Over the course of eight generations of Pokémon, developer Game Freak has introduced 18 distinct types, meant to balance each other like an elemental game of rock, paper, scissors. These began with the basic Fire, Water, and Grass types of the Gen 1 starters and extended to include the controversial Fairy-type Pokémon, which were added in Gen 6 to counter Dragon types. Game Freak hasn’t tipped the scales by adding another type since then, but there are still plenty of opportunities to further expand trainers’ Pokédexes.
Every creature in the series belongs to one or two of the 18 existing types, and their categorization is often based on the animal, object, or food the Pokémon was inspired by. Most of the 900-some species Game Freak has added throughout the years are, in turn, stylized to represent the groups they fit into. Still, a handful of Pokémon could easily be classified as another elemental group Game Freak has overlooked, hasn’t thought of yet, or could add in the franchise’s future installments.
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It’s unclear if Game Freak will continue to grow Pokémon‘s list of types, but it’s certainly not going to slow down releasing new generations, as Sword and Shield sold more than 20 million copies since their November 2019 release. If future Pokémon games include brand-new types, here are a few Game Freak should consider adding.
New Pokémon Types: Air Or Wind
Seeing how air is one of the classical elements in pop culture – take Avatar: The Last Airbender as an example – it’s surprising Game Freak didn’t include an Air or Wind type from the get-go. Sure, Flying includes avian and levitating Pokémon, but Flying types aren’t exactly aligned with the air element. The Gen 1 type has always been more associated with birds and floating creatures than the air itself. There would be a bit of crossover between the Flying and Air, but the series already includes two types that are both technically “earth” elements – Rock and Ground.
An Air or Wind type would be perfect for housing Pokémon that resemble clouds but are shoehorned into types that don’t fit their image. Altaria and Sword and Shield‘s Drampa are just two examples of nimbus-like creatures, the latter of which isn’t even a Flying type, that could be reclassified as Wind or Air to better fit their forms. This aerial type could be weak against Fire and strong against Ground, since air feeds fires and erodes earth.
New Pokémon Types: Sound
Sound is less glaringly obvious than Air, but several music-based Pokémon could be featured in their own type. These include critters like Chatot, Meloetta, Kricketune, and the loud-mouthed Exploud. Classic Pokémon like Jigglypuff, whose signature move is Sing, could fit in with the Sound type, as well.
Most music-inspired Pokémon are Normal-type, which has become the second most populated category as of Gen 8, with 115 different creatures. Adding a Sound type could better represent many Normal-type Pokémon that seem to have been thrown into the classification for lack of a better fit. It could be strong against Electric but weak against Flying, since sound waves can influence electrical currents, and objects like airplanes can break the sound barrier.
New Pokémon Types: Astral Or Cosmic
There’s such an abundance of extraterrestrial Pokémon that the series is in dire need of an Astral or Cosmic type. Legendary Pokémon like Jirachi, Cresselia, and Crown Tundra‘s Cosmog all appear to hail from other worlds, but there are plenty of common Pokémon that fit the script, too. Pokémon like Staryu, Lunatone, and Elgyem all look like they were birthed from stardust, yet they often fall under Psychic.
According to the franchise’s lore, most of the aforementioned Pokémon have actually come to Earth from the cosmos, yet all of these beings lack their own classification. An Astral or Cosmic type could even serve as a direct counter to Sound-type Pokémon, since sound waves can’t travel in a vacuum, but they could fall short to other mystical beings, like Dragon or Fairy.
New Pokémon Types: Light
Light is yet another type Game Freak has shockingly not added to the Pokémon universe, seeing as the Dark was added to the series during Gen 2. Pokémon that currently fall into Fire or Electric types, like Voltorb, Electrode, Rotom, and Lanturn, could all be candidates for a new Light type. There’s even a group of legendary Pokémon from Gen 7 known as the Light trio (Solgaleo, Lunala, and Necrozma) that are all various types but could easily fall under an overarching Light type.
This potential category could have no effect on Dark-type Pokémon, since both types would be opposites. It could be strong against Ghosts that lurk in the shadows but weak against Steel, since many metals can reflect light.
New Pokémon Types: Cyber
Finally, a Cyber type could distinguish Steel-type Pokémon that occur in Game Freak’s fictional nature from those that humans artificially create in the series. The clearest examples are technology-based creatures like Magneton, Porygon, and Genesect that wouldn’t live in the wild if not for humans intentionally or unintentionally willing them into existence. That’s in contrast to Pokémon like Skarmory or Aggron, which have evolved to have steel or steel-like armor plating. Synthetic Pokémon Type: Null and its evolved form, Silvally, from Gen 7 would perfectly fit into the Cyber classification.
These lab-synthesized beings could be weak against Water-type Pokémon and have an edge over Electric types, since most tech can be damaged by water and is powered by electricity. As the series moves forward and Game Freak creates more Pokémon based on modern technology, it could be useful to have a specific type to classify all of them.