Pokémon Sword & Shield introduced plenty of new creatures that call the Galar region home. Between the never-before-seen creatures and the regional variants of past Pokémon, fans quickly fell in love with their favorites and found a new group of battling partners to rely on.
Unfortunately, not all Pokémon are created equal and some happen to lose the genetic lottery and come out looking like genetic splicing gone wrong. Let’s now look at the 10 ugliest new Pokémon in Pokémon Sword & Shield and rank them.
Updated June 23rd, 2020 by Meg Pelliccio: Pokémon Sword and Shield’s very first expansion, Isle of Armor, recently released, prompting players to flock back to the Galar region to continue their Pokémon journey. The new DLC adds a new area, new features, and a range of new Pokémon, including Pokémon from previous titles, as well as new Galarian and Gigantamax forms.
As players return to Galar, it’s hard not to be reminded of some of the ugly Pokémon that debuted in Pokémon Sword and Shield. Despite being set in a new island area, some of these Pokémon will still rear their ugly faces in the DLC, so keep an eye out for these strange Pokémon.
15 Chewtle
The animal kingdom has this weird thing where a creature can be so ugly that it’s cute. The world of Pokémon tends to have some creatures that happen to carry this same thing. Chewtle is the base form of the fan-favorite Drednaw and is an ugly little duckling.
Well, it’s a turtle, not a duck, but the little thing sports a thin unibrow and one solid tooth. It happens to have a tiny turtle body and stubby little legs which help disguise it as cute and adorable Pokémon when it is an ugly baby turtle.
14 Blipbug
Bug-type Pokémon rarely fall into the category of cute or adorable, so their best hope is to remain passable enough that players won’t mind having them in their party. However, Blipbug definitely doesn’t manage this with its ugly, oddball appearance with an oversized head and freaky eyes.
If you think it might get better looking as it evolves, it really doesn’t. It has two more evolutions, neither of which can pass as pretty, with its final form bordering on creepy.
13 Perrserker
For those who are unfamiliar and are wondering why this thing looks so much like Meowth, it’s an evolution specific to the Galar region variant of Meowth. Most people would consider this thing ugly and unnerving, but if you were to ask metalheads or fans of the Doom franchise they would likely say that it looks rad.
Perrserker is one of those Pokémon whose beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The steel-typing makes it unique in its own right and its nice to see Meowth receive an alternate evolution.
12 Barraskewda
Fish Pokémon have a rough go as they’re more often than not either plain-looking or very ugly. Most of the time fish Pokémon only ever get attention when they evolve into something that isn’t a fish. Barraskewda happens to be the rare case in which an ugly fish turns into a larger and uglier fish.
There’s nothing special to the evolutionary line either as it’s simply a water-type Pokémon. Here’s hoping that it eventually gets an interesting 3rd evolution or region variant with dual-typing.
11 Morgrem
Sometimes designers go into a project intending to make something hideous or unnerving. Everyone understands by now that the middle evolution in the world of Pokémon tends to be the awkward phase. This is often where the starters lose their appeal before regaining it with their final evolutions.
Morgrem happens to be the middle evolution of an imp/troll inspired Pokémon, which left it looking like the odd emo kid in middle school.
10 Galarian Slowbro
Two of the latest Pokémon to receive a Galarian form in the recent Isle of Armor expansion were both Slowpoke and Slowbro. Neither of these Pokémon were exactly pretty beforehand, and if they were hoping to get one of the good makeovers like Galarian Ponyta, they were sadly mistaken.
There isn’t much difference between original and Galarian forms, with them essentially just getting a splash of body paint and a new type. However, Slowbro’s shell moves from his tail to his arm in a rather creepy way as if he’s about to deliver a beat down.
9 Cursola
On one hand, it’s always great for an overlooked Pokémon from a previous generation to get some evolutionary love, but we all have to recognize when something isn’t exactly approachable. Cursola is the evolved form of the Galarian Corsola and follows suit with a ghost-typing.
