LEGENDARY PLAYS

Every legendary Pokémon, ranked best to worst

Georgina Young

Published: 16:11, 12 Aug 2022
Updated: 16:39, 12 Sep 2023

THE Pokémon franchise is now entering into its ninth generation of games, and there are an eye-watering 93 legendary Pokémon; including sub-legendaries, mythicals, and ultra-beasts.

These fabled beasts aren’t as rare as they used to be, and frankly many of them aren’t even good.

Manaphy is a mythical legendary Pokémon.

Here’s your refresher course on all of the legendary Pokémon and not sorry if you find out your bestie beastie is just bad.

93. Enamorus

Introduced in Pokémon: Legends Arceus, something about the design of Enamorus hurts my soul. Finding out its Therian form is a snapping turtle did not help.

92 & 91. Poipole and Naganadel

Say what you like about Enamorus, at least I remembered her. Even Naganadel’s uneasy looking needle bum fails to stick in the mind.

90 & 89. Cosmog and Cosmoem

They are cute designs but otherwise completely useless. Cosmog knows Splash and Teleport. When it evolves at level 43 it learns Cosmic Power.

Wow, thanks Game Freak. You spoil us.

88. Eternatus

Not only is Eternatus one of the ugliest designs in all of Pokémon, but it rudely interrupts you becoming regional champion with its 1125 base stat total guff.

87 & 86. Meltan and Melmetal

This pair have failed to leave the constraints of Pokémon Go, and therefore they barely register as official Pokémon.

Mercury is a cool thing to base a Pokémon on though.

85. Volcanion

Fire and Water is a much needed dual typing, but I will never not imagine picking you up by your steam pipe handle.

84. Blacephalon

A mix between a clown and a disco ball sounds like a compelling combination, but it just looks all wrong.

83. Xurkitree

Like circuitry. Haha do you get it. Good. Now please Xurkitree, go back to Ultra Space where you belong.

82. Zeraora

An electric type with Volt Absorb is such a normie combination that it’s hard to think of you as a legendary.

81. Zarude

Grass and Dark sounds like a cool typing until you realise that it is four times weak to Bug types. Ouch.

80. Hoopa

Hoopa seems like a good Pokémon, until you are playing Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire and the animation on its six arms crashes your game.

Not cool, Hoopa.

79. Kubfu

Don’t you hate it when the game forces you to use a specific Pokémon? I don’t care about the payoff Isle of Armor. Give me my mons back.

78, 77, & 76. Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus

I was indifferent to this trio until Legends: Arceus when I had to spend hours figuring out riddles, camping out til the right weather conditions, and then immediately got bodied and lost my best balls.

There will be no forgiveness.

75. Zamazenta

You’re not a bad little doggo, but unfortunately you are always going to be compared to your brother, and he beats you on all accounts.

74. Marshadow

There’s nothing really wrong with Marshadow, but there is nothing really right either. Sorry you’re just a weird little guy.

73, 72, & 71. Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion

I don’t dislike the musketeer trio.

I dislike having the game stop while an NPC comes up to me and goes “WOW, what is that Pokémon? It looks pretty cool and strong, you should probably catch it.”

Don’t tell me what to do. I’m the Pokémon master here.

70. Magearna

While it has quite a cool look and ability, it’s too slow to be really usable. Maybe if it was from a game which wasn’t stuffed with legends it would have stood out more.

69. Kartana

I might be old school, but I refuse to recognise a piece of paper with 31 special defence as legendary.

68. Celesteela

It’s a rocket launchpad and I suppose that counts for something, but its stats are so meh it’s hard to like it.

67. Yveltal

Poor Yveltal. Why does Xerneas get all the love?

Just because you have bad typing, and loads of weaknesses, and your wingspan is creepy. Wait, I answered my own question.

66 & 65. Reshiram and Zekrom

The box art beasts so bad not only did they make a third better one, but they completely redesigned them for the sequel.

64. Regidrago

None of the Regi’s are bad really. There are just too many of them, and Drago is just bland.

63. Necrozma

Necrozma is about five Pokémon all at once, and while interesting it ends up being a bit much.

62. Keldeo

At least more interesting than the others with its signature move Secret Sword. Sadly, it’s underwhelming overall.

61. Stakataka

Stakataka is fun to say and is a big old pile of bricks. Sadly, those are the redeeming factors.

60. Meloetta

Has an interesting typing in both of its forms and a cute little design. Unfortunately, there are a lot of Pokémon like this.

59. Victini

It’s just not as cute as the other mythicals is it? We appreciate the accuracy boost though.

58. Celebi

The onion fairy has one of the cutest designs in all of Pokémon, it also has one of the worst types.

Sadly our baby is almost unusable in battle. Fly free sweet warrior.

57, 56, & 55. Uxie, Mespirit, and Azelf

Yet another group of legendaries which stop the game you are playing and demand you give them attention.

No, I don’t want to chase you, or answer your riddles. Get in my ball. Thanks.

54. Regice

There are no bad Regis, but Regice doesn’t let you pet him, and that’s a little bit too cold.

Also if you want a laugh look up Regice’s shiny.

53. Groudon

You are there standing on this tiny island surrounded by water and you dare take on Kyogre. No wonder Rayquaza is there to give you a spanking.

52. Moltres

It’s not your fault. Game Freak just decided to not give you a single useful move.

Then it went and made an upgraded version in gen 2.

51. Mew

Thank you for making everyone cry so that Ash could come back to life, but I’ll never forgive you for Pokémon Snap.

50. Genesect

Bug types are wildly underrated, and Genesect paved the way for bug to be the legends they truly are.

49. Heatran

There is always something special about a post-game beast. Heatran, you’re the worst one, but that still makes you middling.

