Over 20 years ago, kids all over the world embarked on their first journey across the Johto region. Unlike Pokemon Red and Blue before it, Gen 2 saw police officers roam routes with their trusty Growlithe once the sun had set. It featured the beloved bug catching contest, Legendaries who weren’t boring, and quality-of-life updates that were so impressive nobody but Satoru Iwata could have pulled them off. One of my fondest memories of playing Pokemon Gold & Silver, however, has nothing to do with any of that. When I think about playing Gen 2 at four years old, my mind immediately and involuntarily wanders to repeatedly headbutting trees until something fell out of them – especially because that something could be the elusive but brilliant Heracross.
Heracross is one of the most popular Pokemon in history. While it’s not necessarily on the tip of your Lickitung in conversations about Greninja, Charizard, Gengar, and Pikachu, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who can tell you in earnest that this exoskeletal insect – is Heracross an insect? – is rubbish. Alongside Gen 1’s Scyther and Pinsir, Heracross was one of precious few early Pokemon capable of making a case for Bug-types. Sure, Scizor probably enjoyed a bigger immediate impact back when Gen 2 originally launched, but let’s be real – even Scyther is better than its silly metal evolution.
Related: This Week In Pokemon Unite: Review Bombing, Zapdos Nerfs, And More
That’s why it’s so strange that Heracross has repeatedly been done dirty by Nintendo, Game Freak, Niantic, and The Pokemon Company in general. The majority of appearances it’s made since Gen 2 have been in some sort of Safari Zone or on a single route – the only exception to this was Gen 4, in which Heracross was blatantly used as a means of incentivising the honey gimmick. Not even one of Gen 2’s best ‘mons could make slathering sweet-smelling honey on trees covered in enormous beehives less stupid.
By the time Sun & Moon came around a few gens afterwards, the only way to obtain Heracross was via trade. Ultra Sun & Moon saw it appear in Poni Grove, a postgame area you can’t access until after you’ve become the champion, while Sword & Shield didn’t add the beloved bug to its roster until the Isle of Armor expansion. To be fair, lots of fan-favourites never made it to Gen 8 – the Squirtle family are also locked behind paid DLC and Dragonite is still missing even after the Crown Tundra. Heracross did admittedly make the cut – but it’s still clearly been treated unfairly in both the mainline series and most of its spin-offs.
Heracross was one of my favourite Pokemon in New Pokemon Snap, a game that prides itself on proving there are no bad Pokemon. It takes a while to unlock Heracross, but once you’ve successfully leveled up Florio Nature Park enough, it will start to appear in the little forest populated by either Wurmple or Caterpie depending on the time of day. The best thing about this is how accurately Heracross’ behaviour replicates its in-game descriptions – it fights with Pinsir and allows weaker Pokemon to feed off the same tree sap as it. I’d personally love to see Heracross and Pinsir team up to take down a Vikavolt, but alas… Maybe when New Pokemon Snap inevitably gets another expansion, eh?
That’s not what I’m here to discuss, though. What I’m annoyed about is that Heracross has officially been removed from the wild in Pokemon Go. While it’s still able to be encountered in Raids and this is likely only temporary, it serves as yet another example of Heracross being treated as if it’s comparable to, like, Garbodor. It’s gradually become less and less involved in the mainline series, has just been removed from Pokemon Go, and despite being a perfect fit for Pokemon Unite, it didn’t make the cut for that either – no Gen 2 Pokemon did. I am extremely happy with Heracross being shown the respect it deserves in New Pokemon Snap, but that only highlights how little its esteem is recognised elsewhere. One of the best ‘mons from what is quite frankly the best generation of Pokemon has continuously been ignored, and for what? To put Crustle in two new Pokemon games and pretend Gen 6 wasn’t a complete and utter mess?
The Go situation is weird, but Heracross missing the cut for Unite is even more strange. Of all the Gen 2 Pokemon – Feraligatr, Typhlosion, Meganium, Scizor, Steelix, Tyranitar, Blissey, Houndoom, and more – Heracross is perhaps the single most fitting ‘mon for a game like Pokemon Unite. Gardevoir was added a couple of weeks ago, and we know that Blastoise and potentially Clefable are coming in a future update. That means that even after receiving three post-launch characters Unite will still be Gen 2-less.
I’m telling you right now, reader, that the only way to properly rectify this is for Heracross to finally be recognised for how brilliant it is. There are already way too many attackers in the game, but at this point I couldn’t give a Ralts – give Megahorn 10,000DPS for all I care. Just stop pretending Heracross doesn’t exist.
Next: Pokemon Could Have Had A Whole New Type 19 Years Ago
