>>54533885>>54534298Some of these are stretches, but you have a decent point. Most dex trends didn't start until Hoenn.
>Hoenn started three-stage bug lines that go worm thing -> cocoon -> winged thing>Hoenn started having only two fossils you choose from which didn't stop until gen 7>Hoenn started pikaclones (No, Marill does not count)>Hoenn started all pseudos being Dragon-Type, though admittedly also added Metagross and is the only region with two pseudos>Never became a major trend (only other example I can think of atm is Wimpod/Golisopod) but the Feebas/Magikarp parallel of "joke weak" evolving to "competent threat" is nearly impossible to missI'd say Linoone/Raticate is a little disingenuous since Furret exists and you could argue it started there, but there's the possibility Furret wasn't intended to be like Raticate.
Swellow also, isn't a three stage evolution so it has some difference compared to Pidgeot.
Johto notably doesn't have a regional bird, nor does it have a regional bug that fits the three-stage mold like Butterfree (You could argue Ledyba and Spinarak are its regional bugs but again those don't follow the Butterfree formula).
Before anyone says "technically Kanto started this" remember that you can't have a trend with one game alone, you can only have patterns if there's multiple instances.
Writing this, I wonder if GF was trying to recapture the essence of what made gen 1 so popular in the first place, since this was around the point Pokemania was dying down.
Obviously not every shitty thing in modern games started in gen 3, some of them started later, and some of them have been around since the very beginning.