48 & 47. Dialga and Palkia

These two should feature much higher, but now their weird centaur forms are forever canon.

46. Nihilego

Despite its story arc leading to one of the worst lines in Pokémon history (“When did you become so beautiful?”), poison and rock is too cool to pass up.

It also portrays sassiness without a face and that’s impressive.

45. Buzzwole

A design so bad it comes back around to hilarious. Buzzwole shows us a world where mosquitos are hench, and it’s terrifying.

44. Pheromosa

The same goes for Pheromosa, except she looks like if roaches were sexy.

43. Guzzlord

Guzzlord’s design is horrendous, but if you see it in the anime, its cry is just existential screaming and I think that speaks to all of us.

42. Diancie

Diancie may not be much to look at, but it’s one of the few legendary mega-Pokémon that is very much needed.

41. Cresselia

You may be a cute little moon duck, but any Pokémon which is all defence and no attack is a little underwhelming.

40. Solgaleo

It feels like the final pay off after dragging around a splashing Cosmog, but it’s just no…

39. Lunala

Psychic and Ghost, a gorgeous shiny, and amazing attack and speed. Thank you Lunala. It was all worth it.

38. Shaymin

An adorable hedgehog, which is always hard to get. Shaymin makes us love life among the flowers.

37, 36, 35 & 34. Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, and Tapu Fini

These are all solid legendaries which feel a fun reward for slogging through 20 hours of Sun and Moon cutscenes. My only regret is there’s too many.

33 & 32. Type: Null and Silvally

Game Freak was brave in putting a colon in a Pokémon name. It was also brave to make a legendary a mediocre happiness evolution. But at least it took a chance.

31. Xerneas

Xerneas really showed us all how good fairy type could be, when it was so badly needed for balancing. Your service is appreciated.

30. Suicune

While this beast has its uses as a staller, he also stalled our progress through Crystal and as such is the worst doggo.

29. Kyurem

This Pokémon was invented to deal with the mediocrity of the gen 5 box art legends, and it does a good job at it too. Well done.

28, 27, & 26. Calyrex, Glastrier, and Spectrier

Just when you thought that Game Freak were running out of ideas, it comes up with this cool horse and rider set of legends. Bravo. Look at his massive head!

25. Regieleki

The world didn’t need more Regis, but Regieleki is such a fun, bouncy little guy it’s hard to hate on him.

24. Jirachi

This powerful little mon will destroy everything in its way with a smile on its face and a blank stare. Cutely terrifying.

23. Regigigas

One of the cooler Pokémon backstories. Regigigas was given Slow Start as a punishment when he made the other Regis out of loneliness.

Don’t worry Regigigas. We’ll give you a partner with Neutralising Gas so you’re never lonely again.

22 & 21. Latias and Latios

This pair were kings of the gen 3 battle tower, and Latios’ attack and speed are not to be underestimated.

As roamers they are devilishly hard to get. That’s what makes them special.

20. Registeel

No other Pokémon can stall out a team by just existing like Registeel. Frustrating to come up against, but delicious to use.

19. Zygarde

While it spends most of its time looking like a slug, going around collecting Zygarde cubes makes this one of the hardest Pokémon to obtain.

What a legend.

18. Urshifu

It’s annoying how good Urshifu is after the slog that is bringing Kubfu up the tower, but here he is in both his forms.

17. Lugia

Lugia shines in its shadow form in Pokémon XD, but it is unfortunately largely overrated for its battle power and objectively worse than its counterpart.

16 & 15. Manaphy and Phione

While mythical Pokémon are largely underwhelming, this pair stand out for one reason: Tail Glow.

Giving them 2.5x their base attack in one turn is broken on Pokémon this strong.

14. Darkrai

With its spindly legs Darkrai successfully haunted children’s dreams for the longest time. A thing of pure darkness.

13. Arceus

The God of all Pokémon it’s no surprise that Arceus is one of the best. The boss fight against it at the end of Legends was a glorious pay off.

12. Articuno

Pokémon got so many things right in the first generation. The freezing power of Articuno has never been forgotten.

11. Zacian

Dogs with swords in their mouths is one of video gaming’s coolest archetypes. From Persona’s Koromaru to Dark Souls’ Sif; Zacian is in good company.

10. Giratina

Not only is Giratina cool in both its regular and origin form, but the Distortion World is one of the coolest parts of any Pokémon game.

9. Deoxys

If its three forms weren’t enough to convince you, then the fact that you catch it by riding mega-Rayquaza into an asteroid definitely should.

8. Regirock

While Regirock is not actually as good in the games as Registeel, listen to its cry from the anime to see why it’s so great.

7. Rayquaza

Despite having a four times weakness, the way it comes down from the sky to tell off Kyogre and Groudon is one of the most memorable scenes in all of Pokémon.

6. Entei

While not the best legendary, the film where it and the Unown create a castle of crystal and adopt an orphan will forever be in my memory.

5. Mewtwo

Pokémon really nailed it in the first generation. Mewtwo remains not only one of the strongest but the best Pokémon of all time.

4. Raikou

Electric being only weak to ground has made Raikou one of the best legendaries ever.

Training a Crobat to Mean Look it so you could catch that roamer made success even sweeter.

3. Ho-oh

The most underrated legendary of all time. Ho-oh’s got it all and it always shows up just in time to tease you that there’s more.

2. Kyogre

In the battle between Kyogre and Groudon there was no contest. Water is such a versatile type that Kyogre always went straight into the party.

1. Zapdos

"My favourite Zapdos... It's... cute... lovely... smart... plus... amazing... you think so?... oh yes... it's... stunning... kindly... love it!

"Hug it... when... sleeping... warm and cuddly... spectacular... ravishing…

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