Then, with the addition of the Fairy type, I was even happier with the type diversity. I still think, to this day, that certain types should be switched as far as effectiveness goes (click here for a restructured Pokemon type effectiveness chart), but the idea of creating new types to fit new concepts of Pokemon is something I find very interesting.
However, I think people are a little too quick at coming up with random types and flooding the market. If you think about it, the series has been around 20+ years and they've only added 3 types. That's not a lot compared to some fan sites out there that have another dozen or so random things they'd like to see—most of which make zero sense.
Magic type is just Psychic. Wood, Magma, Wind and Steam? C'mon now. Those are just Grass, Fire, Flying and Water. Fear type is just Dark. Why is there a Beast type when all Pokemon are beasts and there isn't enough of a distinction between Bug, Dragon, Fairy, etc for something as generic as Beast?
Still, I do think there's room for a few more types to be made and I feel like this could be worth talking about.
What would the type conceptualize as? What Pokemon would be retconned to being that type, similar to how Clefairy became a Fairy and Magnemite was part Steel? Which moves could be granted that typing and what would it be effective and weak to?
For this first edition of what I'm assuming will be a 4 or 5 part series, I wanted to focus on the one type I think would make the most sense to add: the Sound type.
SOUND TYPE CONCEPT
Ghosts are ghosts. Dragons are dragons. When you start getting into the more energy-based things like Fire, it's a little harder to pinpoint, but I think it's still rather self-explanatory.
It's not that these creatures are made of pure sound (although some could be). It's more that sound is their gimmick. They have immunities to sound-based attacks, are able to control sound and vibrations very well, or have concepts that are based on music/sound/etc.
Pokemon already uses Sound as a subcategory of sorts for certain types of attacks. This is just the next natural progression.
SOUND-TYPE BATTLE CHART
I'll admit that I don't think I have all the balancing figured out for this. However, there are plenty of gaps from the current layout of the battle chart with what's effective against other things. Again, look above at the link at the start of this for a better breakdown of how I think things should work with Poison being super effective to Water and so on.
Here's what I could see making sense, though, for the Sound type, but I'm totally down for tweaking if you have any suggestions in the comments!
2x Strong Against
- Ice (avalanches can be caused by sound)
- Rock (glass shatters)
- Steel (good conductor of sound)
- Water (sound travels faster in water and amplifies its noise level)
- possibly Fighting (solve problems with your words, rather than your fists)
- possibly Ghost (prayer)
- possibly Psychic (sound can break mental concentration)
1x Strong Against
- Normal
- Poison
- Bug
- Fire
- Electric
- Dragon
- Fairy
- Sound
0.5x Strong Against
- Dark (its quiet at night)
- Flying (sound doesn't travel in space)
- Grass (natural sound barrier)
Zero Damage Against
- Ground (drowns out the sound)
2x Weak to
- Electric (disrupts the vibrations)
- Ground (drowns out the sound)
1x Weak to
- Bug
- Dark
- Dragon
- Fairy
- Fire
- Flying
- Ghost
- Grass
- Ice
- Normal
- Psychic
- Rock
- Sound
- Steel
- Water
0.5x Resistant to
- Fighting (you can't really punch energy)
- Poison (why not, right? How do you really poison vibrations?)
Immune to
- Nothing
POKEMON WITH THE SOUND TYPE
Igglybuff → Jigglypuff → Wigglytuff = Sound/Fairy
- Its gimmick is singing.
Drowzee → Hypno = Psychic/Sound
- I'm not entirely sold on this, but I think it could work.
Hoothoot → Noctowl = Sound/Flying?
- I'm not entirely sold on this, either, but it could make sense with the hooting and all.
Politoed = Water/Sound
- Its Pokedex entries talk about the noises it makes.
Misdreavus → Mismagius = Ghost/Sound
- Dex entries mention sounds. It's also called the Screech Pokemon.
Whismur → Loudred → Exploud = Sound
- Duh.
Wailmer → Wailord = Water/Sound
- Wail. Duh.
