The Logic Behind Pokemon Type Matchups
Pokemon type matchups that do and don’t make sense
Image Source: wikiHow
Pokemon is one of the most popular and well recognized game franchises out there. Pokemon has a large community with millions of fans around the world. You can collect and play competitively with the Pokemon TCG, play Pokemon video games, watch the Pokemon anime, and collect all of the other Pokemon merchandise out there. There is a vast range of Pokemon related activities that allow you to immerse yourself into the hobby depending on your interests.
Pokemon follows game logic. This means that it uses logic that doesn’t necessarily have to be true to the real world because all it really is is just a video game. Game logic also explains how you are able to respawn after dying in a game rather than the game just ending as soon as you die. Basically, Pokemon doesn’t have to follow logic from the real world, but it certainly still can.
But there’s one element of Pokemon that nearly all fans are familiar with, Pokemon types. Specifically, Pokemon type match ups. In the Pokemon universe, there are 18 types. These types are as follows:
- Normal
- Water
- Grass
- Fire
- Electric
- Fighting
- Ice
- Poison
- Ground
- Psychic
- Bug
- Flying
- Dragon
- Steel
- Fairy
- Dark
- Ghost
- Rock
In the real word, fire can be extinguished by water. Guess what happens in Pokemon battles? As you may have guessed, fire type Pokemon are weak to water type Pokemon! This is a Pokemon type matchup. A Pokemon type matchup is when you put two Pokemon types together in a battle (real or theorized) and you consider the outcome. The Pokemon type matchup chart is a useful tool to help you understand type matchups, and it is included in this article.
However, some Pokemon type matchups don’t make very much sense. To be specific, fairy type matchups. What in the real world is supposed to resemble fairy type? Fairy is effective against ice, dragon, and dark. While it can be argued that fairy may be a “light” force and so it can definitely be effective against dark, what about dragon and ice? Sure fairy and dragon type can be defined as more “divine” types, but what specifically makes fairy effective against dragon and not the other way around? And why is fairy effective against ice? What necessarily makes it so fairy, a force that we don’t really have something real to relate it to, effective against ice, a force that we know very much about? How exactly would something defined as “fairy” destroy ice? Also, why are steel and poison types effective against fairy types? It’s the same argument as before. There isn’t much of an explanation to fairy type matchups, or the fairy type in general, which is why they don’t make much sense.
RELATED STORIES:
- https://www.wikihow.com/Learn-Type-Weaknesses-in-Pok%C3%A9mon
- https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Type
- https://niantic.helpshift.com/hc/en/6-pokemon-go/faq/2132-type-effectiveness-in-battle/
- https://www.nintendolife.com/guides/pokemon-go-type-chart-explained-effectiveness-and-weakness-for-all-types
- https://www.fanbyte.com/games/guides/pokemon-sword-and-shield-type-chart-pokemon-strengths-and-weaknesses/
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