- This video is sponsored by
Keeps, more on them later. Greetings Pokefans! Michael here, and of all
the 18 Pokémon types, the type that I believe
to have undergone the biggest changes since the
beginning is the Bug type. I was pretty interested in what all of those
dramatic changes were, so this video will
be an overview of everything the Bug
type has gone through since the beginning of Pokémon. So don't forget to
subscribe to my channel, turn on the bell
for notifications, you know the thing, and let's get started
with Generation 1, the Gen in which the
Bug type was introduced, alongside most of
the other types, and back then, the Bug type was pretty much completely useless. These were type match-ups for
the Bug type in Generation 1, and since this was prior to
the physical-special split, all Bug moves were physical. A fun fact about its
type match-ups is
that Bug and Fighting are the only two different
types to resist each other. In the same vein, Bug and Poison were actually super effective
against each other in Gen 1, something that was changed
in subsequent generations. That means in Gen 1, all of
the Grass Poison type Pokémon actually had four
times weaknesses that
they don't anymore. The fully evolved Bug type
Pokémon were Butterfree, Beedrill, Parasect, Venomoth,
Scyther, and Pinsir. These Pokémon currently have
an average Base Stat Total of just below 441, and I'm only looking at the
fully evolved ones 'cause those are the ones you'd
end up with on your team. I should mention, though,
that that stat average is under the modern stat system. Back in Gen 1,
the Special Attack and Special Defense Stats
were just one stat: Special, so the Base Stat Totals were
wildly different back then. I figured it made the most
sense just to list the modern day stats because
it's more straightforward to understand and compare
to other Generations. This average of
441 is pretty bad. It's, actually, the worst of all of the types
in Generation 1, and it's only as
good as it is because Scyther and Pinsir
are a part of it. For comparison, the
average Base Stat Total for Gen 1 fully evolved
Water types is about 502, Fighting types is 467.5, and Poison is 485. The only type close
to Bug is Normal, which edges it out
by about a point, but Normal is also
hurt by Ditto a lot. So in Gen 1, the Bug type
Pokémon were pretty weak, but not only were
the Pokémon weak, the type itself was like
Flareon: it had no moves. There were only four Bug
type moves in Generation 1: Twineedle, String Shot, Pin
Missile, and Leech Life. This graphic is not
completely accurate though, since both Pin
Missile and Leech Life have been buffed since Gen 1. Back then, their powers
were 14 and 20 respectively, and Pin Missile's
accuracy was 85. The three damaging moves
are all clearly terrible. Twineedle only maxes
out at 50 Base Power. Leech Life is a completely
useless 20 Base Power, and while Pin Missile can
max out at 70 Base Power, the chances of that actually
happening are minuscule. The move only has a 12.5%
chance to hit five times, and that's provided
none of the hits miss with just 85% accuracy. Assuming I did my math right, 12.5% times 85%
to the fifth power results in only having a 5.5%
chance of landing five times, so the rest of the time
its power is under 70, which is not good. Oh, and as an extra
bit of absurdity, the only Bug type
Pokémon that could learn Twineedle and Pin
Missile was Beedrill, the one tied with
Butterfree for the weakest fully evolved Bug type
Pokémon in the Generation. That left Venomoth and Parasect
with the abysmal Leech Life, and then, Butterfree,
Scyther, and Pinsir, literally learned no
Bug type damaging moves. That's actually a bug
reason why the Psychic type was so incredibly
overpowered in Gen 1. The Dark type didn't exist, Psychic was actually
immune to Ghost in Gen 1, and the Bug type was so bad, that is may as well
not have existed. Psychic, effectively, had
no weaknesses in Gen 1. Then came Generation 2, and it provided some
buffs to the Bug type, but not enough to
make it viable. For type match-ups, the
Bug type got two buffs by now being strong
against the new Dark type and, also, no longer
being weak to Poison. However those two positives
were offset by two negatives: Poison now resists Bug, as
does the new Steel type. This type chart for the Bug type remained the same
until Generation 6. The new fully-evolved
Bug Pokémon were Ledian, Ariados,
Yanma, Forretress, Scizor, Shuckle, and Heracross. At the time, they had an
average Base Stat Total of about 448.5, but
their average is now 450, thanks to Ariados getting a
10-point stat buff in Gen 7. This is better than Gen 1,
but still pretty subpar. On the topic of stats,
there's actually a weird fact with one of the Gen 2 Bug types. Scizor has the exact same