Chingling → Chimecho = Psychic/Sound
- Duh.
Kricketot → Kricketune = Bug/Sound
- Duh.
Bronzor → Bronzong = Psychic/Sound or Steel/Sound (probably Steel)
- Duh. It's a bell.
Chatot = Sound/Flying
- Chat. C'mon now.
Woobat → Swoobat = Sound/Flying I guess
- You might be thinking "Why not Zubat's line?" Well, let's be honest. Zubat could be Poison, Flying, Dark and Sound all at the same time. Let's go with Poison/Flying for Zubat and Sound/Flying for Woobat to differentiate them a bit and not make 2 of the same bat type things both Sound.
Audino = Sound or Sound/Fairy or Sound/Normal
- Duh.
Tympole → Palpitoad → Seismitoad = Water/Sound
- This is all about vibrations. Let's get rid of the Ground and replace it with Water, even though that means we have 3 lines of Water+Sound types already with Politoed and Wailmer. But hey, how many Normal/Flying birds do we have? Just give it lots of Ground moves like Earthquake to go along with it.
Maractus = Grass/Sound
- It's a cactus with maracas. It has to be sound.
Meloetta = Sound/Psychic and Sound/Fighting
- It's all about singing.
Litleo → Pyroar = Fire/Sound
- Since it focuses on the "roar" part of the name, and it's Fire/Normal for some reason, let's replace that Normal type.
Noibat → Noivern = Sound/Dragon
- It's another bat, but it's even more so dedicated to sound. This one is a given.
Oricorio = */Sound instead of */Flying
- It's a dancer. Let's give some more variation to the Sound type and just get rid of Flying for this.
Jangmo-o → Hakamo-o → Kommo-o = Dragon/Sound
- I'm actually not all that into this being another Dragon and Sound type, but it's something worth talking about.
Grookey → Thwackey → Rillaboom = Grass/Sound
- It's a drummer!
Gossifleur → Eldegoss = Grass/Sound
- No need for it to be Sound, but it's worth talking about.
Toxel → Toxtricity = Electric/Sound or Poison/Sound
- I can see why people would want to keep it Electric/Poison, so I'm not opposed to that. But I could also see a case for there to be Electric/Sound and Poison/Sound variations or something. Maybe different forms?
Obstagoon = Dark/Sound
- It's based off KISS.
+ Arceus, Type: Null and Silvally with the corresponding plates that would allow for them to be the Sound type.
Some people suggest Voltorb. I don't see it being sound-based just because it knows some sound moves. If anything, it should be Steel/Electric since it's a metal ball.
Lapras has certainly been given some musical elements to it, hasn't it? But to me, Lapras should be Ice/Dragon or stay Water/Ice rather than turn into a Water/Sound or Ice/Sound.
As far as new types go, you have countless instruments you could draw inspiration from. There could be a variant of Jynx that is more like a Nordic opera singer. Sound/Flying parrot Pokemon is a guarantee.
SOUND TYPE MOVES
I'm certainly not going to go through hundreds upon hundreds of moves and double check everything. This is more about the theory and concept, rather than some historian breakdown. Nevertheless, I think some moves stand out as obvious picks while some others are certainly within the discussion.
Note: A move like Bug Buzz should stay Bug, shouldn't it? The same goes for Grass Whistle, Metal Sound, etc.
Belch
Boomburst
Chatter
Clanging Scales
Confide
Disarming Voice
Drum Beating
Echoed Voice
Encore
Growl
Heal Bell
Howl
Hyper Voice
Lucky Chant
Noble Roar
Overdrive
Perish Song
Relic Song
Roar
Round
Screech
Sing
Sleep Talk
Snarl
Snore
Sonic Boom
Sparkling Aria
Supersonic
Uproar
Yawn
Based on that criteria, I think Sound could be a solid new type to add to the Pokemon series. What do you think? Got any ideas for the Sound type or any other future types? Drop them in the comments below to keep the discussion going!
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