Continuing the trend of early game Kanto Pokémon, we have Pidgey. While many of the early game Pokemon in any generation are often fairly archetypal animals with a small twist, Pidgey can barely even achieve that. It’s absolutely a trendsetter, inspiring many “regional birds” after it to fill its niche, but really it’s just such a nothing design that is outclassed even in its own generation and countless times over in the future. For whatever reason I find that bird Pokémon often leave something to be desired design-wise, with many feeling a little too hamstrung by their own anatomy to have particularly expressive designs or interesting details, and if nothing else Pidgey entrenches that bias quite heavily with nothing to say beyond being a small brown bird. They say imitation is a form of flattery, but with Pokemon filling Pidgey’s niche it feels much more like a desperate need for a do-over.

Pidgeotto is a little better, developing the proportions more and adding some nice plumage to give this Pokemon something as a defining feature. It’s an entirely competent bird monster design, but once again it just offers nothing special, with its colours being too muted and its thoroughly mundane style leaving so much to be desired. Its plumage being more scraggly that Pidgeot is a solid reflection of being an adolescent middle stage but that doesn’t feel particularly compelling on its own.

Pidgeot, as the final form, feels the most complete at least. It’s not really much more than a larger Pidgeotto, but looks sleeker, more fully grown, and now has an accent to its longer, smoother plumage while the tail feathers are more refined. Again, a competent design but just thoroughly devoid of much to get invested in, with underwhelming gameplay to back that up on the off chance you hoped this was going somewhere.

Mega Pidgeot, while not the same wonderful and revolutionary take on its base form that Mega Beedrill was, is at least a fresher take on Pidgeot that goes a long way to giving it something more defining. The plumage, often compared to a Super Saiyan, is far more interesting and dynamic, with the swirling red shock of feathers looking great against the frenzied yellow ones. The blue accents on its wings and tail are a really nice splash of colour that highlights the design well, and the drab colours of the rest of its body are brighter with heightened contrast. It’s even a major departure gameplay-wise, going from a thoroughly generic Pokemon to being entirely reworked into a fascinating special sweeper with a great niche in STAB No Guard Hurricane. They did a lot right for Pidgeot with Mega Evolution and while it still isn’t one of my favourites, as there’s a certain drabness to its design that can’t really be fixed, the effort has to be hugely appreciated.

Final Verdict (excluding Mega Pidgeot): 3/10 – a weak take on a bird Pokemon that was outclassed in its time and has only gotten more drastically outmatched as time has gone on.

Mega Pidgeot Final Verdict: 6/10 – It’s still a Pidgeot, and a little underwhelming as a result, but there’s some real flair and passion here that I do miss somewhat now that we’re past Mega Evolution being able to salvage a Pokemon.