10 Most Ridiculous Pokémon Ever

Pokémon has become all the rage again over the last few months thanks to the whirlwind success of the Pokémon Go mobile app, which has effectively utilised both an innovative concept and inherent nostalgia to attract players old and new. Though it has experienced an inevitable drop off in player count, the fact that it rekindled an old love with many will certainly boost the sales of the upcoming Pokémon Sun and Moon - the seventh generation of games in the long-running handheld franchise.

Each generation since the originals has added a significant number of new Pokémon, to the extent that the overall number now stands at 721, with more to come in the upcoming titles. Many of these have been fondly accepted by fans, whilst others served little purpose other than to pad the Pokédex. They have been less well received as a result.

Once upon a time, it seemed that the formula for creating a Pokémon involved taking an animal or mythical being and making a few tweaks. It was mostly effective but as time has gone on, it has become more and more apparent that Game Freak are starting to run out of inspiration for their creations. Not only have a number of suspiciously similar Pokémon popped up, but ones based on frankly ridiculous things have become more and more prevalent. Ten of the most ludicrous are profiled over the coming pages.

Pokédex - 100/101 (Generation I)

Much as the most wistful fans of the series (sometimes disparagingly referred to as 'genwunners') may claim that only the original 151 Pokémon matter and that any subsequent creations are meaningless, the roster of Pokémon Red and Blue had more than its fair share of clunkers.

Perhaps the laziest of all was Voltorb, which was simply a Poké Ball item complete with added eyes. It's evolution, Electrode, merely inverted its red and white colour scheme and added a mouth. Highly annoying to face in battle given their tendency to use Self Destruct at the slightest provocation, the electric types stand out as perhaps the most uninspired Pokémon from the original games, which is no mean feat given that they also included a clutch of eggs with faces, a rock with hands, and a mime-like humanoid that looks like he should be the subject of an Operation Yewtree investigation rather than part of a game marketed at children.