Pokémon fans are really picky. While analyzing around 10,344,811 real, anonymous votes gathered from my interactive Smash-or-Pass Pokémon quiz game, I encountered too many striking statistics. Among all the votes, only roughly 20.6% were actually "smash". That accounts for 4 out of 5 votes being "passes". You are a brutal crowd!
What is Pokémon Smash-or-Pass?
Pokémon Smash-or-Pass is a niche version of the widely known Smash-or-Pass quizzes that teenagers play around various characters. You have two choices for each character: either smash (like) it or pass (dislike) it. Nearly a year ago, my friend and I were playing Smash-or-Pass Pokémon on another website, but everything felt so monotonous because we were unaware of what other fans thought of this Pokémon. Do they smash it or pass? Suddenly something struck my mind — why don't I create something like this on my website, but transparent? I started collecting all the anonymous votes and started showing most of the results in the leaderboard itself. Still, the overall data is way bigger than what I can actually show. So, I decided to publish an article and let you guys know who you really chose as your heroes and villains.
How did I collect this data? How does it work?
Before I move further, I'd like to clarify that these are not just made-up numbers. These are not survey answers, reddit polls, or random AI slop, but rather honest judgements from enthusiastic Pokémon fans. This all comes from the data I collected for over a year from my quiz responses database — over ten million votes across 1,350 Pokémon by real people, completely anonymous. This article is based on all the data I collected as of August 2026.
So, what is buried in this data mine? Let's find out.
The 15 Most Loved Pokémon
There is absolutely no shocker in the "most loved" winners. Fandom has definitely voted for the most elegant, humanoid, and "conventionally attractive" Pokémon. It's almost one-sided. What's more interesting is that among the top 15, the alternative forms are beating the base forms. Voters admire the mega and regional variants — definitely the glow-ups of the Pokémon world.
| # | Pokémon | Smash % | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Meowscarada grassdark | 88.5% | 9,271 | |
 Gardevoir psychicfairy | 87.9% | 10,275 | |
 Gardevoir Mega psychicfairy | 87.3% | 1,331 | |
| 4 |  Lopunny normal | 86.3% | 9,731 |
| 5 |  Delphox Mega firepsychic | 84.3% | 1,308 |
| 6 |  Lopunny Mega normalfighting | 82.7% | 1,324 |
| 7 |  Delphox firepsychic | 81.3% | 9,241 |
| 8 |  Primarina waterfairy | 81.2% | 9,290 |
| 9 |  Tsareena grass | 80.3% | 9,121 |
| 10 |  Froslass Mega iceghost | 80.3% | 1,252 |
| 11 |  Salazzle Totem poisonfire | 79.8% | 1,303 |
| 12 |  Pheromosa bugfighting | 78.2% | 9,229 |
| 13 |  Hatterene psychicfairy | 77.4% | 9,192 |
| 14 |  Zoroark Hisui normalghost | 77.3% | 1,285 |
| 15 |  Ninetales Alola icefairy | 77.3% | 1,319 |
Meowscarada's Magic
Our champion is Paldea's magician cat — Meowscarada. No doubt, it is adorable! It edges out Gardevoir for the #1 spot, the highest smash rate for any Pokémon across my whole database.
The Gardevoir effect
The Gardevoir effect is real. For the past two decades, we have seen how the fandom constantly jokes about its Gardevoir crush — and the data is speaking! Gardevoir's base form as well as its mega variant both land in the top 3. Around 10,000 people voted for the base Gardevoir, and almost 9 out of 10 liked it. That's spectacular!
Kalos and Alola starters also did well. Delphox appears twice, and Primarina made it into the top ten.
The alt forms are heavily rewarded — the mega and regional variants occupy five of the first fifteen spots. Mega Delphox, Mega Lopunny, Mega Froslass, Hisuian Zoroark, Alolan Ninetales — all of them scored quite high. What's better than a Pokémon? A Pokémon with a beautiful makeover!
