>>38070903Yes, I agree. But, again, many of these issues only arose after gen 1, when HMs were implemented without adepting them to the changeing Pokemon games.
In gen 1, most Pokemon had such shitty movepools that teaching them an HM wouldn't really do any harm. It is rare that a gen 1 endgame Pokemon would really need all four of its moveslots, so it wouldn't suffer too much from having one of them be Cut or Strength. Also, in gen 1 team building variety was also rather modest. Most teams across, say, 20 different playthroughs, would probably have a large overlap in Pokemon usage, because there simply weren't that many Pokemon back then. Yes, HMs forced you to use specific archetypes (a bird, a fish, someone with claws), but there were so few Pokemon that you would likely end up having a bird and a fish anyway.
Yes, these were problems, but they weren't really perceived as problems due to how gen 1 was set up. When Pokemon got more team building and set building variety, because technology advanced and more stuff was added over time, the inherent problems with HMs started to become more noticable. And yet GF didn't adapt HMs to keep them relevant, and instead decided to ditch them entirely.
In gen 1 they acted as key items that you would need to go out an find - hence the name HIDDEN Machines - not unlike a powerup in a Metroid game.
Imagine if the Ice Beam in Super Metroid was adapted in future Metroid games, but became not only super weak, but also overshadowed by a dozen of other beams that did way more damage but had no utility. Switching to the Ice Beam for that one platforming puzzle every once in a while would become a chore rather than a fun activity. That is essentially what happened to HMs. They became a chore when the games stopped being focused on being adventure games and started being about collecting a lot of stuff and having a lot of options.