Base Stat Total as Scyther, just with a different
stat distribution, and this is the only
instance in all of Pokémon, where a Pokémon has the
same Base Stat Total as its pre-evolution,
which is weird, I don't know why they did that, Scizor should have
been stronger. As for the Bug type
move situation, it improved but
still wasn't great. The three new Bug moves were Spider Web, Megahorn,
and Fury Cutter. Megahorn was an
excellent powerful move, but the only Pokémon that
could learn it was Heracross. Fury Cutter was available
on many more Pokémon, but it still wasn't a good move. Back then its Base
Power started at 10, and it doubled every turn
it hit consecutively, maxing out at 160, but you
had to hit consecutively, if you were interrupted
for any reason, the move went back to
being just 10 Base Power. It wasn't very good. Gen 2 also introduced the first
major Bug type specialist, the Bug type gym leader, Bugsy. Amusingly, the only Bug type
offensive move his Pokémon have is Fury Cutter on Scyther. So in short,
Generation 2 increased the viability of the Bug
type, just not by very much, but then, Generation
3 came along and, also did not do very much. The new fully evolved
Bug types were Beautifly, Dustox, Masquerain,
Ninjask, Shedinja, Volbeat, Illumise, and
Armaldo, which, at the time, had an average Base
Stat Total of about 396, but now their average is
410, thanks to stat buffs to Beautifly, Masquerain,
Volbeat, and Illumise. Side note, if you think my
pronunciation of Illumise is weird, and
terrible, and wrong, I'm like 95% sure that's how
they pronounce it in the anime. I'm not 100% sure, because I
watched at episode as a child, but yeah, I think that's
what they call it there. Another side note,
this time a fun fact, the stat buff that
Masquerain received was between Gens 6 and 7, and it was 40 points added
to its Base Stat Total. To my knowledge, that is the
largest Base Stat Total buff a Pokémon has received
without getting a new form. Technically, if you talk about
the split between special to special attack and special
defense, between Gens 1 and 2, a lot of Pokémon saw
a larger increase, but I don't really
count that because that's kind of a
stat system overhaul, rather than just
one specific Pokémon receiving a sizeable buff. However, even after all of
the buffs, a lot of the Gen 3 fully evolved Bug types
got in later Generations, Gen 3 is still the
weakest Generation of fully evolved Bug types. The other Generations
were helped out by like 500 Base
Stat Total Pokémon, like Scyther, Pinsir, Heracross,
Scizor, and surprisingly, Shuckle, which has the
highest Base Stat Total of a Bug type so far, but Gen 3, the best it got was
Armaldo which was 495. To be fair to Gen 3,
Shedinja really drives the average down with its gimmick of
only having Base 1 HP, but even if you remove
it from the calculations, the average is still
lower than the others, being about 419
pre-buff and 435 after. As for the new Bug
moves, there were three: Silver Wind, Signal
Beam, and Tail Glow. Silver Wind is a
bit underwhelming, being a Bug type
version of Ancient Power and, therefore, on the
weaker side of in the middle. Signal Beam is reasonably solid, and Tail Glow is one of the
best boosting moves in the game, but at the time they were
only learned by Volbeat, a terribly weak Bug type. Actually, in Gen 3, there
was one other Pokémon that could learn Signal Beam,
and it was Dewgong. Don't ask me why. The strongest Bug
move, Megahorn, was expanded to more
Pokémon, but sadly, none of them were Bug types. Heracross is still the
only Bug type Pokémon to learn the move. So Gen 3 didn't
introduce any new impressive Bug type Pokémon
other than, arguably, Ninjask, and maybe Armaldo, and the moves it added
weren't much help either, but then Generation
4 came along, and changed the
Bug type forever. The new fully evolved
Bug type Pokémon were Kricketune, Wormadam, Mothim,
Vespiquen, and Yanmega, which together have an average
Base Stat Total of about 444. This is the best so
far prior to any buffs, but certainly not
anything impressive, but, I'm sorry to these Pokémon, they are not what matter here. Gen 4 changed the Bug type, not because of the
Pokémon it introduced, but because of the
moves it introduced. For the first time ever,
the Bug type had multiple, very good Bug type moves that were learned
by a lot of Pokémon. There were 7 new Bug
moves introduced. Three of them are
Vespiquen's moves though, which make Vespiquen
a lot better, but didn't impact
the type as a whole. Bug Bite was a
reasonably solid move, but it's still a
mid-playthrough strength move. The big three were Bug
Buzz, X-Scissor, and U-Turn. For Bug Buzz, it allowed
special attacking Bug types to be viable for the first time. The physical-special
