>>39585508for me it was a combination of two things..
1.
We were in a warrior drought, most of the fighting shows of the decade and dogshit slice of life was begining to be the norm. This was one of the few shows with warriors.
2. Many of them were dinosaur/kaiju/reptile hybrids which I found really appealing due to the fact that I was 10 when it debuted.
Even things that aren't reptiles have reptile elements,
>nidoking has the dinosaur/kaiju plates and spikes>alakazam seems to be a reptilian fox>chansey and meowth have axolotl elements>slow bro is actually a salamander not an otter.3. Some were just outright freaks,
4. There was nothing like them out at the time.
Most kids who played really only used 20 or so,and the rest were ignored.
Like on the playground, people were always talking about dactyl, snorlax, Laparas, zapdos, mewtwo, the starters, the trade pokemon, and a couple of others. , but shit like venomoth, and parasect were completely ignored.