8 Subtly Brilliant Pokémon Designs

2016 marks Pokémon's 20th anniversary, and with the recent announcement of two further entries in the series, Sun and Moon, Nintendo's legendary franchise shows no signs of slowing down.

Since 1996, we've welcomed 721 of the little blighters into our hearts, with a 722nd set to be revealed to tie-in with the latest movie. It's fair to say that with such a mammoth number of pocket monsters, not all of them have been at the cutting edge of creativity.

Even in the first generation, there were those which were slightly lacking in originality. There was Seel, which was...well...a seal (and inexplicably, its evolved form Dewgong, which was much removed from a dugong). There was Krabby - yep, you guessed it, a crab. What about Ekans? It's 'snake' backwards, geddit?

For the most part however, Pokémon designs have generally been brimming with personality and inventiveness, even as the series has expanded to include literally hundreds of the monsters. There have obviously been missteps - Pinceo anyone? - but on the whole, Game Freak has got it right.

In fact, some of their Pokémon designs have been so devilishly ingenious, you may not have even noticed how inspired they were - until now. Here's eight of the most subtly brilliant Pokémon designs you may have just missed. 

For a floating ball of toxic gas, Koffing is a remarkably happy customer. The poison Pokémon's big grinning face is a very endearing sight indeed, even when it is crippling your ranks through vicious noxious attacks.

Inexplicably joyful countenance aside, Koffing's physical appearance is easily explained. A bulbuous, buoyant ball replete with skull and crossbone motif, the Pokémon is clearly designed to resemble a World War 1 naval mine, borne out by its annoying tendency to explode in combat.

If it can contain itself long enough to reach level 35, Koffing evolves into the decidedly more mournful looking Weezing. Though the evolved 'mon seems to be nothing more than two Koffings bolted together, the design is slightly more interesting than it first seems.

Like its predecessor, Weezing is a living embodiment of pollution, and as such is modeled on a molecule of carbon dioxide - one of the most prevalent of all harmful man-made emissions.

As if to emphasise the point, Koffing and Weezing were originally to be called Ny and La respectively, after smog centrals New York City and Los Angeles.