split was now in place, so not only could high-special-attack Bug
types actually use the stat, but they could do it with a
Bug type version of Psychic, which is excellent. For X-Scissor, it
was now the strongest 100% accurate Bug type move. Not incredible,
but very reliable, and finally U-Turn,
the move that became a staple of single's
competitive play to this day, allowing battlers to attack
and pivot at the same time. All three of these moves
were widely available on Bug type Pokémon, and
remained the primary moves for Bug type offense
for several generations. In fact, while X-Scissor
has since been outclassed, Bug Buzz is still the
go-to special Bug move for a lot of Pokémon,
and as I mentioned, U-Turn is still used all over
the place in competitive play. Gen 4 had two Bug
type specialists. One was of course remake Bugsy, whose main Bug type attack
in his initial battle is the
vastly-superior-to-Fury-Cutter
U-Turn, and his rematch team
is quite impressive. The other is the first Bug
Elite Four member Aaron, whose strongest Pokémon
is actually Drapion, which is not a Bug type. Although it's very
clearly bug-like, evolving from the
Bug-type Skorupi, I honestly think they
should have given Drapion an ability like
Dhelmise's Steelworker, where it gives its
STAB for a third type, except, instead of
Steel for Dhelmise, it would be Bug for Drapion. Next up is Generation 5, and while Generation 4 changed the Bug type in
regards to moves, Gen 5 changed the Bug
type in regards to roster, because it introduced, by far, the most impressive
Generation of Bug type Pokémon up to this point. The fully evolved Bug types
of Gen 5 are Leavanny, Scolipede, Crustle,
Escavalier, Galvantula, Accelgor, Durant, Volcarona, and the first legendary
Bug type, Genesect. These have an astounding
average Base Stat Total of 504, and, even if you remove
the legendary Genesect, it's still 492, a mile higher
than previous Generations. The weakest one of the bunch
is Galvantula with 472, almost 100 base points
higher than Butterfree. And guess what, those
were the numbers before some of them got buffs! Leavanny, Scolipede, and
Crustle all got stat buffs between Gen 5 and now, bringing the average up
to about 507 with Genesect and just shy of 496, without. Gen 5's Bug types are
monsters, and also, very solidly designed
across the board. The new Bug type attacks,
Steamroller and Struggle Bug, weren't anything impressive. The impressive new Bug
moves were the status moves, Quiver Dance and Rage Powder. Quiver Dance is a
fantastic boosting move, simultaneously boosting
the user's Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed, and if a Pokémon can learn
it, it probably uses it. Rage Powder was also a new
alternative to Follow Me, giving players more options
for redirection support in Double Battles. A new Bug type specialist
was the gym leader Burgh, whose signature
Pokémon was Leavanny, and signature move
was Struggle Bug. Gen 5 was a much-needed blessing
onto the Bug type roster, and it was really nice to see
the devs stray away from the "there must always be several
weak Bug type Pokémon" tradition that the
previous Gens had set. Before I move on to
the next generation, I just want to take
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Keeps for sponsoring, but now onto Generation 6, which, by introduction
of the Fairy type, changed the Bug
type match-up chart for the first time since Gen 2. Bug is now resisted by
Fairy, which means that, unfortunately for the Bug type, it is now tied with Grass
for the most-resisted type. This type chart is the one
that is in place to this day. Gen 6 was a weird
Generation for Bug types. The only, the only new fully-evolved
Bug type Pokémon introduced was Vivillon, which
has an unimpressive Base Stat Total of 411. However, it introduced
several new forms for Bug type Pokémon, those
being the new Mega Evolutions for older Generation Bug types. Those were Mega
Beedrill, Mega Pinsir, Mega Scizor, and Mega Heracross. If you include them with
the average of Gen 6 bug Base Stat Totals,
then the average becomes a monstrous 541, but I'm
not sure that's fair. But regardless of
whether you count them in that average calculation, the new Bug type Mega
Evolutions finally put some Bug type Pokémon on
par with pseudo-legendaries for the first time ever,
with Mega Pinsir, Scizor, and Heracross all having
Base Stat Totals of 600. These three, plus Genesect,
are to this day tied for the highest Base Stat
Total Bug type Pokémon. The new Bug moves
were interesting, but not game changing
in my opinion. First, was Fell Stinger,
a relatively weak move, but one that, then,
increased the user's attack by two stages if it got a KO. In Gen 7, it was buffed
from 30 to 50 Base Power, and upping the attack