The 15 Most Hated Pokémon
Now let's move to the very other end of this pool. We've just seen how the most elegant and humanoid Pokémon topped the favorites. Now, guess what tops the list of the non-favorites? You guessed it right — the very first-stage bugs and larvae. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is swiping right on a Nymble — not even me!
| # | Pokémon | Pass % | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
97.6% | 1,230 | ||
 Dottler bugpsychic | 97.1% | 9,011 | |
 Rellor bug | 96.9% | 8,978 | |
| 4 |  Nymble bug | 96.7% | 9,136 |
| 5 |  Basculin Red Striped water | 96.6% | 9,188 |
| 6 |  Squawkabilly Yellow Plumage normalflying | 96.6% | 1,313 |
| 7 | 96.4% | 1,347 | |
| 8 |  Shieldon rocksteel | 96.3% | 9,460 |
| 9 |  Capsakid grass | 96.2% | 9,178 |
| 10 |  Maschiff dark | 96.2% | 9,012 |
| 11 |  Paras buggrass | 96.2% | 11,491 |
| 12 |  Skrelp poisonwater | 96.2% | 9,153 |
| 13 |  Crabrawler fighting | 96.2% | 9,176 |
| 14 |  Nincada bugground | 96.2% | 9,543 |
| 15 |  Klawf rock | 96.1% | 9,077 |
Domination of Bugs and Larvae
The pattern is self-explanatory: bugs and unevolved Pokémon get crushed. Dottler, Rellor, Nymble, Paras, Nincada — the larval stage of any Pokémon is mostly a pass-at-first-sight, and our poor Basculin somehow managed to get all three of its forms in the top seven of the most hated list. For that, it definitely deserves a place in some record book. You guys hate it this much?
One special mention goes to Paras, which has the most overall rejections by count on the list. It's been voted on by over eleven thousand people, and only around 4 out of 100 liked it. Absolutely brutal.
Wondering whether this bug-hatred shows up in the bigger picture? It does. Hold your horses for a couple of sections and you'll find out.
The 15 Most Divisive Pokémon
Now for the most controversial list from my database, where the fandom is in a continuous fight over whether to left-swipe or keep it in favorites. What makes this list interesting is its contestants — the icons, the legendaries, the pseudo-legendaries, and the box-art stars. The cooler and more powerful the Pokémon, the harder we disagree about it.
| # | Pokémon | Smash % | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Decidueye grassghost | 50.0% | 9,282 | |
 Latias Mega dragonpsychic | 50.2% | 1,346 | |
 Latias dragonpsychic | 50.3% | 9,677 | |
| 4 |  Altaria Mega dragonfairy | 49.6% | 1,329 |
| 5 |  Rayquaza Mega dragonflying | 50.5% | 1,351 |
| 6 |  Spectrier ghost | 49.4% | 8,925 |
| 7 |  Aurorus rockice | 49.3% | 9,086 |
| 8 |  Charizard Mega Y fireflying | 50.8% | 1,348 |
| 9 |  Charizard Mega X firedragon | 50.9% | 1,382 |
| 10 |  Fezandipiti poisonfairy | 49.0% | 9,112 |
| 11 |  Garchomp dragonground | 51.1% | 9,429 |
| 12 |  Gothorita psychic | 48.7% | 9,327 |
| 13 |  Vespiquen bugflying | 48.7% | 9,323 |
| 14 |  Rayquaza dragonflying | 48.4% | 9,773 |
| 15 |  Koraidon fightingdragon | 48.2% | 9,054 |
Just look at Decidueye — the gap between smashes and passes is razor-thin, the closest race I encountered. Rayquaza splits the fandom almost perfectly. The rest of the list reads like a parade of the coolest Pokémon ever made — Rayquaza (and its mega), Garchomp, Charizard with both its X and Y megas, the Latias line, and Koraidon. Everyone respects them, but can't rationally decide whether to "smash" or "pass".
Put simply, it's a "which side are you on?" kind of list.
Type Wars: Fairy Wins, Bug Loses
Let's look beyond the individual Pokémon, because the database lets me analyse way more. What if we add up every vote by Pokémon type? A very clear class system emerges.
