Yes.
I think the reason that pokemon designs work so well is because they have progressively gotten more complex each generation. In the first few gens, all grass types were based off of flowers, but in gen 3 they created sceptile and the concepts branched off to where we are today with seaweed ghosts controlling anchors. No one would like Pokemon if they came out with stuff like that in the first installment, but because they have slowly become more creative with their designs the fanbase has become more accepting of these things.
New games need to be careful with how they design their monsters, but being careful leads them to have trouble attracting an audience because they look uninspired. Pokemon is lucky because it was the first franchise to take it slow and steady instead of going straight to the over the top design choices.
