Why do you catch certain Pokemon?

[TotalPotato]

Yeah, what the title says. I was just wondering what factors you take into consideration when you catch Pokemon.

I usually catch one on my initial impression. For example, when I saw a Mareep in Pokemon Silver, I was curious as to what moves a Sheep Pokemon might learn. So, I caught it. When I looked at it later, I was shocked to discover that it was an Electric type, and that just made me like it even more! So, I guess I mainly catch Pokemon based on coolness and weirdness.

However, recently I've been leaning more towards strong Pokemon, since I read up on EVs, competitive movesets and the like. I'm going to try to get out of this habit, though, because it makes me unsure what my favourite Pokemon are.

So, that's enough about my opinion, what's yours?

 

[Magma Grunt Alex]

None of the above, I catch them for battling!

 

[Cipher]

I catch every Pokemon I see that I don't already have in my Dex, even though I have absolutely no intention of catching them all. Why? Prof. [Type of Tree] told me to.

 

[Flame Haze SnS]

I catch some pokemon for strength because they're the key to the victory.

 

[Valkyrie X]

Well, if I'm just trying to get through the game and beat the Elite Four and whatnot, I'll catch Pokémon that I find appealing, but are still useful at the same time. My beginning R/S/E teams have always consisted of Sceptile, Gardevoir, Aggron, Manectric, Flygon, and Sharpedo; they're decent battlers, but I also like them. So I guess you could say I'm looking for strength, coolness, and looks. =/ But I always assemble a new team with my favorite Pokémon replacing my old team after I beat the Elite Four.

;381;SD;380;

 

[DarkGirl]

I try to get my favourite Pokemon, which some of them are weird, yes, but others I mosty catch for their strength, so Strength/Other.

 

[Timid Kyogre]

It depends, but this is what I usually catch:

Starter depends if I like it or not
I usually catch one of those birds you find in the start and train them to lv.100 (Don't ask)
and the rest...Depends if I like them or not ^_^

~Timid Kyogre

 

[AMiller]

I catch the Pokemon I see that I don't have in my Pokedex, other then those I catch my favorites and ones that are good to battle with.

 

[FlamingRuby]

I catch some Pokemon because a character on the anime has (or had) the Pokemon in question.

For example, I always catch a Pikachu in honor of Ash, a Vulpix in honor of Brock, etc.

 

[~Eon-Ryuu~]

I catch mine for their looks. I can't help myself!

 

[Torchic-Coordinator]

I catch them for how well they'll do in Contests.

 

[Bling King]

I chose none of the above because there wasn't an all of the above option there.

 

[Lil Brother]

Eh, I try to complete the Dex (although I'll never be able to), so I catch whichever ones I see. As for my team, I try to keep a balance of tough, cool, cute, etc. Not in the contest way, mind you. >> Eh, I usually try to go with Pokes I've never used before, but with Venusaur and Snorlax on both my LeafGreen and Gold teams, I seem to have forgotten that policy.

 

[Iveechan]

When I played my first game, Yellow, I trained Pokemon either because they were gifts (Pikachu, the starters), and rarity (I caught and traineed a wild Dugtrio and Fearow). I caught any Pokemon I saw of course, but only trained some of them.

In GSC, I mainly interested in the new Pokemon. The only ones who stuck on my team were the interesting ones with good power (Typhlosion, Ampharos, Quagsire).

In RSE, I had already read up on the new Pokemon and knew of their movesets and stats, so I only chose strong ones... I am NOT doing that again! I want to try and be more surprised for the new generation, but it's going to be very tough to try and stop myself from reading up every morsel of information.

 

[TotalPotato]

I chose none of the above because there wasn't an all of the above option there.

You can choose more than one - that's why I didn't include an 'All' option.
Can everyone else please take note of this - you can choose more than one option.

 

[Mimori Kiryu]

Well, I chose:

Strength - Because I want to make it through on the first try and not have to repeat gym battles and constantly lose. :/

Coolness & Looks - I really think that some of the pokemon are just so adorable or awesome looking, so I try to have them in my team, or at least capture them for later use.

 

[Gravy]

To play through the game, I just go with the pokémon that I like. The downside to that however, is that you can end up with some major flaws in your team, and you'd need to train the entire team up higher than usual if you wanted to progress. For example, my original Sapphire team couldn't really cope too well with flying types or physical onslaughts. So facing Brawly and Winona would be a drag.

With pretty much every game, I always go for the brand new pokémon as opposed to the older generations. My G/S team, bar a Pidgeot, consisted of new pokémon from said generation, and the same goes for R/S. D/P will be the same story, because its a lot more fun to play with cool looking creatures that you've had little experience with.
But once I defeat the Elite Four, I just go on a Dex-filling spree and build up the teams properly.

 

[Evanji Axu]

I go for a combination of strength and looks, but mostly my favorites like Typhlosion and Mightyena. I also tend to shy away from super-popular ones like Salamence, Charizard, and Metagross. I kind of have a soft spot for UUs...