What's the Deal With Baby Pokemon?

Baby Pokemon are cute, but do they play any real role in the Pokemon franchise? Each week, ComicBook.com's Pokemon podcast A Wild Pokemon Has Appeared sits down to debates various aspects of the Pokemon franchise. This week, co-hosts Jim Viscardi, Megan Peters, and Christian Hoffer sat down to discuss whether there was an actual "point" to Baby Pokemon. Baby Pokemon have been a part of the Pokemon franchise since Pokemon Gold and Silver, when the Pokemon franchise revealed that several Pokemon from Pokemon Red and Blue had pre-evolved form only obtainable through breeding. Although incredibly adorable, these Baby Pokemon aren't very strong, they usually can only evolve under limited circumstances (usually involving a high Friendship level), and they often involve convoluted methods to obtain. Several Baby Pokemon only hatch from eggs if one of their parents were holding a specific type of Incense, which is....just very, very odd when you think about it.

While the Pokemon franchise added more Baby Pokemon in Generations II, III, and IV games, it seemed that they were eventually abandoned after the release of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. The Pokemon Company didn't introduce any new Baby Pokemon between Pokemon Diamond and Pearl and Pokemon Sword and Shield, and even Pokemon Sword and Shield only introduced one new Baby Pokemon - Toxel. Although the Pokemon franchise seemed to have big plans for Baby Pokemon, at least based on the number of additional Baby Pokemon that appeared in Pokemon Gold and Silver's lost beta version, they seem to just be a weird holdover that just doesn't have much of a point to it.

During A Wild Podcast Has Appeared's discussion of Pokemon, most of the cast agreed that Baby Pokemon simply needed some changes within the franchise. Players shouldn't need items to get their Pokemon to breed a Baby Pokemon, and more should be found in the wild, especially early in the game like they did in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Also, it would be helpful to see more species get Baby Pokemon - there's no reason for Mantine to have a Baby Pokemon pre-evolution, while more popular Pokemon like Vulpix or Growlithe don't have a Baby Pokemon pre-evolution.

What are your thoughts about Baby Pokemon? Let us know in the comment sections, or find the hosts of A Wild Podcast Has Appeared on Twitter to share your thoughts about these adorable (but otherwise useless) Pokemon!