>>40473721Because despite being shitmons, many of them were usable in game (especially before the post-game) and were unexpected bros. You can go an entire playthrough without even seeing some Johto mons. The region variety was shit, so when you eventually do find a Johto mon late in the game, it's especially shit compared to your mostly Kanto team. There are none of these issues in Hoenn, and you're much more likely to use a team of 6 Hoenn mons.
Mightyena for example has a large fanbase, and a large contributing factor to this would be that Poochyena was one of the first Pokemon they caught in Hoenn.Mightyena is not a great mon, but I'm sure it stuck with a lot of players from Route 1 to the Elite 4. The same could be said about Grumpig, Torkoal, Whiscash, Shiftry, Dustox, Beautifly, Masquerian etc. Stat wise, yeah, they're shitmons. But at least you can actually use them in-game and get them before the post-game.