Pokémon and evolution go hand-in-hand as the franchise is based on the mechanic of training weaker creatures and helping them grow into powerful beasts. From the beginning of the game, going back to Pokémon Red & Blue, players learn about the concept of evolving weaker Pokémon into stronger creatures via the starters they receive from professors.
Taking a look at all of the Pokémon, which ones benefit the most from evolution? There’s more than a handful of Pokémon that make some truly remarkable evolutionary transformations up until the release of Pokémon Sword & Shield.
10 Wimpod
If you happened to explore the Alolan Islands as a trainer in Pokémon Sun & Moon then chances are you came across a timid Bug and Water-type known as Wimpod. This little thing actively avoids confrontation and those looking to catch it need to be as sneaky as they are clever. Once you happen to capture it you’ll only need to train it to level 30 to get the payoff. Its final form named Golisopod isn’t a world-beater by any means, but considering what it evolved from it feels almost like night and day. Fitting considering it’s native to a region featured in games named after the sun and the moon.
9 Trapinch
Fans of the first generation of Pokémon games often point to Dragonite and its evolutionary line as an odd set of transformations. When the final form’s design is drastically different than its base form, fans find it quite off-putting. That isn’t the only case of this happening as Trapinch starts life as an orange lizard Ground-type creature and by level 45 becomes a flying dragon. Flygon is its final form and on top of its natural Ground-type affiliation it picks up the secondary typing of Dragon, making it cooler than it has any right being.
8 Ralts
The great thing about the Pokémon franchise is that it has a solid base of fans who happen to be both male and female. Not all boys want to solely have male Pokémon and vice versa for girls, but relatability is a thing so it happens a bit more often than you think. The neat thing with the Psychic and Fairy-type known as Ralts is that it has both a feminine and masculine final form. Kirlia, Ralts’ middle form, will turn into the feminine Gardevoir at level 30, but if the Kirlia is male and is holding a Dawn Stone it will instead evolve into the masculine Fairy/Fighting dual-type known as Gallade.
7 Clamperl
Humans naturally enjoy options as it makes them feel as if they have more agency in their lives. Clamperl is the perfect Water-type creature for people who enjoy options as it can turn into one of two underwater animals. If it’s traded holding a Deep Sea Tooth then the resulting evolution will be a blue eel-like menace called Huntail.
If trainers hand their Clamperl a Deep Sea Scale instead of the tooth, then their little sweet creature will evolve into an elegant pink eel-like called Gorebyss, whose name is absolutely terrifying.
6 Tyrogue
Tyrogue is a little Fighting-type Pokémon that is very human in design and resembles a young kid ready to tussle. It can evolve into three different Pokémon, and that’s based on its statistics at the time in which it hits level 20. It can be a little tricky to land the specific evolution you want, but with a bit of research and execution, it shouldn’t be a problem. Tyrogue can evolve into the kick-based fighter Hitmonlee, the punch-based brawler named Hitmonchan, or the chaotic mess of energy known as Hitmontop.
5 Milcery
Milcery is an interesting case of a Pokémon having a specific gimmick. It evolves into Alcremie, but the appearance of Alcremie is dependent on the Sweet item the Milcery is holding and how the Milcery is “mixed” during evolution. The mixing happens when the player rotates their joystick as the Milcery is in the state of transformation. It’s advised that trainers save before attempting the evolution as they can easily mess up and be left with a Fairy-type mess they don’t exactly care for. There are 63 different forms of Alcremie in total.
4 Feebas
For all intents and purposes, Feebas is simply the 3rd generation feminine equivalent to Magikarp. Instead of evolving into a very masculine Pokémon design like Gyarados, Feebas evolves into the feminine energy fueled beauty known as Milotic. Magikarp evolves at a certain level, whereas Feebas takes a bit more groundwork to reap the reward. It can either be traded holding a Prism Scale, or leveled up to max beauty in order for it to evolve. Sadly, Milotic doesn’t have any additional typing and simply remains a Water-type.
3 Nincada
At first, Pokémon fans thought Nincada was a simple Bug and Ground-type that evolved into a secondary form that could fly. Those who evolved it with an empty slot in their party learned that the skin it shed turned into a Bug and Ghost-type creature that magically appeared in their party.
Pokémon, as a franchise, is full of weird and fun evolution-based events, but no other Pokémon evolves in a way that creates two separate creatures. It truly makes Nincada special, and a Pokémon worth catching and investing in.
2 Eevee
Despite Pikachu being the mascot for the entire Pokémon franchise, many people would argue that Eevee best represents the core of the series. It has the ability to evolve into 8 different Pokémon currently and that list will likely grow until it includes an evolution in each typing. Potential is a keyword in the Pokémon world and very few creatures have the potential Eevee has. As an adorable Normal-type that can be given an everstone, the fact people choose to evolve it in and of itself says something about its capabilities.
1 Magikarp
When discussing remarkable evolutions in the world of Pokémon it’s hard to deny how impressive Magikarp’s transformation is. It begins life as a helpless orange fish that can’t do much more than tackle or splash. If a trainer is willing to put in the time and effort needed to evolve it they’ll be rewarded with an incredibly powerful Water and Flying-type beast. Gyarados is powerful and immediately showcases why the effort is worth it. Magikarp’s existence from a design perspective is to teach players that all Pokémon have potential.
NEXT: 15 Pokémon That Still (Desperately) Need An Evolution
