.
Not only is Sirfetch’d way more useful than Kantonian Farfetch’d, but it managed to be quite viable during the early days of Generation VIII’s metagame. Having that Leek on hand as a held item made it one of the hardest hitters in the entirety of Sword and Shield, utilizing moves such as Close Combat and even First Impression, Leaf Blade, and Brave Bird. Its evolution method from Galarian Farfetch’d of requiring three critical hits in a single battle is also quite unique, while not asking too much from a player.
NEXT: 10 Pokemon Attack Names That Were Better In Japanese