stat by three stages, instead of just two. Infestation was a new Bug
type Fire Spin or Whirlpool, albeit with different
Base Power and accuracy. It wasn't a massive deal, but Shuckle certainly
appreciated a new way to stall opponents. Powder was a weird
situational move I don't think I've ever
seen anyone use seriously, and Sticky Web was a new
speed-control entry hazard that does regularly see use. The new Bug
specialist was Viola, the first gym leader in X and Y. Her signature
Pokémon is Vivillon, and her signature
move was Infestation. So like I said, Gen 6 was a
weird one for the Bug type. It only added one new species, but it added several new,
really over-powered forms that aren't in the games anymore. As for the moves, they were all pretty
gimmicky and situational. It was just, it was just weird. Next up is Generation 7, which brought some really nice
additions to the Bug type, at least, for me personally. The new fully-evolved
Bug types were Vikavolt, Ribombee, Araquanid, Golisopod,
Buzzwole, and Pheromosa. While I do not like the
Ultra Beasts at all, I adore Vikavolt,
Araquanid, and Golisopod, and think Ribombee
is quite solid. I think Gen 5 has the
strongest Bug type designs on average across the board, but Gen 7 has some pretty
incredible high designs, 'cause I adore Vikavolt
and really, really like Araquanid and Golisopod. I just dislike the Ultra
Beasts quite a bit. In fact, Gen 7 is the only
time I have ever used two Bug types on a playthrough
team, using both Vikavolt and Araquanid in my
first Sun playthrough. As for their stats, they
average out to about 515, the highest so far if you don't
include the Megas in Gen 6. Pheromosa and Buzzwole
are technically considered legendary though, so if you cut them, the
average goes down to 487, which is not as
extremely impressive, but still quite high. Four new Bug moves were
added, but one was a Z-Move, so, who cares? The other three were
First Impression, Lunge, and Pollen Puff. First Impression is a solidly
powerful +2 priority move that only works on the first
turn a Pokémon has in battle, but it's designed to pair with
Golisopod's Emergency Exit. Only Golisopod and Farfetch'd
could learn it in Gen 7, but it was expanded to
more Pokémon in Gen 8. Pollen Puff is a special attack
with an interesting aspect. It heals the target, if
the target is an ally, so it's a great move
for a doubles metagame. Only Ribombee got it in Gen 7, but several Pokémon
now have it in Gen 8. And finally Lunge, an 80
Base Power attack that is guaranteed to lower the
target's Attack by one stage. The addition of
Lunge, plus Leech Life being buffed from 20 Base
Power to 80 Base Power, means that there's
really no longer a reason to use X-Scissor if the
Pokémon can learn both. X-Scissor is 80 Base
Power and 100% accurate, with no secondary effects. Both Lunge and Leech Life
are also Base 80 Power, and 100% accurate, but they have beneficial
secondary effects. Gen 7's Bug type specialist was
the Team Skull leader Guzma, whose signature Pokémon was,
of course, his Golisopod. Then finally is Generation
8, which as of right now, has introduced only three
new fully evolved Bug types: those are Orbeetle,
Centiskorch, and Frosmoth. Their Base Stat Totals
average to about 502, another very strong
group of Bug Pokémon. Centiskorch and Orbeetle
has Gigantamax forms, as does Butterfree. There were no new
regular Bug moves added in Gen 8, only Max moves. The basic Bug type Max
Move, Max Flutterby, which lowers the
enemy's Special Attack, and Butterfree's G-Max
move, G-Max Befuddle, which affects the
enemy's side with sleep, paralysis, or poison. So clearly, over the years, the Bug type has
transformed immensely. In the first four Generations,
the average Base Stat Total of the fully evolved
Pokémon never got above 450, but in latter four, not a
single average is below 500 if you include Mega Evolutions
and Legendaries, which I think you should, because
the first four Generations didn't even get those. The Bug type is, certainly,
not the best type out there with how many other
types resist it, but it's definitely
an interesting one, and seeing it transform from
a seemingly throw-away type to one that poses a genuine
threat, has been quite nice. Cheers to you Bug type, just the Bug type
though, not real bugs. Thank you so much for watching, and an extra special thanks
to my patrons over on Patreon, who are helping support
me in a way independent of very, very bad YouTube
ad rates right now. If you wanna help support
me in the same way, the link is in the
description below, and if you wanna
check out some more of my fun Pokémon content, I
recommend these videos here. Alright, that's
all I have for now, so until next time, Pokefans, gotta catch them all!