Fairy is the runaway winner, and you can see how it perfectly blends with our most-loved list — stacked with Fairy and Psychic types like Gardevoir, Primarina, Hatterene, and Tsareena.
At the bottom, as expected, is Bug — topping from the wrong end, with Rock just ahead of it. Put simply, a Fairy type is almost two-and-a-half times more likely to earn a "smash" than a Bug type. Across the ~900,000 votes cast on Bug types, roughly 7 out of 8 were straight rejections. Poor bugs.
Generation Showdown
Same idea — but sliced by generation, to see which era of Pokémon design the fandom actually rates higher.
The crown goes to Gen 7 (Alola), with Gen 6 (Kalos) right behind it. At the bottom, Gen 2 and Gen 3 tie for lowest — sorry Johto fans, nostalgia apparently doesn't convert into swipes.
Why does the Kalos/Alola era win?
Here's my personal take: Gen 6 and 7 were the eras when Pokémon designs got more elegant and "character-driven" — Delphox, Primarina, Salazzle, Tsareena, Pheromosa, and many more. Some fans call it the famous "waifu-era" of Pokémon design, and my voters are pointing at exactly that. Earlier generations are packed with bugs and fish of various kinds, which — as we've already seen — doesn't please a lot of people.
The Familiarity Paradox
As I dug deeper into which Pokémon people voted on the most, I wasn't surprised: those Pokémon were not their favorites, not even close. Look at the list.
| # | Pokémon | Smash % | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bulbasaur grasspoison | 17.8% | 14,196 | |
 Ivysaur grasspoison | 18.3% | 13,881 | |
 Venusaur grasspoison | 19.4% | 13,702 | |
| 4 |  Charmander fire | 14.7% | 13,296 |
| 5 |  Charmeleon fire | 18.2% | 13,291 |
| 6 |  Charizard fireflying | 46.2% | 13,092 |
| 7 |  Squirtle water | 16.3% | 12,980 |
| 8 |  Wartortle water | 18.0% | 12,854 |
| 9 |  Blastoise water | 32.0% | 12,739 |
| 10 |  Caterpie bug | 9.0% | 12,631 |
| 11 |  Metapod bug | 10.9% | 12,622 |
| 12 |  Butterfree bugflying | 15.0% | 12,515 |
| 13 |  Kakuna bugpoison | 8.8% | 12,469 |
| 14 |  Weedle bugpoison | 7.7% | 12,460 |
| 15 |  Beedrill bugpoison | 27.7% | 12,382 |
The mistake I committed
Notice anything? It's the opening stretch of the OG Kanto Pokédex, and it's no coincidence. This one's on me — when I built this quiz, I made a mistake. Instead of showing random Pokémon each time, it started with #1 in the Pokédex, serial-wise. That was the blunder — and it took me six long months to fix, because there was no one giving me feedback on my tools. That's exactly why I'm adding comments beneath every article I publish: you don't have to fill out boring contact forms — write anonymously, and no one will ever know!
Mistake aside, look at the smash rates of that opening stretch. Bulbasaur is the single most-voted Pokémon on the site, and only about 1 in 6 votes were a "smash" — below the overall average. Charmander does even worse. The Caterpie and Weedle lines are nothing but a bloodbath.
The only exception is Charizard, the one Gen 1 mon the crowd actually likes — and even that is basically a coin flip.
What do these 10 million swipes actually say?
Putting it all together, the fandom's taste is surprisingly consistent: elegant beats buggy, Fairy beats Bug by almost two-and-a-half times, alternative "makeover" forms beat their base versions, the Alola era beats the Johto era — and when it comes to our biggest legends, we can't agree at all.
So, that's it for this one. Disagree with what the fandom decided? These are just numbers, and they can always change — and you can start that change yourself. Go play Smash or Pass and cast your votes for the favorites you think deserve the top 15 but sadly aren't there.
Want to rank your own favorites instead of relying on strangers' taste? I built the Favorite Pokémon Picker for exactly that.
And if you know someone who loves Bug types — please share this with them. They deserve to know the truth.
Don't forget to bookmark this article; I'll update it as the numbers flip. Stay tuned.