Though they’re both coral-based Pokémon, Corsola goes for a cuter approach whereas Cursola is very much in line with what actual coral looks like. It’s also depressing that it looks like dead coral, which might be a nod to the dying coral reefs in real life.
8 Silicobra
Here’s the thing, both Silicobra and its evolution Sandaconda are both hideous creatures. It was at one point a toss-up of which one should land on this list, and thanks to Sandaconda having a unique aspect of its design it seemed only right for Silicobra to make the list.
Most Pokémon fans are familiar with Ekans, and Silicobra somehow makes Ekans’ design more interesting and appealing. Silicobra looks less like a snake and more like a worm who got its head stuck in an olive of some sort.
7 Arctovish
In the Galar region, trainers can resurrect ancient creatures using a combination of fossilized animal parts. When two of the 4 animal parts are combined they create a creature, and there are 4 possible outcomes.
They all happen to be odd in their way. The combination of fossilized fish and dino parts results in Arctovish, a water/ice dual-type that has weird beady eyes and an off-putting fake smile. It exudes the energy of a Frankenstein’s monster in the worst ways.
6 Dracozolt
Dracozolt is another of the fossil Pokémon that players can mix and match together during their Pokémon journey. This Pokémon is so ill-fitting that the width of its torso doesn’t even match the width of the rest of it, ultimately presenting a horrifically ugly creature.
It’s a shame that players aren’t able to match the fossil Pokémon up to their proper respective halves, as then fans could see what the prehistoric Pokémon should actually have looked like. Perhaps this is something Nintendo will add in the future.
5 Gigantamax Kingler
Kingler was one of the chosen few Pokémon to receive a coveted Gigantamax form for Pokémon Sword and Shield, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it received a glow-up. Instead, this already undesirable looking Pokémon has thrown on a beard as if he’s trying to get a part-time job as a Santa lookalike.
Additionally, the arm and legs have slimmed out, making it more reminiscent of a spider crab. In the Pokémon world, Krabby and Kingler are both often menu items for people, but it seems unlikely that anyone could tackle this monstrosity in the kitchen.
4 Grapploct
When players first encountered the little octopus type Pokémon called Clobbopus in Pokémon Sword and Shield, it was actually a pretty adorable find. However, fast forward to when it evolves and this particular Pokémon evolves into Grapploct, which looks like a Splatoon character reject.
Considering the new Isle of Armor expansion allows you to have your first party Pokémon follow you around, this is one you probably won’t want to choose as it would be downright terrifying to have chasing you.
3 Arctozolt
If you ever wondered what it would be like to shove the small head and forearms of a skinny dragon onto the rear half of a large fish with legs, well look no further.
Yet another fossil mash-up disaster graces the screens of players, resulting in a poor creature that is permanently in need of blowing its nose. Additionally, it gives this Pokémon the strange combination of electric/ice type, which explains why the electric portion of it has a cold, as it’s now attached to an ice fish butt.
2 Galarian Stunfisk
Stunfisk has always been one of the uglier Pokémon in existence and unfortunately, his Galarian form didn’t do much to fix that. It’s Galarian design exchanges the oranges and yellows for greens and browns and as far as typing goes it changes from being a ground and electric dual-type to ground and steel.
Not only is Stunfisk as ugly as ever, but they also didn’t go ahead and give it an evolution. It’s hard to tell if this was a meaningful move or an expertly crafted troll by GameFreak and the Pokémon Company. Hopefully, Stunfisk gets some additional love in the future.
1 Dracovish
Like the previously discussed Arctovish, Dracovish is a resurrected Pokémon made up of fossilized parts. Arctovish was a combination of fossilized fish and dinosaur parts, whereas Dracovish was created from fossilized fish and drake parts.
It’s easily the ugliest of the 4 possible resurrected creatures and looks like it lives in constant pain. It has the head of a fish and the torso and legs of a drake. Its skin coloring is all over the place and it seems like an easy target for predators considering it has no arms, but rather two tiny fins. How is this creature supposed to survive in the wild?
NEXT: Pokémon Sword & Shield: The 10 Hardest Pokémon To Catch, Ranked
